Sometimes the challenges we have are more difficult than others. We met a new family tonight. We really don't know where to begin with this one. The father has major major depression and anxiety problems and the mother has some serious problems with substance abuse. It would be easy to just skip this one if it were not for the children. Six year old little Owen looks like such a sweet little boy but the parents have absolutely NO parenting skills and so he has no guidance and is totally out of control. He will start school tomorrow in a special place for children with problems. His little brother Reno who is four years old was asleep when we got there but we were told by the father that he can not be handled at all. If you try to hold him on your lap he starts to get violent. The state has threatened to remove the children from the home but so far they have been able to avoid it. They have an overseer who handles their finances and they get an allowance each week for groceries. Little Reno will be placed on medication starting tomorrow along with a special class with two instructors for six children with similar problems. They told us that they would love to have us come and visit each week and the dad even wants to talk about the gospel once in a while but not too often. At one time he was the Elders quorum president but now can not handle coming to church because he just feels guilty and beats himself up for not being perfect. He admitted that when anything goes wrong around him at work, at home, the neighborhood, at church or in his extended family he gets totally upset for about two weeks and can't function. We really don't know how to help on this one so we will really need help from the Lord. We will just keep going and maybe we can make a difference in some way. Boy does our life look boring and uninteresting compared to their life, but I will take boring any time. It really makes us appreciate the blessings we receive each day and makes us so grateful for what we have (or have not)
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