Wednesday, November 13, 2013

In Which I Sort Of Explain

Hello, friends.  It's been a long, long time.

So it's been nearly a year since I started this whole Parenting-A-Teenager journey, and let me just say that adopting an older child is every bit as much an extreme sport as roller derby.  The last few months have been. . . intense.  We've had a lot going on around here, and shortly after I wrote my last post things exploded and it became evident that it would be best if I took a hiatus from the Internet entirely until it settled down around here a bit.  So I just sort of walked away from it, and I stopped checking my e-mail and Facebook and everything because everybody wanted to know why I wasn't blogging and I couldn't figure out how to answer that question without sharing way more information than would be appropriate or healthy for our girl.  Sorry about that, everyone.

After a few months of intensive counseling multiple times a week we've made some significant progress, and I'm feeling comfortable with the idea of starting to write about my family again. I want to make it clear that we have zero regrets about the choice we made to pursue Eden's adoption and we're still fully committed to her (and should hopefully be finalizing next month!).  We'll be continuing to help her grow and heal over the next few years as she forges on towards adulthood.  I won't be going into any more detail about the last few months to protect her privacy, but I'll just say that it's been an extremely difficult period for all parties involved and leave it at that.

So a quick update on the rest of the family:

Connor's doing wonderfully and is as adorable as ever.  The kid's been working in a walker and that was going well for a while, but he now seems to have lost interest in it so we're taking a break.  He's getting over a cold at the moment, and is currently snoring and snortling away like a little pug dog in his room.  He's on the mend and felt much better today though, so he spent a large portion of his time amusing himself by asking to snuggle with me and then blowing his nose on my shirt.  Ah, the joys of motherhood.

Jer's doing well at Physician's Assistant school and is nearly done with his classroom time.  He's been gone seventeen months now and I am so, so ready for him to be home.  Unfortunately he'll be stationed in California for his year of clinicals so I'll be continuing my sort-of single parenthood for a while yet, but we hope he'll be doing at least a few of his rotations up this way, so we should see a lot more of him.  I've been checking train schedules for the line that runs down the California cost, and we're making plans to have some fun adventures together.

So anyway, here I am again-- thanks for being patient with me.  We'll be returning to our regularly scheduled programming of daily blogging now.  Huzzah!

~Jess

18 comments:

Fiona said...

Welcome back Jess. It's nice to hear you are all hanging in there ;-)

Anonymous said...

so glad that you are back! i used to follow your blog, and loved it, and just by chance noticed that you had posted again. sorry to hear about the past while, but glad that things are slowly getting better. all the best.

Lin said...

I've been wondering how you are all doing. Glad you checked in...I hope things get better so you can blog again.

Parenting teens isn't easy to begin with--add in all the variables and I can fully understand the mayhem. I hope you can help Ellen adjust to her new life.

Mary Cyrus said...

Did I mention I wasn't nagging last night? Totally wasn't nagging. Glad to see you back on the internetz if it's healthy for ye now though. I guess official word on Jeremy's clinicians location must have just come in. Boo hiss. I so wish he was coming home to you.

Elizabeth said...

It's good to hear your voice again!

Martha McClarnon said...

Jessica, I SO ADMIRE what you are doing. You have become an even more amazing young woman and mother since I knew you in grade school.I know that may sound silly ,but a teacher never knows how far their students will go in life.You have chosen to give life and freedom to two amazing kids who if lived in another country wouldn't stand a chance. Keep your chin up and keep on doing what you are doing. God Bless you and your family.

Sarah said...

oh, I'm happy you are back.

Lauren said...

SO HAPPY YOU'RE BACK!!!

Sara said...

So glad that you're back!

Kristin said...

Glad to know everyone is healthy :) Hope you've felt all the positive energy we've been sending each time we've checked your blog for updates over the last 6 months. btw, the last couple of times we called Jer, we didn't hear back, but glad to know he's doing well with school. We're moving next month and I'm just sorry that we weren't able to get together more and be more of a source of support for y'all. best wishes!

Jennifer said...

Welcome back! I'm glad to hear things are coming into place for you all!

maggiemagillicuty said...

I'm so glad you're back to blogging! I've really missed reading your blog with my coffee in the morning. Glad to hear things are looking up!

Anonymous said...

Missed you!!

Heather said...

I am so glad you are back!

Micernice said...

So happy you're back!!

Simply, Sarah said...

Welcome back. I'm glad everyone is healthy, and doing better.
Your decorating is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Glad your back

Ashley's Mom said...

So glad you are back. When you were first talking about your daughter, even before you brought her home, I wanted to share some of my experiences of adopting teens with you, but I didn't want my comments to seem negative. I also assumed that your hiatus was in some way related to the adoption. You are absolutely right about teen adoption not being for the faint of heart. But you have endured, and will continue to. My teen adoptions were incredibly difficult but the end result has been worth every second. Kudos to you for working through all this, and hugs to the whole family!

 
Blog Directory