on a bicycle built for....

today was Ant's first ... no, second, but first, PO visit (if you don't count the meet and greet_)
it went well. the guy seems nervous to me, but he and Ant get along...so who am i to judge.

our boy is getting .... restless? maybe...or homesick....maybe or just ticked off that his dad didn't send him his bike. i offered to call his dad, but he said people need to do their own calling! wow, very growd up!
pray God will send it here.....somehow!

so the school board WILL NOT let him enroll without legal guardianship. 
they need to know he is a BC resident...so to speak. 
when i discussed this with Ant, i broached the private school option and i think i hit the panic button!!! sigh...almost made me cry...would have, if i hadn't learned how to be 'cool' from from him! lol

he'd rather go home if he has only private school as a choice.
not that we can afford private school...however, i'm not ruling out the power of God to save a child.

we are going to have a 'family meeting' tonight.
second one since his arrival.
guess we will see what happens.

his misses his wee girl, and her mommy.....

i'm feeling really torn today....i love this kid so much....stole my heart when he was wee and i just feel God has put him here for a reason....not a summer vacation...

but God can work faster than me...so who knows...

sniff sniff.....

thanks for listening

june 24....

23 days of our new life.....

what a ride!

i'm starting to think the 'honey moon' period is coming to a close.
the once completely polite and obedient boy is finally starting to act like a normal teenager. LOL
now i have to be the 'parent' and discipline without discouraging....so looking forward to whistler this weekend! 
thanks Michelle :) 
some moments my heart swells with pride and the next minute i'm thinking there's not enough vodka in the world! lol jk......i think :s

on Thursday Adam played host and checked in our guests while i was volunteering.
he was terribly nervous but i think he also felt proud of himself. he did a great job.

we had some very sweet friends offer Adam a bike while he waits for his.
we drove over in the rain to check it out, but one look told him it wasn't for him.
it was cute listening to him try to explain to me that he didn't want it, without being rude. :)
i sure hope we can find a way to get his bike out here.

on Saturday Adam and i drove around to experience LOVE Chilliwack and  look at the water levels (this i think he found a yawner)
then we went to visit unka d at an open house and Adam got to see what a REAL yawner is! lol
as the weather started to deteriorate in the afternoon he helped unka d quickly finished the rail fence.
he was so pleased to be done with this job as it caused him anger to dig the holes when tree roots got in his way.
but he was also proud of his achievement.
(think i need to read up on teenage anger....i didn't have to deal with this with my own children...
they were stuffers...not any healthier in the long, run but easier on us)

in the evening we watched our second movie of the weekend.
my choice.
poor guys had to suffer through midnight in paris and they did so like true gentlemen!

this morning we got him up early to go to Prospera for the City Wide service which he did willingly. 
i hope he continues to be so accommodating when youth starts next week. :) 
i'm praying all the influence will eventually touch his heart.
maybe he will soon understand why "aunty, you're just too nice...you work for nothing and give your parking spot away with out getting mad" lol

i trust that God is working quietly behind the scenes.

this evening another kind friend brought him over an old skate board to replace the one he broke. 
the out pouring of love from our friends is really humbling. 

thank you all so much.


we just ordered his promised pizza for working on the fence and then it's another movie or something that doesn't include watching the back of his head while he commandeers our tv for xbox games!


all that being said, i am still loving the ride. 
he makes me laugh, and when i get those hugs and the 'i love you aunty' (even when it's just to get me to put his bread in the toaster, spoiled brat!) i know i'm doing the right thing.


still no word from the school board...think i may just go in there on Tuesday

thanks for listening .... :)

short but ..... well, just plain short!

Ant had another ‘play date’ yesterday. lol

i think he had fun.

he didn’t show as much when I picked him and Cole up from the waterslides, but when his unka d came home, and his friend was gone, he was quite animated…
an image thing I guess. lol

we invited his friend to stay for dinner and they played xbox together and tried to out do each others ‘funnies’. it was good to see him acting like a ‘kid’! they flipped a coin to decide whether or not Cole would stay because neither of them could make a call. lol it was fun to watch them banter.

still no word from the school board as to whether or not i can enroll him….keep praying.

a weekend in a blog post....

quite the weekend! very busy and lots of fun.

we made an overnight trip to princess Sara's house (my youngest daughter) to dress shop for her wedding. wow, that was emotional! and she found one that she felt was truly hers, so much so it brought her to tears!

time spent there let Ant and one of his cousins reacquaint and they enjoyed the time together.
not exactly into the same things but i was proud of Ant for being so easy to get along with.
i think he was a bit intimidated by his cousins "smarts" lol

after another hair raising ride in the car with unka D at the wheel, we headed home on saturday.
(Ant likes D's driving about as much as me ... he thinks he's getting spoiled by riding shotgun with me in the back seat...HA! i had a great trip there and back with my pillow and my eyes closed!)
'safely' home, Ant and i had a fun hang out day....poor unka D had to work.

on sunday we had "man church"....for the fathers.....whom Ant is one. 
he was very excited about getting a steak (all the fathers's did) in fact, he was given two!
we are going to chuck them up tonight.
after church we went for KFC (i'm gaining weight feeding this boy the things he likes....time to get back to veggies!!)

the best part of the weekend came sunday afternoon, we went to my granddaughters' ballet recital!
here Ant got to reconnect with a few more cousins.
and get this! he actually enjoyed watching the show!

he felt he really clicked with his male cousin at the ballet, inspite of the fact that Ant was enjoying the show so much lol (his cousin has seen too many over the past 15 yrs of  his life LOL).
this particular young man has more in common with Ant than we thought.....but that's a whole 'nother blog!!!!

i am so encouraged by how he is changing daily.
he's such a ham...always trying to find ways to make us laugh, he really enjoys entertaining!
from his Auzzie accent to his teasing his unka D and laughing at my auntics!

he really wants to stay in the fall and go to school here...that's the fly in the ointment.
it turns out that SD33 won't allow an out of province student go to school here.
not unless we have legal guardianship.
through the courts.
 not just a notary or signed piece of paper.
we didn't run into this in Abbotsford when we had his uncle come live with us (ya, we've done this before)
so i really don't know what to do.
i'm not sure his mom is comfortable with that idea.

any how, that's our weekend in a blog post!
keep us in your prayers as God sees fit to use us to help this young comedian!

from cotton crocheted packets to fencing?

i'm shocked! even a teenager can get bored with video games....this is new to me.....who'da thought?

so in comes D...yay....first he went out and found the hacky sack (sp) that went off the deck earlier in the day, then he invited Ant outside to get a lesson kicking the small object around (well, i'm really not sure what exactly he was doing....looked more like a russian wedding dance!)

that didn't last long though and an exhausted "mr task" started showing Ant where he was going to build a fence and soon the split logs are all over the law and Ant is watching and kicking away at the dollar store sack of ....hmmmmm, what do they fill those things with. wait, what's this? D is digging, Ant is measuring....they might actually be starting on the fence!  yup, he has a project! tomorrow he will be digging fence holes! thanks D! woohoo

we did have good news from the AB school board today.  Ant can be enrolled in grade 10, assuming the school board out here agrees and he chooses to stay....i hope he does.

i did love the big smile and thumbs up i got when unka D invited him outside to play though....so, day 13 is all good!

hi! my name is earl

we met the new probation officer yesterday. the best news, Ant and him clicked!

his name is earl, and i found him quite.......quirky, but that doesn't matter, what matters is Ant liked him!

i am hoping to hear from a lady in AB regarding his education status this week to see if he needs summer school. he keeps talking like he's staying, and we hope he does, but i would hate to have to put him into grade nine again....so if summer school is what it takes then summer school it is.\
this kid is 15 going on 30! he would NOT fit into to middle school!

still working on getting his birth certificate for him so he can get his SIN and apply for a job!
(i still can't type SIN without laughing....like the gov is sin....maybe i should be in middle school!)

yesterday he mowed the lawn and today he is washing his bedding and a couple other chores i left for him.
i sure hope this keeps going this way.....it's only been 12 days.....and counting.

praise the Lord for a great weekend...

we had a great weekend. simple as that!

on saturday Ant and Unka D did some of the 'manly bonding' and drove out to check the water levels on the river and have a burger....they are both missing junk food it seems, and beef! oh well.

i was rather tired on saturday due to having to tell Ant to shhhhh half a dozen times before i sent him to bed.
thanks to some great friends( (thanks Mike and Shaunda) he now has a headset to play video games unfortunately he doesn't understand the concept of whispering!

sunday at church Ant met Cole and struck a conversation about MW3.....video game...for you non gamers like me...LOL....and then Cole's mom invited him over to visit. awe.....his first 'play date'!!! (thanks Michelle)

for dinner he tagged along with us to a church bbq and fit right in! even tossed the football with a couple of our pastors! also got to have yet another burger! lol

today we are off to meet his new probation officer....must admit i'm kinda nervous....probably more than him!

sure am blessed to have such a great support group of friends! thank you all!

hormone havoc!

i have forgotten how fragile teenage hormones are and how "happy" can come to a standstill quicker than macdonalds can whip out a burger! oh young love! yesterday Ant's girlfriend called and his mood instantly changed. the hood went up. literally and figuratively (classic teenage hoodie on the head even when inside lol). seems the girlfriend was drawing attention from an "older man" and just HAD to let Ant know. Grrrrrrrr. i have probably crossed a boundary, but i let her know she wasn't helping the program by upsetting him. i have a lot to remember about teens....anybody got a good read i can get my hands on?

gotta love your friends!

just chatted with a new friend and she is going to try to arrange a gathering so Ant can meet some kids his age! these are churched kids, so i hope he doesn't shock them! lol
may even involve a pool party.
that would be sweet!
he loves swimming!
thanks Lord

brighter side of life....

today was a good day, Ant vacuumed my car and helped me get the B&B ready! he was in a better mood. we went shopping for Tee shirts and he 'earned' an Xbox game card to play on line. okay, so he didn't really earn it, but still, i wanted to do something nice for him to encourage helpfulness. and on the upside, his video gaming is cutting into my useless tv watching and we know where he is!

rough day...

yesterday was a rough day for ant, he broke his skate board and his iPhone....poor kid. but with some cheering and positive input he pulled out of what i expect could have been a week long rumination and grump. so i think he's doing well. wants to do some chores for cash....hmmmm...guess a pedicure doesn't fall into that category! LOL

fitting in...

sunday evening meal found ant having to fit in with a group of adults talking about missionary life and stuff i'm sure he found extremely boring...however, to his credit, he hung in there, even when given the opportunity to be excused!
a friend came over and dropped off some video games to let him use which cheered him up immensely! i was wondering if i would get any sleep with the sound of war games vibrating off the wall....silly me, why did i worry, he shut it down and went to bed when told!
okay, now i AM nervous! this is getting too easy....thanks lord!

First Four Days

our journey started in wabamun...alberta's butt! sorry dabyr! lol
this is a small town nowhere ville! where his story begins....ant was born to a 14 yr old gal on april 1, 1997. as cute as his mom and with the same beautiful soft skin.
but as you can imagine, fourteen is way too young to be a mom so ant had two moms as his lovely gramma dar now had two kids to raise.

as you can imagine, small town wab/ab doesn't have much to keep children entertained and 14 yrs later ant's gran found herself a great gran!! yikes, i know right!

by now ant is running with a group of lost boys and doing things that put this young "dad" in juvenile court...and on probation....which he breached and headed to juvee jail!

fortunately ant's mom called the probation officer and he was granted a second (maybe third or fourth) chance to get his proverbial poop together....and this is were we come in.

on june 1, 2012 ant came home with us to hopefully start over.....lord willing. (please please lord willing!!!)

our ride home form bumsville was really fun! God even went ahead and found us a room with a bedroom so the three of us could share space comfortably! woohoo! and a pool to play in where we shared some giggles and tons of water....up our noses!

fist visit to church was met with NO opposition (a nonnegotiable item) off to a good start!

four days ago i became a "mom" again....den mom, auntie mom....call it what you like.

whatever you call it, i am now responsible for a 15yr old boy. my great-nephew.

am i nervous? you bet!....but i'm also excited! you see, his other option was juvenile hall.

i'm not doing this alone, i have my husband and my God!

i thought it might be interesting to post the ups and downs in a blog...just for fun....so let the journey begin!