All the girls passed today, praise God! This new class is going to be
great, I’ve already observed so much character and dedication. God
bless ya’ll.
1-Oct-2005
28-Sep-2005
Well I tried several times to post some smart remark about Papa Shoes
endorsement of my squirrel snaring abilities but through internet
difficulties the Lord stopped me from ever being able to post until I
had rethought everything. So my post will now be in celebration of my
little brother’s 12th birthday.
Happy Birthday Timothy!
Collecting beach glass with Katie
Riding in Uncle Roy’s cool car
An active kid always ready for adventure, works hard but hates anything
pointless (like hiking just to hike) Timothy has a do or die attitude
and throws himself heart soul and mind into anything he takes up. Tim
has a promising start on his last year before manhood. God bless you
little brother, you have a keen sensitivity to spiritual things that
will be a wonderful asset as you live to please the Lord.
22-Sep-2005
Wow, I just got off the phone with my dad, he said that evacuations
are going on, Galveston is a ghost town. All the highways in Houston
have been made one way – that’s six lanes going out and traffic is
still so thick you can be out there for hours and only go ten miles! My
grandparents have left their costal home and come to our house, and
Liza’s family has been evacuated and may come to out house too. Dad
says that this is the 3rd largest hurricane to hit since they have been
recording them. Watch your gas prices because Houston is a major oil
refinery.
Pray once again for hurricane victims, pray that in this time of
uncertainty and prospective loss that someone will tell these people of
eternal security.
20-Sep-2005
Caution: The following is written
purely for entertainment and contents may be skewed by the intake of
rice cakes and almond butter (part of the approved diet) and may not
reflect the opinion of the writer.
Late Sunday night three suspicious
characters crossed the Michigan state line, no they were not making a
break for it, were on their way back…
“They sure spread these centers far
apart, maybe so the inmates won’t cross contaminate too much.” This
was the thought of the driver when three Texan yard birds managed to
obtain a parole and what did they do with this breath of freedom?
Visited two other centers! Apparently they were admitted as
psychiatric cases.
The stated reason for this erratic
behavior was to visit friends who are being held at the said
locations; Mikaela Santini and Amy Ortiz – sector 11, cell 30.
Contact was made strategically at dinner time where Flint residents
consumed salad and spaghetti sauce/soup in accordance with prescribed
diet from which there was no parole. After talking and looking at mug
shots of other detainees, the Flint trio had to leave for other
accommodations, the warden of ITC frowning upon aberrations of the
rules such as extra persons in a room.
Following sketchy directions to yet
another center, these three youth were headed for trouble, no,
trouble was following them and got them from behind. Being raised in
a tough region, the trio were largely unaffected, but the car
sustained heavy injuries from this brush with danger. An officer
arrived on the scene, filled out the paper work and showed leniency
towards the trio considering that the registration was in South
Carolina, the license from Texas, current residence in Michigan and
the whole thing was taking place in Indiana.
After being cleared of all charges,
and wandering around some country roads, the second contact was made:
Susanna Whitten, original acquaintance made at the Big Sandy center,
during a rehabilitation program (aka STEP). Susanna had been held at
the South Campus center for seven years and recently been released to
a house about three miles from the center. Whitten and three brothers
were the only ones still up waiting for us and entertained us with
conversation, theological discussions and peanuts (oreo cookies
safely avoided) until 1:30 in the morning.
Sunday morning dawned bright and
early, as did curious siblings and consequently, yours truly.
Breakfast, a walk, then home church service all proceeded at a
relaxed pace which did wonders for the soul and an offer to stay
another night had to be regrettably turned down. (Parole could not be
extended due to Monday morning class). After a tour of South Campus,
leave was taken of this good crony and the visit with our other
comrades was reconvened.
What did five Texans do on a Sunday
afternoon? Went to Texas Roadhouse! (steak is an approved diet food
🙂 Finishing there a stop was made at the nursing home where the ITC
residents had labored for the last several weeks, learning the trade
of Certified Nurses Assistant.
We reluctantly took leave of our
friends as visiting hours came to an end and we all headed back to
our own center. Five hours later we reached our very own holding
block only to find that the battery to our door lock was dead, being
too early in the morning to wake anyone, we crashed in a vacant room.
Ah, home sweet home.
19-Sep-2005
Seems that word has gotten around about our little incident…uhm
accident…this weekend. I wrote a humorous account of the whole trip
which I’ll probably post tomorrow but for now I just want to give the
specifics and praise the Lord.
It happened this way, we were at a red light and going to turn right;
the car behind us thought we had gone and looking to the left to check
for other traffic revved her car right into the back of ours. That’s
pretty much it.
One interesting thing was she commented once or twice about, was how
well we were taking the whole thing and that I wasn’t upset or
anything. There was nothing really to be mad about, it happened, I just
felt badly for her and was trying to make her feel a little better by
kind of talking and joking a little bit.
Anyhow, the next morning I was reading in Ecclesiastes and you know how
it’s about the vanity of all things (including cars) and one verse just
struck me: There is nothing better for man to do than to rejoice and to
do good in his life. I didn’t need to be upset at the turns that life
took, it’s just life, I could rejoice that we were not hurt and that
the car still worked, and that it wasn’t my insurance, and then do good
to that lady and encourage her.
