Well, after 4 months of my niece living with us, she decided she no longer liked living here when I started making her go to tutoring, when I started fussing at her over her grades, when I busted her in numerous lies, when I got mad at her for trying to burn things in her room, when she left a knife in my daughters car on school property (Thank God that nobody found out), etc. So she left to go back to the grandparents, where she verbally abused them and then hit my mother in law. She then left and is now living with her boyfriend and his family.
Yes, I was fooled. Big time.
My in-laws and I said some horrible things to each other. Thankfully, we made up about a month and a half ago. His mom apologized to me and I to her. She accused me of many things that weren't true and she has repeatedly apologized to me and we ended up growing closer than we have ever been in the 19 years that DH and I have been married. So close that she even said "I love you" to me several times. She never said that to her own kids. She admitted that they made a lot of mistakes with their own kids and also my niece.
Soon after my niece moved in with us, my father in law started acting weird. He then started forgetting how to do daily things. We finally convinced my mother in law to take him to the dr and they discovered that he had a stroke right around the time that things got bad when my niece was living with them before she came to live with us. The dr's told him to take an aspirin a day and they didn't seem concerned. He continued to slowly lose more and more of his thought process and memory.
My father in law died suddenly a week ago tomorrow from a massive brain bleed. He leaned over to plug in a new tv they had just bought and he collapsed over it. 9 hours later, he was dead.
I thank God that he gave me the chance to make ammends with my in-laws before my father in law passed. Unfortunately, my husband never took the time to do the same or to spend time with his dad before he died.
We also buried my grandpa in early October and our friends 23 year old son who was like our own when he was younger, was killed in a car accident 2 weeks ago.
And now my niece is trying to take things from my in-laws. She lies and lies and lies too.
It's been a crappy year.
The death of my father in law has opened hearts in the family though. DH has never been the giving type. In fact, he used to get mad when I would give to people or charities. Now, he is wanting to adopt a needy family for Christmas. My mother in law is now saying "I love you" to all of us. DH said he never heard that growing up. She has also accepted her bi-racial grandchild that she's always shunned.
I only pray that good can come out of all the bad we have been experiencing. Please continue to pray for all of us. Especially my DH. He is hurting so bad right now. I cry daily just seeing how much he's hurting.