Kathy,

I'm praying for you. I know this is very hard, but like you said, honesty
is the best policy and hopefully later on, Chris will appreciate you. I'm
praying for you guys, every cingle day and sending lots of those much
needed, lovings and squeezings your way.

Please keep us posted.

Love and Blessings,
Pat Ferguson

At 05:22 PM 7/29/05, you wrote:
>Well guys,
>         Thank you for the advice.  My inttention was to follow the wisdom
> offered
>here and wait to talk to the therapist.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out
>that way.  Chris came in this morning as I was reading my email.  I don't
>know if he saw anything, but he asked me point blank if I had heard
>anything interesting on the phone lately.  I paused for a moment and then
>decided that honesty is the best policy so I said, "yes."  He asked me what
>and I said, "I love you very much christopher."  Then he started getting
>angry.  I think that he thought that I was dodging his question, but I got
>up  and asked him to come with me to talk to Greg.  When we got into my
>bedroom, I told Greg that Chris had asked me straight out if I had heard
>anything interesting and Greg agreed with me that we should just tell the
>truth.  We asked to see Chris's wrists.  At first he resisted, but he
>finally took the bandage off.  It is four small cuts.  We talked to him
>about the point that this isn't the way to handle frustration or
>disappointment and we asked him to talk to his therapist about this next
>week.  He said that he would, but of course, we'll still be giving the
>therapist the heads up as well.    What a time to go on vacation!!
>         Chris is  angry at the invasion of privacy.  I understand this,
> but we
>have also tried to explain that we believe that we must do some monitering
>for safety reasons.  If he would repent and start making smarter decisions,
>we wouldn't have to do this, but as long as we are responsible for him, we
>want to know what he won't tell us.
>         93 days and he turns 18.  This next Tuesday, we are going to review a
>contract with him, with the help of a court ordered  family counselor
>concerning what we expect if he is to remain here, especially after he
>turns 18.  I rather doubt, at this point, however, that he will.  Where he
>will go, I don't know, but our family can't keep going through this craziness.
>         I know that, from my messages, you guys probably have a hard time
> figuring
>out whether life is better or worse for our family.  Well, every day is
>different.  Sometimes its okay and sometimes, like today, it is worse, but
>it sure isn't a picnic.
>Kathy