Funkyart - that's so awesome - thanks! We like (and she loves) when she stays w/ us becuase DH loves to take her into the city to the museums (his uncle gives tours at one so she always gets to see things behind the scenes w/ him), libraries and such. She also then spends a day here and there w/ our adult cousin and his girlfriend (they both live and teach in the city) going to off beat little places and eateries, then she spends time w/ our aunt and uncle (who do not have grandchildren yet) exposing her to many other activities. jlc - I can't imagine her ever having a 'normal' relationship w/ her mom/ DS. I don't think that DS 'gets' that and always tried to force her into a little perfect family 'mold' and then would get angry when that didn't work. When she told me that all of the yrs. of counseling only involved DN I was floored. I told her that while counseling had to happen seperately for DN that I also felt that it was important for counseling to happen between the 2 of them and/or family. Couldn't believe that hadn't been happening all of those yrs. She got a irritated when I told her that it wasn't just DN w/ problems - it was also a relationship problem and relationships consist of more than 1 person. It hapened to be perfect timing w/ the RAD DX as DH and I had listened to a "This American Life" pod cast on RAD w/ 2 separate families w/ children w/ RAD and what they went through. One family had a breakthrough and the child remained in a family unit, the other family not as lucky. I should def. find the pod cast again and have DS, BIL, Grandma and Pop Pop listen to it. Eagle Ranch actually wouldn't take DN. They seem to have it together and really seriously tak a look at an entire situation before accepting a child. They told DS that this was an issue that stems between the 2 of them at the core and that ER would not be the situation to deal w/ that in the fact that taking her to live w/ strangers would be even more detrimental to her. Grandma and Pop Pop have a friend who is a social worker and has gotten her hooked up w/ things. Firstly health insurance and if she stays beyond the summer counseling will start again. One of the fortunate things is that DN has already lived w/ Grandma and Pop Pop at the end of the school year last year and attended school there already. They live very far out and the entire school only has 61 kids so she knows the teachers already (they loved her) and most of the kids. She alredy has some friends there from before. She has always spent a few wks. each Summer w/ Grandma and POp Pop and knows the area quite well. The previous counselors that she was seeiong in the state that she lives in were state appointed counselors and at times would cancel an appt. after DS had driven 2 hrs. to get there. That particular one didn't seem too terribly invested in the whole situation. My Mom (Grandma) told me that DN said that she didn't think that she would ever be happy in that house (her own home). Broke my heart! Right now she spends a lot of time fishing and talking w/ Pop Pop, gardening w/ Grandma and helping her in the shop (more talking), spending time doing water aerobics w/ Pop Pop at the Sr.s center and making friends w/ all of the Sr.'s there as well as time w/ friends.

Our Eagle ceremonies were always evening events on a school night. Afterwards we just had cake with the Eagle emblem and the Scouts' names on it along with punch. Sometimes someone would bring nuts. We stepped the punch up a notch, not just some inexpensive punch. Some recipes use fruit juice, sherbet, etc. Congratulations to your son (and you too!!--I know how it is). It's a fine achievement, and I know how proud you are. Susan

we just installed Kolbe in my new home. It is still under construction, however they have been in for a few months now. Trust me, Kolbe can do ANYTHING you want with the glass. My order was very demanding on the glass and my rep did a fantastic job working with me on getting things exactly as I wanted them. All of the windows are their tri pane glazing EP line. There were not any cost differences between the hardcoats but changing from a softcoat to a hardcoat there were some slight upcharges. I have installed a few different window brands including Andersen 400s, Marvin Integrity (never the Premium), Eagle, and Pella. The Kolbe were the easiest of them all to install. They are very rigid and strong. They did not flex at all. Nail flange was nice and straight and sat nicely into the framed opening. They were all exactly the RO size indicated. I have a very large and super heavy 8'x7' 8' window that is mulled in the center. There are 2 large 4x4 pictures and awnings below, so a horizontal mull as well. It took 4 guys to get it into the opening, but the entire time we were struggling it never flexed once. I was very impressed. I could see the frame around the window was LVL wood and not pine or fir. They also use that in the doors, which I got a custom front door from them as well as the patio door. I will say they actually sent half of the windows with the wrong glass installed, but a simple call to them and they were on it to change the glass out, no questions asked. you can check them out in my blog for more info and pictures of the windows. I would highly recommend them based on the other ones I have also installed. Interestingly enough, this thread is older and you see my post about Eagles above. Kolbe came recommended by members on this forum so I got involved with my rep and I am glad I did. While I still believe the new Eagle is still a good window, it is still a step down from my Kolbes. Time will tell how they last, but the future appears promising. Here is a link that might be useful: home building blog

Don't know if this is a fair comparison, since we live in northern Virginia and we bought when it was Norco rather than Jeld-Wen, but we've had a Norco French door for ten years now and it has been great -- no finish problems, seals all fine, locking systems work, etc. It faces south onto a patio, with just a two-foot soffit/eave overhead.