Well, we had our first family meeting last night... I'd have to say that it was rather successful. All four of us sat at the dining table and came up with meeting agreements (so we can all voice our opinions and not freak on each other) and an agenda.
We've agreed to meet every Sunday at 7pm, and we've agreed that once a week we'll committ to a family activity to be decided at each family meeting. Jamie got to choose the first one, and we're going miniature golfing this Sat afternoon in Abbotsford. It should be a fun time. Admitedly we won't make every activity something that requires money - it could be a family walk or a movie night or game night.... I'm hopeful that we'll find these meeting and outings enjoyable and worthwhile so we'll faithfully continue.
We all worked together for about half an hour, then we excused Dustin so we could go over some stuff with Jamie in detail... some of it got a little heated, but we worked through it and ended with all of us feeling okay. We left some issues to be further discussed next week - we know we can't solve everything in an hour.

I was disappointed that Jamie didn't make his curfew last night, after our meeting though. We agreed he can have a weeknight curfew of 10pm for now (as he's not in school for the balance of this semester), and he didn't get home till 10:35. We'd locked the door and put his sleeping bag outside... we debated whether to let him in or not, and finally decided to... it was very cold last night, and the meeting had gone so well... hopefully it was the right decision. We've both let him know how disappointed we are that he was late... hopefully that will help deter a repeat.

All in all, things are looking better than they were a couple weeks ago. Let's hope the positive keeps flowing.

So, Jamie apparently made it into the house at some point yesterday... he's not telling us how...
Thankfully he came with us to meet the vice principal, and we actually had a good meeting. The first meeting back in September, Jamie's hair was still long, and he kept it over his face... he didn't say much, just shrugged his shoulders and slouched in the chair and hadn't showered in a few days....
Yesterday, he looked much more alert - and of course we can see much more of his face with his mohawk... he had showered and he took part in the conversation... a big improvement!

It looks like this sememster is written off... he's too far behind to catch up now. We've (Jamie, the Vice Principal, Jim and myself) agreed that he will drop this semester and start up again in Feb for 2nd semester. In the meantime, he's going to talk to his counsellor about possibly doing English 10 through correspondence so he won't be too overloaded come summer if he goes to summer school (all his ideas / agreements). It sounds like he's getting bored of being home with nothing to do.

I just hope he's not telling us all what he thinks we want to hear, so he can sit around and do nothing until feb and get us of his back....

Ahh well.... one day at a time....

Well, Jamie stayed out last night....
He was upset with me yesterday because I found a bong in his closet Tuesday evening and threw it away (I've told him if I find any drugs or parephenalia in the house I will throw it away)... so he's now telling us that he will not go back to school until he gets it back... If only he really realized that the only one he's hurting is himself!
Anyway, he was home last night and asked if his friend Eric could spend the night and we said 'no'... (we need to handle our problems, and Eric and his family need to handle theirs)... so about 1/2 an hour later, Jamie is talking to Eric on the phone and says he's going to stay over at Eric's. I tell Jamie that it's after 10pm and he's not allowed to go... but he leaves anyway, with the understanding that the deadbolt would be locked today until Jim gets home.
Around 11pm, Eric calls looking for Jamie.. and Jim tells him that Jamie's gone to stay with him and if he hears from Jamie he should tell him to get his butt home..... so we left the deadbolt unlocked last night, but he didn't come home.
So... now it's almost 2pm the following afternoon, and I don't know if Jamie made it to Eric's last night or not. I locked the deadbolt when I left this morning, so he is unable to get into the house... but I don't even know if he's been home to try.

He hasn't been to school since Sept 27th, so I doubt he went there today... though we're supposed to be having a meeting with the Vice Principle at 5:45 this evening.... should be interesting.....

Well, I found out today from Jamie's vice principle that he has not been to school since Sept 27.. that's one week ago! He is not going to pass grade 10 - but he doesn't have (or at least isn't telling us) any idea what he's going to do instead....
Some days I just want to dig a hole and bury myself.......