Weekly update

I had a call with 'A' last night, and Katie is still doing well. She is still a little over excited after the pass, and they are watching that to make sure it doesn't go back into old patterns.

Looks like we will know by January 15th if she is going to be level 5 in time for PC3 in February, or we will be doing PC2 the weekend before instead. One thing is that PC2/3 comes with another 3 day pass - and there really isn't any way we can do that as well - that would actually put us gone for 8 days (3 days for the seminar, 3 for the pass, 2 for travel). Not really doable, though we will look into maybe adding a day before/after for a pass.

Katie has over 1000 pts (needs 1600), and needs her staffing credit, which they are going to schedule for her this week I believe, and then support for level 5 of course.

We are going to talk again after the PC about putting her through the opposite side of the process that she was on before. This is where other girls were going into Orange for things she did - now we want to have her go into Orange for what someone else does. I see this as beneficial for two reasons - the first and most important is to make sure she can deal with setbacks. So far every time she has hit a bump in the road she has completely derailed and blown it, and we want to make sure she can handle this. The second is to simply give her a chance to see the other side. I mentioned to 'A' that you do learn a lot being on the other side of any process, and she agreed.

'A' went and checked Katie's weight - she is currently 240, down 31 lbs since she came in. Not the 175 she claimed, which we knew was not realistic, but still that is good. I think she may have grown a bit taller as well, as she is big but not huge. When Katie and Diane went shopping for some jeans she was able to find and fit a pair of 20's right off the wrack - which she had never been able to do before.

We also talked about the religion issue a bit, and Katie had led 'A' to believe that we were Mormon - she never told her that it was just her mom, and she had just been baptised in the Mormon church right a month or so before she got there, and that only a few months after being baptised in the Baptist church.

So a good call, and more progress.

Back at Home

We are home, and I'm back at work (such fun), but luckily it is always very slow between Christmas and New Year here.

The pass with Katlyn went great! She and Diane had a real nice girls time, doing some shopping for her. Katie was so happy to be able to go and pick a pair of jeans right off the rack and have them fit without problems! I'm going to have 'A' check to see exactly how much weight she has lost in the program - Katie is saying 175 lbs but that is not realistic (it would mean that she was either over 350 going in, or is now less than 125, and neither of those is true).

We had some good conversations, and even had the opportunity to deal with some issues at the St. George mall, which was good. One thing that was very powerful, which we almost forgot but remembered Sunday afternoon, was for Katie to do an exercise with letting go of her mother. She wrote her a letter, then tied it to a balloon and released it. A lot of tears, but watching it float off into the moonlight was pretty powerful, and she said that she really felt like a bit burden was lifted from her.

We managed to do just about everything on her list for her pass, including all the food all the girls wanted her to eat for them (with pictures for her to show them!). She said that all the girls were so excited to smell the chlorine in her hair when she went back on Saturday night after we had gone swimming!

Then it was over. All to quick, but a very good visit. We can actually see the beautiful young woman that would be welcome back in our home in the future.

Now we just hope this inspires her to keep working.

Mid Pass Update

I'm sitting in our hotel room in the metropolis of Hurricane, UT, trying to keep from eating some of the snacks we brought. Katie and Diane are out having some girl time - doing some shopping and getting their hair done.

The pass is going very well. 'A' brought Katie down yesterday morning, and she was really surprised to see us. She came down with a friend she has made here - a very sweet girl a little younger than she is who just got voted up to level 6 and is working on graduating, probably in February. We went to breakfast and then drove up to check out where Zion National Park was and get some pictures from the La Verkin overlook (the temperature isn't too cold, but the wind was pretty chilly). I was worried about getting back in time (I hate unfamiliar areas), and ended up getting a speeding ticket on the way back - and of course was only a couple of miles away at that point and still we were a little early.

We went to a group session, and all the girls in Katie's group were so sweet and all wanted to talk to us and get/give hugs. At times it is really hard to picture them (and Katie as well) in the behaviours that got them there - they all seem so sweet and wonderful when you meet them.

We caught a movie (ps. I love you) - a real chick flick and Katie was just crying through the last half of it - but she really liked it. Then dinner and back for the evening. We picked her up this morning and they are now off doing their thing.

So things are going well. 'B' did tell us that to expect yesterday and today (and maybe tomorrow) a 'honeymoon' phase - but we are trying to work on some real issues - which is why it is so important for Katie and Diane to spend time together.

Preparations

So it is time to get ready. In a week we will see Katie again, for the first time in 14 months, and for her first off-grounds pass. We pick her up at 8:00 am and have to have her back by 8:00 pm for three days. The first day we will be attending one of her group therapy sessions, and then have a family session with the therapist. But after that it is completely up to us. We do have to have a goal for the pass.

That is always one of the frustrations I have with some of the seminars - it is very common to want us to have goals for the seminars when they begin - yet for most of these I have no idea beforehand what the seminar is - so I don't have a way to set a goal for it.

Katie is still doing well. She has only two requirements left to hit level 5 - she has to start staffing other seminars (and they are going to start going over staffing assignments after Christmas), and she needs to earn enough points. Right now she has 1/4 of the points she needs, so she should be on track for both of those to hit level 5 in time for PC III in February.

I am trying very hard to not get my hopes up, but she is doing better and has progressed farther than ever before, and there may actually be hope for her to graduate. I don't know what we would do then (having her home again after three years will still be a bit strange, but it is a good problem to have).

Girl Call

Well this week I didn't talk to Katie, as it was just a call with Diane instead (and with 'B', the therapist there, of course).

I don't feel bad for being excluded. Not at all. I know when I'm not wanted. *sniff*

:-) :-) :-) :-)

Diane said it went well, if a little 'light'.

We are a little concerned that she got 3 cat 3's in one day, and don't even want to think that she could drop and lose the pass. She has done that before, I just so want her to finally be 'getting it' and really working at last.