Long Time No Post

It's been a long time, and a lot has happened since my last post. I guess the item at the top of the list is the fact that I finally had my hearing and have visitation back to normal with the kids. Actually, it is a little better than normal. Before I had to put up with Michelle and deal with her everytime I went back to visit them. However, now whenever I go back (which is set at every other weekend just as before), Michelle has to leave the house and can't come back until my visitation is over. The judge took the times I requested verbatim and gave me pretty much everything I was asking. I have no idea where she will go on my weekends, and although it might not be the nicest thing in the world to say... I really don't care where she goes or what she does. I finally get to enjoy quiet time with them without her interuptions or anything else. I had the first of those visits this past weekend, and it was wonderful. I will share some of that in a later post, but wanted to use this as more to catch up with things.

The second major item that has changed since my last post is my dad. Things did not look good for awhile, but he had another PET scan done and things are looking up. They don't think the spots on either of his lungs are cancer at this point. It's been a little bit of a roller coaster, and I know he is getting tired of it (we all are), but we are all happy that for the moment we are on a positive note and plan to enjoy that over the holidays.

Lastly, the other item that has changed since my last post is work. I don't really want to share all the ins and outs regarding that item. However, let's just say that I am thankful the job market is starting to turn around, and there seems to be a few good opportunities out there.

I'll try to get some more posts up soon and include some pictures of the little ones from the holidays. They are always so much fun, and can always bring a smile to your face.

The school play

The play was pretty funny this year. They tried to fit all of Greek mythology into 99 minutes or less. I actually saw it twice. The first time I saw it, they finished in just over their time limit. However, they were able to finish with a couple minutes to spare the last time.


I think Andrew was having a little fun and getting into his role a little bit. What do you think?


He had been shot and people were behind him talking about him like he was dead. He was sitting there saying "Hey... I'm right here, come on... help me up."


This was his big part. He took center stage with the rest of the cast around him. The picture isn't so great. The first time I saw the play I got a video of this portion, but it is too big to upload to the blog, so the picture will have to do.

It was a great play, and overall a pretty good weekend with the kids. However, I didn't know at the time that it would be my last weekend there for awhile. Hopefully, that will all be resolved soon, and I will be able to share some more time with them and create some new memories.

More bad news

I found out over the weekend that my dad's cancer is back. I don't have too many details yet, as I am waiting for another call sometime later this week. His doctor wants to review the results with another doctor, and then will get back to us as to what they think.

At this point, it looks like there are at least two masses that have been spotted in his lung, with the larger of the two being about 3/8 of an inch. Chemo has been mentioned, but right now we are waiting to hear what the doctors have to say after getting together to review his file.

I don't know what else to say for now, so I guess this is another item that I will have to try to keep people updated on as I get more information.

From bad to worse

I have had two separate hearings at this point, and no agreement has been reached in regards to the wonderful little protection order Michelle filed against me. This means that a new date has been set, and this time it is set for three weeks out and will be a half day trial.

I kind of like the fact that it will be a half day trial. It will force her to show what evidence she has (or the lack thereof), and therefore; I fully expect the thing to be thrown out and for me to not have to worry about it anymore. However, in the meantime, Michelle discovered that since they used a standard form for the order, and she listed the kids on the form to be returned to her... there is a nice little clause listed at the bottom of that paragraph that prevents me from having ANY contact with the kids. That's right, it means absolutely no contact with any of my little ones for the next three weeks.

I am currently on day two of that wonderful little time span, and I'm just not sure if I am going to be able to make it a full three weeks without hearing any of their voices, or being able to know what they are up to and how things are going. I can't believe Michelle would do this to the kids. I knew things would not exactly be pretty in filing for divorce, but I did not expect them to be quite this ugly either.

I will try to update periodically as to how things are going, but at this point, I don't know that I will have much to say other than... "I miss my kids!"

And so it begins...

Today was an exceptionally bad day for me. I know this has been coming for a long time. However, I did not foresee just how ugly things would get when it came down to actually filing.

I was served with papers today. When I first found out that I was being served, my initial reaction was a feeling of relief. I was happy in thinking that she had filed and I was receiving the papers for divorce. However, of course I could not be that lucky. The papers were not related to her filing for divorce, but were instead were restraining order papers preventing me from returning to the house and being able to see the kids. She is afraid that I might just put them in the car with me and bring them back to Omaha (I guess in retrospect, I should not have said there was nothing to prevent me from doing that when she was yelling at me last weekend).

I am certain that it is all just a ploy and a way to position herself in preparation for what is coming. I had told her during the previous weekend to expect her divorce papers to be served to her this week. However, although knowing it is simply posturing for the proceedings to come, it still hurts knowing that for the moment, I cannot return to the house to see my little ones.

I have called my older boys, and they have both stated that they will help me in being able to speak to the other two whenever possible. That helps to an extent. I am sure I will be able to get through this and that everything will turn out in the end. However, I am not looking forward to all the wonderful little things that I just know I get to look forward to before that happens.

Emmy's Haunted House

Em had a blast decorating her haunted house. It was by no means the neatest creation we have done, but you could definitely tell she had fun with it.



I love the black teeth in her smile. I guess not all of the black icing made it onto the house.

Johnathan's big pumpkin plan

Johnathan decided to put the big pumpkin from the garden to good use...