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.