Grandparents' Rights and Court

As a Grandmother who loves her grandchildren very much and enjoys spending time with them, I find that I have no rights to do that without a Judge in a courtroom telling me if I can or not, when I can, where I can and for how long at a time.  Just being a paternal or maternal grandparent by blood does not mean anyone in the United States has an inherent right to be a part of their grandchild's life!

Grandparents' Rights and court seem to go hand in hand in our present day society.  Whereas in the past, grandparents were not only allowed but expected to step in and help with grandchildren, nowadays, thousands and thousands of grandparents in the US are finding that their rights and help comes after the village.

"It takes a village to raise a child" became a popular slogan back in the 1990's.  Hillary Clinton coined the phrase after she helped to get guidelines in place for parental rights, grandparents rights, foster care and adoption guidelines, etc.  By the time all the new guidelines and laws were in place, she was right - It takes a village to raise a child these days, because family is discounted and often prevented from helping to care for and raise the children within their family.

More often than not, family members are restricted in their involvement with grandchildren or nieces and nephews due to the actions of one or both of the child's parents.  As a mode of recompense, there are a few laws available to address this matter.  Depending upon the state a child resides in and their specific laws, various defining factors must exist in order to file a petition for a judge to hear the evidence and possibly issue an order for the family to visit or a grandparent to have contact with many children.  Sometimes this is because of a criminal act and sometimes it is because one parent or the other simply objects to sharing the child with the other parent's family.

Trying to establish grandparents rights in court can be extremely emotional and difficult to accomplish.  To begin with one has to find out if they even qualify to file.  Just because you are the grandparent does not give you the right to file for grandparents' rights in many states.  Some states require that specific criteria has to be met to file and then the grandparent must show just cause as to why they should be given any rights to visit or have a relationship with the child.  You must prove that you have a better case for why you should be allowed to be included in the child's life than the parents or state have to keep you out of their life and away from the child.

Court can be surprisingly daunting and expensive.  While an extremely stressful situation, the results can be rewarding enough to more than compensate for the stress and expense.  Having grandparents' rights upheld and put into place by the court can place that precious child back in your life and you back in theirs.  With the rights comes the responsibility of making sure decisions you make in the future have no negative consequences upon the child and that you act with his/her best interest in mind at all times.  Otherwise, you could find your self back in court facing a judge deciding if you get to keep whatever rights you won the first time around.

I believe that if we went back to families helping family members, grandparents caring for grandchildren, aunts and uncles being role models and helpers, parents realizing there are two parents for each child not just one, and courts looking for family members to care for children when needed rather than the current rush to foster care, more children would grow up with a true sense of identity and self worth.

Grandparents rights and court go hand in hand across this country currently.  The disconnect of families has grown into a problem that fills our courts daily.  Grandparents should prepare when the first grandchild is born.  Getting an agreement signed between grandparents and parents to legally ensure visitation and inclusion in children's lives is a document as necessary in this day and age as prenuptial agreements, living wills and last wills are.  To protect your rights and be certain that things will work out as close to your expectations as possible, don't procrastinate having an agreement drawn up, signed and filed.  If you put it off, the day may come when you find it is too late to get one signed and you are in for the fight of your life to be able to continue to be a part of your grandchildren's lives.


Just Me Granny D

In the Beginning There Was God . . . An Alien

My Bible tells me that in the beginning there was God!  I don't question that - I accept that and totally believe that.  But what else was there in our beginning besides God?  Where is God actually from - a different galaxy or universe, a different plane of reality or perhaps from absolute nothingness?  Where ever God was in the beginning, whom he was with and what existed then are questions that leads to great speculation by many.  One thing that doesn't need speculated or guessed about is the fact that in the beginning there was God . . . an alien.

Alien is life that did not originate from earth.  Therefore, by definition God has to be an alien.  It is said God is life and he originated from somewhere before earth's existence.  Then in our beginning he created earth with her many creatures and wondrous bounty.  The living creations originating on earth are non-aliens and as time advanced, these creations eventually gave God the distinction of being an alien.

Was God all alone in nothingness before his creations?  If so, why?  How did he come to exist and from where?  If he wasn't alone, who was there?  If he wasn't from nothing, then where was he from?  Remember, the Bible says he created the Heavens as he created earth.  When he commands that no one takes another God before him, was that command about other Gods or Goddesses that existed and were around? 

Many theories exist as to the making of the Pyramids, Stonehenge and other ancient marvels.  Myths and stories exist in areas of other Gods and Goddesses in various cultures, teaching the people, cohabitating with the people, and leaving their marks and their beliefs on communities.  Statues and temples were made to honor the different Gods and Goddesses of the ancient past of earth.  Were these Gods and Goddesses with Our God when he created earth and mankind?  Were there many aliens wandering the wonderland we call earth?

Are you thinking?  Do you know the answers?  The only answer I know is that in the beginning there was God . . . an alien.

Just Me Granny D

God, Gods, Goddesses, Angels, Demons, Spirits and Life- What Do You Believe?

God, Goddesses, Angels, Demons, Spirits and Life -
What Do You Believe?

So many different beliefs, stories, myths, history and questions.  We all believe in something.  Our world and it's constant fascination with the occult and witchcraft, vampires and werewolves, demons and angels at war, myths of Zeus and Poseidon, stonehenge and pyramids, Aztec's and Nostradamus, we show the ideas and beliefs of their actual possibility are flickering somewhere within.

Everyone believes in something.  Perhaps there is something in everyone's religion and beliefs that in actuality might show they are all bits and pieces of ONE - Is it possible each is just it's own chapter in a much bigger book of life!?!

If we believe in a hereafter and an afterlife of any kind - then we must also believe there is only one hereafter that we all believe in!  There isn't a different one for each religion - there is only one - I don't care if you believe in your spirit coming back or that St Pete will meet you at the gate or if you believe you will burn in fiery hell - it is one and the same - it is from the point of death to your body that your soul advances to a hereafter point -

My Bible is comprised of ancient writings from the libraries of the Pope of the Catholic Church and were commissioned to be put together as a Bible by King James, which is why it is called The King James Version.  They went through innumerable ancient writings and chose which writings they wanted to include in the Bible and which they would leave out!  An example would be the writings concerning Jesus as a child.

Other writings which were not included are "The Dead Sea Scrolls", writings contained in the Catholic Bible, the Hebrew Bible, and other religious books.  Some of the writings in these books are actually different translations of the same actual writing.

Leaders of Religions teach these books and just as society in a whole has evolved and changed over the years, so have religions - evolution in teachings for daily living, but basics always remain the same. Do you have faith that you are learning your life's lessons and living your life here to secure a better afterlife for your soul?  Or are you not feeding your soul and your faith?  Are you letting your spirit wither and harden in preparation for an afterlife of hell?

Perhaps you say you don't believe - that when you die you just die - there is no physical evidence of an afterlife - To that I say that the rebirth of the earth and all her bounty each Spring is proof of rebirth.

What do you believe?  Is it logical or is it faith?  Faith is not born of logic - faith is born of life's experiences and God's miracles and answered prayers.  Faith is nurtured and grows as one lives their beliefs, learns their life's lessons, and lives accordingly.

Perhaps all the various religious writings and books, the myths and stories of ancient Gods and Goddesses, angels and demons should all be put together.  If all the different translations were actually put into one translation of the exact writings, and all Indian and Aztec and Greek and Egyptian, etc., and were all combined into one story -maybe there would be one book of life with many different chapters. 

God, Gods, Goddesses, Angels, Demons, Spirits and Life - my Bible tells me there are other Gods besides Him who is named Jehovah.  He tells me not to take another God before him.  My Bible tells me of Angels and Demons, of Spirits, of witchcraft and monsters.  What do you believe?







Just Me Granny D

Living to Die, Dying to Live

Are we all really equal?  Two definitive facts say we are.  Each of us were born into this world.  And second, each of us were born to die.  To the essence of are we all really equal, well each of us are living to die, dying to live and in those aspects we are all definitely equal.

It is what we do with the life we are given that makes everyone unique and each life a gift and creates so called inequality.  The lessons of life for each of us are the same yet different in the methods used to teach each individual.  For some the true meanings of grace, humility, respect, generosity, compassion and the many other lessons are easily learned.  Others have a difficult time with various aspects and are doomed to repeat mistakes until the specific lesson is mastered.

Living to die is what all of us do daily yet not many of us actually live as if each day might be the day that we reach the goal for which we were born - dying.  If everyone were to live each day as if it might be there last, I wonder how much more love and compassion might be showering upon each of us.  How many arguments might be averted and how many family dinners would be shared?

Everyone is dying to live their life as they want to live it.  Exactly how is that going to be?  How has that been?  If the Dr walked in and told you that you had one week to live, would you be dying to live?  Would you be making major changes to your lifestyle or would you be confident that you have been living to die and are ready to meet your maker on the other side?

After all, if we are dying to live, then we should definitely be living to die!



Just Me Granny D