Sunday, May 14th

Sent DaRhonda a "Happy Mother's Day" text message. She wished me a Happy Mother's Day too. I then asked how the concert was last weekend. She said she enjoyed it. Later that evening I texted her again asking if the girls were available anytime during the week in the evening because I hadn't seen them in awhile and I would not be available the upcoming weekend because i had plans to go out of town. She said both Erica and Julia would be available the next day. We agreeed that I would pick them up around 6:30pm or 7pm and that I wouldn't keep them too long since it was a school/work night.

Monday, May 15th

I sent DaRhonda a text at 6:39pm letting her know I was on the way. I arrived at their house around 7pm. When I got there DaRhonda was sitting on the couch putting braids in Julia's hair. She must not have read my test message of me being on the way, because she never responded and Julia's hair was no where near finished. DaRhonda said somehing about her mother hurting her feelings and causing her to be distracted, so that's why she didn't have Julia ready to go. I asked if Erica was ready. When she went to check she found out Erica was sleeping and was in some pain from having re-injured her shoulder at school. So neither girl was ready and I wasted my time driving over there. But, since I was there, i chatted with DaRhonda, Julia and Julia's uncle for about 45 minutes. Julia was currently finishing up another school suspension. I was disappointed to hear about her second suspension. She said the girls at school keep picking on her. This time as they were standing in line, a girl started touching her braids. Julia told her to stop. The girl kept doing it anway, so Julia turned around and smacked her in the face and they started fighting. Mom told Julia she wasn't wrong because she has the right to defend herself. So although she's in trouble at school, she is not in trouble at home. I told Julia in front of mom that she needs to stay focused on school and not allow others to knock her off of her game. Because if she continues to get suspended it will start to affect her grades. For the next shool year, I would like to help Julia think of better ways to solve conflict than fighting.