Seventeen: And Crispy!

Seventeen.

The story that M Magazine put out about us mentioned that there are not enough hours in the day...between keeping my blog updated, two small children, cooking dinner, interior design consulting, and then there's the keeping the house somewhat clean and laundry and dishes...all mom's would agree another hour would be nice! My motto on a busy day is usually that the laundry can wait. I also wanted to mention that my interior design consulting is one-client-at-a-time right now, without strict deadlines. Eventually, after these two, and hopefully two more are in school, I'll go full speed ahead! 

I chimed in today to mention the extra bundle of time and friendship that is more recently filling my days...which means that laundry and house stuff is way behind! That would be our 17 year old staying with us.  Wow. We are so thankful for this time to foster a friendship like this. It's been super exhausting, but also so good. He is a great kid that wants to do well. Life has not dealt him the best hand, and my eyes have been open wide in our conversations...

"Yeah, it's crazy...they will carve the shape of their gun out in their textbook to sneak it into school. The security officers just glance in their bag but never open their text books..."

"But see...you don't get it because you weren't brought up way different than me..."

"That's crispy." 

"That's boosie!"

"You are actin' like a mama to me, with all this preachin'."

We have had great conversations, and hard ones. We are trying to help him get back into school, but as you can imagine...it's not super motivating to go to a school where kids just want to pick a fight, and as he says, teachers just want to push him through. In a better environment, he would thrive. 

Lord, have mercy on our friend. We want him to succeed. We want him to graduate from college and get a fair chance in this world. I just think...if only we could have helped him sooner. But You are with him and can help him through. Please give him a vision and the means to do well. And thank you for your provision.

Love,

Mom


Oh and we had quite an experience the other day! Went to the barber shop...in the hood. The boys got the best haircuts. I have no match to Jerome's expertise. Tegegne got a real haircut, finally. His line is tight, which means a distinct, smooth line across the forehead. I had no idea he could have such detail around his hair line. I must take photos. Mike got "The Gumby" which looks awesome. I'm learning a ton! It's great!