The Ballet

Heartlife headed out the door to go downtown, to see a ballet called "Bach meets Africa"

Randall came with us, he always seems find a way to make someone laugh.

We all waited right outside the door to the Keller Auditorium for about half an hour in the cold weather. It was freezing, some of us resorted to the warmth of a graphic flame on my ipod touch, or the last drops of Brendan's mocha.

We played games to pass the time

Finally we were let inside the auditorium. We went up a few flights of stairs and to aisle 4.

Watching the performers practice was something I had seen about 4 times already, but it is still very entertaining. They do so many things that I can't imagine being able to do.

"Bach meets africa" was a pretty amazing show, the scenes were really cool, how they used shadows. Click here to learn more.

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AC...part three.

So the TV dialogue has to come to a close, but I never expected this. AC's mom came to  me and said, " We don't want the TV back because we like how things have become. "

So the TV has found a new home in the childcare facility that rents from the Bridge House. Funny how it all works together....for good.

AC and the TV...part two.

So we come to our first Joy Day. Joy Day is the first thursday of the month. It's called Joy Day because that is when we check on the homework from the previous month and if  you have all your work in, then you have the Joy of follow through. If you have more than one piece of homework missing then you give up your free time the following Friday from 9-3. And if the work doesn't get done by then you come back on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday, etc. until your homework is caught up.  At that point you receive the Joy of completing your commitments. So, either way, there is Joy on Joy Day.

So back to the first Joy Day. AC had 19 assignments missing. When I asked him how much TV he had watched in the past week he came up with about 30 hours. He and I had a brief, engaging dialogue about what it would take for him to be successful at Heartlife and he agreed to not watch TV until he was caught up. If he did then I would get the second TV. 

He came on Friday and worked pretty hard, but he didn't get all his assignments done. So he knew he had to come back on Monday. During the weekend he was to work on his homework and stay away from the TV.

He faced some difficulties over the weekend. The place he was going to stay didn't work out. Finally, when he got settled into his new digs he sat down to watch the new Star Wars animated TV show. Then his conscience quickened  and he did a momentary two step with his Kevin Commitment...and then settled into watching the film.

On Monday, when he came to his second serving of Joy Day, he let me know that he had watched TV over the weekend...didn't keep his commitment.

Uh-Oh....there goes the second TV from the AC house. And yet, it didn't seem right to punish his mom and brother, who  aren't in Heartlife...just in life. So we're working on putting the TV in mom's room and putting a keyed lock on her door. All this just because learning how to do your homework is harder than it looks. 

AC O'Neal and the TV deal...

So AC decides to come to Heartlife after working hard out in the garlic fields. And he is a joy to be around. However, Heartlife has chunked up his life abit. This story goes like this...

Paula, AC's mom, asks to see me after church one saturday. We sit down near the front and she tells me this story. The night before she had asked AC to help her clean the house and his reply was,"No thanks, I'm gonna watch TV." So Paula and her other son, Austin, work on cleaning the house. The next morning she invites AC to go to church and he says,"No thanks, I'm gonna watch TV." Now you may be wondering why Paula didn't just pull him up by the ear and say, " Get with the program!" Well, Paula is a tiny thing and AC is 5'8" and 220...and Paula is not prone to violence. 

So enter AC's brothers keepers....Kevin Brusett, Heartlife mentor and Don Loveridge, parent of Heartlife children, teacher and otherwise great guy. We negotiate with Paula that I (Kevin ) can buy the TV for a dollar and keep it till AC straightens up. Then we arrange for when we can stop buy and pick it up. 4pm that afternoon seems to work out.

So Don shows up at 3:45 with some Jamba Juice. AC answers the door and Don say,"AC, I'm coming in." They spend the next 45 minutes talking about owning your own journey, respecting the efforts of your mother, how to get the internet to work, etc.

At 4:30 or so I ring the doorbell, all smiles and good wishes. AC is thoughtfully wary...like why are these two guys really here. I ask him if he knows what brother's keeper is. He answers in the affirmative and gives me the definition...loving some one enough to hold them accountable.

And I say, "That's why I'm here!"

After a few opening comments I tell AC I've got some great news. I just got a great deal on a TV.

He's happy for me but can't figure out why I'm telling him that. I let him know that it only costs me a dollar and he can't believe it. Then I let him know that I'll need help getting it into my car and would he mind. He's starting to get the picture and when I ask him to unhook the Xbox there is a subtle shift in focus. I say it's subtle because of what happened the next week. But that's the next story.

For now I've got a lovely 25 in. TV in my garage and I definitely have AC's attention. Now AC gets to decide if he's in a teachable space or not. Time will tell.