The Kendra's Journal Podcast

We were headed back to Walla Walla for a visit and to try and gather up more money because it was a continual issue. We found out the denial would stand so we needed a new plan to get out of Christmas Valley so Mom started looking at moving to Bend in hopes that Mac could be paroled there. Mom was starting to understand the system a little better but worried that Mac was losing hope of getting a release date. She got a letter from the prison and worried that the people in Christmas Valley were talking about us because of how fast word gets around in such a small community. We got a huge phone bill, $633. That’s $1400 in today’s money, YIKES! Mom wrote about how she pictured life once Mac was released and was worried it wouldn’t happen until after his next (41st) birthday.

Direct download: Kendras_Journal_Podcast_148.mp3
Category:Personal Journal -- posted at: 12:00am PDT

Sorry for the long intro, almost 7 minutes! Mac’s hearing ended with a deferred decision. The parole board wanted to see if Oregon would accept his plan before they would move forward. So Mom was talking to whomever she could to make sure Oregon would approve things. We were getting closer to moving to Oregon and Mom called the boss of the Oregon parole office to try and get them to approve it before we moved. Then it was “Welcome to Christmas Valley…” and Mom got word on the parole plan.

Direct download: Kendras_Journal_Podcast_147.mp3
Category:Personal Journal -- posted at: 12:00am PDT

Mom was pushing to get Mac’s parole paperwork back to Washington from Oregon in time for his hearing. Money was tight so Mom pawned her rings again to make sure we had money for bills. Some friends from Olympia came by for a visit but Mac wasn’t happy that Mom had company when he called. Mom was writing a lot about her frustrations with the prison system and her hopes of the changes to come that could make things better. We got a new car and everyone’s stress increased as the parole hearing date approached. Oh, and the book we talked about was: http://unusualpunishmentbook.com/.

Direct download: Kendras_Journal_Podcast_146.mp3
Category:Personal Journal -- posted at: 9:39am PDT

Mom was dreaming of winning the lottery but still hustled to get some money to keep us afloat. She also notified our landlady that we’d be moving. We finally get around to telling the bat story. We got our phone bill, wait until you hear how much it was! We all made a trip back to Hermiston to visit friends and Mom went to Pullman, WA to make a delivery for Mac. Mac’s parole paperwork was going from Washington to Oregon and back so Mom was making calls to ensure everything would be where we needed it for his hearing. Mom impressed herself with her progress running at the track.

Direct download: Kendras_Journal_Podcast_145.mp3
Category:Personal Journal -- posted at: 9:58am PDT

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