Physically I have been right here in Northern England, mentally and emotionally I have been on a roller coaster ride.
Since things seem to be sorting themselves out and the dust is settling I figured here and now is the best place to update all of you my friends and family and some complete strangers on the drastic turns in my life in the past 4 months or so.
Back in October while he was still deployed my husband Jason was notified that he possibly had a daughter that he didn't know about from a woman he had a relationship with long ago. It came as quite a shock to me but the situation was further complicated by the fact that the reason we found out was that the little girl, whose name is Leeimi and will turn 12 later this month, had been removed from a family member's home where she was living and was put into foster care and Social Services needed to make attempts to locate her birth father. For her protection and privacy I will not go into detail about the life she has had for these first 12 years, its not easy to relate and it is in the past and we hope she has nothing but positive things to come.
A DNA test was conducted and we just found out the test results about 2 weeks ago. After the DNA test confirmed that Jason was in fact Leeimi's father I contacted Navy Family Services and they arranged for him to come home early on compassionate leave so she could meet him. She has known since she was 8 that he was probably her father and has been eager to meet him so it would have been horrible if she had to wait another couple months to meet him after receiving those DNA test results she had already been waiting so long for.
Jason got home last Monday and it has been a very busy and exciting week but Leeimi is an absolutely lovely girl and considering what she has been through in her life she has turned out to be an amazingly smart, fun-loving girl. Leeimi currently lives here in Hartlepool with a very nice foster family and will most likely remain there until she goes off to college. We have been busy this past week seeing her nearly every day and each day we love her even more. She brings so much joy to our home when she is here and I am looking forward to getting to know her and making her a part of our lives.
Being a stepmom is certainly not something I had planned on, but if there is anything I have learned in these past few years things never really turn out how you plan them and its usually because you can't imagine the places your life could take you. I've only been in stepmom mode for a week now and its definitely an adjustment but I have loved every minute of it.
Its nice to get this off my chest and now it will be nice to update this blog with what is REALLY going on in my life instead of trying to dig for things to talk about.
Jason and Leeimi (hello dimples!)
