Thursday, April 20, 2006

Confirmed for PC1

Well, we finally got our confirmation for PC1. This has had us on pins and needles, as we have had such short notice for this whole thing. Usually parents are invited a month before hand, but they did offer to let us go just a few weeks after Katie became eligible. In fact, I won't even talk to her again before we see her (our therapy call will two days after the seminar).
We are very excited, and nervous about this. Now we just need to get tickets and reservations etc so that we can actually do this.
Unfortunately, the school itself isn't the only cost - these seminars and travel are wracking up quite a bit as well, especially when you have little notice.
But it will be great to see her in 8 days!
M-

Monday, April 17, 2006

DISCOVERY!!!!

Yes!!! She did it. Katie graduated Discovery!!! I'm about shocked. A week ago I never expected this. And that means we are going to PC1 in 10 days, and will get to see her for the first time in seven months. We are also going to take advantage of this and do a little vacation time as well, relaxing a bit afterward.
Katie is a Pure, Passionate, Beautiful, Caring and Worthwhile young woman!

M-

Friday, April 14, 2006

Discovery ?!?!

Wow! I had our bi-weekly call with the family rep and got some huge news. Katie is in Discovery, right now. She had made it over half way so far, was in the afternoon of her second day. She will graduate tomorrow if she doesn't choose out.
Apparently her therapist thought it might do her some good, kind of kick things into gear. And since Discovery is at the low end he could do it, and did. This is great. If she makes it through, then we may be going to PC1 at the end of this month - in two weeks!!! I am trying not to get my hopes up too much, but the idea is simply fantastic.
I'm a little worried because I had promised my oldest son to take him to a game tournament that weekend, but this has to override that, if it happens. I've just been so frustrated, and to now have this, it is simply fantastic.
She was so gung ho after orientation, so excited to push forward and keep going. I hope this does the same thing, but a bit stronger and longer lasting. It would be nice for her to actually start making more progress. And she is at a level 2 - her therapist put her up there. She has also improved in the last two weeks - two weeks ago she got about 300 demerits, this last week about 30.
I talk to her therapist on Monday, so hopefully there will be great news!!!

M-

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Some thoughts

I got a letter off yesterday. Of course, as soon as I sealed the envelope I remembered things I wanted to add. We want to get a snapshot of the family and dog to send her, but forgot to have a friend take one on Sunday when they were over.

My 'focus family' had a reunion call last night - that was good. I miss these people. Focus (and Discovery) had such a strong effect on me, much more than the Keys seminar we went to did. There was such a bonding there, having shared and cried with these people. The group we are in for Keys, who are all local; well I just don't feel that bond with them. None of them were in our Discovery or Focus - in a way they are still such strangers to us.

As part of our local parent support group they are great, but they don't seem to be 'family' to me, yet.

But the focus call was really good. One of the men has a son who is nearly 18, and is expecting to come home on his birthday - we all talked to him about that and if that is what he wants. That went well. There is a lot of caring in that group - it always leaves me feeling better (even if the call did last two hours.)

M-

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Difficulties

I got another letter yesterday from Katie, which is great. I just wonder why I have such a difficult time writing her myself. I think about it a lot, but there always seems to be something coming up so I don't just sit down and do it.
I'm frustrated by letters for one. The mail system is so slow, taking close to a week for mail to get from here to there or back. So I find it very difficult to have any type of on-going correspondence through the mail because of this two-week delay. And if I try to write more often, it gets worse, as I write the next letter before I've gotten the response to the previous one.
Also, I do talk to her every other week as well, so I feel a lot less urgency about letters.
I know I need to write more, and I will try.
M-

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Frustrated with Technology!!!!

Ok, this is my FIFTH attempt in two weeks to post to this blog - every time I try to submit it I get a timeout on the server, both from work and from home. I was thinking it was firewall issues from work, but when it happened again last night from home, I figure it is server issues.
Katie is doing ok. She lost bunk leader last week, but I actually expected that as I don't think she was ready for it. She still hasn't gotten voted up to level 2 yet, and is still getting written up quite a bit. It is a two step forward, one step backward type of thing.
I'm frustrated, but that is my problem. I'm also worried about the cost as she has now passed the six month mark, and it definitely looks like she will need a second year, and I worry about how we are going to do that. We assume / hope we can get another loan or extend the one we have, but we aren't sure, and don't know how we can make double the payment that is strapping us already. *sigh* But I'm worrying about things that haven't happened yet.
M-