Custody

I have heard horror stories when it comes to custody battles, and with my ex-wife, I was positive that if I ever filed to have full custody, she would do everything possible to make all of those horror stories look like a children's fairy tale in comparison.  However, do to the events over the last couple of months, I am planning on doing just that.  I will be filing for full custody.

There are still several hoops that I will have to jump through in order to even be able to file.  However, I am now confident that not only will I be able to file, but I am also confident that I will be able to win without the long drawn out process and huge battles in and out of court.  At least I hope and pray that this is the case.

I have had temporary custody of the kids for a little over a month now, and having them back in my life has been amazing.  I will admit that there are some difficulties to overcome, but I love being faced with these challenges.  I no longer get as much sleep as I used to and the house is messier, but it is not only filled with more clothes on the floor and art projects everywhere, it is also filled with more smiles, laughter and love, and I plan on doing everything I can to make sure it stays that way.

New Hotness

It may not be the same one we were originally looking at, but he seems to like it and it gets him from A to B.  There was another one that we were going to look at that I think would have been a really good deal and probably lasted a bit longer than what I expect this one will.  However, when we went to go see it, it was sold litterally five minutes before we got there.  Oh well, I guess this little Pontiac Sunfire is now officially part of our family.  Hopefully, it will be with us longer than Old and Busted was.

Old and Busted

Well, that is the name Andrew has given this wonderful little hunk of junk that has stranded him on his way to school at least four times now.  The good news is that there is currently no worries that it will die on him while he is on his way to school.  The bad news is that this is because of the fact that it won't start.

In the short period of time he has had the car, we have already spent a couple hundred dollars in maintenance, and there are numerous other items that need to be fixed.  That is, would need to be fixed if the car actually ran.  Being as it does not run, there is not really any immediate need to fix anything.

Due to the amount it would cost to get "old and busted" back into working condition, we are looking to find "new hotness" for Andrew.  Sorry for the naming, but it is from a scene from MIB II that Andrew has taken to use as naming for his vehicles.  I'm not sure this "new hotness" would ever be the star of any showroom floor, but for the moment, it is the car that Andrew has his eye on and I think we are going to go take it for a test drive tonight.  If all goes well, maybe Andrew and the kids will have some reliable transportation to get them to and from school, hotness or not.

A New Year

Well, the new year has begun, and it is promising to bring with it lots of new things.

At the top of the list of new things has to be the fact that my youngest two little ones are now living with us.  Currently, this is only a temporary thing while my ex tries to work out some personal issues.  However, we are hoping to make them permanent residents of Omaha, and have already started the initial paperwork to make this happen.

The second item on the list is that it is once again time to move.  We had moved into a smaller place in order to save money.  However, now that we have a total of seven people living in a two bedroom apartment, I believe a move is definitely in order.  We already signed the lease and will be moving in just over a month.  I'm not exactly looking forward to the move itself, but I am definitely looking forward to having the extra space once we are there.

Along with the new house and having the kids, we will also be needing some new beds so everyone will have a place to sleep and call their own.  These are the ones that we have picked out for the boys, and of course there will be a matching dresser to go with them.

Other new items that 2012 will bring include the fact that Andrew will be leaving us for college.  Right now, he is wanting to go to the University of Iowa, so that will be a big adjustment for everyone as we will not get to see him too often with him being that far away.  Although I will be sad to see him go, I wish him well and hope that he does well and gains everything he needs while away and hope that once he is done that maybe he will decide to find employment a little closer to home.

The final item on the horizon for 2012 is a change in marital status.  Although technically I am pretty sure that I need to have a fiance before this can happen, I am looking forward to everything the new year has to offer, and I am hoping that this item will be among the list of changes.

First Run

Well, it is summertime once again and with the weather being as it has been, this past Saturday seemed like a good day to die. So... I dug out my running shoes and shorts and headed out to Wehrspann Lake.

I was feeling pretty good happy with myself for deciding to actually go for a run. I did a little light stretching and proceeded to hit the trail.

It didn't take long to realize that it had bee almost two years since the last time I ran. My knees and lungs were both very quick to point out that something wasn't right. However, due to the fact that I was feeling so good about myself for being there, I didn't listen to my body and decided to push through the pain.

This worked for awhile, and I was pleased that I seemed to be doing so well. As time went on, I found that I did need to do some walking and I was okay with this. I mean, after all, it had been two years and it is seven miles around the trail. Although I did end up doing a considerable amount of walking by the time I was done, I still felt pretty positive with my accomplishment.

Or at least I did.

The next day was not pleasent. I woke up with a pair of legs that did not want to do anything that I asked of them, and when they finally did do anything for me (like walking to the living room), they both did their best to make sure I was aware of their protest by sending me sharp pains each step of the way.

It is now Tuesday, and my legs are continuing to remind me that they are not happy with my decision to run again. Although I might not listen completely, I think I will definately keep their relentless remindings in mind the next time I think about heading out. After all, it is hard to feel good about yourself for getting excercise when your unable to move from the chair.

First Fish

Em seemed quite proud of catching her first fish. I however, had mixed emotions. I was very happy for her and tried to share in her excitement.

The problem was that I was not with her to enjoy this moment. It was supposed to be my weekend with the little ones. However, due to me starting a new job and not being able to make it to the exchange by 5:30 PM, my ex decided that she would not meet me at 7:30 for the exchange (that's too late for the kids) and just keep them. To add to this, Em will be turning five on Monday the 23rd, so we were planning to have a small birthday party for her.

I guess I am supposed to be happy in knowing that she had a good time and we can do something for her birthday next weekend. It's just not always easy.

Updates

Wow!!! It has been a lllooonnnggg time since my last post. So, let's see... what's new?
The divorce is final. I was given custody of Andrew and he will be coming to live in Omaha in another week or so (finishing out the school year first).

1. We moved to an apartment to be able to start saving some money. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but now that we will have Andrew joining us, this might get re-evaluated soon.


2. I have a new job. It is quite the commute, but nice to be working again and looking forward to once again having a little extra cash.


3. Lindsey completed all of the courswork for her MA program and is beginning her externship today.

I think those are all of the major updates. There are lots of other smaller things going on, and I will try to cover at least some of them in later posts. Until then... happy reading.