Our little sheep

As time draws nearer for us to hold a phone conference with "the powers that be" to discuss Brooke's first goals, we can do nothing more than pray.  It's come to our attention that Brooke is still lost in her ways and not making much effort as of yet to change.  This entire school year has been all about change for her, but not the kind of changes we have liked.  Most recently we have heard that Brooke continues to struggle in her new school.  She's moved so many times this school year back and forth from school to school and program to program it's almost impossible for her to keep those grades up.  One school had similar classes, then back to the original school but not the same schedule, then to a different school again and all new classes. It's gone on and on all school year.

We have seen our precious child go through so much, it really hurts my heart.  We all change at that age. And some of us, well most of us even stray from our heavenly father too. I'm afraid she has. That also hurts my heart. But I can rejoice knowing that our Lord Jesus Christ has taken away any and all burdens when he died on the cross for ALL of our sins. Each one of us has the opportunity to start fresh, clean, anew.  Brooke made that decision last year and became baptized, along with her brother Austin. It was important to each of them that they did it together.

Since Brooke has been gone not one single day has gone by without someone asking how she is doing. This is how we know how much she is loved and cared about by everyone around us. We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers for her more than you all will know.  Three weeks after her leaving town I think we are just now feeling a little bit like talking about her out loud.  This house has been so different.  It's hard to explain.

In about two more weeks we will have the opportunity to speak with the case manager and her house parents and set up a service plan with some goals for Brooke.  This plan will last for the next six months.  Right now off the top of my head I can think of 199 rules she needs to have implemented in her plan but that may be a few too many!  I will have to trust that her new "family" will see where she needs to begin and help her take that first step.  Whatever it may be.  No matter what, we know that she is in the hands of God and we will continue to pray that He will guide her in the right direction, more towards Him.

 

Fruit of the Spirit

I got a letter!!! My first letter from Brooke arrived today.  It was full of what I expected...you forgot to send this, I still need you to send that, oh and thanks for the heavy jacket. It's cold up there!  Brooke spent about half of her letter talking about school. She said that she didn't know that schools that small really existed in real life. Ha ha. She said there are only 14 sophomores and that she wanted me to tell everyone that she is in the top 15 in her class! LOL. At least she's got a since of humor about it, right?? I mean can any one of us really imagine what that feels like?
I've heard the in-laws and even grandparents talk about growing up in a small town.  When I married Scott I thought it was funny that his uncle lived in such a small town that he was not only the preacher but also the fire chief.  So when I heard about Brooke's principal also being the bus driver, it didn't take me by complete surprise, although it was terribly funny!
Here is the one part of Brooke's letter that really stood out to me the most. She talked to some of the other girls there in "Apple City" who told her they have been there for 8 months or some even longer than one year.  This shocked her. I could really hear in her letter that it was an eye opening conversation that in some way brought this transition into a better perspective.  I hope Brooke has been spending the last few days reflecting on this conversation and where she is in life.
We have big expectations for Brooke as she makes it through this program step by step.  We pray for her everyday asking God to be with her as she makes her way through the many steps of this learning process.  We know that God is with her. We know that this is His plan for her.  We know she is where she needs to be.
The grandparents are doing better. They ask every chance they get about Brooke, as do many of you.  Around the middle of April we should be able to start making and receiving phone calls to her. Until then, we will continue to write back and forth. Brooke's birthday is April 28th. She will turn 16.  Although our first visit will be after this date, we plan to take her birthday party in a box up to see her with us.  I need to start working on a theme for this celebration because I want to make it very special for her.  This ought to be fun!
In honor of the City of Apples, we planted an apple tree this week.  I'm not sure how well apple trees hold up in this part of Texas but we'll do our best! Hopefully one day it will look like this:

Galatians 22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Journey to The City of Apples

Matt 6:34  "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." 

Tuesday morning we picked up Brooke at 7am to start her journey to The City of Apples. She was a bundle of nerves until we go a good ways down the road. I brought her iPOD with me so she could listen to her music along the way to help pass the time. I knew it was going to be a long drive.
In my research about "Apple City", I learned that it was once the Apple Capital of Texas.  Not so sure they are now but that was interesting fact #1.  Our drive in seemed to take forever.  Scott wanted to take shortcuts and the scenic route to avoid regular morning Houston traffic.  After about six stops along the way, we finally made it there.  Once we arrived, we met with her case manager who took us on a tour of the grounds and to meet her new "House Parents." They seemed okay, kinda young but all right, I guess. They moved to "Apple City" from Illinois about two years ago and are acclimating to Texas pretty well.  There are about 5 other girls in the house, two are siblings. Brooke has a roommate, she is 13.

Today Brooke began her 30 day stabilization period (which means probation) and she can have no contact with family/friends other than sending/receiving unlimited amounts of letters.  She asked that I not give her address to "strangers," people she doesn't know, but I have a feeling she is going to welcome any mail she can get. She may not write you back if she doesn't know who you are, but that is one request I am going to have to ignore. 

Overall Brooke was in very good spirits most of the day. Scott asked 199 questions while we were there so Brooke got to hear a lot about the program (which she knew NOTHING about) before we even left the property. She didn't know she was going to "Apple City" until the night before she was to leave.  This was the plan all week.  We didn't want her to run away, so we didn't tell her.

While on campus, Brooke was smiling and laughing and talking with everyone. The only two or three tears she shed were during a discussion about the new school dress code. She was told she had to have "natural" hair color only. Brooke LOVES hair dye and her hair is currently Auburn and Black. It looks good but the principal may have her dye it all one "natural" color. She cried! Other than that the rest of the discussion about school only made her laugh. Here are some of the funniest parts...

Her new high school is a 1A school. Approximately 120 students total. That's 7-12 grade combined! She'll be in a classroom of maybe 12-16 kids. Very few electives. The staff laughed when she asked if she could still take cosmetology. My favorite part was when they told her the school only had ONE school bus and the bus driver is the Principal...LOL!!


Jer 29:11  "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

You know, we have to find something to make us laugh and be silly about in this whole process or we would all be a basket case. Everyone's prayers have created a unspeakable peace over this entire journey for all of us. As much as I wanted Brooke to know how hard this decision was AS A PARENT for us to make, it was not as difficult with God on our side. He definitely led us through every step of the way from the very beginning. I made a point to take Brooke aside yesterday to let her know how many "God moments" we had along the way that helped us put all this into place for her. Other than God, there are lots of people we have to thank for their help along the way in making this possible.  There were an amazing number of things that happened completely out of the norm that were proof that this IS God's plan. His timing is perfect, always!

Eph. 4-10  "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."