About our Family
I am 39 years old, a mother of 3 girls and a boy. I am twice divorced and recently relocated to a whole new world.
I was born in New Jersey and for the first five years of my life, I lived there. When I was five, the summer before my first year of school, my parents moved to North Central Pennsylvania. I lived in a small town where K-12th grades had around 300 kids total.
The summer before 9th grade we moved a devastating hour and 15 minutes to the west. It was a much larger town. Adjusting to "city" life was rough, but I survived. I graduated, married and had two beautiful girls who are now 17 and 15. They are beautiful, smart and funny girls who have a great sense of family and love for God.
A few years later I remarried and found myself being part of a blended family. It was my two girls and his son who was in between them in age. Then we had two children of our own as well. My son came first then the baby.
At one time I was essentially a single mom of 5 since my husband was a truck driver. With a blended family, juggling schedules was very hard. I had four kids in school in two school districts, three bus schedules and three different buildings. If that wasn't enough, I was working full time and attending Kaplan University online full time.
When we divorced it was time for a change. I found that living here was no longer what I needed and giving my children a better, happier mom was pretty important. I picked up and moved myself and my two youngest to Alabama where I had been corresponding with an old high school classmate of mine. My mother moved in with us from Florida and again, we had a blended family.
People told me that leaving my two oldest behind was the worst thing I could ever do. I saw it from a different point of view. They have a great dad, a fabulous step-mom whom I call my friend and the ability to attend the same school their entire school career. I hated moving at that age. I didn't want to make them start over like I had.
In the end, it was the best decision of my life. My children are all thriving. Our family is happy and healthy. My oldest children have double the love and experiences, and my youngest are well adjusted, smart and wonderfully well rounded children.
There is not much about my life that I would not share as a learning experience. What better way to share it than to see the laughter and live life with no regrets?
Blog, obviously.
I was born in New Jersey and for the first five years of my life, I lived there. When I was five, the summer before my first year of school, my parents moved to North Central Pennsylvania. I lived in a small town where K-12th grades had around 300 kids total.
The summer before 9th grade we moved a devastating hour and 15 minutes to the west. It was a much larger town. Adjusting to "city" life was rough, but I survived. I graduated, married and had two beautiful girls who are now 17 and 15. They are beautiful, smart and funny girls who have a great sense of family and love for God.
A few years later I remarried and found myself being part of a blended family. It was my two girls and his son who was in between them in age. Then we had two children of our own as well. My son came first then the baby.
At one time I was essentially a single mom of 5 since my husband was a truck driver. With a blended family, juggling schedules was very hard. I had four kids in school in two school districts, three bus schedules and three different buildings. If that wasn't enough, I was working full time and attending Kaplan University online full time.
When we divorced it was time for a change. I found that living here was no longer what I needed and giving my children a better, happier mom was pretty important. I picked up and moved myself and my two youngest to Alabama where I had been corresponding with an old high school classmate of mine. My mother moved in with us from Florida and again, we had a blended family.
People told me that leaving my two oldest behind was the worst thing I could ever do. I saw it from a different point of view. They have a great dad, a fabulous step-mom whom I call my friend and the ability to attend the same school their entire school career. I hated moving at that age. I didn't want to make them start over like I had.
In the end, it was the best decision of my life. My children are all thriving. Our family is happy and healthy. My oldest children have double the love and experiences, and my youngest are well adjusted, smart and wonderfully well rounded children.
There is not much about my life that I would not share as a learning experience. What better way to share it than to see the laughter and live life with no regrets?
Blog, obviously.