2023 – January part 4

Hey again,

After the chaos that the last part of this month brought, we took a trip to Black Angus to have a birthday dinner (also because the steaks were a special price of 25 vs normally 35). The food was very good and worth paying a little bit of sales tax (since the only location was in Vancouver, WA, and in OR there is no sales tax).

That following weekend we went to church. We are still going to Good Shepherd and this is also going to be the last week we go to Rise. The last time that we went to church at Rise… Luca was still upset, and Elijah had gotten into a fight. A fight? That isn’t like him. The person in charge said he was hanging around some of the kids who got in trouble. She didn’t think that he would be a problem moving forward.

Side note: last week would have been the last time to come here and let Arabella say goodbye to her friend and give her contact info, but given the stitches and jazz, we didn’t end up going. It’s not so much that we feel that Good Shepherd is a great fit, but we do know it’s better than some other experiences we have had. Since going to Rise we have also never liked dropping Luca off because each time we go to pick him up he looks like he has been crying for a long time. When we ask they say “Oh no, he was fine – he just started a minute ago” – hmm, well some things just don’t add up. When we drop Luca off we generally have to convince him that everything is alright. Even though our kids (2 of 3) were having issues here, so were the wife and I. We found red flags left and right. We even reached out to someone who went to Cascade with us and who used to be part of this church. Unfortunately, they didn’t give a ringing endorsement either. They pretty much reiterated some of the red flags we saw that they found over a few years. Either way, ahead we push and try for more.

Speaking of trying, the wife and I are also into this book called “Parenting – Getting it Right” by Andy and Sandra Stanley. Always looking for improvement. We can use all the help we can get. It’s a good book and I think worth the read (if you have kids).

The next day we went to Rise. As mentioned, Arabella was sad about this being her last time because she wouldn’t get to see her friend from this church anymore. Anyway, this week something new happened. We got a text (see below) to come to the kid’s area to get Luca. Hmm… given the past experiences here, I’m not sure it will be great news.

Upon arriving at the area we found Luca crying his eyes out. They explained that he had been this way the whole time and that this time he was losing his breath because of how worked up he was getting. We took him and after a good 20 minutes of chilling with us, he was fine. He spent the rest of the service with us.

Ugh.

What else could happen this month? Well, funny you should ask. We left the house on Saturday and the kids closed the door and we went on our way, when we came back we found out that they locked us out of the house. We only had a key for the car (as it was a quick stop). Well, after spending $109 we had a place come out and unlock the door for us.

February – you are a welcome sight!

just Pray