more about Andrew

On Thursday, about lunchtime, Larry left for a little sabbatical in Oklahoma.  He had a great time fishing, playing golf, sleeping late in the cabin he rented and just spending a lot of time alone with God.  He relaxed & enjoyed nature.

 

Of course, the poor guy was hit with bad news each time he called home.  God bless him for not hanging up on me.  :)

 

Thursday at school, Andrew was found sitting at the back of the cafeteria staring off into space, unresponsive.  The principal called me at work to tell me what was going on.  She had spent a while sitting on the floor beside him, trying to coax him to talk.  He wouldn't respond to her, but she did eventually get him to nod/shake his head a few times.  He ended up spending the rest of the day sitting in her office reading books.  I still don't know what was wrong.  That evening, he was pure torture at home as well, fighting, screaming, arguing, crying.  I don't know if any of this had something to do with Larry being gone, but by the end of that first night, I was ready for Larry to come home!!

 

Friday afternoon was much the same.  The boys were supposed to clean their room.  Samuel had laundry to pick up & I asked Andrew to clean off their shelf (they have a big shelving unit in their room & it was a disorganized mess).  Before it was all said & done, Andrew was saying he wanted to just burn down the room to get rid of the mess (instead of having to clean it).  Talk about sending chills down your spine.....I don't think he'd actually do that, but it freaked me out a little bit that he'd even come up with that idea.

 

Throughout Thursday and Friday, I repeatedly asked all 5 kids if they knew where a $20 bill was that had come up missing.  It was money for Avon & I had it on the bar in the kitchen before it disappeared.  Everyone claimed to not know.  I had my suspicions, unfortunately, but no one owned up to it.  I was kicking myself for leaving it there because I really should've known better.

 

On Saturday morning, I woke up & found staples and candy wrappers in the kids' bathroom toilet.  There was soap dumped all over their bathroom floor (to make people slip & fall when they walked in there).  There was pizza crust in the kitchen floor (the leftover box was in the fridge) and a trail of canned/squirty cheese on the bar.  Between all that & my frustration over feeling like I'd been violated by someone taking the money on the bar, I was very stressed out.  In my book, stressed out means crying.  I finally locked myself in the bathroom & had a good cry.  I was upset at Andrew for his behavior the past couple of days & really suspected that he was the culprit for all of Saturday morning's shenanigans and I was crying to God "Are you SURE I'm the one you wanted to do this job?".  There are times when I feel so inept to fill this HUGE role He's given me....and Saturday morning was one of those times.  As I sat & cried and waited for the Lord to speak to me, I kept hearing 2 scriptures in my head--- Seek & ye shall find, ask & it will be given, knock and the door will be opened to you AND an emphasis on one particular part of Jer. 29:11--- "plans for you...hope & a future".  I found comfort & strength in those verses enough to pull myself out of the bathroom floor & go on.  I kept praying for God to bring to light who took the money before bedtime as that was my biggest concern.  I emailed several friends & asked that they back me up in prayer until Larry got home because I was really getting wrung out & tired of tackling it all alone.

 

Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct.  We found the missing money--in Andrew's wallet.  My heart is broken that I now have to worry about theft within my own home.  He watched me cry as he admitted to stealing it and I think I saw a little sadness in his eyes as he realized that it upset me so much.  As we talked to him, he cried & appeared remorseful, but he's acted remorseful the last thousand times we've caught him lying about something, so I really don't know how sorry he is.  My resolve is not gone, though.  He may grow up to make bad choices or he may choose to do wrong now.....whatever the case, it won't be for lack of our trying to teach him to do right.  (and in case you're wondering---yes he was punished for stealing & lying about it)

 

This morning, his remorseful attitude from yesterday has apparently already dissolved.  I went grocery shopping last night & bought mini donuts for everyone to eat for breakfast.  Last night, Larry & I packaged upa baggie for everyone to have an equal number of donuts.  We labeled each one w/ their name so there would be no confusion.  Andrew was awake at 5:00am (I have no idea WHY).  When I realized he was up, I sent him back to bed.  I really don't know how long he'd been up, but it was 5:00 when I woke up to him bumping around in the kitchen.  30 minutes later he had Samuel up with him (he woke him up) to play.  Again, I sent them back to bed.  I set their alarm & told them they could not get up until the alarm went off (7:00am).  At 6:30, Larry was up getting ready for church & allowed them to go ahead & get up.  (He had no idea about my earlier threat to strangle anyone who got up before the alarm went off.  LOL)  I woke up to the sounds of Samuel crying that his donuts were gone.  Indeed, the baggie with his name had been emptied.  No one else in the house was up yet and I know Larry & I didn't eat his donuts.  This is sooooo frustrating!

 

Keep praying, please........