Stabilizing? III
The interview/tour with the urban center caseworker went well yesterday. By the end of it, the feeling of growing stability within this weird series had returned. The plans are still on for the children to spend winter vacation with their maternal grandparents with a sense that, at least for this go-round, we can count on them to stick to those plans. So far as anybody can tell, they are still lawyered up and going for the big bucks. The best lawyer on the planet will have a hard time working with a broken trust this close to the court hearing set for January. I believe we can plan on them returning to "La Hora Hispana" as soon as the court hearing is done. "La Hora Hispana" basically means, "We don't give a fuck about *your* time. We'll be there when we feel like it." These are the folks who let their daughter/sister cope with her pre-wedding jitters by herself while they held up the entire wedding for 30 minutes. For them, that would be La Hora Mexicana, but pride in fashionable tardiness is claimed by every Latin American country I've ever visited. La Hora Hondurana. La Hora Columbiana. La Hora Ecuatoriana. Etc., etc., through all the political rivalries of South and Central America. Which political faction has the least punctuality is one of the more absurd arguments I've listened to in Spanish. Whatever builds your political righteousness, bubba.
With only a week left until winter vacation and the punch-out crew still MIA, it seems unlikely the children will be able to sleep in the new house before they go. Certainly not with furniture, but we may be able to have a camp out there before they go. I kinda like the idea of having two weeks of kid-free furniture shopping and house settling. Maybe. . . We see. . . Letting God lead the dance.
For now, our little ship of fools is still holding steady. We see what tomorrow may bring. For now, the guit-chi reports are saying, "Just sing."
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One of my favorite definitions of success is that success is when you jump out of bed and say, "Wow! I get to do *that* again!"
All three children were up early and ready to go ahead of schedule. When Big Bro and Big Sis were safely into getting their shoes and I went to get my pieces for driving the school train, Baby Sis left her comfortable perch in Gampy's lap and started to cling and cry for her seat on the school train. All Aboard! ! !
Leaving tomorrow to take care of itself, this felt like a successful morning. So far. I still donae have my focus on where to put my energies today. That feels okay, too. There are plenty of piddle jobs to be done and maybe even a nap to be had.
There is a sense of stability in routine and I am glad you are experiencing it. It warms my heart hearing about these children. Continued prayers and hugs to you and here's hoping you and hubby get some peace on the "Soul Train" :)
I'm really sorry that the in-laws are behaving like buttheads Arf…. I was hoping that they'd changed their tune... Good for you for not engaging.....and shame on them for this added stress.... They should be doing all that they can to make life easier not harder
Gentle hug and a blessing.... I hope that the children have a happy Christmas... It will be so cool for them to come home and see the new homestead all together......xo
Sure wish you didn't have to spend this first Christmas in your second parenting period in life anticipating this January court visit, but so it goes. Really hoping like SunCloud that the kids can just have a merry Christmas in spite of all. Prayers ongoing.
Sounds like all is progressing well. Always a supporter of taking the high road. Hoping the children will be granted the same phone access while on vacation. Support continuing.
In my personal experience, even when it is just a casual babysitting stay, phone calls from their parents upset children far more than they help. I have zero experience with non-parent custodians, but I'm assuming it will be the same for us. A call from a peripheral family member is a horse of a different color, but children get quite unpredictable with their guardians. I know that has been true for the shift from the other grandparent house and this is a time when I'd rather not do as has been done onto me. Let the civil decency begin with me. Asking a child to choose between loved ones is downright cruel in Arf World. The very element which make civil lawsuits a ethical atrocity. It doesn't matter *who start ^it^. It take two to tango.
I'm kinda hoping the kids will be having too much fun to think of us. It's okay to be that involved in your here and now. Even for a wise, old and too often jaded (already?) six year old.
For this, the last Friday before the start of winter vacation, my focus fell into a nice, juicy nap. Rest is good. The day sure went fast. When he was still young and full of promise, my now departed son called sleep his, "Time Machine. I go to sleep today and wake up tomorrow." We are almost to where we can think of Daddy and smile. Sorta. Those tears remain close behind. We miss our gentle Daddy. Probably always will. He is allot to miss. Mommy, too, even if she was a cruel and unforgiving DIL. The kids don't need to know that part. Given how much Big Sis looks like her mama, I'm having fantasies of discovering just how beautiful a woman mama could have been with an secure base to launch her daring adventures from.
It is still easier to remember that painfully shy butterfly dancing to chick flicks with my life niece. That well-padded little butterfly was magical. Far more than the isolated social media recluse spouting the latest greatest monster-in-law stigma. That creature declared my life niece a "Toxic People." They were no longer friends. The DIL never met a person she couldn't alienate. Quite possibly the worst case of social anxiety I've ever seen, but still not worthy of the name calling or ostracism "non-toxic" people are famous for. Let's hear it for government propaganda superstars. The pride of her Zero Tolerance teachers to the very end. Stranger Danger, too. How to create agoraphobia in a single political wisdom? The propagandists could do a bit better at defining the diffs between meds and drugs. Both parents were D.A.R.E. superstars that weren't seeing that distinction well. I'm afraid I can't help them on that confusion. I can't see those distinctions, either, and kinda wish the dangerous strangers would quit stirring that confusion pot.
I'm kinda hoping the kids will have too much fun, too, arfie. Glad you got that nice juicy nap. Rest is good indeed. I'm looking forward to getting some rest myself now that I got through being robed up for my community college graduation ceremony and am back down in Mexico again.
In my prayers, the children enjoy their two weeks with their mother's family as much as Hubs and I enjoy our two weeks of kid-free time to work on the new house. The punch-out crew has been heard from and will begin work on Wednesday. They expect to be here until Friday. Hubs says the man he spoke to sounded like he was worth the wait. The fellow calmed his waiting anxiety like a pro.
Just praying. . . Letting Old Gnarly lead the dance.