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Update 9:45 p.m.....I just got off the phone with a church member that dropped out a good while back. She called to let me know that her oldest son died early this morning. They think it was a drug overdose. He was only 20 years old.
Mom C and her husband, Dad D had been members of our church for many years. They were both alcoholics and drug addicts, and could not seem to shake their habits. He had been in prison in the past. They had 2 sons (he had a couple of kids from a previous marriage.) They kept getting deeper and deeper into their addictions, and their kids were following in their footsteps. Several years ago, Dad D was high and drunk, and went over to his former brother-in-law's house and shot it up from the outside of the house. He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder. I went to court with them for support. He was given 10 years probation, but had to serve the first 180 days in the county jail. Not long after he got out, he violated his parole, and was sent to prison for 4 years. He got out a couple of years ago. Mom C had also been in court, but not jail. She was caught driving in downtown Houston one night, drinking vodka.
Their oldest son, Son #1, started getting in trouble with the law. He skipped school. He set buildings on fire. He did that while he was skipping school. One day, Brandon caught him breaking in at the school across the street from our church. The school was being demolished and rebuilt and he just wanted to see what he could get into. And he was doing drugs.
Son #2 was starting to be known in court also. Mom C's sister took the boys to see what she could do with them. She was not able to turn their lives around, either.
Son #1 had promised his mom that he was getting off drugs. He was going to get married. He had a good job. Then last night, she got the call.
They are devastated. She was crying while she was talking to me, although she was doing pretty well. She said she was just numb. She said she wanted to start back to church, but she felt funny coming to ours now, especially since she has a new boyfriend (she and D were divorced while he was in prison). And she has always been embarrassed by her problems, feeling like she needed to be right with God before coming back to church. Dad D felt the same way.
How I wish we could convince them that coming back is the first thing they need to do. We could love them and help them while they are getting right with God.
We got a lot done today. The thing is, there's just so much more to do. We have had a huge bouganvillia in our front yard that was getting out of hand. The only pictures I have of it are from when Ethan was here back in October 2004. I cropped Beth out of this picture. She will be grateful 
See the huge vine growing on the lattice arbor right behind his name on the end of the banner? It isn't there anymore - well, most of it anyway. It's all piled up by the street, waiting for heavy trash pick-up. It had gotten even bigger than in this picture. I loved the beautiful flowers on it, but it wasn't getting enough sun to bloom much. And it was really hiding the house. So Steve cut it all down except for the trunk. I'll let it come back out and see how it does as a smaller shrub. The arbor is coming down, too, but we didn't get that done today. The trunks on the vine had gotten so huge that they were pushing the arbor over, eventhough the posts are set in concrete.
That's a pecan tree behind the word welcome, and it is about twice that big now.
Beth went over to Brandon and Rachael's for movie night. They haven't done that in a while. The place they are moving to the end of June, is an apartment owned by my brother-in-law's dad, and it's going to save them about $500 a month. They have decided not to look for a house for the time being. I asked Brandon if he had actually seen the inside of this apartment, and he said he's the one that put the air conditioning in it. So at least he can be sure the ac works. He does good work.
Update noon.....I will make it around to see everybody later this evening. We have much work to do today.
So much to do today. Yardwork, housework....I'm feeling quite overwhelmed right now with everything that needs to be done. I sure wish the good fairies would come in in the middle of the night, and get it all done. 
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TRIPLES with EMMA |
| | Posted 4/28/2007 12:18 AM - 4 views - 15 comments
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I haven't seen her since November and it's driving me crazy...I miss her so much!
I've loved it there. Well, technically I lived in Mt. Pleasant across the river for 20 years but it's practically Charleston.
