the rest of the story

A few weeks ago, I shared Coleman's story about breaking windows and how he had to go to court. Well, here's what happened:

Coleman was called to court on Nov. 9th. He was the first one of the "criminals" to go before the youth court and tell the story. Jeff prepped him a little and told him to tell the truth, speak loudly and tell the whole story. He was SO nervous but he walked in and sat down and did a good job! The setting was enough to make me nervous and I didn't do anything wrong! It was kind of like walking into a high council room - there was a HUGE table, 15 big office chairs, 6 teenagers sitting at one end of the table and a police officer sitting at the other end. Coleman, Jeff and I sat at the front of the room in the same big chairs (with Coleman in the middle). The teenagers introduced themselves and then started the "trial". They asked him to tell what happened and he did just what his dad told him to do - he told the truth, he spoke loudly and told the whole story! It was actually a proud moment for me as his mom. I was NOT happy that we were there, but I was proud of him for telling the truth and accepting responsibility for his actions. They asked him if he was sorry and he said "yes". They asked him if he had had any punishment and he told them that he had been over to the house to clean up the glass, pick apples, rake LOTS of leaves and clean up walnuts. Then the excused us all while they were in deliberation. We were sent to another small room to wait. About 2 minutes later, they called us back in and gave him his sentence. He was to perform 10 hours of community service but gave him credit for 8 hours already completed. He also had to write an apology letter to Jeff and I and have everything completed by Dec. 9th. He agreed to the punishment and signed a paper saying that he would comply then we left. When we got outside, I gave him a big hug and told him that I was proud of him and that he did a good job - then he drove away with his dad in the convertible. 

Two days later, he completed one hour of his community service by raking up the leaves in the gutters at our church building and on Monday night, he completed his community service by reading Thanksgiving stories to some darling little ladies at a rest home in Payson. He wrote his apology letter after dinner Monday night and we drove down to the police station Tuesday after school to hand everything in. I am happy that this whole thing is behind us but I am actually really grateful that we had to go through this. It has taught me some valuable lessons as a parent and I know that Coleman will think twice before doing something like that again. 

I copied Coleman's apology letter so that I could send it to Brad and so that I could share it with you. 

He's a sweet boy and I love my little guy even more after going through this with him! 

(I just hope we don't have to do something like this again!)