It's a new year - how is everyone?

It’s been an extremely busy time for me. I sold my house in November and moved full time into my 5th wheel - well sorta. My daughter in law started taken college courses, so my son asked me to move in to take care of my grandson while she goes to school. So, I started living there in October, before I even sold the house. Brock, my grandson, is a good baby and so much fun to be with, and I took over the role of housekeeper and cook also. Cook because my son asked me to, housekeeper because I couldn’t stand living in the mess. The older I get the more order I need in my life. Lol!

At the end of the semester in December I came to Austin to help my very pregnant daughter prepare for Christmas. She already has children - Norah is 8 and Lincoln in 3. She’s 33 and this pregnancy has had more aches and pains than the previous two. Christmas went well and I had all my children and grandchildren together and it was really great.

David came to my daughter’s the Friday before Christmas to drop off presents and brought his wife. My daughter was very apprehensive about meeting her, but I assured her it would be ok, and that I was sure she was a very nice lady. We haven’t talked about how it went, but I’m sure everything was fine.

However, he lied to my youngest daughter, saying he was going to be at work (in Africa) for Christmas, so he just shipped her Christmas present to her. She made the comment to me about he must not think she talks to her brother and sister, who he SAW before Christmas when he was supposedly in Africa...he just keeps digging himself in deeper with her, which is sad. She has always felt like she didn’t fit in with him - like she didn’t have the same relationship with him that he had with the other two, and I feel like he just keeps confirming that to her.

January 9 my daughter had the baby - a beautiful little girl they named Tessa Mae. She seems so tiny! I’ve been here since I came to help with Christmas, so I’ve been busy helping take care of things over here. She has an amazing, supportive husband who is a very involved father. My daughter always breast feeds, and Tessa is having a difficult time with it, so it’s starting to take a toll on my daughter. Her husband will be off another week then he goes back to work, so she’s already getting apprehensive about how she’s going to handle the three year old and baby by herself, since I’ll be going back to my son’s house tomorrow (his wife starts school on Tuesday).

David did come see Tessa when she was born, but he didn’t bring his wife. So I saw him then, and everything was comfortable between us. No tension at all, and I got a hug when I got there and another one when he left.

I officially retired as of December 31 - I haven’t worked at the office since October, so basically it just means the paychecks stopped. But that’s ok - I really enjoy being a full time grandma.

My son and daughter in law have been having problems with her ex husband since April last year. He’s been making some accusations and they’ve spent a lot of time and $ fighting him for custody of their daughter - who is four. She had been with her mother full time until he started this crap, and he now has her full time and my dil only gets visitation. We’ve placed this in God’s hands and it has been very hard, but it’s also been good to teach them to place their faith in God and let Him fight for them. The attorney appointed for my granddaughter has seen through his lies, and it looks like this is going to be finally resolved this month. It’s been very hard on both my daughter in law and granddaughter. I almost cry when she comes over and asks her mother why she can’t live at home anymore. Christmas Day she was FaceTiming her and my granddaughter was begging to talk to my son and she couldn’t let her -she didn’t understand why and all of us adults were almost in tears for that baby. She loves my son so much, and he loves her, and her biological father just can’t handle it. Please pray this gets resolved soon. January 29 they go back to court.

My son and daughter in law are expecting another baby also - due in May. She has two years of school left, so I’ll be full timing it there until then.

Sorry for the long post. Please pray for my daughter and Tessa to get breast feeding figured out this week. Also please pray for my son and daughter in law for their court date for custody of Audra (Jan 29) And also, please pray for my daughter Amanda to feel like she really belongs in this family and that the stuff with her father doesn’t have long lasting effects on her - though I suspect it already does. Also, my daughter in law lost a baby in 2016 - pray she carries this one to full term.

Thank you all. I think about you all often.

~Pat

Hi P, I'm just now seeing this but I will be praying for you and your family! What a blessing that you are able to be such a rock of support for your family. Please let us know how everything is going as things develop!

Adrienne - thank you for praying. My daughter in law will get Audra Thursday thru Monday, the 1,3 & 5 weekends of the month. The no contact order on my son is lifted, so he can be home when Audra is home now. It’s a huge step forward, Ashley’s has been having to pick her up at Andrew’s house at 6:00 on Friday and have her back by 6:00 on Sundays and Josh has not been allowed to be home when Audra was there. Now she can pick her up from school and take her back to school, so she won’t have to see Andrew.

I always heard a saying, ‘the wheels of justice move slow’ and I believe it now. It’s really a shame that someone can go to court and tell a bunch of lies & get an ‘emergency order’ to take a 4 year old from her mother. And we didn’t even know he was doing it - first we knew was when he presented her with the court order. It was 7 weeks she wasn’t able to see Audra at all. CPS cleared them on any wrong doing back last summer, but getting this order dropped has been a slow process. Last Fall the court appointed a lawyer to represent Audra and she meets regularly with her - she now sees this whole thing for what it is - revenge on Andrews part. She’s been instrumental in getting it this far, but apparently you can’t just go into court and tell the judge that Andrew made everything up - (I don’t understand that). CPS, Audra’s lawyer and the supervisor who has been doing supervised visits ALL say that this is a loving home and there nothing but a loving relationship between Ashley, Josh and Audra.

I’ve been praying for God to soften Andrew’s heart - but so far he’s as cold as Pharaoh. He’s a non believer, so he really needs Jesus.

Thank you for the update, Pat! I am so glad to hear about the progress made in this situation... as TK said, it all sounds very messy and painful but praise the Lord that He is a good God and is working in this. Keep us posted on how things progress!