Kyle and Christy are doing very well. Kyle has tenure at the school where he's been teaching for the past 4 years and Christy just got on full time at that school as well. They are building a new starter home north of the Twin Cities. They stopped in to see us about 10 days ago for a few hours. It's always nice to see them.
Rand is doing exceptionally well -- at least from our vantage point. He is working full time, has good friends, is very involved in Young Life and it seems he thoroughly enjoys the people he is living with. I still oversee his finances, but so far he has lived within his budget and is even ahead on some of his bills. He was here on the 18th to celebrate his 24th birthday with us.
Mike and Tessa were here with Aiden that weekend as well. Mike's hand got slammed in a car trunk and he broke his thumb, so tattooing is a bit hard. He seems to be doing fairly well as a Dad, and Aiden is beyond cute (as you can see!). Tessa's handling being a mom and getting lots of help from her parents.
John is getting out of the current jail he is in on September 20th. After that he is supposed to head to the former county where his charges were when he was 18 to be tried for those since he has now lost his stay of adjudication. Isaac -- who we haven't seen for a while -- is growing and changing so much. It's hard to believe that he will be too soon.
Jimmy is doing well in Job Corps. He has had a few mishaps, but when he calls he is usually pretty happy. He says the food is SO nasty though. For my kids, this has been the hardest thing to get used to. They just don't realize that the whole world doesn't have such an incredible chef living with them that they do in their father.
Salinda and Gabby seem to be fairing well. We haven't heard from them in a week and a half and that's often a good sign. She is working, living in an apartment with Gabby, and seems to have made some good friends at work. She was also here 10 days ago -- Gabby is talking all the time and makes me smile.
We have only heard from Ricardo once since he moved. He was asking for money for school clothes and football equipment to play sports (he had his friend ask for me via text) I explained that we would be happy to support him if he was living with us and that we wanted him to move back home. No response. Haven't heard anything since.
Mercedes is kicking butt at Job Corps in St. Paul. She is very motivated to finish as soon as she can and we are having fun when she comes home on the weekends. She is singing with our praise and worship team -- in fact, if you'd like to come here them on friday night at the coffee shop type ministry called "Spirtuality" at 7 at Brunswick we'd love to see you!
Tony seems to be doing well at Job Corps in Wisconsin too. He did call this past weekend and told me that he hasn't been calling home because it makes him miss us too much. But he has 7 tests he has to pass to get his HSED and he has passed 4 of them already. He seems like he is determined to get that done -- and we really want him to finish because he has never finished anything he's started. He NEEDS to do this for him.
Leon is very unhappy that we made him move this year, but even at his unhappiest he is a pretty easy going kid. He has been working as a PCA and doing well.
Dominyk started school Monday and seems to like it. It's a small charter school and they seem really invested in him and his success. He isn't complaining about school -- which is a shock -- and he is saying he is making friends. I have a better picture to share in a couple days.
Wilson, though immersed in shooting the enemy in the PS3 WAY too much of the time, seems to be rolling with the punches. He and Leon start school on Tuesday.
Bart and I? We are both overwhelmed with the challenges of transitioning and everything else that is happening (mortgage still not settled so we can close on the Mankato house, all this nasty van-theft-insurance business, trying to get settled while taking on extra stuff because it's too fun to say no. But we are happy with where we are and see good days ahead.
How'd I do?
1 comment:
Nice update. :-)
While I don't claim to be the chef that Bart is - every one of our kids has had the same complaint when they left home: Food is worse in other places, and they miss our home cooking. It's one way to get them to come home to visit! :-) When more of them were living closer in town, I'd just text them to say what we were having for dinner. Miraculously, they'd appear!
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