FREEDOM!

Well, not completely, but the hardest part is over! And not to get too "William Wallace-y" on you, but "Braveheart" - one of the best.movies.EVER! - is so good for so many things.

What Freedom sometimes looks like!

Friday morning at 8am, Michael returned to Dismas and made his final check-in to "check-out." Anticlimactic to say the least except for when they did not have the tool to remove the anklet (surprise!) and they just pulled hard to pop it off, pieces flying everywhere. Then he was given his completion paper and was done. Next week Michael meets with his probation officer and we will learn about this new phase. He has 100 hours of community service and 3 years of probation left.

And I will love you every step of the way.



After he came home, we made a celebratory breakfast and then went to Zoo Atlanta. It was nice to not have to request to go somewhere and wait for someone to approve! So today is the first day in the next step. We know God is faithful and although we don't know His plans, they are not harmful to us, only helpful even if we can't see it immediately! The Shaw Family Adventure is ready for a new chapter! I will let you know about next week's appointment with Mr. Christian, the probation officer although I will admit I was not a fan on his first visit to approve our home and the Night Ranger song "Sister Christian" keeps getting stuck in my head when I hear his name!  ("Sister Christian, oh the time has come/And you know that you're the only one/ To say, OK" - and Mr. Christian is the one who has to OK things! A little juvenile but still funny!) Michael was told that this man is one of the better Probation Officers and will treat him fairly. God provides again.

Thank you for kind words, thoughts and prayers! Welcome to Phase II!

Heidi

The Shaw Family, 2012

New Accessories

RAF Reciever Anklet

     On Leap Day, February 29, 2012, exactly one year from dropping him off at FPC Pensacola, Michael was allowed to be on home confinement for the rest of his sentence!  Along with this priviledge came a fancy, new accessory: his anklet. It is actually not that fancy since it is just a receiver and not a GPS unit. We are babysitting a medium sized black box that renders our answering machine useless.  It has been freeing to not have any messages for a month; except when you miss appointment reminder messages.  We are old school now!  Like the rest of this adventure, not much information on the receiver. When it was set up, Michael was told that they weren't exactly sure the range - probably 150 feet.  And that it would make noises sometimes but not to worry about that.  OK... Whatever happened to instruction manuals and definitive rules? Oh, that's right! That's just on TV and in the movies!  This is REAL life! Or at least our real life!  We are so thankful that he will only have to wear it for a month because he has learned it is not fun when the temperature gets hot and it gets sweaty! We are taking bets on how much hair he will have left on his lower leg after 30 days of anklet.  30 days, you say? Is the math correct? YES! Michael's sentence is officially over April 1, 2012, but as this falls on a Sunday and the fine folks at Dismas dislike working on weekends, he is done Friday morning, March 30, 2012, at 8 am! (In BOP speak, just X amount of days and a wake-up count! This is how we are counting it down.)  We are so blessed that they did not try to push it to Monday, April 2 and know this is by God's grace.  God is amazingly faithful!

It has been great having Michael home, but still a transition. He is getting in sync with us 3 girls (Heidi, Madison & Emma the cat), and girls have their own way of doing things!  We are getting used to another person's schedule and having fun learing new things about each other.  One important things besides thanking God for His provision, is treating each day as if we will not have another one. This has helped shape our priorities and become better parents. We do not want to miss an opportunity to tell each other of our love and appreciation and want this to be part of Madison's every day normal.  There are still frustrations, but we are learning better ways to communicate and resolve. Sixty seconds of being upset is a minute of happiness we will never get back!

One of the funniest things for me is Michael relearning Atlanta traffic patterns and shortcuts. I take for granted that I have been driving when he has not for a year. Very eye opening on just how much craziness is out on the highways when it has become commonplace! Michael was very blessed to have rides to and from Dismas to work and he particularly misses his conversations with Brian Denman and Gerald Craig. Car pool: it's the way to go!

Have a great March! Check back to see our celebration post at the end of March and our new family picture! We've come a long way, baby! 

Heidi

Circle of Life

I give the credit entirely to my mother, who thought sending cookies to Michael in November when he arrived at Dismas would help him feel loved until he earned enough privileges to extend visits.  And because there was no list of what you could do for a resident, we have evolved into an "it's better to ask forgiveness, than ask permission" state of being. (There is a list of what not to do when you are a Dismas resident, notably: 1. Do not kill anyone. 2.  Do not riot. 3. No cell phones.) Included in his first care package, tucked in with warm clothes and drawings from Madison, was a container of oatmeal raisin cookies.  Michael shared them with his dorm mates; one of which could not believe he would share and told him, "These taste just like Christmas!" Well, how can you not keep baking for an audience like that? And so the unofficial Dismas Cookie Ministry was born. The only kind of cookies that were met with a little wariness were some very green, mint chocolate chip cookies. But once they were tasted, they were gone. (My sous chef is 3; we like food coloring!)

Growing up our church participated in the Jordan Prison Ministry's Christmas Cookie Project. They would collect enough cookies to give each inmate at the prison one dozen cookies.  I grew up running around the Fellowship Hall while mothers packaged cookies and eventually helping to package. Things always come full circle. The girl who was dying to be a missionary after listening to Marilyn Laszlo, then frustrated that she would not be going to a faraway country to share Jesus, finally grew up enough to understand "going out into all the world" can mean your own zip code. God uses anything you can do for His glory. Even cookies.

So this weekend we baked enough cookies for the 21 other men in Michael's dorm to have a baker's dozen for Valentine's Day. What a perfect time to show someone that they are loved! (Another fun aside with the cookies is one resident told Michael that he should be careful about bringing something so good because someone might find out where he lived, look me up and tell me that Michael was "no good" and that I should marry them instead! Michael was not sure how to take that!)

Michael is eligible for home confinement February 17th; according to his counselor, home confinement paper work is only processed on Mondays, so it will be sent on February 20th with the earliest turn around time of 7 days.  We are hoping that he will be returning home the first of March! Some of the things he is most looking forward to are being able to spend each evening and morning with us, take a shower without the need for shower shoes, sleep in a room without fluorescent lights on all night, and sleep on something thicker than a kindergarten mat. We are keeping his counselor in prayer that he will do right by Michael and put his paperwork in on time. Thank you for keeping our family in your prayers!

Heidi

Happy New Year!

Madison & Daddy at Church

"Life is a Circus"

January has been very good to us! Michael has reached the 48 hour pass level and is able to be home with us most weekends. He also is able to have a weekly faith pass to go to church. We are enjoying spending time with him! The restrictions on home passes include staying at home except when he is using his faith pass, so it has been nice to relax and not feel the need to be anywhere or go anywhere.  Michael is working for Max Wagerman which we are so appreciative for, especially because this has enabled him to be eligible for home passes. And the Rogers family! Especially since our family is so far away, it has been wonderful to be "adopted" by them. They are awesome and always there to listen or give a much needed word of encouragement! Brian Denman has been such a blessing to us as well; we are so thankful for his friendship! We continued to be blessed by so many people and are so grateful.

Like the rest of this crazy journey, truth has been stranger than fiction and the half-way house is no exception.  Michael has met some interesting people there but the most frustrating thing is the apathy, lack of organization and control issues of the staff. This has taught us what "rehabilitation" really means in the penal system and unfortunately "re-education" is not a prevalent factor. Although he has learned some "skills" from the residents, like turning phone books into body armor! This place could be in its own space-time continum if you viewed it through quantum physics! We continue to thank God for working all things to the greater good and for His glory! We are excited for good things in 2012 and hope you will see the blessings in your life as well!

Heidi



Merry Christmas!

Michael, Heidi & Madison



Visiting Daddy!

Madison and Daddy!

Back in the ATL!

 Reunited!

Despite some crazy challenges in checking out of FPC Pensacola and the fact that the BOP did not take into consideration the time zone change  (losing an  hour) for his travel time, thanks to Mr. Robbie Ball, Michael made it to the Atlanta halfway house 30 minutes early! 30 minutes that we were able to spend together!  Due to the beneficence of the BOP (a nice way of saying "completely unorganized"), we were able to have an additional 2 1/2 hours together before he was shown to his dorm.  Only God can work those kind of things out for you! Michael and I both had happy tears and it was such a relief to see him well.  True to BOP form, he did not have all the information he was to have been given but it will be easy things to remedy: liquid laundry detergent, rolls of quarters for the phone (probably last place in the USA that has a pay phone LOL!), mesh or clear bag for his personal items, etc.  Unfortunately the left hand still does not know what the right hand is doing, so no clear time frame for his first pass ("maybe next Monday or sometime after that" - almost as bad as listening to a meteorologist! no offense to the meteorologically inclined) or home confinement eligibility. But the good news is he can have visitors right away, every Sunday from 12 - 3pm, and holiday visits at their discretion.  He can also receive mail which can be addressed to:  Michael Shaw 62166-019, Dismas Charities, 300 Wendell Court, Atlanta, GA 30336. 

We sincerely thank you for all of your support and prayers and ask that you still keep us in your thoughts. We ask you to specifically pray for Michael's new situation and that he may continue to be a blessing to others.  Mr. Ball was kind enough to ask before he left, if I needed anything and that if I did to just ask him.  I was too overcome to say this earlier, so I tell you now: Mr. Ball, thank you for bringing me the only thing I needed...my husband.