Glad MyBloggers is accessible again …

Now that I have my iPhone, I am concentrating on its mysteries and I love that I can ask Siri to call someone and poof, it’s done. And today I said, “Get me Amazon” and poof, there it was. Nadine is helping me with other issues and there are many. I do find the tiny keyboard maddening and even when I use the tool especially for texting, I still make mistakes.

I have also been helping Nadine with her petition to recover her grandchildren who were kidnapped by her about to be ex daughter in law, “M”, after she signed them over to their father because, you know, they are a bore, and she prefers her animals (a direct quote). The kids were with their dad, Nadine’s son, in the Republic of Georgia where he is on assignment for the U.S. State Department. M had returned to Finland, her home country, and asked to have the kids for a visit, which was granted. She never gave them back and that was 14 months ago. The kids have diplomatic passports but their mother got them Finnish passports without the father’s consent and she has not allowed them to have any contact with him. She has refused financial assistance from their father and based on his “abandonment” is getting money for each child from the Finnish government which is more than what he could give her. This explains her renewed interest in custody. Nadine manages to talk to the kids by phone but they have to find a way to do it out of earshot, because the mother flies into a rage if she thinks they are talking with “the enemy”.

Today Nadine got a letter from the Finnish social services guiding her to the State Department’s unit for dealing with American children abroad. She is happy to have a contact that is dedicated to addressing these issues and they have already responded with next steps.

As for M, I never figured out what her son was thinking when he married her. They were married overseas and living in U.S. facilities in foreign countries where he was working. They lived in lovely homes with maids and perks, courtesy of the U.S. government, but when they came to the States, she had to go to the store and buy the groceries herself, and (gasp) clean house, and is there anything more humiliating than having to do ordinary stuff. She is the ice queen incarnate.

xx, Teal