Tonight when the HOME program brought Middle Boy home we had a family meeting.

Younger Boy wanted to talk to him first.  I was super proud of him.  He said, "Middle Boy, I have good and bad things to say to you.  First, I am glad you are home, because I missed you.  Second, what you did scared me and brought up bad memories from my past."

It humbled Middle Boy a lot to hear those words from his younger brother.

I asked Middle Boy if there was anything he wanted to say in return.  He told him he was very sorry and that he loved him.  Then they hugged.  No prompting from me.

I am thankful to God that these boys love each other.

Younger Boy went to bed after that.

I told Middle Boy that I was still processing my feelings about the whole thing and that when I was ready I would talk to him about it.  The one thing I was ready to talk about was that I love him and I am not giving up on him.

He talked about how he thought I would give up on him.  How he was certain that he was out of chances.

Nope...not with me and not with God.

Prayers he would start to understand that.