Thursday, April 21, 2011

A Desperate Decision

On Tuesday, April 19, my husband and I dropped our 14 year old son off at boarding school for boys.  For the last year and a half, we have been dealing with him smoking marijuana, stealing from us, doing poorly in school, choosing friends that I don't approve of, extreme disrespect, and much more!  We took him to counseling, got help for him for the drugs, got him extra help at school, and tried to discourage him from seeing certain kids.  Nothing seemed to work.  So, we started to explore our options for boarding schools.  There are quite a few to choose from!  We finally settled on one and got the paperwork done.  On Tuesday, my feelings were all over the place!  I wanted him to be safe and get the help he needs.  Yet, on that day, I didn't want to leave him "all alone" at this school!  Will the people there know what he likes to eat?  How long it takes him to get ready in the morning?  That he likes to start his day off with a glass of juice?  I know that we made the right decison.  A lot of thought and prayer went into this decision.  We have wonderful friends that have prayed for us (and still are)!  I clung to my husband that day as we left him and drove home.  It has been 2 days and life around here is a little strange.  We have gotten several emails and a phone call giving us reports on our son.  They are telling us he is adjusting well and seems to fit in with the other boys there.  I love getting these updates as we won't be able to see or talk to him for the next 6 weeks.  It has been tough on our other 3 kids but they are adjusting too.  They are writing notes and looking for little things to send him.  I want to thank all of our friends and family for lifting us up in the their prayers.  We will surely need those prayers in the days to come.

4 comments:

  1. Denise...you are Chris did a brave thing, and I know God will honor that. Like Abraham and Isaac. You are also brave for sharing your story. That will help many others who feel they are the only ones. I will be praying and will look forward to updates.

    Love,
    Donna

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  2. as I have told you before, i think you made an incredibly hard choice. I am praying for your whole family.

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  3. Great first post, Denise. I know you'll find support from your friends here and some therapy being able to express your emotions in this way. Our prayers continue to be with you!

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  4. denise--the pain that comes with unconditional love is that sometimes it has to be tough love. you are doing for your son what God did for us; you saw his need and are doing what it takes to save him from himself.

    my heart would be aching and my throat would be sore and my eyes would be swollen from crying. the Lord is not surprised by this and He has the ultimate goal of redeeming this in his life.

    big HUGS from GA for you and chris. keep writing. it will help.

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