three minus one equals.....two

oh my! the boy's life has gone to hell in a hand basket!

well that's what he thinks....lol

i downloaded a math program so he could review grade nine math....what's worse...i told him no xbox until he spends 1/2 hr on it....yes....i'm the auntie from hell!!!

you should have heard the lament!

'im not doing math! i'm on vacation! this sucks! half an hour a day! man that's too long! my whole day will be shot!'

well ya, when you sleep until 1pm!

it was hard to contain my laughter! the time frame of a 15yr old and a 50 something (ahem) are two completely different time zones. lol

so i compromised. i gave him weekends off.....

but then i got the call....well....the msg.....his mum said he can come home.

go home

:(

so my 'life' with Ant is now my 'summer' with Ant...

he's still doing the math...3/4 of an hour a day now....told him i had to ramp it up because he was leaving, hey, my time is running out!

says he wants to go to school this fall, in stony plain
wants to try and see if he can do it, that's worth something

i sure would like prayer for this boy.

he has quit smoking....weed and cigarettes!

he even told me today that he doesn't even swear when i'm not home
(we have three very sweet lil ole gals staying in our b&b)

oh Lord, what's gonna happen to him when he goes home.....will there be enough to keep him busy to keep him clean? did he spend enough time here to make a change. we aren't a rehab! we're a freaking B&B!

well one thing about a B&B, my door is always open....

immaturity needs boundaries, rebellion needs punishment...

yes again i have let time slip by without doing my due diligence.

i’m blaming summer….

so let’s see what kind of new and great things have we done since my last post…

party in the park went well.
the boy went to the skate park and when i came to pick him up I was surprised to see a multitude of booze cans and older boarders smoking etc. 
but when I scoured the park for Ant he was on the other side skating. J

on sunday some friends of ours took us crabbing up the Indian Arm.
thanks bmans!
Adam was upset he had to go…he wanted to go boarding again (try not to be suspicious aunty!)
but we drug him along with the promise of a new adventure.
and he agreed he was glad he went.

he had us all in stitches with his crazy humor and was very helpful as a deck hand ;)

his second visit with “EARL” went well. which was to be expected…as Earl put it, “I get paid whether you show up or not and whether you behave or not” sheesh….where do they get these guys?

thursday night Cole came for a ’sleepover’ as we had a summer bbq for our life groups here.
unfortunately after telling the lads wht time to shut’er down, they did not respect the 2am curfew and were still going strong at 6:30 am!! lol
drat you Xbox!
after a failed attempt by unka d to send them to bed, angry aunty shut ‘em down!
later I explained to Ant (and Cole) that I was disappointed in his behavior…not because he stayed up all night…but that he did so even though I told him NOT to and he didn’t obey unka d.
he apologized to me and back to the Xbox they went … 

later in the weekend I over heard him apologizing to unka d….sigh….J

on Saturday morning Ant got up at 5:30 am to go to a farm job that Martens got for him.
counting wee chicks into layer cages.
in a very hot barn.
and no amount of coaxing would make him dress any dif than if it was autumn in alberta!!! lol

he did a great job and hopes to get more work.
made himself $60

after his farm shift it was off to the park agin…for him, not me….as we had our second annual Meadow Rose Society hotdog sale to raise money for needy babies in the valley (shameless plug).
he did hang around and help anyway he could before I gave him his leave

later that night he washed and vacuumed my car while unka d and I were out with the Martens.


took him a bit to get out of bed Sunday am… probably due to the early morning work on Saturday, but off to church he went (Cole being away and having to attend the church on the hill probably had him rather uninterested as well)

Pastor S was speaking on sin.
and just how easy it is to knowingly do sinful things even when we are aware of the consequences.
when Ant came home he very publicly tossed his tobacco in the trash!
Wow

Tuesday afternoon saw the expenditure of his hard earned cash….a new skate board…lol

so now we are fairly close to being up to date.

by Cole’s request, I did not send Adam to youth….all his tree homies are in mexico.
so after dinner I let him head out to skate a bit in the neighborhood, 
he went over to the park across the road 
….and came home late…..

i wanna believe his story…but I also want to make sure I know what he’s doing.

we chatted before I went BACK to bed and decided if he has new friends on the hill he had better have a curfew.

unka d hid the remote….LOL

i guess that was his idea of punishment

a boy with a grin....... :)

been awhile since my last post . 

ya, i know, you’ve been waiting with worms in your mouth!

i’m finding that God is really teaching me a lot about relying on Him and His timing in a lot of areas of my life lately…sigh, it’s not fun but i hope to shoot out the other end a better person!

at least more reliant on Him.

i have given up trying to control the future….if Ant decides to stay in the fall I guess it’s up to his mother to make it happen.

if not, it’s up to God to protect him!

anyhow, on to Ant.

thanks to the lovely Michelle V, we managed to get away for a weekend.

not the most relaxing one, fast paced visiting, eating and long hard bike rides in the rain!

i think Ant was somewhat disgruntled that he couldn’t come along.

he just doesn’t get the difference between 15 and 50 (ya, i know, i'm older than that!)

he thinks he should be included in ALL adult goings on!

fortunately he had a good time, even though he got anxious to be ‘home’ before us (thanks Michelle for going out of your way to drive him home early)

monday was a real treat as we had the entire day of nothingness.

the three of us together eating and watching movies...like i needed more food!

and he’s back to his ole self of cracking jokes and sweet talking aunty into spending time on him

we had planned on barbequing steaks on Wed night , but realized that it was Youth night and they were having a tailgate party.

i wasn't sure how he was going to take to going, but he did so without a hitch.

we call it his community hours lol

the lad just walked right into the crowd like he’d been attending for years!

the kid amazes me sometimes!

i saw a little boy, for an instant, when he came home telling us all about his antics of playing capture the flag and getting flowers from the girls and wrestling with Cole (which he assured me was all in fun, in spite of his soiled hat, and Cole was fine….right Michelle?) and his "tree homies" (something to do with playing tag)

(yes Darlene, he actually got one of his beloved hats dirty and was okay! no anger no scenes!)

yesterday he again hung at the skate park while i volunteered.

and again he patiently (on the surface anyhow lol) sat through my questioning as to ‘what kind of kids where there today, did anyone offer you drugs, do they talk about drugs…?’

he told me the one fellow he 'hangs with' there, John, has been clean for two years and that they chat lots

he said the rest of the kids were too young and their mom’s hung there too! lol

i look him in the eyes, swallow  and continue to believe

on the way home we stopped at a hair salon and he buzzed his head….he likes it. LOL

the steaks are still in the fridge and that could have been the cause of the grumpiness when I came home from worship practice last night, but today he is all his own funny selfness again!

this morning we sat on the deck and had a long conversation about a few of his choices in life and why i think some of the experiences he has had, have NOT made him older than his years like he seems to think he is they have just been unfortunate experiences and he is still just a boy

he smiles at me with that boyish grin...he knows i'm right, but he knows i only know the half of it

he is so easy to talk to and so willing to please

he shows respect and that speaks volumes to me

we are heading down to Party in the Park tonight. 

told him if he got bored we would let him go over to the skate park….not sure i’m 100% okay with this idea….will play it by ear.

i can only pray showing trust in him will return honesty to us.

so there we are, all up to date and all up in the air!

only God knows for sure what’s next!

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!