Don't know how
Not sure how some people can live with themselves. BM left town on Saturday (supposedly)...and we haven't heard from her AT ALL! Not a bit. DSD's phone was lost for a period of days...it was subsequently found, but she hasn't earned the phone privileges back yet. BM has NOT called DH at all to check on DSD, to let us know she arrived...nothing! One would think that in order to find information about one's own child, anything would be said or done....NOT the case!We have not been given any contact information at all. No address, no contact #...she may have THOUGHT that by giving her 12 year old the information, that she gave it to us, but I'm sorry, she is the adult (or at

When the shoe is on the other foot
Well, I just talked myself in circles and realized I'm making myself crazy...all while talking to DH about my feelings. I told him I'd come on and blog about it, and now that I've made this blog accessible through my facebook page, it's actually helping me to be more open, and I hope it's helping facilitate more understanding.I'm really just trying to get by...trying to do what I feel is best for my family. In the eyes of God, I feel that's most important. But now, we're going through quite a bit of transition, and I'm trying to tell myself that even good stress is stress. I know that having DSD at our home all the time will provide some conflicting feelings and

Victory...and another battle
As a family, we have been supporting DSD for years in her prayers and her pleads to come live with us. Her family situation with BM is more than unstable and at times has been downright dangerous. We've known that eventually things would change and we'd have custody. Can't tell you how we knew, except for that calm, quiet reassurance when you just KNOW that your prayers will be answered.Well, our prayers ARE being answered, but along with those answers is the need for more prayers. BM is moving out of state. "Why aren't you jumping up and down"? one might ask. Trust me, I am on the inside. I'm alternating between jumping up and down and twirling all around and

Appropriate Clothing
Really, how hard is it to send your child with appropriate clothing?This has been an ongoing issue. Let's see, the latest was DH calling her ahead of time in the week requesting SS to bring a clean white polo shirt & clean, non-holey, jeans that fit because we were having family pictures taken. What does she send him with? A dirty & smelly white polo shirt, and jeans that did not fit. What does SS say? "My mom didn't have time to wash it." Um, yes she did, DH gave her advance notice. She just chose not to. Argh. I did everything I could to rub out the dirt in his white shirt. I didn't have time to wash it, as we left for the pictures right after DH got home with SS.

5 Yr Blended Family Statistic
We are coming up on the 5 year mark of some blended family statistics. One would hope that balance could actually occur within a continuous rocky road of blended family/BM (birth mom) drama. Granted, things have over time gotten better in some areas, but the struggle will continue. I don't see the end in sight unless BM did some major changes in how she insists on bringing up SS, which is a lot of the drama and struggles we are faced with when two separate households are so different from one another. Not to mention that BM will do everything in her power to make our lives miserable. She will never achieve this, but it is a frustrating journey at times.For me, I have been faced