Tina's Daily Blog: Just One Of Those Days

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Just One Of Those Days

Ever have 'one of those days' where there didn't seem to be enough time and you couldn't possibly squeeze ONE more thing into your 'to-do list'? That's my day today!

I'm busy at work and tonight is a nightmare once I get home. Julie insists on seeing the kids tonight and being at my house at 5 pm. Justin & Chris are leaving for a baseball game at 5:30 and Annie from the Children's home is coming over a little after 5 to meet with me for a couple hours to discuss things. Annie could potentially be a great help. Her job through the Children's home is to find out what I need to be a good caregiver to these kids and find me the assistance I need to make it happen. I've met with her once, and tonight she and I are going to sit down and write up some personal goals for me. I like making lists and having goals, so this is right up my alley. I'm looking forward to it... but tonight should be insane at my house. It always is when Julie comes over. Sigh.........

Speaking of Julie, she's probably called me 20 times in the past two days about Christmas. She must have a ton of money right now because she's going nuts buying her kids things. (For anyone who read the post a few days back - disregard anything I said about Christmas gifts for Julie's kids - she's getting them plenty of things. If you want to help out... get something for Jonathan!) She called and told me that she bought Justin $50 cologne, clothes, video games - all kinds of stuff.

Today she called because she wanted to get them all cell phones. I told her NO - she was not allowed to do that. We haggled over the 'why' I would say that, and I just told her... we were using the possibility of getting them cell phones as a reward for achieving honor roll at school. Giving them cell phones just as a gift would mean they no longer had to strive for that goal. I also mentioned that I did not feel Kayla should have a cell phone now, regardless of the situation and who bought it. Given her excessive behavior, I thought this was a bad idea. Julie insisted that through Metro PCS she couldn't 'go over' or charge anything... but Julie is the one with a past due bill to Alltel for $6,000 for the last cell phones she bought the kids - so I'm not going to listen to her on this one. I said no, and that's the end of the story. She said "fine, I'll just get them so they can have them when they move back home with me". Fricking great man.... now the kids are going to think I'm a meanie!

I'm going to call her in a bit and tell her that she is not allowed to tell the kids she's going to reward them with cell phones when they move back home. I can't control what she does when they do finally go home, I know that. But - Chris and I talked about these cell phones at length. We have such little control over them now - and the kids seemed really motivated to get good grades with the pending reward of a prepaid cell. I don't need Julie to sweep in and take what little control we do have away, ya know? Am I making any sense here at all?

Took a break from the blog for a few hours and came back. Annie cancelled for tonight - thank goodness! She's coming next week. Yeah!

Also, Justin broke a tooth today - so now I need to get him into the dentist. The bestest sister in the whole wide world (Katie) has been taking the kids for their dental check-ups so I'm hoping she can take him to this one as well.

I need to blog about the show I had this past weekend. It's hard to explain, but it was not nearly as fun as I had hoped it would be. In fact, if I had one word to use to describe the experience it would have to be "disappointing". Usually when you go on a stage in a barbershop performance, you give your all, do your best, try to reach every single person there with your voice and emoting, and leave it all out on the stage. This time, it just was not that great and I can't put my finger on why. Our director had a family emergency that day - his grandmother who has been ill slipped into a coma that morning, so he was a little 'out' of it for the day and evening. We typically feed off the energy our director puts out and multiply it times 100, it usually makes for a pretty jazzed performance. Maybe that was it. I know I'm falling on a sword because there was one time that he looked right at me with a 'oh my goodness could you sing that any worse' look on his face... and maybe I'm making more of that than was actually there, but I knew I was singing something wrong at that time after 'the look'.

Maybe I'm just seriously doubting whether or not I'm really supposed to go to Calgary next year. We're talking more than $800 just in air-fare, and once you throw in food and hotel for a week, I'm looking at a couple thousand in expenses... and frankly, I couldn't come up with that right now if my life depended on it. I clearly know that it feels good to be back in the chorus. I enjoy getting out on Tuesday nights TREMENDOUSLY. Having that time and using that God-given gift for just me feels really great. I know that's why God wants me to be there Tuesday nights. But does He want me to go to Calgary next year? I feel like I'm supposed to be just enjoying Tuesday nights and - if I get to go to Calgary I get to go. If I don't... I don't. But it's not that easy... there's preparations that need to be made... hotel rooms, airfare, passport. UGG. Give it to God, Tina.... Give it to God.

So.... Halloween went well last night. Chris and I sat out front (it was just perfect weather!) with the fog machine and candy and handed it out the the kids who came by. The kids went by themselves door to door (the first time I haven't gone with Jonathan). Here is a photo of Jonathan - he was a ghoul who got run over by a car...... ain't he cute???

Yeah... that's my boy!

I better run... it's about time to run home for today. Julie's probably at the house waiting for me. I should say a quick prayer for patience before I get there.

Colossians 3:12-19
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.

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In A Nutshell:

Here is a letter I sent to Dr. Phil which really sums everything up:
I am married to my high-school sweetheart (20 years this August), with two wonderful children (Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13). I have two sisters, both younger – I call them “my good sister” and “my bad sister”. My good sister is – well, good! Normal in every way. The bad one, Julie, has been in trouble since she was a kid. As a baby she cried all of the time. As a teenager she was in trouble all of the time. At the age of 14 or so I remember that she had run away from home to live with a grown man in Atlanta. This was one of many run a ways. As a teenager, she provided sexual favors to boys in school, as well as teachers. As a young adult she was arrested for prostitution. She’s done drugs ranging from marijuana to crack. She was diagnosed early on as bi-polar with personality disorder. She’s also a serious cutter to the point where she no longer hid the cuts. She’s cut things like “Ronald Cecchinni” into her arm… and “Fuck you Dr. XXX” on her stomach, in large letters. Julie is also a diagnosed sex-addict. She’s also recently (in the past year) begun ‘huffing’. (I honestly believe that this huffing has caused some permanent damage) She is currently 36yo.
Julie lost her husband Ron a year and a half ago as a result of Leukemia and Kidney Disease which the military attributed to his serving in the Gulf War. He left behind three children – Kayla who is now 15, Justin who is now 14 and Kayte who is now 13. Even when Julie was married, her psychiatric problems persisted. She has been hospitalized literally hundreds of times over the years. However, when her husband was alive, he would take care of the kids when Julie was mentally out of control. After Ron died, Julie lost control of the kids and her life. She began to spiral out of control, having pot parties at her home (to the point where the kids said a door would open and a cloud of smoke would come bellowing out of the room), smoking weed with her own kids, having sex all over the house with different men all the time, allowing young men (19 yo) to sleep over with her oldest daughter (only 14 at the time), and allowing Gang members to live in her home (she said she felt ‘safe’ with them there). In addition, she was attempting suicide daily, overdosing on medications hoping to not wake up the next morning. Mind you all of this while she was seeing her Psychologist every week and Psychiatrist once a month. Both of these Doctors knew what was going on at home, neither of them reported it to the proper authorities. I have even been told by one of them that he was told, by Julie, that she ‘heard voices telling her to hurt the children’ but that she was proud that she could ignore the voices. Still, these Doctors reported nothing.
I should add here that it was at some point in this period of time in Julie’s life when her children began suicide watches over their mom… each one taking turns to sit in a room with her at all hours (night and day) because their mom was less-likely to hurt herself while they were here. However, it didn’t always work – Julie constantly took pills in front of them trying to either dope herself up or overdose, and she would even cut herself in front of the kids.
Finally one day, she woke up furious that her last suicide attempt didn’t work. She got violent with her oldest daughter, police were called, and finally DCF was called. (I would like to add that we (other family members) had called DCF in the past to report things, but some of the cases were ‘unfounded’ and one other time the fled the state knowing CF only had jurisdiction in Florida.) DCF removed the children from the home in November 2005 and I gained custody of the Children shortly thereafter.
There are lots of things I could add here about my sister, DCF, and the horrible Foster Care or Custodial Care program we are involved with. However, that is not my main reason for writing to you.
Kayte, the youngest, seems to be adjusting pretty well. She has a tendency to trivialize what her mom has done and the seriousness of it, but I think that is normal given that it is her mom. Kayte was in counseling, but she feels it’s ‘a waste of time’.
Justin, the middle child, is okay. As a young boy I'm told he was a terror. He used to hit his mother and at one point (only 6yo) tried to jump off a building to kill himself. Since then, his anger has turned in to an endless smothering of love and caring. He does everything for his mom… from getting her whatever she needs to rubbing her feet and back. Justin has seen a psychiatrist since moving in with me who felt that his issues were brought on by trauma. It was also at that visit with the psychiatrist that he confided in myself and the Doctor that he had suicidal thoughts often while living at home with his mom in her ‘state of being’ after his dad died. However, since he moved in with me he has done so much better (and continues to improve daily) that she didn’t feel he even needed counseling at this time. He would, however, need counseling before he was reunited with his mom.
Kayla, the oldest, has serious issues. She is also currently in counseling but feels that it is ‘a waste of time’. Kayla has always lied and stolen things. Family members feel sorry for her because you can tell that she doesn’t really mean any ill will by it, but it’s been ‘the way she is’ for a very long time. By far her biggest problems are lying and her need for approval by men (young and old).
Since the kids have moved in with us, my husband and I have set up rules. The kids already had myspace accounts, so we set ground rules for it. 1) We needed the login names and passwords. 2) Profiles must be set to private. 3) The only people they were allowed to have on their friends list was people that they actually knew. When Kayla’s list climbed over 300, and she was found to have inappropriate conversations (wanting to sneak out and ‘hook up’ with young men), we made everyone cut their list down to 30 friends, which included myself. 4) All vulgar language and inappropriate photos would come off immediately and would be monitored by myself at any given time. At times, they try to put up ‘sexy’ pictures which immediately need to come down.
However recently I have found that she has multiple website things going on in an attempt to pick up young men. I'll outline a few here so that you understand the gravity of the situation: 1) I found her 'normal' myspace account set to 'public view'. She has over 11,000 profile views(meaning people looking at her pictures and wanting to know more about her). I had reset it to private many times, but she keeps going back and resetting it to public. 2) I have found another myspace account which she went by the name 'Shannon' and used it to pick up young men, tease them, then later tell them that she was 'taken' but refer them to her 'cousin, Kayla'. She'd then give them all of Kayla's information. Of course thiswas also set to public. 3) I have found another social network website that was like myspace in which she had ONLY men (mostly from other states) as her 'friends' whom she corresponded with. The emails back and forth basically said the same thing as all of the others... more on that in #4 - only these were guys that not only did she not know, but they were not even in the area! 4) All accounts that I have found had basically the same thing... her emailing guys wanting to know if she was pretty, if they wanted to 'hook up', talking about going to their 'crib' or meeting up with them somewhere, and constantly seeking approval and affirmation from these guys.
I believe she gets this from her mom. And the sad thing is, if you met her, you would love her. She is truly a GREAT kid… but she has serious issues. I’ve described to you Julie’s behavior and Kayla’s seems to be the same way. Neither can make decisions on their own that are ‘the right thing to do’, and both lack the understanding of simple values, morals and ethics. I could go into so many examples. How do I describe the utterly amazing difference between Julie’s parenting style and my own?
I know... Both Julie and I have myspace accounts set up to ‘monitor’ the kids. To illustrate the difference between Julie and myself, here is something that Julie and I both put on our myspace accounts. You are supposed to put something 'about yourself' by your picture. Here is mine: "I'm 38 years old. I have two amazing kids, Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13. I have great husband, Chris. I love to sing - and have been singing in Toast of Tampa Show Chorus for 10 years. I'm raising my nieces and nephew (12, 13 and 14). I love God and my family."And here is Julie's: "I am who I am and if you dont like me for me........FUCK YOU........ Plus if you dont like me for me....... Im gunna tell my kids and there gunna kick yer ass!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Here’s the other dilemma we are having; the two girls are in counseling that is costing me $25 EACH in co-payments every time they go. The State of Florida provides NO financial support to me as a relative caregiver, other than providing the three kids with Medicaid. They received small SSI checks because of their dad’s death, but it barely covers the food they consume. The DCF worker, having spoke with the girls and being told that therapy is ‘a waste of time’, has referred me to a clinic that DCF uses for cases such as this to seek mental care for Kayla (aswell as the others). However, the kids have TriCare as their primary insurance because their dad died from Military causes. TriCare requires the co-payment, regardless of the Medicaid secondary. Having said that, please understand that I worked in referrals in a primary care physician’s office for 16 years… I totally ‘get’ what is required for primary and secondary insurances and all the red tape. But because of the uniqueness of this situation, the kids are suffering!
I should also point out here that I have the kids for an indefinite period of time. Right now Julie is doing things that she has been told to do to get the kids back. However, she is still awaiting a court ordered detailed Psychiatric exam to determine if she can EVER parent again. Even if that Psychiatrist feels she can parent again, she’ll most likely need to be ‘clean’ and ‘episode-free’ for 6 months to a year minimum. In addition, Julie is only allowed supervised visits and one phone call a day. This came about because of her inappropriate behavior when she was with the kids and because when she was allowed to call any time she’d call 10 + times a day.
The other problem with Julie ever getting her children back is that… she doesn’t understand what she did wrong. She parents as if she were 15-years old herself. If anyone has ever done something bad and been able to ‘keep’ their kids, she sees no reason she can’t do it. She brought her daughter at the age of 13 in for a HUGE tattoo on the small of her back. It’s Tigger flipping ‘the bird’ with her gang name under it. She was also planning on getting a large tattoo on her 12yo before the kids were taken. Again, she sees nothing wrong with any of her past behavior.
So, you see, I could have these children for the rest of their teenage years. I honestly don’t know where to turn to get them the help they need.
I feel as if I am in a psychiatric nightmare and I just can’t wake up. Eight months ago I was at home, my biggest ‘kid worry’ was if my son was going to get good grades on his report card. Now I find myself in a crux worried about whether or not the lessons I teach them, this late in their young life, are going to be enough to turn these kids around and help them to be productive adults in the near future.

Tina's Daily Blog

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Just One Of Those Days

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