We've come a long way baby!! 😉

Nathan is doing very well, shockingly well really. He's grown substantially is 6' or more tall, gained 20+ pounds. Wears JEANS now (YES!!!) could ONLY get him in pants or jeans on a Holiday, Wedding or funeral.  He's even outgrown jeans that were purchased when he arrived there. He's changed from 'under armor' everything to Ralph Loren, Tommy Hilfiger, Champion and a few others, must be brands of choice at the Academy.  He's also matured dramatically.  He likes going to school, all the guys like school, they get to listen to music of their choice, I suspect that has a bit to do with it. They keep them very busy during the week, some down time on the weekends.

We were supposed to have another parent weekend in April but that was cancelled. We did go a month where nobody was allow for visits, now we do get to go but he can't go off site - and should be able to know with the level he's on (2.) We come wearing our masks 😷 and have to bring our own thermometers, but we are free to roam throughout the property. Not in the residents hall though, which is usually where we spend most of our time.  With the warm weather, I'm sure we'll spend most of our time down by the lake. They have a huge patio area by the lake, boat, dock to fish from etc.  Next trip Bullit will be accompanying us and I'm sure that will add swimming to the list for Bullit and throwing sticks for Nathan to our activity list.

He's been enjoying playing pool since he arrived and is the self proclaimed king of the table.  Has begun to dabble in working out, loves spending time at the barn. Has done a little welding and enjoyed that, plans on working with the landscaping crew this summer.

While Lakes Academy is a faith based program, Nathan has made it very clear for the last couple of years that he does not believe, no discussion to be had, that was that.  Things have changed.....We receive a progress report weekly and a month ago (4/17) his spiritual counselor wrote this.

"During my time with Nathan today he requested to spend some of our sessions studying the Bible; we read the first few verses in John and discussed them. Nathan asked a lot of questions that had arose after having taken the class last week, "Why Faith?"  We addressed some of these, concluding that the next best steps he can take are to start praying (and listening to God) and reading the Bible.  I suggested that he try to read the book of John over the weekend.  I plan to discuss this with him during our time together next week."

Last weeks note was:

"Nathan brought his Bible with for our session; we explored a verse in Micah (7:8) that another staff member had suggested that he read."

Boy did our jaws drop reading that first one!!!  While we certainly hoped things would change, we were shocked to see this so soon (considering his attitude about the topic up to this point.) Each week since that time have had similar reports. Nathan has talked with us about his new beliefs and his cousins Molly & Dom. We are so happy that this has changed for him. We really see and feel a different calmness within him. My father once told me "you hang out in a barber shop, you're going to get a haircut!" You couldn't have convinced me that Nathan would experience this dramatic of a change in thinking!  We're glad that he has 😍.

Feeling Thankful.