kathy,
A men.

Vinny
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kathy Du Bois" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 6:03 AM
Subject: I request your prayers


> Angel,
>         There are others on this list, such as myself, who have been 
> where you are now.  Trust me, I know that it hurts, but the worst 
> thing that you can do is protect him.  The consequences for him, will 
> be much kinder while he is still a juvenile then when he becomes an 
> adult, by legal standards.  Let him fall.  You are doing the right 
> thing.  He will respect you for it some day, though I can't say 
> when.  Chris still has set backs, but it is much better now then it 
> was three years ago when we were where you are now.  You have to hang 
> tough.  Your job as a parent is to raise an independent, trustworthy 
> adult.  It's especially hard now that you are the only parent.  If he 
> will get involved in a sport or some other activity with good male 
> role models, this would be good, but don't let your emotions rule the 
> day, whatever you do.  Your son is a sinner, as are we all.  The 
> choices that he is making are out of his sinful nature.  Love him, be 
> tough with him and stop blaming yourself.  You are not responsible 
> for his choices, but, for now at least, until he turns 18, you are 
> responsible for his consequences.
> Kathy
> 
> 
> Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 8:45 AM
>>Subject: I request your prayers
>>
>>I would like to ask your prayers.  My son is 16 years old.  He no 
>>longer wants to go to mass, and he hangs around with the wrong 
>>crowd.  I had to appear with him Monday before a court officer 
>>because he was caught smoking, he is under age, and with a 
>>counterfeit controlled substance.  He had to produce his report card 
>>from school.  I didn't receive his last report card due to a mix 
>>up.  I asked the secretary for another.  She sent it home.  It was 
>>the best report card he ever had.  I promised him money if he 
>>brought his grades up, formerly they were pretty bad.  I was so 
>>proud.  We presented it to the court officer and he was amazed as he 
>>didn't see good cards often.  I was going to tell the officer how 
>>bad he had been, but, with that good card I thought perhaps he was 
>>turning himself around and there was no real need to do this.  The 
>>same day his teacher phoned and said he was performing badly and he 
>>was in danger of failing.  I couldn't understand this given his good 
>>report card.  I even thought he might have counterfeited it.  I 
>>couldn't figure how this could be done as he didn't know the address 
>>of the school or the proper spelling of the teacher or the 
>>principal's names.  I went to school today to determine why they 
>>both were saying he wasn't doing well.  The upshot was:  He used my 
>>scanner to copy and change his grades.  I was so disappointed, and 
>>felt so foolish.  Here I was trying to defend a boy who was so 
>>obviously a fraud.  He lies so much I can't really trust anything he 
>>says, but as St. Paul says "love believes all things" I guess.  It 
>>is just that I know his potential and I know if he really tried he 
>>could do as well as his phony grades indicated.  Just last week he 
>>stopped seeing a few of his bad friends and I thought he was turning 
>>himself around but, he still insists his report card was the one 
>>given him by the school, and the confusion was the fault of the 
>>schools.  I keep thinking I must have failed somewhere.  People keep 
>>telling me I haven't and his bad behavior isn't somehow my fault, 
>>but, I still think if I somehow did something differently he would 
>>improve.  If you ask him he will blame me for all he does.  He uses 
>>me as an excuse.  I even do that.  I really need prayers.
>