Get Out Of God's Way

To say that I am angry with Julie right now would be a huge understatement. I found out she's going behind my back - lying to me or at the very least keeping things from me.

Remember the problem with Kayla? Well... Julie has been working with Kayla for a while now, telling her that she could just move in with her. She's even getting a 2 bedroom apartment - THAT is how much she has been working on this.

My sister Katie told me about it. Kayte and Justin sat down and talked to me about it. Seems everyone knew about it but me. Kayte and Justin actually told me that they hated it that they were doing this and I was going to be the 'last to know'. I was told that Kayla has been calling around playing the "I hate it here" card, seeing what she can get out of anyone. I guess I should expect it of a 17 year old... it wasn't too long ago that my daughter Amanda was in the same boat. But I did expect Julie to respond differently.

I was so angry that she was doing all this behind my back that I wrote her and told her that the trial run she had with unsupervised visits was now over. She's going behind my back first of all, which is immature and unacceptable. You would think that when Kayla talked to her and told her how we are always fighting and she is miserable and hates it here - Julie would have encouraged her to TALK to me. Then, a mature adult would have come and talked to me about the situation. Instead she just made plans to move her in.

If I can't trust her - if I can't trust what she is saying to the kids is a mature and appropriate conversation - then she shouldn't be able to take them unsupervised. What other inappropriate conversations is she having? Is she going to undermine me all the time? So from now on, she gets her once a week visit and that's it. Supervised - within eye and earshot at all times, just like the judge said.

Then -- early this morning she called my mom. Mom is in Hawaii, 5 hours behind us. Julie called mom at 5 am Hawaii time to ask her what MY address was. Mom didn't have it -- so Julie called our sister Katie. Katie asked her why she needed it and Julie said that she couldn't tell her because if she did... Katie would tell ME, and she didn't want that. Katie finally got it out of her -- she... no... "they" (so I assume it was her and Arthur) were at the courthouse. She was there to file paperwork to get unsupervised visits. Well, Katie didn't have my address and Julie ended up having to call me to get it.

Of course, I'm going to fight it. We'll let the courts decide.

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Things with the kids otherwise are going okay.

Kayla still isn't even talking to me, but I think she is doing okay. I'm trying to be as nice as I can.

Kayte is working at the church watching kids in the nursery. She now works four nights a week.

Justin is doing SO well in school. His surgery is scheduled for December 5th.

Jonathan isn't doing well at all in school - but his personality is phenomenal. He's much more fun around the house... playing games, active, playing with friends. It's really great.

I talked to Chris about the discipline in the house. He's agreed to take the responsibility of dishing out punishment. After checking grades and checking cell phone use, we found that Jonathan's grades were really bad and that Jonathan, Kayla and Kayte are all using their phones to text long after 10 pm. So tonight we sat Jonathan down and talked to him about how we WANT him to do better... but he MUST bring up his grades. We took his cell phone until he brings his grades up to at least a C. Then we took Kayte's cell phone when she went to bed so she couldn't text, telling her that she could get it back in the morning.

I have faith that it's all going to work out. I really do. Even the Kayla thing... if/when she moves out in January, we'll give each kid a bedroom - Kayte and Justin won't have to share a room anymore. Everything will work out. God has a plan.

I was at bible study Monday night and a friend said a really neat prayer that I have been using all week. He said that his prayer was to "take the emotion out of the situation. Get out of God's way." How perfect is that? I've been saying that over and over to myself ever since.

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Chris had a birthday yesterday - birthday #41. I was off for the day and we went to Busch Gardens for the day. We have year passes, so it was a beautiful way to spend the day. It was SO NEAT - we got to feed Giraffes! It was really a unique experience.

Then that night we all went to dinner, all 6 of us, which is unbelievably rare. Chris's mom and Jimmie joined us way up north at a place called Rapscallions. It was really nice, and really cool to have everyone together out to eat.

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I am exhausted after a long day at work and home. I should run for the evening. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. I know God is listening!

Believe while others...
By William Arthur Ward

Believe while others are doubting.
Plan while others are playing.
Study while others are sleeping.
Decide while others are delaying.
Prepare while others are daydreaming.
Begin while others are procrastinating.
Work while others are wishing.
Save while others are wasting.
Listen while others are talking.
Smile while others are frowning.
Commend while others are criticizing.
Persist while others are quitting.