Mom took us to Ireland in April 2011 for our 40th birthday. This was a trip of a lifetime with absolutely treasured memories. Thank you Mommy!!!
The end of the story is so rich. So miraculous. So unbelievably redeemed.
(As we tell our stories in “Inseparable”, we will at certain points tell all the miraculous things within our lives as well. Today is a piece of that. As I wrote this, I am mindful of the many families who are still hurting. Still waiting for their loved one. Still looking out the window for the prodigal to return. I think of each of you, and I believe God on your behalf, for what only He can accomplish.)
I get to have Tammy in my life every single day now. She is healthy. I too am healthier. We don’t walk in addiction or in the difficult practice of tough love.
We share so much more than I thought we ever could, or would ever get to experience this side of Heaven.
I try to remember how it ‘used to be’ and when I do, my gratitude is huge, vast, real. I am so grateful that God heals, and completes His good work in the lives of His children (His work is still being completed in both of us).
We have gone on some really special trips together recently.
October 2010, we did NYC with our Mom, to see our friend Laura (and meet Laura’s new baby from Ethiopia) and we got to see our cousin Sean as well.
We did Ireland in April of 2011and stayed in a castle and saw the most enchanted forest and survived all the traffic circles and laughter.
And we did a road trip to Gretchen’s house and Angie’s wedding, in July, 2011.
Some of our best memories are just watching our kids play in my pool, or in her back yard. Seeing my 15 year old go into my bedroom to see his sleeping 8 week old cousin, Trevor Ray. Seeing how much our kids love one another. What a gift!
I said I get to spend “everyday” with her.
Time spent with my twin sister this past week:
Wednesday night we did a CABI fashion show party with our friends Susan and Michelle.
Thursday, Tammy helped me with my house. She is a queen bee organizer/cleaner. I am working excessive hours right now, so we mutually bless one another as I pay her to clean for me in my busy season.
Friday, we had a business meeting together. We have been blogging together since May 2011, and we established (with another Partner, Michelle Howe) our Professional Coaching business “Everyday Lifeline” www.everydaylifeline.com. We have a huge and exciting event in April, 2012, April 27, Leadership Unleashed, here in Stuart. We have a lot of decisions to make regarding our growing business, and keeping our blog flowing well. We have found as we do our business endeavors, we each have very unique gifts to bring to the table, and our life experiences as well are varied. So, doing it as 3 has proven positive.
Friday night, my 7 year old Dalton, spent the night with her 3 year old Dustin.
Saturday, Dustin came over to play and swim with Gloria and Dalton.
Sunday morning, I got to be at church with my sister and her family.
Sunday night, Tammy and her family are brining over burgers to grill, and we will have some family time.
We talk, text, and email almost every day.
I love hearing her voice.
I treasure watching her be a mommy. She is a good one, and her little guy Dustin, absolutely adores her. She has really laid back babies, and Trevor Ray, is a sweetheart. I got to cuddle him today in the baby nursery at church, and it is so fun to see her have all the gifts God has given her. She works hard at her marriage. We love her husband. In some ways, Jacob looks like Matt. He loves Jesus like my Matt too. But Jacob is his own man, and is loving my sister in precious ways.
Tammy has always loved my kids. She is close to each one of them in the way that they most need her to be. Our three older kids have seen the miracles of Tammy’s life. They know her story (not blow-by-blow, but enough of it to “know”). She has embraced my twins, our adopted kids, ever since day one. They began as foster kids, and they were pretty hard to love – so exhausting really. But she supported us, the whole way through, and she had just given birth to her first-born son. Even though her life had huge things going on, she was Aunt Tammy to Gloria and Dalton. She is a gift. In more ways than I can describe.
Tammy’s story of addiction did have a good ending. It took many years to get there, but it finally happened. A surprising turn of events, as she chose to be well, as she responsibly, and with the power of Christ, turned her heart back towards His best for her. It’s been 8+ years since Tammy has come back to us, in a sense, since she has been fully resurrected. And I celebrate it. I love living everyday life with her.
Thank you Lord for giving her back to us.
And for making whole the broken pieces – for her sake, for her impact, for her legacy, and all, for YOUR glory.
I pray for those families, in the midst of the battle, practicing tough love, and I pray for those addicts, deep in their pain, that YOU LORD, the Great Healer, and Giver of Life, that you would be who they run to in their deepest needs.
Who is someone special in your life that you had lost, but now they are found?
Share your prodigal story – a parent, a sibling, a child, a friend.
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