A First

I think this is one of the first times since we started blogging that I have posted earlier in the morning than Cindy. I woke up at 5:15 this morning and could not go back to sleep. After lying there for an extra 45 minutes, I finally decided sleep was not going to happen, so I got up instead.

The thoughts that were filling my mind were of the decision we made last night. We talked with the other kids last night about how we had a chance to decide if we were willing to let Mike come back home. We don’t know even, that if we are willing, they will still send him here, but we had to make that decision. We explained to them that if he were to return home, they HAD to help him do the right thing, instead of following him on the wrong path. I think most of them got it and they have all pledged to at least try to help him make good decisions and to not follow his lead.

So we are going to tell the county this morning that if everyone is in agreement, he’d be welcome to come home. So I was spending my not-sleeping-but-in-bed-anyway hours trying to figure out the best approach to take if they allow him to return home.

To respond to an earlier comment, a slow transition from where Mike is would be pretty difficult as he is 7 or 8 hours from here. This is his senior year and he wants to go into graphic arts -- he has a ton of talent. The charter school where Rand and Tony are planing to go would be a perfect fit academically for Mike -- it has an art and technology focus and he is very into both of those. The challenge is that he would immediately meet up with every kid in town who could take him down the worst possible road if he’ll let them.

So, my mind is churning with how we can best set Mike up to succeed. And I’m not sure I have the answers. But the bottom line is that if we let him come home now he will have the best chance. If he stays in the foster care system, he will walk away the day he turns 18, not graduate, go everywhere he can, living where he can, until he hits bottom and then he will come home. I guess you could say we’re trying to be pro-active.

I guess we’ll see how it all turns out. And, as you know by now, you’ll get to be right here, reading “the rest of the story” as it unfolds.