Sad to go back to California.

Man oh Man, it looks like im using my blog for a boohoo session. Oh well here's another one :). Today we go back to California and Im really sad. It's hard to leave Willie, I know Im such a boob. One cool thing was yesterday I got my engagement ring and wedding band resized to fit my chubby fingers. I'm soooooo happy and excited to be wearing them again, I mean it's been about 2 years since I have worn them. I love love love my rings, not necessarily because of how they look but beause they were a very special gift from willie. Some good things about going back to california is I get to finish packing up and getting ready to move to utah. Willie is coming to visit for christmas so that will be great. Like Miriam commented I also feel somewhat homeless this christmas because of moving and such. We were moving last christmas too so it's sad for the kids not to be able to help setup the tree and see all te lights and stuff. Yes I know that's not what christmas is all about but it's part of traditions that go along with having a family. Oh yeah we didnt get to see the boys when we went to florida. All of that is sticky right now and willie is still trying to figure out what to do about that.

Thanksgiving in Florida

For those of you who don't know, Willie is in Maryland getting some training for a new company he started working for called AAI Corp. He will be training between Maryland and Arizona for several months. The kids and I are currently living in California but are planning on moving to Utah at the end of December. Well we decided it would be great to visit Willie in Maryland over the Thanksgiving break. We have been in Maryland for 10 days so far. For Thanksgiving we drove down to Florida to visit Willie's family. This was a lot of fun and it was great to see all of Willie's family again. It has been over 3 years since we had last visited.
This visit was the first time Willie's family met Victoria so it was a very special visit. Victoria is Willie's first daughter and the youngest grandchild so everyone was really excited about meeting her.
Willie's mom had a stroke a couple of weeks ago and she has had several difficulties because of it. Initially she didn't remember anyone which was very hard for everyone in the family. She has started rehabilitation and is already showing great progress. We are so proud of her and we love her very much. This has been a very difficult time for Willie and his siblings. I think what makes this really hard is the fact that she is so young. She is only 47. This has made me realize that every day really is a gift and we need to make sure all of our loved ones knows we love them. We are now focusing more than ever on our family's and our family history.
There are many wonderful stories to learn about our ancestors, we just need to take to time to sit down and talk to our grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins about our memories and life stories.
Im so thankful we were able to go to Florida this year for Thanksgiving. There was a lot of great southern cooking and lots of love.

Candles, scents and feeling chillaxed.

I have noticed it has been months and months since I last posted anything. Things have been hectic and I'm taking online classes so, by the time I'm done with my studies I really don't feel like puting more time into the computer. The lastest news with us is Willie got his new job. He starts school in Maryland in 2 weeks. He will be gone for 2 months. Then he is going to school in Arizona for 1 1/2 months. We don't know where he is going after that. I hope we find out soon after he starts school. I am planning on moving to utah in december sometime. I will probably try to move by christmas. I've been a little worried about how I'm going to manage this move financially and physically. I've done a huge clean out of my house and garage, so basically what's left is what we're going to keep. Although I will probably have to get rid of alot more of the bigger stuff since Im not able to get my own place straight away. I think it will all work out but Im still worried.

I have scented candles burning right now and the kids are asleep so Im sitting hear in peace with lovely scents around me ;).

I'm tired so I'm going to bed.
Melisa

Peace in my heart.

I have had a challenging summer so far. This is the first time we have. all of our children living under the same roof. We have definitely had our ups and downs. It had gotten pretty tough where I had thrown in the towel. Then just this past week I had a big urge to start reading books again. I decided I needed to read an LDS novel. I went to Walmart and looked in their LDS section. I found a book. I started reading it. It only took my a couple of days to finish it and I was hungry for more. I finished the book Saturday night. On Sunday I went to church with two of my kids. They were really well behaved and I was grateful for that. During church I felt the spirit really strong. When I got home my wonderful hubby had dinner on the stove and he had cleaned the kitchen and dining room. I love that. It just puts me in a really good mood when Willie does things like that. I had decided to read my patriachal blessing. It had been quite some time since I had done that. What a comfort that was. The main feeling I had by the end of the week was, as long as I am faithful I will be ok. I got an incredible peaceful feeling in my heart about all the issues I have been dealing with this summer. I am so excited and thankful for that because I have hope again. I was really in the dark and feeling pretty low, now I feel I am in the light. I have new exciting goals that I will strive to accomplish within the next year or two. These goals will move my life in the direction I need to go to be happy. I know these goals will bless and guide my little family towards the lord. I know if I am faithful and trive to be an example my little family will follow.

Double Trouble.

Willie and I have a total of four children. He has two boys from a previous marriage and I have one boy from a previous relationship, then we have our daughter together. This summer is the first time we have all four children together. We have already come across several obstacles in trying to adjust from only having two children to managing four children. On top of that Willie is still having to pay child support for the two months we have the boys. This is very difficult because all the boys are basically the same age (6-7 years old) and they all eat alot of food. Willie's ex has told us she would send us about half of the child support which would be great however the month is almost over and we haven't heard anything from her since the first week the boys were here. (They have been here three weeks.) So this has been very frustrating.
We are also having some disciplinary problems with the kids. I think the boys get what they want most of the time when they are with their mother. They don't follow rules very well and I'm having a really hard time with getting them to tell the truth. I have also gotten the response that if their mother was here they would be having a fun time but because she isn't they are having no fun. Our home's philosophy is when your chores, school work etc are done and you have been behaving yourself, that's when you get to have "fun" i.e. play the wii go to chucking chesse etc. They seem to have a sense of entitlement as if they should receive what they want because they want it. We are just trying to teach our children that you need to work to get things in life. Nothing is handed to you, you have to work.