Where it all started Part 3

In November 2009 we started to see things a little clearer as to why things have been the way they have been for so many years. At this time, Faith got caught doing thing's she should not have been doing. So instead of her mother being a mother and supporting her she tossed her out on the street like garbage. The ex (on a recorded phone call) told Mike she did not want Faith, she was a disgrace, she was a whore and a slut, she couldn't and wouldn't ever trust her again and that she didn't love her. So Faith came to live with me. We enrolled her in Fayette Middle and she was doing good. She was on the softball team, had made lots of friends and was evolved in Beauty pageants etc. Through this time. The ex never showed up to softball games, school functions etc even though Faith told her on numerous occasions and invited her with plenty of notice. Faith was in her first "real" beauty pageant in 8th grade and she couldn't even bother to show up and support her. This would just be the start to missing things. During this time, Faith was smart mouth and distant, we couldn't figure out why..... Until later ...... As Christmas time is approaching, the ex and her husband, Mikey and their daughter Lacy was here visiting Faith when it "accidentally" came out that The whole family was living in a house with NO power IN THE WINTER! and had been living like that for a long time. Wow, just where was our child support going? Her husband wasn't working, again, I'm sure her family was tired of paying all their bills? So again, where was this child support going .... Wow, how pathetic! First thing we should have done was run to DHR, but for some reason we didn't ... Stupid us huh? As Faiths 8th grade was coming to an end, she was excited about her trip to Alabama Adventure with her classmates, to bad she never got to go. The Ex all of a sudden wanted to be a mother, or so we thought at the time and Faith moved back with her. (again we would soon learn why she was adamant on going back) So because nothing was "legal" we couldn't fight it. Things from here begin to bother us and we started investigating. We talked to people that knew people that knew people. You know how that works, haha. and things started to become so much clearer. We had known for years that the kids were living in a drug infested house, but proving it to the courts would be a hard thing to do, and believe me, it was!

  In May of 2011 we had hired an attorney, AGAIN! To file for custody, This time, the court case was different. The Judge had hired a Guardian at litemn (A lawyer basically for kids) So, we thought, yes things will finally change....Boy were we wrong. The lawyer for the kids DID NOT do her job at all, so that was a let down. Then when in court and we had to go for drug tests, she failed YET had prescription to vouch for her addiction. **A little lesson on Fayette's drug testing. they only run a 3-5 panel test, which will tell the tester if a person is doing opiates ...However it will NOT tell you what exactly this person is doing. In other words, a cheap, get by drug test. Then Fayette wonders why we have so many addicts?? So in the Exs case, she had a prescription for one opiate but was actually taking another (A long with tons of other stuff) so needless to say court didn't go well for us ...yet .... This is when we vowed to not spend one more penny on a lawyer, it was pointless. No matter what. No more money. Heck, with the money spent on lawyers and child support to support heir drug habit we could have a huge new house and a car ... Ugh! Even though we were hurt and longed for things to change, we went on about our life. Still investigating and still collecting what we needed for any future court dates. On November 30 2011 we were heading back from family movie night and we got a call that the exs name had just went across the scanner and she was being arrested for possession of pills (10 loratbas and a snorting straw) that she had NO prescription for. Finally, our prayers have been answered. We can finally prove to the courts their addicts and even though the kids are 14 and 10 we can still give them some kind of life and turn them around.

  The very next morning, we got the boys off to school and headed straight to Berry Alabama to check the kids out of school and file for emergency custody. The school had to of known it was coming. Faith begged please no Daddy, Mikey was just "there" but after talks with counselor and her having no choice, Faith came with us. We had taken the kids to Mikes Moms house so we could go deal with this matter with the Judge. The minute Mike walked in the Judges office, he didnt even get out why he was there and the Judge called us back. (Mind you, this Judge KNOWS us all to well, we have vacated his courtroom for 12 years now on a regular bases.) When Mike started to explain why he was there, the Judge stated I know, and I am sorry. (FINALLY, the courts believed what we have been saying for YEARS, but sad it took her getting arrested for them to listen) We gained temporary custody of the kids and he wanted to know if we needed a police escort to go get them and Mike stated no, we have them already. So, now a new emotional journey is beginning ... and man, what a ride it will be ....


Much love
Lori

Where it all started ...

There seems to be a lot of talk about our parenting ways among other stuff so I just thought that I would start blogging the truth about our journey over the last 15 years.
(This will probably be over a few blogs, Ha Ha)

   Where it all began ..... Mike and I met online in a chat room about 15 plus years ago. We chatted for months before we decided to meet. No one just out right meets someone from online, right? ha! Anyways, it was not long after we met, I knew that he was who I was meant to be with, he was my forever. I decided that I needed to leave my current abusive husband (Thats another blog) February 2000 was one of the best days of my life =) Mike and I dated for awhile before he felt it was the right time for me to meet his children.

    The day I met his children was a day that I will never forget. Mikey, then barely even walking grew attached to me real quick. He was instantly my baby. Faith on the other hand was a shy backwards little girl. She hid behind Mikes legs and would peak out and look at me and smile really big. It took her a few visits but she came around.  Through the years, things were okay with Mike and his Ex-Wife. We would see the kids any time we wanted, which was quite frequently, we loved having them around. As time moved on, Mike and I got more serious in our relationship; Something his Ex-Wife was not taking a liking to. After all, even though she was remarried, My Mike was the one changing the oil in her car, fixing home repairs etc. With him finding his true love, that would all soon come to a stop. Anyways, Moving on.... In Spring of 2001 Mike and I were officially living together and becoming one. Here is when we started to notice things going down hill. We would call to see the kids and she would flabbergast some story that they were sick and weren't coming, However we would be coming home from a Sonic run or something at midnight and his Ex-Wife and her husband would be hanging out with teenagers on the strip with the two very young kids in the car screaming they were tired and wanted to go home to their bed, yet she didn't care. She was trying to act cool. His ex would have her "moments" One day, we could see the kids all we wanted to, the next we couldn't and wouldn't see them for weeks on end. Until she needed something. I can't tell you how many times we would make a wal-mart run at midnight to get milk or diapers because "she forgot" to get them or just didn't want to spend the money on them. Over this year, Mikey and I got very close. I was his "Hori" (He couldn't get his "L's" out...So cute! When we would make these milk and diaper runs, I would have to hide outside so Mikey wouldn't see me and if he did, he would throw a tantrum to go with us, and of course, his ex-wife was not liking  that at all. So this was when she really started keeping the kids from us. Towards the end of 2001 things were going downhill for us financial wise. Mike and I decided it was in the best interest of our future to move to South Florida with my family, work save money then come back and start fresh. We made it an obligation no matter the cost, we would come back twice a month to see the kids, which we did...until the one time we drove the 800 miles to only be told we were not allowed to see them. Heartbroken, we turned around and headed back to South Florida.

  In February 2002 , Mike and I got the shock of our lifetime. We found out on Valentines day that we were having our first baby!!! Boy was I ever so shocked. After all, for years I was told I would never be able to have children because my uterus was to small and I had PCOS. Needless to say, This chick was ecstatic!!!
 I didn't know how to react, didn't know who to tell first. I was kind of scared to tell anyone, after all we were just starting our journey in life, we were just getting by. Around this time, Mike was missing his children really bad, even though she was being her demented self and keeping them from talking to him via phone or seeing them he still wanted to be in the same state as they were. He got offered a job doing something he loved, so he decided to head back to Alabama, work and get us a place to live after our baby was born. It was best that I stayed in Florida with my Dr since I was high risk and seeing a specialist.  So in march 2002, Mike headed back to good ole Alabama, such a sad depressing day. Even though Mike lived 15 minutes away from his children, he still hardly saw them or talked to them on the phone, she always came up with some lame excuse as to why he couldn't see them. Constantly telling him they had a new father, they didn't need him.  Anyways, pregnancy went as well as expected and on September 27, 2002 we welcomed our 5lbs 2oz blonde hair blue eyed baby at 1:14 am via emergency c-section. One of the best days of my life. (and one I will never forget, scary day) (One day, I will blog on all my children's birth stories) Even though things were going good with AJ and myself, I dearly missed Mike. How I longed to be home in Alabama with him, raising our new little bundle of joy. (Life never happens as we plan it to, huh?) In October 202, Mom, AJ and I make a trip to Alabama to see everyone and hopefully have the kids meet their new little brother. Should have known the Evil Villain wouldn't allow it. First there was the excuse they had school, then they were sick or she had made plans already (Even though this trip was planned far in advance.) Even though the kids weren't allowed to meet their brother at this time, we still had a fantastic trip seeing everyone.
Things moved along quickly. Aj celebrated his first Thanksgiving and Christmas and before we knew it it was time to move home to Alabama. In January 2002, we made the long 9 hour trip with a newborn baby in a U-Haul. Was actually a pleasant trip. AJ was almost 5 months old when we finally got "Home" The kids still haven't met him and his Ex-wife is still coming up with excuse after excuse as to why they couldn't come over to see their Daddy or their new brother.
 
 Over the next few years, she just got worse and worse. She would hold us seeing  the kids over our heads. If we didn't do as she wished we would not see them, and I mean we wouldn't see them for weeks sometimes months at a time. She would lie about sports schedules, never inform us of school functions etc. Mike was falling into depression. Even though we had AJ and our little family he missed his other two children dearly. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried she became more and more evil. This is about the time we found out that she was filling the kids head with so much bullshit it was pathetic, I almost hurt for her and thought many of times that there was something really wrong with this woman, no one is this out right evil and malicious. She would tell the kids Mike was a drug addict, he didn't love nor care about them that's why he never called or came to see them (Typical excuse huh, blame it on the other parent so you look good) and my favorite of all time, She told Mikey the reason why he was born when he was was because Mike had beat her so bad that she was in a coma and they had to take Mikey from her and he was a day or two old before got to see him. Funny, number one, if that were true, Mike would not have been there for the birth of his son he would have been in jail and she would not have had a picture made with him sitting on the bed just a few hours old looking perfectly fine. Arrest records are a matter of public record, Mikey was born in August of 1999, feel free to go to Fayette County courthouse and see for yourself that nothing is there. :-) This is just some of the things she would fill their head with. Over the years, we would soon find out "Why" she made Mike look like the evil parent.

  In 2004 things were no better. Mike and I tried everything to see the kids and nothing was working. She kept them from us on holidays, she refused to allow us to speak to them on the phone and she would never tell us anything that they were involved in.  Mikes original divorce papers stated that he could see the children every other weekend from Saturday morning at 9am through Sunday at 6pm and one day during the week as long as it didn't interfere with school and nothing about holidays or summer. We decided it was time to get it all back in court and get visitation set .... Wow, what a journey this would be....