Thanks.
 

Hey thanks for the vote of confidence Hicloryhead. We are both pretty wound up about all of this, and it has been a very long time coming. When she left with the kids 7 years ago I was devistated. I have missed my kids so much and they have grown and changed so much in that time, it has been very hard to not have them close to me. Now we have to start fresh and try to build the best relationship that we can. I sure hope to be able to share as much as I possibly can with the three of them so they can adjust and become not just good kids, but strong respectful young adults as well. I am lucky enough now to have a wife who is not just very loving. but extremely supportive of this situation. We spoke of this day back in 2003, before we were married, and We knew then that this day would come eventually.

I arrived in California last night and the funeral is this morning at 1030. The family is happy that I was able to make it in time for the services. Her husband is already stiring up trouble and making noise with the family about fighting for custody and suing me for support. I am just waiting for the emergency custody order to come from the court system in Florida where the jurisdiction is. Lord please give me strength to be humble. I have very little patients for stupid or ignorant people, and he fits that bill more than you could imagine.:diablo: I will be back here for an update as things progress. Thanks again guys for the good words of support.:lol:

Update
 

Well the funeral was held yesterday for the EX and it was a very lovely event. I was very surprized afterwards when people I have never met came up to me with condolences and praise for me from information that she had shared with them about me. Everyone knew who I was and they were well aware that the children were about to move with us to Korea. there was scepitcisum about Korea, but most were very supportive and excited for the children begining a new life with their father:lol:.

The kids are doing ok considering the cercumstances, and we are allowing them to stay with family to finish the school year there, and then we will pick them up in July for our journey to the Asian community to begin our new lives together. There was alot of drama with those who live in the theatrical world of fantasy, but the general feel is that the children are going to the rightful place for their best interest, which is with me:rules::angel:. This is only the begining of our journey and there are a lot of miles to cover before we are settled down in our new home. There is still chatter from a few family friends and family members of battles for custody:gasp:, but we can only pray that they will come to their senses and leave well enough alone:angel:. I will be here for two weeks trying to get things settled for the kids and begin making our arrangements for their travels in the Fall. Life goes on:mdr:.

Update 29/feb/08
 

Hey guys I just wanted to stop in and share some info with you all:lol:. There is still a lot of drama going on behind the scenes here, but I feel much better knowing that I am able to be here to get things in order. I was supposed to head back to Brussels tomorrow, but all of the legal paperwork is not completed yet, and there are still people involved here that think they would be better sutied with custody of my children. Some people are just plain nuts. The one person that I was most worried about was the step father. It ends up that he is the one who is lending the most support in getting things done smoothly, and he has even been inspired to regain custody of his own daughter thorugh all of this:rules:.

It seems that the EX had one very close friend:diablo: who managed to get her to sign a will under medication giving her control of her estate as well as custody of the kids. Of course I have priority in the sceme of things:na:, but she is lying in wait for me to leave the area so she can launch her plan:gasp:. We are signing over temporary custody to the family until the kids finish out the school year here for their own benefit, before moving them with us to Korea where they will attend an international school. Still I have to wait for the legal system to roll its very slow wheels of justice in order for me to regain sole custody of the children so that there is nothing anyone can do from that point on:mdr:. What a mess.

All in all though things are going well and I am confident that this will all finish in the favor of the kids, & our new family. I have been going through counselling with the kids & they are now very excited about the changes going on in their lives. Losing their Mother is quite a shock, but they are doing well, and their mother's family is in full support of what we are doing here. We thank all of you for the words of support and advice. I will stop in again soon to update on the outcome. Have a great day guys & girls.:yipi:

Update 23/march
 

Hey fellas. Well I returned home to Brussesl, Belgium yesterday morning after spending approx 6 weeks in the San Francisco area with my kids. I was honestly expecting things to be a lost worse then it turned out. There were a few people hell bent on casuing trouble for me up front, but once everyone actaully got to know me and what I am about opinions changed. You know how it is when two people split. He said She said. Well the EX had painted somewhat of a tainted picture of me to everyone in an attempt at trying to cover up her own short commings. Her husband thought I was some kind of nut job through the stories that were being told.

Anyway that has all changed now and their view of me is much better. I kept my cool through everything and managed to keep the piece between everyone involved in this. It turns out that most of the trouble was going on between her husband and the family and friends. So I was the golden child throughout this ordeal. My kids are doing well and now have a new perspective of their future with my wife and I. For now we have allowed the kids to stay in California with their grand parents so they can finish out the school year and grieve with all of their mothers family at their side. We will pick them up in July and move to Seoul, Korea with them for our next posting. Life is looking much better for them now and the family surrounding them is much more supportive towards the whole situation. Positive thinking promotes positive results. Life is good.:lol:

Update July 2008
 

Hey guys I just thought I would touch on this thread and update where we are in all of this. We finally received a court order for sole custody (this week) and we have departed from Brussels. We spent a few days in DC during the 4th holiday. We had to stop in Vegas for a few days for our final rest and relaxation as a couple, and now we are in San Francisco getting the kids ready for the move to Korea. The kids are doing great and they are so pumpped up about the changes. It is great to see them smiling again.

Sounds good. Glad to hear things have worked out.

Glad to hear that too. Good luck w/ the move.

I dont know weather to be sorry or happy so... BEST OF LUCK :D :lol: :yipi:

Update 02/sept/08
 

Hey guys things are getting better every day. We arrived in Seoul, Korea 07/Aug/08 and have moved into our new home. Since we had been here before a lot of the support staff remember us, and they are super nice and supportive to our need and requests. The Goverment gave us a 6 bedroom home that has just been completely renovated. THis place is huge. Too bad it is only for 3 to 4 years. Anyway we are still awaiting our household goods shipment to come in from Brussels, Belgium, but it should be here by the end of the month. In the mean time I just had a meeting with the support supervisor about setting up my R/C shop. His team is working on acquiring materials for me to build a 12' kitchen countertop with cabinets into the maids quaters, since we will not need a maid. I will be happy to post up some photos on the "show your shop" thread once it has been completed. The boys and I are getting excited and a bit anxious about getting set up and moving with our projects.

The kids are doing well, and adjusting to not only living in Korea, but living with us now since the passing of their mother. We have only been here for a few weeks, and we have focused on getting them familiar with the base, but we have plans on taking them out and about once we have our home settled. They are anxious to see and learn about the Korean people and their way of life. I have already received invitations to a couple of the local R/C tracks, but we are waiting until we have toys to play with before we go. LIFE IS GOOD.:party::yipi:

its always good to hear good news, throw up some pics of the workshop when you get it lined out.

Glad your adventure has settled into your new part of the world. Been following along with your posts and being a Maxxman I cant wait to see your collection get updated, sounds like you have some sick stuff that I need to see. I hope your kids are doing great with the move, I know at that age a few years in a foreign country set me up for knowledge and understanding the rest of my life, even though I saw it as torture not having my MTV and twinkies, looking back I wouldnt have it any other way. Hope all fairs well for you all.

Adventure Update Nov/08.
 

Well the adventure just keeps changing as time goes on. Getting settled here in Korea after just getting custody of my kids has been quite a challenge for all of us, but things are going very well. The kids are adjusting to living with us just fine. My wife is wonderful with them, and they are learning to love her. I am much tougher on the kids then my EX ever was. They have a daily routine to follow, plus chores and responsibilities to deal with. So for them life with Dad is harder then they imagined, but I know when the time comes they will be ready for life as an adult. We do not plan to have grown kids living with us into our twilight years. Our other 5 kids (21, 22, 24, 27, & 29)are all grown and living their own lives now, but we have a few more years before we get these kids out of the house (10, 12, & 13).

Unfortunately my wife has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Yes it is quite a shock for everyone, but the good news is that it was detected early and it is still localized (DCIS). This means that it has not spread and can be removed easily. She had to fly back to the USA on Tuesday for surgery, and radiation treatments. That being said our family is now scattered for the Holidays. We are still blessed knowing that things could have been much worse if it had gone on longer without detection. Consistant self examinations are the key. That means for men & women alike.

I am trying this weekend to figure out how to post up photos of my new R/C shop, and the Maxx collection. If anyone can tell me the easiest way please PM me for assistance. I am happy to finally be ready to post up some pics. I have a few already loaded up on the laptop for posting. Thanks in advance guys. God bless and have a wonderful Thankgiving, and joyous Xmas holiday season everyone. We had to put our tree up early so my wife could be here to help before leaving for California.

Hey Jerry, good to hear from you. Hope everything goes well for the wife, so you can have her back quickly!

I would suggest signing up for a photobucket acct. It is free and easy to use. When you want to post pics here just copy and paste the IMG tag located below the pic. That way it will show up as a full sized pic in the post. Can't wait to see the collection, and post some pics of you and the family too, and your house if you can.

All the best to you, hopefully your roller coaster life slows down a bit.

Happy Life.
 

Hey Linc thanks for the assistance and the kind words. Funny you used those words. I was a rollercoaster tech at Universal Orlando for nearly 7 years after retiring from the Navy when I met my wife. Yea life sure does keep us going up and down. I am going to try setting things up for the photos today. I'm sure that my collection is nothing compared to that million$$$$ collection of yours, but I am very proud of my work and the shop has turned out pretty good as well. I have a lot of parts comming in next week so I hope to get some projects completed very soon. The boys have been patiently waiting on me so they can get started on building their Maxx trucks. Anyway thanks linc and hopefully I will have some photos posted up soon.:lol:

Definately looking forward to the pics!

And give my best to the wife. I am sure that I speak for all of us here by saying that I hope she has a speedy and painless (as much as possible) recovery.