Christmas Eve and Life's troubles

Here I sit with my husband, my stepdaughter, my inlaws and my nephews waiting for Jolly Ol St. Nick to make an appearance. The kids are in bed and the adults are all shopped, wrapped and ready for it to be over! This week has been very hectic so just to give you a short recap -

Before I give the recap, some of what I am going to say is going to be about an ongoing saga. I want to thank one of my dear friends Jeanie for encouraging me to blog about it. I will likely do more of this in the future as I need to vent and form some sort of action to prevent this from happening to other custodial parents.

• M-T - I was traveling and J was working
• W - We both worked in town
• Thursday - I worked and he prepared for our trip to Cleveland
• Friday - We went to S school to see her sing Christmas Carols, then on to T's court appearance and then finally out to do some more shopping.
• Saturday - Christmas Party and pick up Nephews
• Sunday - Relax!
• Monday - attempt to pick up T but no dice and he spends the holiday in Juvie

Now, you may be wondering what is going on with my stepson, T. He is supposed to be with us however his mother has failed to send him to us. She has parentally kidnapped him or at least that is the term that is supposed to be used. The Judge instead of doing something like in August or September of this year to get him back to us, waited until Christmas. And because it is the Christmas season told us that we couldnt have him on Friday that he needed to be able to see his mother for the holiday and we would get him Monday.

Well, come today, he decided that he would much rather spend the time in Juvenile since on Friday he was adjudicated a unruly child. T and his mother both feel that the longer he stays here the more likely the Judge is to just give in. Well, I can tell you that there is a reason that she lost custody and I dont see her getting it back. In the meantime, we have a child who is not in school and who has flunked the 9th grade. He has been taught how to use the system for what he wants despite the Judge telling him that he was being manipulative. Yes, the Judge said he was being manipulative but still decided to let him stay with the bad parent. Now, what does that teach the child? NOTHING!

So, we sit here - watching our 15 year old screw his life up and a Judge that sits here and allows it. T's mother and T have no respect for the Judge - Gee, would it be that the Judge hasnt found the time to RULE on over 31 motions for contempt and other failures since 2001 against her?

Now, that is the bad that is going on right now. The good is that my stepdaughter is here! She has been such a joy to have around and I know that one day the sweet angel that she is will grow and mutate into a teenager - ACK! If we could only keep her sweet....

On the home front in Texas, there are changes abounding! I cant go into all of them just yet but lets sum it up that 2008 is going to be a great year.

Merry Christmas to everyone!