Exciting News

Anne was so excited to be able to receive her girl of the month awards!  She absolutely loves the highlights in her hair and the new pair of jeans she was given.  It is so neat to see who God is using to bless the girls who stay in the home!

This past Friday, we had our first family meeting with Anne's therapist.  We were also excited to find out that Anne would for sure be able to come home with us that day.  We had known that she might be coming home on that day for a while now, but didn't share as we wanted to make sure it was going to happen before we said anything.  So our exciting news is....ANNE IS HOME!!!

Friday was filled with all kinds of fun activity.  Before we arrived, Anne, along with the girls in her home and her host mom, went out to celebrate by having ice cream for breakfast. 

Once she got back we worked on getting the gifts wrapped and thank you's written while we waited for our therapy session.  Once the family therapy session was finished, the therapist met with Anne alone and readjusted her treatment plan.  While Anne was meeting with her, Skeeter and I met with the campus director to sign the discharge papers!  When Anne was done, we were off to run some errands.  When we got back, we went to a farewell party for another girl who was leaving the same day as Anne.

After the party, we went to Anne's house to gather her things.  She was given a nice goody bag from her host family.  We then went to the main campus where every girl who is discharged, gets to do this....

 After this was done, there were a few more good byes and then it was time to head HOME!

Although everyone was happy Anne was getting to come home, they weren't happy at the same time.  Everyone had fallen in love with her and didn't want her to leave.  Anne didn't tell these girls that she was leaving until the night before.

This past week, the kids and I were busy making things for Anne's room to let her know how much we loved and missed her and were excited that she was coming home....to stay. 

I was also busy preparing the thank you gifts for the staff and house parents.  I was pretty excited with how God allowed the gifts to turn out.

Now that Anne is home does not mean that we need the prayers to stop coming.  In fact, we need prayers now just as much as ever!  We need to pray for Anne as she adjusts coming back to her "normal" living.  She is already missing her friends/family that she has been living with for the past 7 months.  She was constantly surrounded by people who admitted that they struggled and were a support system for each other.  Now at home, she may not be in that bubble of people who are willing to admit that they do not have a perfect life and do indeed struggle. 

We are going to the school tomorrow to enroll her and the other kids.  Please pray that there will be a good friend for her this year that will be a good support for her.  Her best friend from the past two years has moved away and so Anne will have lost that support. 

We will continue to make trips to see Anne's therapist that she has connected with so hopefully that will help Anne as she works through the emotions, etc, of transitioning back home.

Please be in prayer for us as her family and parents.  It is hard being a parent to a teenager (I know its hard being the teenager as well) with all the pressures they face in this sinful world.  It is even harder when the teenager struggles with anxiety.  If you have never parented a child who struggles with higher levels of anxiety, then this won't make much sense to you.  However, we pray for a good support system for us so that we can learn how to be the support that Anne needs.

As always, thank you for supporting our family through prayer!