REALLY great night with the family last night.  It started out kinda bad because I found out that my oldest daughter, K, had inadvertently charged over a $100 worth of stuff through an app to my credit card, luckily Apple refunded my money (THANK YOU APPLE!!!!).  I had given her permission to use it to purchase one thing for $4.99, she said she "thought" she only spent $20 and she was going to give it back to me out of her money.  I explained to her that was fine except she has to ASK first, that she can't unilaterally decide to do that because our financial situation is precarious and even $20 may be too much sometimes.  I have taken her phone for 24 hours and she has to donate the money that she tried to spend to a local charity out of her money (this is money she has saved up).  She hasn't been without a phone for ages and thusly actually spent time out of her room with us AND most importantly everyone got along!  We also decided to start having family nights on Wed!!!! No phones for 2 hours.  My middle daughter, M, (who got her phone replaced yesterday after being without one since May) also shared that in a weird way she was glad she had been without a phone for this time because it had reawakened her to a life outside of her phone and she was glad - I seriously about fell out of my chair. LOL  She shared that she is not going to be stuck on her phone all the time like she was.  She said that she felt like her phone had kept her distanced from her family and she was glad she had reconnected.  I can't even begin to tell you how happy this all made me.  Finally some positive things are happening.  I'm beside myself with joy about my daughters and I rebuilding our foundation as a family, I hope this is a harbinger of good things to come for all of us.

I am also hopefully on the cusp of resolving many financial issues I have been facing and this is also a cause for celebration.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!

In writing this blog, I hope anyone who is unfortunately enough to become involved in a child sexual abuse situation finds it helpful.  I also hope anyone who suspects something is going on reads the links I have provided and trusts their gut.  The first time I ever googled "step dad overly protective over daughter" information popped up related to molestation but I was positive he would NEVER do that - don't ever think it's not possible - cops, doctors, priests, preacher, teachers, people who do good in every other aspect of their lives can be pedophiles so if you get any indication that it MIGHT be happening do your due diligence, don't just assume he would NEVER.