Kathy, Know that I am praying for you and everyone in your family and 
all your safety.

Have a wonderful sweet weekend.

Love,
Pat Ferguson

At 07:26 AM 5/5/2006, you wrote:
>Hi guys,
>         Well, I'm headed to Portland today for a honey moon with my 
> sweety.  It's nine hours and counting.  I can't 
> wait.  Unfortunately,  The situation is a bit concerning because 
> Matt had a small car accident last night and we're kind of leaving 
> him to have to work things out.  I have little clue what to do and 
> Greg has to give directions by phone so this will definitely be a 
> maturing experience for Matt, to say the least.  Matt is fine.  The 
> car appears to have sustained only front end damage.  Who knows 
> what this will do to our car insurance.  Greg has called a member 
> of the congregation to go with Matt to look at the car and decide 
> what to do from there.  Right now, it is in the parking lot where 
> Matt works.  He feels aweful, but like I told him, I'm just glad 
> he's okay.  He's irreplaceable.
>         What I'm really praising God for is how well both Greg and 
> I stayed calm through the whole thing and got our priorities 
> correct in putting our son's life above the car.  I think that, 
> earlier, we would have been a little more judgmental, but having 
> gone through what we have been through with Chris has really helped 
> us to see more clearly what is important and what is unimportant.
>         By the way, I had a nice long talk with Chris again this 
> week.  He is really itching to get together with us, but I had to 
> put him off because of scheduling and so forth.  This was good 
> because he sees very clearly that we are treating him as an adult 
> and not just clinging to him and connecting with him on his 
> terms.  He did go down and take is pre-test for  preparing for his 
> G.E.D. studies.  He's wishing that he could get out of his 
> relationship with Nicki, but he is afraid that she will kill 
> herself if he breaks it off.  He is feeling resigned to his fate of 
> having to marry her because they've had sex, and I was able to talk 
> with him about God's forgiveness and Grace and how God is the God 
> of second chances.  I talked about him taking the time to find 
> himself and do some deep soul searching and he was kind of 
> shocked.  He asked me if I had been talking to his last 
> therapist.  I assured him that I had not, but he was amazed that, 
> without collusion, we had both been saying the same things.  He 
> seems to be really thinking now.  I think that he is regreting some 
> of his choices.  He said that if it hadn't been for Nicki, he'd 
> probably still be home and in school and driving and more on 
> track.  This helped confirm for me, however, a decision that Greg 
> and I had already made that we will probably not let him come home, 
> even if he asks.  At a distance, Chris treats us with respect, and 
> we do better at keeping our opinions to ourselves.  It is very hard 
> not to slip back into the parent child relationship when an adult 
> child moves back home for a season.  We've seen that in our 
> relationship with Matt.  Old patterns are very hard to 
> break.  While I'll miss Matt, I'm glad that he's moving back to 
> Michigan this June.  It is good for both boys to continue to strive 
> for independence and adulthood.
>         Well guys, I'm off for a wonderful weekend.  Please just 
> pray for safety for all of us.
>God's peace to you all!
>Kathy