A Year of Transition Transitions Again

In May 2007, my daughter's "other mom" moved back to California and re-entered Annie's every day life. What has, in the past, been a very toxic relationship between us and her is now actually pretty darned good one. Annie comes and goes between our two households and is the happiest I have ever known her to be. Amanda and I have actually had a number of lengthy, heartfelt telephone conversations about various things, and much more email correspondence over the past 16 months. I can honestly say that I think of her as a friend. Those of you who have been with me through the past five years know what a huge statement that is!

Amanda has married a man that I actually like and has a stable job that she actually likes. She has been here for Annie's school activities and events: talent shows, awards ceremonies, open houses, and the like. She has begun attending church again, albeit irregularly, and has seemingly reconnected with Christ. I pray that this process continues steadily.

It is with confusion that I report that Amanda is now moving to Oregon on a temporary placement concerning her job. She has to relocate for two years in order to make a significant advancement professionally and financially, and will then return to this area. She has arranged with her employer that she MUST have time to visit Annie regularly and attend major school functions. We will allow Annie to go up to Oregon for visits during school breaks, of course.

I understand why Amanda is going, and yet part of me wonders if it's a good idea to re-open old separation-wounds where Annie is concerned. It took us a while to get used to living in the same area, and now we will go back to the way it was before. I know we'll be okay, we did it for a long time before this most recent togetherness, but I just hope Annie doesn't resent her other mom for this decision. The two years between ten and twelve are big years, and Amanda won't be around for them.

On the other hand, I'll have my daughter around full time again!

We are supportive of Amanda's decision and will make sure Annie sees that. I'll keep you posted.

Pray for our family's mental health! This is emotionally confusing.

Backwards Day

In the last few months, a number of things have happened; rent has gone up, gas prices have gone up, the cost of food has gone up, and the number of mouths we have to feed has gone up. That last mouth to feed has not actually affected us "food-wise" yet, but there are always diapers and wipes to make up for any money saved by breastfeeding. So, you can imagine my utter surprise upon opening mail from Citibank, the corporation hosting my federal student loan. Apparently, my interest rate is changing from 6.37% to 3.36%. Not that it is going to make a HUGE difference in my life, but it is still nice to get some good news for once! Imagine that, an interest rate went down. The earth is still spinning on it's axis, right??

This is cool. I cried.

Sigh...

Today we lost such a special member of our family. My cousin has been living with Cancer for an unknown length of time and battling it with vigor for the past eight weeks. This evening, she went to be with Our Lord at 7:10pm EST. She will be sorely missed and always remembered with the utmost respect and LOVE. I take comfort knowing that she is now kneeling at the feet of Jesus Christ, surely weeping with joy as she takes it all in.

Thank you to everyone who kept Luann and our family in your prayers these past many weeks. It is appreciated and will never be forgotten.

Semi-Colons

Semi-Colons are wonderful; they should be used all the time! They are probably my favorite punctuation mark right now. Previously, I have been fond of apostrophes and parentheses, but I've never much cared for dashes. Dashes are frequently confused with hyphens, and I rarely find good use for either of them. Down with dashes!

It's funny that I should be posting about this topic right now; Jacob is watching Sesame Street and Tully and Baby Bear are attending a "Triangle Lovers' Club" meeting. It seems oddly similar to my imaginary "Semi-Colon Lovers' Club" post today.

Brave New World

Today I embark on a new blogging adventure! Bear with me while I figure out how everything works and try to increase my AV skill. I have very limited time in my life for these things, so it may be slow going for a bit; bear with me!

So, today it begins.