Hurray!

Tonight I hit Paydirt!

I finally found a flavor of Hamburger Helper that is actually good. They girls liked it also.

Crunchy Taco. I had a busy day got supper on the table late and needed something quick! Bedtime and come and gone and I was about to be tortured by a 4 and 2 year old:(

As they say" Get Em Before They Get You". Dinner was fast, even faster was the bath, then there was the story and the blessing and to the finish line! Bedtime has arrived at Last!! And now I'm trying to get this blog done. This is my second attempt at this blog, I was so frustrated the 1st time I just deleted the whole thing. Now I have my handy Webster's Sspeller handy and A little quiet time. There is hope yet.

I have this little chicken house I'm trying to get into shape before winter (I hope) the work has been slow because there has been such a problem with Wasps and Hornets this year. I have been stug about 5 time within a week. Now we are having a professional coming next week to help since they have gotten into our siding of our house.

We find a least two wasps in the house daily. Everyone screams and runs around, and when someone finally runs into another the screaming gets louder! I wonder if the neighbors can hear? Then I have to look for the fly swatter (because they girls just won't leave it alone) I can get my revenge by squasing it into oblivion!

I thought I might somehow be able to be of some assistance to someone else who is going through the things that led up to us now adopting our Grand-Children. It's been a long road for us and there have been many, many tears, anger, and sadness and personal burdens along the way. But through the Grace of God we made it through.

These children are our Daughter's children so it has been a bitter sweet experiance. It has not been a winning solution for any of us. But one thing I can say is that through all the bitterness, pain and sorrow we have come to love one another and understand each other better than we have in a long time.

The girls know who their Mother is because they remember her and they call me Grammy

they talk with her on the phone, I talk to her on the phone. We all tell each other "I Love You" and I don't take it for granted anymore because there was a time when thing were so bad communication with my Daughter was not possible. And I went to bed at nite not knowing if my Daughter and Grand-Children were O.K.

I don't ever want to be there again. On my Birthday this year I got a phone call from my daughter wishing me a Happy Birthday!! After I cried a little bit, I smiled a whole lot! That was the best Birthday Present I had in a long time! You see, my Daughter and I were pretty close when she was little, we had so much fun together!

She used to show Rabbits. Not just 4-H rabbits we were members of The American Rabbit Breeders Association! It was so much fun we traveled through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North and South Dakota to these Rabbit shows, stayed in Motels with our rabbits in their little traveling cages.

She had many Grand Champion Mini Lop and Netherland Dwarfs one of which was best in show in the state of Montana! That one's name was Leo she named him after the actor Leonardo DeCaprio. Then there was Ted our Grand champion Mini Lop! He was such a sweet rabbit. She made tons of homemade suckers to sell at school to help pay for entry fees and supplies. Dean, my husband was kept busy building more rabbit hutches. I think at one time we must have had about 30 rabbits but some were for meat.

It was devistating to us that our daughter would end up in a bad crowd of people and get herself into so much trouble after everthing we did for her. She wanted nothing to do with our ideals. I think it took loosing her children to get her attention. She signed over her parental rights to the State of Montana and so did their father. I was glad that we could finally start the process of adoption, but at the same time it was MY Daughter giving up her children! Where did I go wrong? How could I have raised a Daughter to care so little for these little, helpless children?

These are some of the things that I thought about. I was Ashamed for my Daughter, Ashamed of my self and if it had not been for these 2 little Angels I don't know what I would have done. They needed us Sooo bad! My Doctor prescribed Anti-depressents!! THANK GOD!!

It was like a kick in the butt! Man, did I ever feel GOOD! I felt so good that I became the berrybestgrammy I am today!

My daughter Made a mistake in her life and It cost her dearly. I know she is very sorry for what happened but the important thing is that she is on her way to getting her life turned around.

As with most parents who have Drug and Alcohol problems, and their children are in the custody of the state, it takes more time to recouperate than Family Services will keep their children. The law states that after so long a time Family Services needs to seek permanency for the children. But, with Kinship Care its a little different, I don't think there is an actual time limit. A lot depends on how the parent is doing on their care plan.

Each State is probably a little different, but I'm sure according to Federal laws they have to stick closely together. I'm just amazed at how many children are in the states custody just here in Yellowstone County alone!

I urge everyone in this position to seek professional help or join a support group! There are people out there that can help! This is such an emotional problem, don't go it alone! At a time like this you need to have your witts about you, you have to become you grandchildren's best advocate!! There are situations where even disabled adults need help also. I will try to post websites and other information as I get it. Hopefully there will be some info that may help.

My Husband Dean is a Truck Driver and most of the time me and the girls are on our own, well....with 2 dogs Spott&Sarah, , 6 cats, 2 birds, a goat named Chandler, a sheep named Perdy, a frog named Lucky, an aquarium full of fish and about 24 chicken, and 1 turkey who is NOT supposed to be a pet who does NOT have a name because were supposed to eat her on Thanksgiving or Christmas. There is a long story here about this turkey I will tell you about it in another post some time. Maybe I can have a contest sort of on what to name her if we decide not to eat her.

Oh, No! I included a picture of the wrong Kids!! They were my Kids when I was an Empty Nester. See what happens when you stay up too late to blog!!