Sep. 1, 2008
September is here...
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Wow. So much going on!! Chris joined the US Civil Air Patrol in March and has been busy. He got his first set of stripes...he is now Cadet Airman Christopher ......... Last month, he was able to take his first flight. His instructor was wonderful (he looked like a grown up Chris---I kid you not!) and the instructor said that Chris did very well and, if we wanted to, he would be happy to be his instructor. We are praying the for money to do that. If any of you have kids between the ages of 13 and 21 who are looking for a taste of military life and enjoy physics, aeronautics, air planes, search and rescue, rocketry, etc. then I HIGHLY recommend the US Civil Air Patrol. It is the auxiliary of the US Air Force. No one has to join the military upon graduation. It is strictly volunteer. Chris is NOT that good at math and science, but he IS very good at learning by doing. He is doing very well in CAP. For more info check here: US Civil Air Patrol and look under the "Cadet" heading. Adults can join as well. Make it a family affair if you please. My niece, Shawna came to visit for 9 days. She is 10 and gets along great with Danny and Chris. They had fun going to an air show, swimming (lots of swimming), biking, walking, hiking and just your garden variety hanging out. School is back in session and Chris decided that he wanted to play varsity soccer so he has (sigh) returned to his private, Christian school. After getting straight A's doing homeschooling (lest you be fooled...he did have to work LONG hours to do this. Even at home with limited distractions, his ADHD is really something that gets in the way of his doing what he should be doing---that and the fact that he genuinely is academically lazy---oh, and bed making and room cleaning lazy, too.  My niece Amber and myself will be starting homeschooling with our toddlers. Amber's oldest son is 5 months older than Danny. They seem pretty evenly matched especially now that Danny is talking in full sentences (albeit he is still mixing up the words---does anyone else have this going on with their toddler?--eg. I want iveem (icecream) get. for I want to get ice-cream) On the plus side, other than recognizing letters and numbers, he aces all the 3-year old "what my kid should be doing" checklists...oh and the potty training thing...he will faithfully use the potty if he is naked all the time. But put pants on him (even the cloth undies that he seems to love to look at and talk about so much) and he wont use the potty without me placing him on it under diress. What is up with that?? I have a hard time having my child naked all the time and with fall coming it just doesn't seem ...well seemly. We are still looking for placement for our oldest. We have found 2 places. One is in Texas and the other in Pennsylvania. The only problem is he is either very close to the age cut off, or he is past it. I don't know what we are going to do. We want to get him help before we have to involve the police. After he threatened to do physical harm to my husband (ie. terminate his life), we are concerned that we may need police involvement sometime soon. While we don't believe he would go this far (in fact we are sure of it), he is getting more and more disruptive and destructive. We want to help him get his life on track. It is weird, he is so good with animals and kids (other than his brother) but so horrible to us. Wild! If anyone would like the websites to the 2 places we have found, please e-mail me. I am very willing to share. On the positive side, he has held down a farm job all summer long. I worry about how he will balance school and work, but that is his worry now that he has told me his life was none of my business. It is wild that he doesn't seem to understand that his dad and I are here just waiting to be called on. We won't help him out the consequences of his poor choices, but we are here to support him thru them. I was telling him (during one of our dwindling times when he is civil) that God is also there walking along beside him just waiting to be called upon and, like us, God will not help him out of his misery but go thru it with him. It is so hard to love someone so much and see them constantly beat themselves against the rocks of life and then not see that it is they, not life, that is doing the banging. Sigh. Well, the dishes are calling me (gee, they call SO LOUD!) and I have to get out my "whip" and get Chris to pack up for tomorrow (i am in for eye rolling, sighing and the inevitable promise that it won't take him more than an hour to pack and get ready to go in the morning---can't wait to see how his commanding officer will react to that once he is in the Air Force) I can only smile and shake my head for all too soon, my teenagers will be young men. I just hope the few years we have had with them (9 for Paul and 10 for chris) are going to be enough to help them be productive members of society. Oh and, we have heard from my nephew in Afghanistan. He is doing well. If you get a chance, drop a soldier a line. Tell him or her how grateful you are for your freedoms. If you have the time and the finances, send a care package to someone who doesn't have family to send them something. A large box costs only about $10.00 to send at any weight. Send a letter in it telling them about your family and what you do at home. You will make someone's life really happy. ::stepping off the soapbox:: -Kim oh and....GO SARAH (i was not a huge McCain supporter...but now I can stand behind the McCain/Palin ticket with little reservation) He is Risen, Just as He said! |
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