Friday, May 25, 2007

Surprise - pleasant for once

Ok, time for my weekly update.

We had our call with the therapist 'B' and Katie last night. One thing I realized is that I haven't gotten a letter in two weeks from her - kind of disappointing in that.

He goes to get her, and it takes several minutes to come back. She was in Focus pre-meetings again, not unusual because they have to keep doing these until they get to Focus. Then the news - she made level 3 this week! I was floored. She is actually still in the current group going to Focus in June!

Then another amazing point - she wants to get back to her pre-focus meeting, so she is cutting the call short. Things are going well and she really wants to keep working.

When she left B told us that she was going to find out that she was getting something close to 'most improved' for these pre-focus meetings as well, but didn't know it yet.

It was funny because Diane and I were talking that when she is working, we don't have a whole lot right now to talk about with her - we have been so focused before on the calls about what she is not doing and how she is not working - now that she is taking off like a rocket it is a bit overwhelming!

One of the interesting goals she did say was to have a call with just Diane, not me. This was also very good - as that is where a huge amount of work needs to be done before she comes home.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

More progress

I had the bi-weekly call with the family rep A today. I had to reschedule it earlier because my youngest son has an awards assembly tomorrow evening during our regularly scheduled call. And once again it was all good. Katie presented her level 3 goals, and had full support for them on Monday. One thing A does with her girls is to give them 'stretches' - and Katie, for that one day, had to only speak in a whisper, and to write down everything she said before she said it. She struggled with this a bit, and wanted to just quit presenting her goals, but the didn't let her give up on herself, and she made it through. This is good, as in the past (like two months ago) she would have just stopped and not done it.

She has realized that the nurses athlete's foot cream really works if she uses it twice a day like she is supposed to, so that is clearing up. And she got new glasses, and is going to get her hair cut - all positive things from my point of view. With the hair cut - they have to get parent's permission to change the style at all and I don't have any problem at all with that. Not that I can say much - but being a man I don't really have an opinion on that - it's a testosterone thing :-)

Katie actually has 1001 points right now, which is amazing. She most likely won't make the Focus seminar in June as the cutoff for being level 3 is this week, but she should make the next one in August without a problem.

She has also been named Bunk Leader, which again is a good thing. Yes, she had this before way back when, and quickly lost it. But now I think she may actually be able to do it, and learn something from it. The girls in the group are opening up to her and she is getting much more acceptance - by being real instead of trying to get acceptance. Isn't it amazing to see how these things work in life - so often you can get the things you want when you quit trying to get them, and instead just be yourself and let them come.

Friday, May 11, 2007

At long last

We had our call last night, and received the long awaited (like what - over a year) news that Katie has finally made level 2. And not only did she make level 2, but for the first time EVER she was voted up to level 2 with full support. She had taken it before, and then lost it the next week immediately because she didn't have support.

She is working on level 3, and really wants to go to Focus in June. However she has to make 3 by next week, which most likely won't happen. However she said that she DID NOT want a special exception made for her - she wanted to earn it herself. That is HUGE for her - in the past she has been so much about doing as little as possible and wanting everything given to her, as well as wanting any tiny bit of progress to erase everything in the past.

Very, very good news. I don't know how to get her and Diane working on their issues yet, Diane is still very stand-offish about it - still having a huge 'prove it' attitude. However she has been making progress now for about six weeks now, and when I talk to her I hear such a huge change in her voice. I'm optimistic at this point, maybe more than I should be.

Monday, May 07, 2007

running behind

I didn't realize that I forgot to post on Friday after our call with the Family Rep, A. It was a good call, though she still didn't go up for a vote (she should go up today). Things are going well. It looks like they have gotten a lot more girls into the group, which is taking a lot of the spotlight off of Katie. Not a bad thing really, and she seems to be handling it quite well actually, which is a good thing.

I'm also behind in writing to her - I got a letter on Thursday and haven't made the time to write back yet.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

hate waiting

Well, Katie should have gone up for a vote to level 2 yesterday. Of course, we won't hear what happened until Thursday evening when we talk to the family rep A. It should have gone well, which is exactly what we are expecting.

I may actually miss that call, as I have to go pick up my oldest son from college, and it looks like I'll be on jury duty - so I can't to Friday afternoon as planned, but will probably do it Thursday evening.