My life from HS to present

I was married Dec 20th 1994 to a man named Travis. We moved to Millington Tn and lived there until June 23rd 1995. At that point I moved back home with my parents for the summer and Travis went to California for training (he was a marine), in the fall we moved to Havelock North Carolina. On Dec 6th 1995 John Kindred was born. He brought a whole new world in to light and the joys of parenthood began. In March 1996 Travis went overseas and it was just Kindred and I until August 1996 when Travis came back from his tour.

The following year Anastazia Bianka was born on Dec 20th 1997. Soon after that it was clear things were not going to work out with Travis (lets just say he was not a nice person to be around when he drank) so the kids and I left and moved back home to live with my parents in Burke Virginia. While we were all there my Mom went into congestive heart failure so she was unable to help me recover from my depression. Over the next year it was clear that I was in no condition to take of my children. So I asked my MIL to help out by taking the children for one year so I could get myself to a place mentally that I needed to be and to find a job so I could take care of myself and the kids. Needless to say this was a bad idea, once she got the kids I didn't get them back. Papers were filed and the custody and divorce were settled June 2001.

Life moved on, I got a job and moved out. I was living in Waldorf, Maryland for awhile. I saw my kids as often as I could with them living in North Carolina. I took the time to find my center and become a better person and mother. Time marched on and in October 2002 my Dad passed away. Sitting by his bed with my Mom in his last moments was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I still have issues with his passing and learned one very valuable lesson "Never hold anything back with the ones you love because you never know when you will get the chance to say what you need to". I can only hope that now that he is at peace he knows how much I truly love him and how very much I miss my Daddy.

Once my Dad passed my Mom asked me to move back in with her to help take care of the house and so we could be there for each other. I did because it was great to be able to be there for her when she had always been there for me.

In October 2003 I meet a wonderful man on the yahoo personals. His name was Matt, an Army MP who was everything I had been looking for and more. I wish he had been the first but sad to say there were a lot of frogs before I found my prince lol. From our first date we both knew it was meant to be, I just took a little longer to figure it out. In December 2003 we found out we were expecting. It took us 3 months to plan our wedding and on March 20th 2004 we said our vows in Maryland. Our little Elizabeth Ann was born August 31 2004. In the summer of 2005 the kids came to visit us, Libby turned 1 and Kindred decided he wanted to live with us. Ana made her choice to go back to her Dad's so in August 2005 our family grew by 1 full-time.

In 2006 we also moved to Winchester Virginia. Everything was going great, Matt was out of the Army, Kindred was in school and Libby was getting bigger and bigger. Over spring break 2007 we found out we were expecting Georgia Katherine. At that point we decided to buy our first home and really settle down. In July 2007 we bought our first home in Martinsburg West Virginia. It was a long and tetiaous search but we found a house that was big enough for all of us. A few months pass as we settle in to our new home. On Dec 5th 2007 Katie is welcomed into the world. Her addition to the family makes us complete (well for now lol maybe adoption later). In May of 2008 on Mothers Day actually Ana asks if she can move in with us full-time. I tell her she has to wait until school is out and then we can set it up.

Since then we have gone to court to have custody reverted back to me, I honestly didn't think it would ever happen. I am beyond thrilled to have all of my children under one roof again. Since everything has been made legal we have had a few speed bumps in the road but what family doesn't. Our weeks are now filled with Roller Hockey, Girl Scouts, Tennis, Open Gym, Pre-School and a little one who likes to climb things. Through all of this all I keep thinking is as long as we have each other we can make it through anything!