School

Well school is almost out for the summer semester! I feel I really did a bad job in my English class. I missed so much by sick for several weeks. So will probably take the class again in a new semester. There was a lot of work crammed into just ten weeks as opposed to 17-18 weeks. This was a tough summer for me. I am finally feeling better but just cannot get back into a working groove. Jared said he felt that way too when he missed two days for surgery on his molars. I don't know what to do. I just want this semester done and then onto a new one.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

Well I am home from Hawaii. I have been very busy with school and the kids so I certainly have been neglecting my blog. I caught a cold from my niece and brought it home with me. I have tried for last few weeks to get rid of it but it is lingering on. It has had a very strong hold on me. I haven't been to church in two weeks because of it. I also have not been able to go to work. I would not wish how I feel on anyone.

Off to another topic. I have been in school for four weeks now and I feel so behind. I am taking two classes and this online thing is crazy. I would rather sit in class for two hours and listen to the teacher than take an online course.I am taking accounting and English and I am frustrated with both on them. My fall classes are all at the school so I am very happy about that.

I also am trying to decide what to do about my fish ponds. I want expand my in ground one to a 20 x 10 and just not sure yet when I can do that. I have lots of plants if anyone would like some. I also have tons of snails if you would like those too. I have little nurseries in my big barrels. I would be very happy to share.

Well that's all for now I am going to bed. Goodnight!

My Trip

Well tomorrow is the day I leave to go to Manassas to fly out of Dulles to go to Hawaii. I am getting excited but I dreading the flight. It is going to be a loooong flight. My mom is coming down to stay with my kids while I go stay with my little sister's kids. I am looking forward to visiting different places there. I really want to meet Dog the Bounty Hunter. Even if I only meet a member of his family I will be happy. I also want to see the volcano, Dole plantation and Pearl Harbor.

If you here in the area of Verona maybe you can check on the kids for me. They are having a hard time about me going. Especially the younger two.

Anyway I will be in 2 weeks see you then.

My trip

A week from today I am off to Hawaii. I am excited but still leery about leaving the kids. It is all planned out and I know that my kids will be in the safe in the hands of my mom. Jared is going to help out when needed.

I also finished my First Aid/CPR class yesterday. Now two down one more to go. I will be all done by next Tuesday. I am ready for this semester to be over. Things are going well but it has just been a long semester.

Saw the doctor today to make sure I can fly. He said everything is fine and I should not have any problems from my accident. Yee Haw! So Hawaii here I come ready or not. Anybody need anything from there? Let me know and I will see what I can do.

Life as a Mom and going to College.

Hello.
Well sorry it has been awhile since I have written. I am still going to school and just signed up for my summer classes. It has been a fun semester to a point. I am glad that I am going to college at an older age. So many of the kids in my class like to skip class and that drives me crazy. I wonder if their parents know what they are doing? I don't think they do. They will come one day and then not the next. That's crazy to me. What a waste of money. I am so proud that Jared doesn't skip class. He wants that education... Yay!

I start my first accounting and English class this summer. It will be a ten week semester. I am excited about it. Then in the fall I will take the second accounting and English class. I will also be taking Spanish 1 and my first ever sign language class. I am very excited about those two classes. I will be able to add them to my job description at work and get credit for them. Any ideas about other classes to take? I am open to ideas.

In church the other day we were talking about a family that had moved several years ago. We have children the same age. The mom even helped me at the birth of Gabbie. Who is now 10 years old. I wish that we had kept in touch. She was a great influence on me. She also loved to sew and brought out the enthusiasm for sewing for me. I did learn quite a bit from her. I hope that wherever she is, she and her family are doing well. She taught a class about sewing and they made a cover for the relief society manual. I wish I had been their for it beacuse I missed out on how to make it. Oh well. I hope to find a pattern one day I hope.

Well I am going to finish the laundry and dishes. So I will write later.

Ian

Today Ian had two basketball games about two hours apart. His team won both games too. I am so proud of him as young man and team player. Last year he would like to hog the ball. Now he will make sure that everyone on the team gets a chance to have the ball and score the points. He really has turned into a fine young man. I am so proud of him. He really thinks that everyone should have a chance to score. He really makes a point to look and see who is open to take a pass even if he know he can make a shot. With not having a father in the house he has turned out well. Who knows it would have been like or how different he would be if he dad had stayed with us. I don't have brothers so I don't know what boys are supposed to be like. But I am very proud of him. I am also very proud of his big brother who came to the game and cheered him on. After the last game was over we went for ice cream and Jared said he would teach him how to shave. I don't know how men are supposed to shave so I very glad that Jared will help out with this.

We are all supposed to be at church tomorrow too. I am happy about that also. Jared is bringing his girldfriend Carra too. I am soooo happy that they will be coming. Well that is all for now. One question though. Has any mom out there taught their son how to shave? Any advice would be appreciated. TTFn

School

I went to School today even though I am not feeling very well. The Professor said I could go home but I felt that I should stay since this is an important class. A fellow student beside me said "she could not sit close to me because she had a cold and cancer and could not afford to get sick." She is a smoker and does not look the best anyway and I was upset by her comment. I am not breathing on her and certainly not in her space. The doctor said I was not contagious and I would cough into my sleeve. I did not cough too much and that surprised me. Maybe getting out of the house was a good thing(getting the fresh air). I just had to comment about that, get it off my chest so to speak.

I am enjoying going to class. It has been a self-esteem booster for me that I can keep up with the former high school kids. I am amazed at how much they like to goof off. I am trying to learn to expand my horizons and they are sitting talking with one another, texting, emailing, or even viewing different web pages. It is very disturbing to me. I bet most of them are not paying for school themselves. It is such a shame. Students in my fall class did not even pass. Not that the class was easy but if you took the time to do the work you should have been able to get an A. I am glad that I am going to school now it certainly gives me a different perspective on things. I might not have wanted to strive for those "A"s if I just went straight from high school. I do feel like a mother hen sometimes. I think there is only one person older than I am. Hopefully it will get better since this is only the second week. I'll will hope for the best.

On another subject. Mother Nature delivered some snow but it certainly was not enough. I was hoping for a few feet and we got mere inches that quickly changed to ice. Now most of that is all gone. Maybe the westerners can send the easterners some snow. That would be fantastic. It seems to hit the mountains and stop. We need a little wind lift to get it come over this way. Any thoughts on the snow? Please comment.

I've Got a Bug.

Well, I should be home enjoying the kids home from school on snow day. Well I am not! Jared passed a cough and bug to Jessica who passed it to Emma and now mom has it. It has not been fun for the last several days. Cough, fever, runny nose, headache and body aches are not fun. I did get the flu shot so I hope that will cut down on the time being ill who knows. Going to the Doctor to see what he has to say. Then after that I am taking the others in to see what they have. I just wanted to sleep in and enjoy having everyone home on a school day!!

Time

There never seems to be enough time in the day to finish all the things I think(I know) I need to get done. Taking three classes this semester is quite hard when I am trying to work, be a mom and student. I don't know how others can go full-time,still work and be parents too. I know that sometimes I do not use my time wisely. That is something that I struggle with all the time. Any suggestions out there? I just don't know how to work this all out. I have tried calendars and notes on the computer. I am stuck.

Court Update

Well Hello Everyone,

I have an update for Court yesterday. I was not sent to jail!!!! That was great. Derryl was not given full custody of the children!!! That was even better. He wanted full custody of the kids even though he has not come for over two years to see them. He could not even give a reason why he would not come. He told the Judge that I withheld them from him. He could not even explain why he did not send them any mail, phone calls, or even email to establish visits again. He did not seem all together there. He would go off on random subjects and his attorney would have to bring him back to the topic. It was very strange. He could not articulate very well. I don't know what is happening to him but it is very strange. He testified that because of his liver transplants he now has kidney problems. I have never heard of that. Anyone have any ideas on that? He says that he has to rest a lot because he does not have a lot of strength but yet he thinks he can keep up with all that our five kids at home do. For instance: Varsity bball game tonight, scouts, achievement days, work, school activities and anything else that would come up. Oh, he also says that because of the transplant he cannot work. I have seen people go back to work after a heart transplant. I don't know what his deal is. Alonzo Mourning went back to the NBA with a kidney transplant and still plays.

I would like to hear you thoughts on this. Does any know of anyone that has had a transplant and not been able to work or vice versa has been able to go back to work.

I am going to sign the children up to see a counselor on the advice of the Guardian ad litem and the Judge. Derryl wants this certain lady and the Judge and GAL thought she would be a good person for the children to talk to about the issues they have with their father. Since he picked her I am going to set up a visit with her for myself and the kids. So he cannot say I attempted to bias the Counselor against him. He picked her and made it known to the Court this is who he wants. So I will go with it.

This was also the first time that I have heard and seen his attorney get upset with him. Derryl would not stick the questions being asked and just randomly go to different subjects so his attorney go very upset with him and yelled at him. The Judge, GAL and I were very shocked at this. He kept trying to keep Derryl again on the subject and questions that were being asked.

I handled myself very well as my own attorney. I did not cry or even yell at him. Though I really wanted to. He makes me so angry. He thinks of our children as property to own not the children they are. I don't know he just doesn't just stop with all the actions of going to court. He does not want to see them for the right reasons. He also cannot understand why they don't want to see him after he hasn't seen them for over 2 years. I love my children very much and will not stop fighting him in court every time he pulls this stuff. I would love for the court to finally say enough is enough and not allow him to keep on doing this. I do know the Judge was getting fed up with him yesterday. Also after his show cause and change of custody were denied by the Judge the Commonwealth Attorney Chilton Reed stopped me as I was walking by and told that I did a wonderful job. That handled myself very well.
I had to pat myself on the back for that. I have learned a lot about the legal system while going through this. I can take on anybody now. I don't know all the legal mumbo jumbo but I well certainly fight for my kids. His attorney was shocked that I took him on and stood up for myself and my kids.

Well I need to help Meagan with a resume for her mentorship meeting tomorrow so I need to sign off. Any thoughts will be appreciated good or bad. Advice offered will be great here, phone or email. Thanks.

Court tomorrow

I have court again tomorrow. I talked with the kids attorney for about an hour today. She doesn't feel like there will any change other than maybe the Judge will rescind all his visitation. That would be great, then he could not bother them while they are at school. I had a Blessing of Comfort done on Sunday and that sure has helped me. I feel very good about going in.

Well that's all for now. Ta Ta.

School starts soon.

I had to enroll in a new class today since one class was cancelled due to low enrollment. When i signed up for the new one I found that the teacher was not a good one and that he is very full of himself. The advisor told me I was better off since no one liked him. the new teacher is actually very wonderful. So I am excited about the new class. It truly amazes me how things seem to work out. I am getting ready for Court on Tuesday and was stressed about that and school. Now I am comfortable about going ahead with classes and getting ready for court. I know everything will work out great. Hopefully this will be the end and the Judge will finally tell him enough is enough. No more filings of anymore petitions for custody.

Also wanted to wish little Clara and Penelope speedy recovery. They both have been very ill with RSV. They and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.

Have a goodnight.

The Beach Monkey

We are staying at Corolla Beach for New Year's with extended family members. It has been lots of fun. We had to leave Meagan at home since she plays varsity bball. She has three games this week and could not come because she signed a contract to not miss any games. It has been fun but one family member likes to pick on the kids. I don't think she even realizes what she is doing. Just little nitpicky things too. Oh well. It has been fun. The kids have enjoyed going to the beach and playing. Emma found a dead jellyfish and brought that back to the house. She has really enjoyed the beach. I am not a sun person but my kids sure are. We are going to the Horse Museum at Corolla tomorrow. That should be fun.

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year. I cannot believe it is already 2009. The year 2008 has gone by too quickly. I guess when we get home the holiday will end. Unfortunately too soon. Well that's all for now. See you soon. Nicole