Middle Boy wanted to talk tonight.  Actually he wanted to have a heart to heart.

We talked about a lot of things.  He has an off and on girlfriend who he is back on with.  He wanted to talk about her and about their relationship.  He wanted to know if I would be willing to meet her parents and if he could go over to her house.

He wanted to talk about their relationship honoring God and asked if I would hold him accountable to that. 

He wanted to tell me he is finally starting to get it.  That he isn't leaving and it is time to step up and be the person he can be and leave the past behind.  He wanted to talk about school and about how he knows he can do better.

We talked about therapy homework and just buckling down and finishing up therapy.  We talked about how the therapy is hard, because it makes him think about past trauma that he has closed off and not dealt with.

He talked about how he thinks he needs to find different friends, because while some of them are good and people he wants to be around others are "pill poppers and weed smokers".  He is adamant this he will never do those things, because he saw first hand how it can impact not only your life, but the lives of others.  He asked if I thought some of the boys in his youth group small group would want to be his friend.  He told me he doesn't know how to be friends with people who do the right thing, because no one has ever expected him to do the right thing.

I wanted to cry tears of joy after our conversation.  We ended it by praying about all of the things we had talked about and by thanking God for allowing us to both be comfortable having the conversations.  I am so proud of this boy for the level of maturity he showed during the conversation and for his desire to truly become a man of God.