I've been busy all week, finally getting a chance to post this. Since last August when SD25 moved in with her 2 kids, it seems things were just getting worse and worse, especially since mid-January when SD25 got kicked out and DW basically adopted the grandkids for 4 1/2 days every week. But I finally got some GOOD NEWS last weekend. DW sat down with the grandchildren's father and his girlfriend. They were talking about schedules for the next couple of weeks. DW has been scheduling her work as much as possible around when the kids are normally at their father's, but had a couple of conflicts. In weeks past she chose to deal with those conflicts herself, either by getting someone at work to switch days with her, or working nights and then coming home to take care of the kids on no sleep, or getting her sister, or SD22, to babysit. I tried to tell her that at the very least, when she had a conflict with work, she needed to let the boys' father deal with it. So I was happy enough to see her taking this small step. But then it got even better! DW said she wanted to talk about long term plans. Like, once this school year is over, maybe the boys can go live primarily with you over the summer? Not only was the father agreeable to this, he said he and his girlfriend, who currently don't live together, were planning to look for a place together closer to us, so that they will be able to get SGS6 to school more easily and more days next school year. He and his girlfriend were also working to eventually change their work schedules so they can help out and take the kids more often even before this summer. And a plan was laid out for the summer, that would only have the boys staying at our house 2 nights a week. I couldn't believe I was hearing all this! And that DW initiated the discussion. The real angel sent from heaven is the girlfriend. It turns out she is unable to have children, and really wants to step in and help out with these kids whose mother has abandoned them. She took the boys last Sunday, a day when their father works, and is taking them again this Sunday. This gives me and DW some quality time together on the weekend. We had a "date night" last weekend for the first time in a long time, had our first good talk about things that didn't turn into an argument for the first time in weeks, and after weeks of drifting further and further apart, I'm feeling like we're back together. Now, I just have to hope these plans stick, and really hope that the boys' father and his girlfriend stay together. They talk of getting married in the future, so I have reason to be optimistic.

Wow, how nice to post something happy for a change!