Woke up this morning still tired and with a sick feeling in my stomach. Ronnie's problem was still on my mind, and I mentally kicked myself for worrying instead of trusting the Lord. Fixed breakfast for Larry and myself, then went to William Penn to talk about to the high school counselors about camp. If you let yourself become miserable and discouraged about problems, you're no good to the Lord, to anyone around you, or to the person you're concerned about.

Talked to Barb on the phone. I called about not having anyone to open the building tonight. She said Frosty was probably the one who took my money because Barbara (Sondra's mother, across the street) said he had about $15 yesterday. Well, I'm not excusing him, but I can see how he’d feel under more pressure to take it right now. I shouldn't have left my purse down there.

The situation with Sondra and her family has been a real mess. She and Ronald Skinner (from Valley turf) started going together and he got caught coming out of her room at 4:00 in the morning. I guess Sondra’s brother Butch told Ronald Skinner not to come around and that's when the zip gun episode happened that Frostie was involved in. Anyway, Barb and Frostie both counseled with the family Saturday night and Monday night until about 2:00 a.m. Then last night Sondra came back home and started drinking heavily. She had run away. Her parents thought she was staying at Ronald's house. She and Ronald started arguing and she went up and got a knife and cut Ronald in the arm with it. Frostie, rather playfully got it away from her, and she went inside and got another one!

Ronald just taunted her with "Yeah Who you gonna cut!" and grabbed the knife out of her grasp, cutting her hand.

They started fighting and he pushed her really hard. She fell down on the pavement, hit her head, and passed out. I guess then they took her to the hospital and then to the Youth Study Center. Her parents charged her with delinquent behavior. Barb didn't get home till 2:00 a.m., and the family didn't get home until 5:30 a.m. They have to go back for a hearing this morning. Frostie stayed there with the kids last night. Sondra's parents are thinking of letting him stay there because his attitude has been so good towards them. His father hasn't come around.

If Sondra is still in the Youth Study Center, maybe I can talk with her on Monday. She always smiles and says hi to me. I don't know if she would let me counsel with her. She was involved in a whole mess this fall with Donald, claiming that she was pregnant by him and had done a self style abortion. She's only 14 or 15 years old. I guess girls feel they must go through these things to be considered grown up,

Barb said she got a chance to find out what was bugging Ronnie. When it comes to his family, he keeps his fear worry locked deep down inside and it really upsets and affects him. James is living with a homosexual; Clara is living with a lesbian, and she's really looking terrible, wearing dresses clear up her backside, as Ronnie put it. I guess he's really concerned about James and then Clara because he's always been close to her. His grandmother Amy is getting old and his little brothers and sisters are scattered all around. I think he very much wants to help them, but feels the hopelessness. Barb asked him if he was high last night.

He said, "No.”

Then she said, "You look me in the eyes and tell me that, Ronnie."

He said, "I can't.”

He told her, "I fell for the oldest trick in the book. I could have done anything."

Barb didn't quite get what he meant, but she felt that he’d had enough, so she didn't question any further. She counseled him that the best thing he could do to help James and Clara was to get and keep himself together. There was no reason why in 3 years he couldn't be on his own, and then if he wanted to, he could offer a home to the younger ones coming up. James and Clara would be hard for him to reach. Barb said he wasn't hostile to the idea.

You know, when James was at 20th Street for a little while, Ronnie wouldn't spend any time with him because he didn't like his ways and his mouth. He was grumpy, and showed a little but very little affection. I guess he was just too impatient with him. Maybe because he wanted so much for him. I don't know. He seems to put on such a front of unconcern sometimes. Maybe because of past painful experiences, he feels it's useless. James hadn't been going to school for months, Barb said.

Had Bible study today with Ba Ba and Kinney. We had a good time. They started arguing during recreation and I explained Romans 12:19 to them. Then we had a good discussion on Ephesians 6:12 (who the Christian fights), and a good lesson on pride in the tower of Babel. Little Kinney even asked how you could get rid of pride. These are the boys in my Broad Street Bible study, by the way.

Fed seven people men for dinner tonight! I only knew how to make popcorn, chocolate chip cookies and Chef Boy R Dee pizzas when I first came. But Barb showed me how to grocery shop on the weekly $7.00/person Dorothy Drury sends us for food, and how to cut up a chicken. Donald and Frostie taught me how to fry chicken – you get it wet so the flour sticks to it. And how to make pancakes from a box mix. I thought you just followed the instructions – so I used the milk and the eggs and turned out these big thick soft pancakes. The kids turned up their noses.

“That’s not the way you do it,” they told me. “Just add water until the batter’s about this thin.” Poor man’s pancakes. I like ‘em better!

My grandmother never had much patience teaching me to cook. Whenever I had a question, she’d say, “It’s just easier for me to do it myself,” and take it from there.

Ba Ba's such an earnest little guy. His parents take him to church on Sunday, so he learns a lot about the Bible. These little Broad Street guys are on the ball.

I climbed out on a balcony window ledge today to get Sooty's and Kinny's half ball.(I used to be a Tomboy when I was little!) The kids in the city play a game called half ball, with a rubber ball cut in half, and a stick. It's kind of on the order of baseball, in that they take turns batting the ball.But a half ball won't break a window or hurt anyone. Kids can play it in the narrow Philadelphia streets. Only problem is it usually ends up on somebody's roof.