Where Have We Been? And a little Amazing Grace

Well we are still alive and well and still living in our sticks and bricks. You know the old saying about washing the car and it is sure to rain? Well leave it to Mike and I to list our house and the market totally bottoms out. I am sure the realtors of America hate us! LOL. We actually decided to take the house off the market during the winter months and let it "rest" and now we are back at it. This doesn't mean the market is much better it just means we needed some time off and now we are more energized. Don't you just love the selling mode? Everything has to be just perfect so you feel like you can't just relax and live in your house. Oh well, it is part of the process and a step we must take.

Now about the Amazing Grace thing. Our son Stephen graduated from LaGrange College May 17th. Now I know a lot of young people graduated from college this past spring. For us however, this day almost never happened. About three years ago our son made some really terrible decisions concerning his life. Decisions that impacted him as well as us, his parents. I will spare you the details but his life was going in the direction of literal death or figurative death. Neither sounds too great. We almost lost him. Our family experienced the hell of drugs and the impact that they have on all people involved, not just the user. We learned the true meaning of "tough love" and love was the one thing this evil could not destroy. He finally decided he wanted to live and returned to college. Now there is so much more to this story but I will spare you the long version.

So there we sit among all those other parents and friends on the lawn of LaGrange College. That is when we heard the bagpipes playing Amazing Grace. The bagpipes led the processional. They were impressive but not nearly as impressive as that one college student dressed in cap and gown walking to his seat. When his named was called and he walked across that stage to receive his degree I could only think of the journey he had taken to be there. The grace that was sufficient. It was indeed Amazing Grace.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found - Was blind, but now I see.

Thro' many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.


If anyone reading this ever needs someone to just talk to please know that we are here for you. I only told the very short version of this story there is a much longer version that only someone going through the impact of drugs in a family can understand. We understand your pain and fear. We've been there. Feel free to e-mail us privately and we'll talk or just listen.