In the March Newsletter, we published an article based on a follow-up interview with Richard and his son Chris, who moved into the Adams St. Family Campus in September of 2012.
The interview with Richard and Chris was a lot of fun. We ended up talking about so much that we were only able to include a part of our conversation in the newsletter article. This blog post will cover some of what we had to leave out.
(Richard) As far as I go . . . I’ve got a lot closer to God, which I wanted to be. Before I came here, into the program, I felt out of communication with God. And just a couple weeks ago, I just felt back to where I was close enough to His presence to where that communication’s been re-established. I feel peace. I’ve got direction for where I want my family to go. I’ll be graduating (from the New Life Program) in August.
(RM) So, what’s going on in the Youth Program?
(Chris) Yes, well last night actually, we went over to a DJ. Just hung out there. Other than that I’ve just mostly been focusing on school, ROTC program.
(RM) You did football, right?
(Chris) Yes. I did football this year. Over the summer there will be seasoning, pre-conditioning. But other than that…
(Richard) He’s taking track. He starts that next month. So he’ll be plenty busy. And he keeps dad busy too, cuz he wakes me up at 5:30 every day to take him to school.
(RM) Is that a zero period for ROTC, or…?
(Chris) It’s for drill team; our last comp is this Saturday, at Prairie.
(Richard) He goes to school Friday morning at 2:30am, and they get home at 10pm Saturday. But kids have a lot more energy than dads, it seems like! That’s something else we’ve started too. Thursday mornings at 6am, we do an exercise workout here. No leaders, we just come in and do it. It’s the Insanity video – we put it on that tv right there to put a little health back in us. And it really does help a lot.
(Richard) So we’re getting the whole circle here. Physical, mental and spiritual now. We’re doing quite a bit of growing. I’m happy with it. He’s going to a youth conference, too. Youth For Christ at the end of next week?
(Chris) It starts on the 28th, Thursday, through the 2nd. It’s activities and concerts. It’ll be fun.
When asked about his experience with the Challenge Learning Program:
(Richard) I’m struggling a little bit with English, boy they’ve changed the rules since I did that! I’m getting registered for school. I’m going back to school for an associates to be a teacher, to go on for a transfer degree. I’ll have a certificate for social services and mental health. It’ll be open so I’ve got choices later. It’s a good background for us.
(RM) You have quite a plan!
(Richard) Yes. The biggest thing though, is the business that we want to open . . . It’s gonna be charity support services is what we’re calling it, which is a fancy word for party supplies . . . this business is a way of giving back. Helping charities out. It’s gonna be a couple of bouncy houses, a party tent, a karaoke machine, and a BBQ trailer. And what we’re gonna do is rent this out to charities for $350 a day, a 24 hour period. Which is a very good price, so that way they can sell tickets and raise money for their charity. We will eventually turn it into a non-profit to sponsor people like myself with families in other countries. Or single women with children . . .
When asked about the Case Managers, or mentors, that NLP participants work with:
(Richard) They do stick with you, they go through our work-books with us, through the intimate details of them . . . along with the group . . . we also discuss things as brothers . . . We give each other encouragement, or constructive criticism, which is a very delicate situation at times. But we do it with love. We’re not trying to hurt people. But sometimes you know, people say things and you take it a little harshly. But that’s part of the process too, learning to grow and to deal with that.
(RM) When you graduate the program, are you moving out of Adams, or going into the Applied Living Program?
(Richard) The Applied Living Program is great to know that it is there for us. We’ll probably take advantage of it for a couple months. But I’m anxious to put the program into action. And I know Christopher is, too . . .
(Richard) This morning I was listening to a ministry, online, that was talking about time is what life is made of, so if you love life so much, you should make the most value out of your time. I didn’t do that before. Before, it was all about materialistic things, and now it’s more about meaningful things. Spending time with my family. That’s what’s gonna make it more content in life.
Congratulations to Richard and Chris on their accomplishments and progress. We look forward to celebrating with them when Richard graduates the New Life Program.