the Life of Olena

Things are finally starting to settle down and we are doing our best to get back onto a good schedule and have started the "retraining" process on Olena.  She has fallen off of the wagon so to speak, which is understandable, but no more excuses time to get her butt back into obedience mode.  She has taken on a sassy mouth and a bit of laziness, so we have been on her like white on rice this past week.  She hasn't been to happy about it, but she will straighten out quickly again.  An obedient child is a happy child :) She recently moved into another bedroom and we made it a bit more "grown" up for her.  She was really excited and I have to say she did a great job and picking everything out.  She wanted red walls, but I was not too excited about that idea so we compromised and we painted one wall red and the others a light grey.  We went to look for red bedding but she insisted on something with black, so she ended up picking a white comforter with bla...

This post is very hard to write, just as it will be very hard for some of you to read.  Most of you will judge, some of you will cry, and some of you will think "job well done".  But regardless of what you think,while you read this and when your done, remember one thing, this is MY life.  OUR life.  We struggled with our choices, we prayed and in the end we did what we felt our Faith and hearts were telling us to do.  Exactly 5 months after walking through our door as a family of 4, I watched my father's van drive away with the screaming and crying little girl I was once willing and hoping to call my daughter.   And once again, we were a family of 3.  I cried.  I cried for her, I cried for the family she was returning to, I cried for the "promises" I broke, I cried for my family...who was lost and breaking.  It was the hardest decision of my life and though I was stricken with guilt, fear, and heartbreak, once the decision was final, I k...