fort mountain

we took a trip to fort mountain today.  the trees were amazing.  the weather was perfect.  great experience.

my first trip to michigan

i’ve felt a bit spoiled the last couple of days. i made a little journey to grand rapids, michigan to visit a friend.

:.: bit o honeys on the table next to my bed make for a delightful breakfast.

:.: within the first hour of my arrival, i’m served bread.

:.: within the first couple of hours i’m there we are off on a journey to play bingo at the local vfw.

:.: all around the food has been wonderful. i’ve not been allowed to help do anything, except to grate some parmesan cheese.

:.: speaking of cheese, i love it. and there has been a lot of great cheese incorporated into the meals here.

:.: we got to go bowling.

:.: affirmation and encouragement for the ministry i’m in

:.: yellow trees

:.: I got to hang out with a couple of way cool boys who have the most infectious smiles.

:.: mars hill

:.: the days have been gloomy, those are my favorite

i miss some parts of home, but this has been a wonderful trip.

it was the huffing

why jasper drug lost our business.

a year ago i talked with jack, explained our situation at the ranch, told him that sometimes our boys med situation can be complicated and rather high maintenance.  he was more than willing to work with us and was able to get all our boys stuff transferred to his store.  and for awhile, everything was great.  jack was accommodating.  there was a lady who worked up front who was great.  she got to know our meds and was always willing to help figure out whatever situation might be going on.

then jack disappeared, perhaps working at the new foothills store?  and the lady disappeared too.  a young (high school-ish) girl started working up front.  she was not friendly.  she was not helpful.

soon after that, there were a couple mess ups with meds, things not labeled right, mostly.

and then, i felt as if i became that person who walks in the door and everyone groans.  i’m working with medicaid and i’m working with foster kids who get moved around a lot…. things get a little messy sometimes.  but it seemed like the staff would get frustrated with me, they would just give me the service they would be required to give and i just generally missed the extra support i used to get.

so, a couple of weeks ago i was in and i experienced their staff getting frustrated with me right in front of me.  some whispering going on, a bit of huffing.

i walked out extremely frustrated and decided i wouldn’t be back.

schedule

each boy has several things to keep scheduled.  we have 6 boys.

dentist
annual physical
sports physical
orthodontist
therapy
vision
psychiatry
speech therapy
family visits
case worker visits
extra-curricular activity practices and games
tutoring
mentor visits

oak leaf

i was asking the boys about church today.  one of our new guys said he really liked it because it wasn’t boring, they made church actually interesting.  so we were talking about the message (related to sex, marriage, dating, etc.) and i asked them if it caused them to look at girls in a different way.  their response was, ‘yes!  every time i listen to a sermon at oak leaf, makes me think about my life.  i love going to church!’

my top 5

1.  florida
2.  alabama
3.  lsu
4.  texas
5.  virginia tech

travel

if i could get in my car, drive to the atl airport and fly anywhere i wanted for 2 weeks and i had unlimited funds… i would go to one of the following places.

:.:  rapid city, sd
:.:  vancouver, canada
:.:  fortaleza, brazil
:.:  dodoma, tanzania
:.:  san antonio, tx
:.:  tegucigalpa, honduras
:.:  vermont
:.:  las vegas, nv
:.:  chicago, il

the south side

i feel like it’s possible that our 9 year old has been learning his directions (north, south, east, west) in school lately.  he asked me if on the ’south side,’ they would cut off your fingers for stealing and cut off your tongue for lying.  i clarified with him that he was referring to the south side of atlanta.  affirmative.  i assured him that while it’s possible that they use these practices in the south side of malaysia, they do not use this type of consequence here in the atl.

next conversation.

‘how does the sun and the moon work?’  i did not feel i was doing a very good job explaining the rotations, the reflection of the sun on the moon, etc.  but i tried.  he said he understood.  and then he asked me if we were on the ’south side’ of the sun when we were rotated away from the sun at night.

crusty

my review of, ‘crust’ & ‘cream’ in jtown.

nice atmosphere, service was good.

i ordered the white pizza.

the rolls they brought out weren’t great, weren’t horrible.  fairly dry.

the pizza was pretty good.

a friend ordered the tomato and mozzarella sandwich.  why were the tomatoes cold?

i took a bite of steven’s caesar salad.  the flavor of the dressing was pretty good.

after the meal, walked over to ‘cream.’ why wasn’t cream’s menu available at our crust table?

they have both banana and banana split on their ice cream menu.  they should remove one and replace it with blueberry or white chocolate.

while standing in cream, the view into the kitchen was gross.  the kitchen was not clean, there were tomato guts and lettuce parts hanging off the counter in plain view.

the ice cream was ok, i didn’t love it.

and so, i give my experience 2 stars.  i’ll take johnny’s pizza or felini’s over crust any day.

moving in

it never really gets any easier for me.  and for him, i’m certain it sucks.  every time a new boy moves into the house i experience some anxiety.  it’s not really anything that i fear for myself.  it’s more of this sinking heart feeling, like i feel sorry for a boy who has to make this transition with some many fears and questions he must be carrying.  who are these people?  do they care about me?  will they hurt me?

today, 2 new boys moved in.  some might say that it’s better to fill the slots all at once, break in 2 guys at the same time.  i’m not sure i concur.  seems like a lot to wrap your head around.

two boys moved into our house today:  terrell and steven.

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, i absolutely hate that our job has to exist.  but, i absolutely love the job i have.