Sean, Katina & Family

Well, I must apologize I have been bad at posting, but i am making a goal t try to start doing so more often, since I often have time at night since I find it hard to sleep with Sean gone. So from the top Sean is still working at the hospital and he has decided what he would really like to go into is respiratory therapy. This will start with him having to go to a two year program somewhere we are thinking UVU and then he will be able to take the respiratory portion via satallite at Utah valley. We are having a very horrible, terrible no good time with Nanette right now. We are at a loss of what to pray for anymore where that situation is concerned. It has gotten quite ugly as of late and shows no signs of getting better anytime soon in fact we are quite certain it will be getting worse before it ever gets better. We have tried so hard to be Christlike towards her all for naught! It is extremely frustrating!!!! Sean has finally decided that the time has come that he must stop being a nice guy and just leave her no wiggle room the law is the law is the law period no playing nice or allowin her to have extras or try to play like she is the victim when it is really the kids! I support him in this it is hard and takes its toll on our family every other week like clockwork......We try to be nice but sometimes I have to be quite honest I feel like we are dealing with our own personal version of hell personified in the boys Mom. However not all is bad! We have had a secret from the kids since January......we finally told them on the 3rd of May we are going to Disneyland this summer! Sean and I after much prayerful consideration decided that our tax return this year so go to one last bang up vacation. After this summer Tony will be 18 and will be under no obligation to spend any time with us if he chooses not to and unfortunately to our deepest and greatest sadness we feel we are losing him more and more each day that he lives with his Mother. So, we decided that for our last summer before we start losing kids to age and their own lives that we should make it a truly memorable one. So Disneyland came in to view we worked on it we planned we plotted and we made it happen. We will be leaving June 7th and returning June 13th. I was so excited to be able to tell the kids, that when we did, I had tears in my eyes. Because of court and other shinanigans pulled every summer by a certain person we have yet to have a vacation that lasted more than a few days with the kids since being married so we are so excited to finally pull it off! Sean is so excited that we told them at his prodding a full 2 weeks before we had originally planned it was so fun to see him animated like that. I still have my calling as a den leader for the scouts it is getting a bit better but is still very unorganized and frustrating most of the time I am trying to have a better attitude about it and enjoy being in there with Kole. It is fun to be in it with him and to get to plan and help him accomplish the goals. I am still job hunting though. I love being a Mom to all of the kids and seeing how they grow and learn so much. Tony I have mentioned he is not doing any better in school still does not have a driver's license and has changed quite a bit from the Tony we knew when he lived here. we just continue to pray for him and try to help where we can......:-( Billy has truly blossomed this last school year he has become a wonderful young man full of life and happiness. He is so excited to be able to share his upcoming birthday with Bethani his little birthday present as he calls her. Unfortunately a cloud has drifted over him as well since he is being repeatedly pressured from his Mom to say that he wants to go live there since he will be 15 in June. Sean is deeply regreting ever agreeing to this clause now.... hindsight and all. Joey is turning into a teenager in every sense of the word! he has a girl he likes her name is Kiara he has the tips of his hair bleached (sanctioned by Dad hated by Mom) a cell phone (bought by Mom, Dad lied to about it for quite awhile.....) But he is funny and growin so fast he is taller than Jenny now and is shooting for me! AJ is struggling as well he made it back to where he needed to be but was in danger of having to repeat 4th grade for most of the school year. However he found that he loves to sing and was in the school chorus and did really well. He was in the Hope of America choir that sang in the Marriott center to a full audience on May 5th. It was an awesome sight we were so glad he got to be a part of something like that. I am so proud of Kole! He brought home a certificate from school today recognizing him for outstanding performance on the IOWA tests for Grade 3. He scored in the top 10 percent nationally! In Reading, Core total, Mathematics and Total composite. It is signed by his principal, the state superintendent of public instruction and the Utah state board of education. I just thought that was so cool. Kole also was in the Hope of America show he and a small group from his school performed in the pre show they did 2 songs out on the floor on May 6th and did awesome too! Bobby is the funniest little kid I have met in a long time! He is such a goof! He is getting ready to graduate 1st grade and is doing pretty well in school he is all boy though and has more scabs and bruises from falling down.....he rode a skateboard down the hill by our house in flip flops the other day! Nut! He ended up needing 3 bandaids and a serious shower scrubbing after that! Trinity is getting ready to graduate Kindergarten she has grown a lot this year too both physically and educationally. She is also pretty funny and her and Bobby love to play together when they can. She has taken up writing letters to her cousin Lilly that lives in Pennsylvania and they enjoy sending things back and forth she has a harder time with reading but is starting to get that too. Last but not least Bethani she is almost a year old! Where has the time gone.....She finally crawled properly when we were at Jenny's house on Friday little stink. Too many people to haul her around I guess. She makes all kinds of funny faces and jabbers quite a lot now. She says Dad, Mom, Hi, Grandma(as long as grandma isn't in the room), Stubby and we are working on Jenny. She also waves, dances and sings la la la la la la la with Sean she is a music LOVER. I lost my camera after Hope of America part 2 with the memory card in it....grrrrrr and we just got a new one so I will try to post some pictures but I haven't quite figured out the new one all the way yet. I hope this doesn't sound too whiney I felt like Nicole asked and I should tell what was really going on and the things we are really struggling with since telling the sugar coated version wouldn't really help you know what was going on or what to pray for. I do want you all to know that I love being part of the Stoddard family and that we are grateful for everyday we have to enjoy our children who are our greatest blessings and joy despite the trials that come with a blended family. We have never wished that we hadn't gotten married and we can't believe that on June 8th it will have been 3 years since we said I do. We know that Heavenly Father is with us and pray that someday all of this will work out for the best and that we will know how best to lead and guide all of our children to be the best they can be. It seems to be something that will never happen at the moment but we try to keep a good outlook. We have been through a lot together and know that if it doesn't kill us we will find a way through it together and it will make us stronger. I thank you on behaf of all of us for any prayers you send our way. We pray for you too! If there are any questions you still have or something you want more information on just let me know. I will try to post again soon in keeping with my new goal :-P I am sorry about the punctuation or lack there of I am horrible at it. Sean laughs at me! I can type pretty fast, I can spell but I can't punctuate very well at all.....Oh well! Keep smiling! We love all of you and appreciate your love and support.