Trying Pix and Background on Older

COOL BEANS!! It worked! Thanks "Meanstepmom". :-) Here's a test pix. This is from when I was in the Army. It's several years ago, but I still look about the same. I just have to actually pick out my own clothes now.

I've been excited about my blog all day. I told my friend M this afternoon over lunch, and turns out he loves reading blogs. I didn't even know how to find a blog until I was invited to one. Hopefully that doesn't sound corny, but it's like a new community of friends. If you haven't noticed, there aren't many 27 y/o stepmoms of teenagers that I can socialize with. In fact, I really don't know that many stepparents.

So, I was going to add a pix of the happy family, but we're in the middle of a severe thunderstorm (don't worry, I'm not typing this with the power cord in the laptop) and the internet cut out. If it comes back in tonight, I'll do my best to add another picture.

Since I have nothing better to do right now, I'll give some background on Older. I apologize this blog is all over the place so far, but I want to do some background for any readers instead of just jumping into the craziness that is life. :-) I promise, I'll start just writing about my day soon. Ok, so Older... Met Hubby while she was in juvie for a whole slew of things. She grew up with her BM the six yrs previous to me meeting her.... well grew up with her BM, group homes, and juvie. Anyway, she wasn't exactly a role model. She was into drugs, hanging out with not very good peers, and drinking. She got in trouble again (for truency that time, i think) right before Hubby got back from from Iraq. She ended up in a group home again (b/c the judge removed her from her mother's house but didn't realize that Hubby and BM were divorced) until she turned 18. It was about 3.5 months in the group home. As soon as she turned 18, she dropped out of high school. She was 3 months shy of graduation. She finally got in trouble again after 18, only this time it scared her. She was in grown up jail now (she didn't mind juvie at all... in fact, her juvie friends threw her a party when she left b/c she was so popular there). Grown up jail SUCKS! :-) Good thing too because it gave a semi-wake up call. She finally stopped dating hooligans and started dating this really great guy Ed. Ironically, Ed's only 3 months younger than me, but he's been instrumental in her getting her butt in gear. She managed to only get probation for said arrest and completed that early and was doing great. We got a call in May 08 saying she was pregnant. She and Ed lived together for about 6 months at that point. She and he were living responsible lives and we supported her throughout her pregnancy. She was even working 2 jobs up until the week before she was due. The week before she was due, she had a lapse in judgement and crossed state lines (we live on the TN/KY state line) and tried to sell a small bag of cocaine (she wasn't using... just so everyone knows. The last time she used drugs was when she met Ed and he said that he wouldn't date a drug user) for $30. Yup... so we're still going through that legal battle. There's some background story to that which I'll write later, but in a nutshell, it was an actual lapse (I can say that now seeing as that was almost 9 months ago). My parents fronted the bail money (they happened to be in town for their first visit since we married and we don't have an extra 12K sitting around the house) so our grandson wouldn't be born in jail. When T was born, her life changed the rest of the way. He was what she needed. He became real to her. Since T was born, she's completed her GED. She scored so well on the practice that the state paid for her test. She enrolled in all the programs offered (not just assistance ones) to help her learn how to be a great mom (she's a FANTASTIC mom, btw). She started working full time again and even found an awesome and affordable babysitter. She'll be starting Medical Assistant school in January (hopefully!) and will finish in one years time so she'll be able to get a better job. Not that waitressing is a bad job, but she'd like something with more consistent hours and pay. I don't blame her. Last week, she went and took responsibility for her lapse in judgement and plead guilty to the drug charge. She has managed to get a judge who believes in second chances for those who have actually changed some habits, friends, and life choices... so we're crossing our fingers for her. Jail would, in my opinion, be detrimental to all the progress she's made. Older even told us that she learned to be a better criminal when she was in jail. We have a pretty solid relationship at this point. I respect her better choices and she's come to respect that I've never given up on her.... even during the years she was being horrible to me. :-) It's been working out more and more. She's maturing more and more and I'm grateful for the relationship we now have. She also gave me my first grandson... hehe... when I was 26! :-P

Ok... well, the t-storm is still going crazy and I don't want to drain my computer battery or scare any potential readers away... it's quite a bit to digest. Like I said, the last 3.5 years have been a little crazy. I'll try to get a couple pix up. Thanks for reading!