Boy Eduation
This weekend was our first official weekend visit with Gabe. We had so many great opportunities to talk and just BE.
After I picked him up on Friday, Gabe and I were talking about why his other placement didn’t feel right and why he wanted to be with us…because this really has been his decision. He told me that for the first time he clearly heard God’s voice about his situation. He said that God clearly told him that he was supposed to be with Kaleb and myself, and he told God that it couldn’t be because it wasn’t going to work out. He didn’t know about what was going on with Grace, and he still thought it was impossible that he could ever get back to us. He said that God told him that he was supposed to be with us, and later that day he was called into the office by the House Mom. I forget his exact words of shock when she told him that we wanted him back, but it was something cool to the effect of “I’m down with that,” only not so ghetto, because that wouldn’t fit Gabe.
A few months ago when it was starting to look like Gabe wouldn’t be placed with us because of Grace, I told Gabe that if he was serious about wanting to be part of our family he needed to pray, because God was the only one who was going to be able to open those doors. He apparently took my advice. It also helped that we had our small group and everyone else we could snatch praying for wisdom and clarity in the situation. God heard the heart of this young man, and somehow led him back to us.
God does open and close doors, you know. Even when they are really difficult doors, sometimes we have to walk through them.
So now I am taking my brain and heart that was learning everything there was to learn about raising an emotionally disturbed, preteen girl, and am having to rewire it and refocus to learn everything there is to learn about raising an emotionally healthy (for the most part), teenage boy. Teenage boys (at least this one) don’t care about the color of comforter in their room, or the color of the walls. This one only cares about black lights and having more than one pair of pants. This teenage boy doesn’t care about having a desk to put his stuff on, he cares about saving up enough money for a future snowmobile or four wheeler.
I talked to Grace tonight for the first time since our meeting that ended the process of adopting her. It was awkward, but fine. She wanted to know about some random thing that I had absolutely no clue about, and then about a movie that we had planned to watch together. She wants me to call her on Thursday, so I will. I am not sure what we will talk about, since she avoided pretty much every “serious” conversation topic I asked her tonight.
Oh, and now a supervisor from the organization Kaleb and I worked for has approached us about taking a 9 year old boy…BOY!!! I know this boy from substituting and teaching summer school, and he is a sweetheart. Very emotional, and has a temper, but nothing extraordinary. He is all boy. He loves to play outside, make forts, and is an AMAZING basketball player. He loves animals, but I haven’t actually seen him around them, so that will be a hurdle that will need to be jumped. Anywho, our supervisor friend will be calling us soon. “Jeremiah” needs a place to go before Easter, so we may start visits very soon.
Okay, so that’s the long update. I am going to google boy’s room designs now…sigh.
