Our Countdown

Well everyone I swore I was not gonna post a silly countdown like you see on PTO. But here I am counting. 14 DAYS TO GO!!! My mind is going crazy with excitement yet I am so scared all at the same time. Chance has been gone for 3 1/2 years. It is going to be so crazy getting use to each other again. You would think after 6 yrs and a child together I wouldnt be nervous...BUT man I feel soooo nervous, my stomach just gets butterflies and my palms start sweating ( happens every time I get nervous) just thinking about a 4 hour drive alone with him. Also, I am real worried about what he is going to do for work. Hopefully something will come his way pretty soon after he gets here. Seems like everything else will be fine if he can just find a job. The kids have no idea he is coming back to Baltimore so I bet they are going to be so excited when they get to see him here. We are hoping to get to go out to eat together as a family either the day he gets here or the next day. Sorry I'm just rambling on, can't sleep with the way my mind is racing.

one down, 17 to go

well, i made it thru the first month. 17 to go. (or less). thigs have been bearable, until i lost my job this week. with 2 little ones to take care of and a house..it's not going to be easy. trying to keep my head up and looking for another job. I have an interview on tuesday.
I did do something positive this week tho. I contacted someone to get some counseling and support. I will be assigned a caseworker who will help me find resources to deal finacially and otherwise.
My family is kind of far from me and my parents are older and not in good health. I have one sister and an aunt who keep in touch by phone, but i'm feeling pretty alone right now. His family helps with baby sitting, but now that i don't have a job, there is no need for them to babysit. I haven't and am not able to tell my parents about my job loss yet. mom had a stroke a few weeks ago and can't take the stress and dad has so much to worry about as it is.
although at first i thought i was going to blame the hubby for all my misfortune, it turns out i'm actually missing him more and wishing him home. I wanted to go visit this weekend, but until i know his visitor list is in the computer i won't, coz it's just too tough on the boys to sit and wait, so i'm planing a trip to M'gntwn next weekend.
Wishing all of you helath and happiness.

sue

Returning to life after prison

Well I have promised you guys an update. Well, this phase is not as easy as we all invision. I have ran our house for the past 17 months. It is my house. It is ran by my rules. It is run on my schedule. Mike remembers the house he left and the family he left. He left 1st, 4th, and 11th graders. He came home to 3rd and 6th graders, and a young man preparing to leave to serve our country. He was the man of the house, and he will return to that role. It just doesn't happen when they walk out of the facility like we invision. It takes a lot of communication, which is the one skill we developed while he was in Morgantown. You have to be honest with what you are feeling and look at why when he opens the shed and is in shock because it isn't the way he left it. You have to talk about those feelings of his shock and your feelings of his intrusion into what is now your shed. When he asks why is my drill moved, that's not where I left it? It's okay that you needed to repair something and used his tools. But just like we feel that he is intruding on our space; he feels that we did not respect his space while he was gone. He was the man of the house. I can't wait till he returns to that role 100 percent. It does not happen just because he pulls in the driveway. It is going to take a lot of work and strong communication by all of us. With love, faith, and support of friends and family it will happen.

Corrlinks

www.corrlinks.com

CorrLinks is a way for family and friends to communicate with their loved ones incarcerated in prison. Established through a relationship between a corrections agency and ATG, this system allows family and friends to subscribe to the CorrLinks services and send money or email messages to the institution.
When the corrections agency subscribes to CorrLinks' two-way mail service, the inmate receives the message on a computer within the prison. They are able to read, print and respond to messages electronically. All messages are delivered to the sending family/friends via Internet email. The inmates do not receive access to the Internet.
When the corrections agency subscribes to CorrLinks' one-way mail service, the institution prints and delivers the messages via internal mail services. The sending family member does not need to write/print or mail the message and wait for USPS deliery.
Certain agencies also allow inmates to receive money electronically. CorrLinks makes this possible by providing friends and family with access to Western Union's vast network of agents and website, enabling them to send money quickly and easily to the institution. In most cases, money is deposited from CorrLinks to the institution within 24 hours.

First time visitor

I am going to visit a friend in a couple of weeks.I am unsure what to expect.Any suggestions? He is in williamsburg FCI in South Carolina.What are the visiting rooms like? What do you have to go through to get in? How early should I be there? Any help is appreciated

HW House

My son was recently released from MT to a HW house. As usual the BOP threw us a curve ball and sent him to the next state over from us instead of MA where we live, but it is only 1/2 hr drive. The HW house is extremely restrictive. They are basically not allowed to leave except to look for work or go to their counseling sessions. They are assigned chores, but for instance when his chore was to take out the trash, he had to wait for a staff member to watch him walk out to the trash can. They are not allowed cell phones or internet access. They are required to look for a job, but the only way to do that is through the "help wanted" ads in the paper, or go through the yellow pages in the phone book and call to see if a place is hiring. They have to use the house payphone to make their calls. They have to take the bus to the interview. The HW house first calls to verify that the place is hiring, and then calls again to see if the inmate went to the interview. If you do get a job, you cannot leave the job site and the HW house calls twice a day to see if you are there. Prior to going to M'town, my son was working at the family business which has been in business for over 50 years, but the BOP said he could not work for family, so he could not go back to that job. Once you do get a job, 25% of your pay goes to the HW house, even if you are released to home confinement. The visiting hours are 2 hrs on Sat and 2 hrs on Sun with only 5 approved visitors allowed on your list. The list cannot be amended for 90 days, and every visitor is contacted by the HW house to verify their address, phone number and relationship. There is virtually nothing to do there except watch TV or read. They are allowed one hour of "recreation" from 7-8PM at which time they can go outside and stand in the driveway or shoot hoops through a basket that has no net. They are "counted" every TWO hours during the day, and have to go to their rooms and stand in the doorway until they are counted. During the night, a staff member comes into their rooms with a flashlight every hour to make sure they are in bed. There is an intercom system for announcements, and the staff can also tune into the rooms to eavesdrop on the inmates. We were so anticipating his release to the HW house, but this part of his sentence seems to be the worst. Well, as usual we are living "one day at a time" and trying to concentrate on the good instead of dwelling on the bad, since we are that much closer to the end of this life trial. As more news becomes available, I will post.

New Link

I have started a new blog. It is where I am going to post FAQs. We seem to answer the same questions over and over as new members arrive. I hope this will help our new members. If anyone can think of questions that need to be answered, let me know. It would be appreicated if you guys would let me know if you have different answers. I am in no way an expert, and have not had every experience there is to have. Click on FAQ's on the left and it will take you to the new page.