Oh what a difference life can be without hate in my heart!

I am writing this post with good news, there for a while I didn't think I would ever have good news in my life again.  Actually there for a while I really didn't think I deserved to live.  But my journey has became so much brighter. One morning during church I got an overwhelming feeling of peace come over me.  I realized at that moment that I no longer had hate in my heart for Daric's dad.  It was a great feeling.  Even though I will never become friends with him or anything of the such, I no longer stew over what he has put me through. Hate in your heart is so toxic.  It was controlling my life, I couldn't sleep and I constantly thought about all the hurt I had been put through.  I am happy to report that I have been able to sleep through the night for several months, I have been taken off one of my depression medications, and I now only see my therapist once a month and my Psychiatrist every 2 months. Talk about progress!!  I have also been released to work again so I take my CNA written exam this week and will be going to work by the end of the month.  If you would have asked me a year ago if I thought I would be feeling this good I would've said "No, I will never feel better and my life will always suck"  I get to have Daric every other weekend and he contacts me usually on a daily basis. We have a blast when its our weekend to have him and we have been getting along great.  I am actually excited about life again and looking forward to my future.  I do not believe life has fairy tale endings nor do I believe that life will always be happy and easy but for now I will just say stay tuned and to be continued......

Sometimes it feels as if there are more stormy days then sunny ones

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted on my blog.  If this is your first time here then sit back and hold on because this is one bumpy ride.  I do not write this blog for sympathy or to cause drama, I write it in hopes to reach even just one person that may also suffer with depression and let them know they are not alone.
It has been a year since this ugly disease entered into my life (if you are wondering what I am referring to them you will have to read older posts). A lot has changed in a year some for the better and some for the worst.  I still do not see Daric on a regular basis and it changes from one week to the next if he is talking to me or not.  I still struggle so much with the fact that another women is raising my child.  I do see a Psychiatrist and a therapist weekly.  I would love to be writing to report that I am healed and have a mended heart but that is not the case at all.  
I live my life on a day to day basis, some days I feel great, am in a good mood and love my life.  And then some days I find it hard to get out of bed in the morning.  I still do not sleep at night, most nights I cry myself to sleep.  But it is not all horrible in my life...I have a wonderful loving husband, food in my belly and a roof over my head.  I am very thankful for several things in my life.  Do I ever think my life will be back to normal..NO.  What is normal anyway?  I know I will never get the past year that I've missed of Daric's life back, my relationship with him will never be the same and the hate I have in my heart for his father may never go away.  
I know I need to face the fact that this is the way my life is going to be and get on with life but I have not reached that feeling yet.  I also know I need to learn to love myself again, which is not coming easy either.  I have felt betrayed my several people that I love in the last year and it is hard to mend a broken heart.  
In a little over a week Shannon and I will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary, which is wonderful!  He is my rock and I know if he could take away all this pain he would.  Last year we celebrated our 1 year anniversary in the Psychiatric Hospital, pretty romantic huh?  But Shannon did make the best of it and bring an Italian dinner up to me and we did get to eat together.  This year will be so much better, we have a whole day planned for our anniversary! 
So even though I know life goes on rather I want it to or not I do have hope that there will be a day where I can say "Hey look at the new me, the happy, healthy and positive me!"  But until then I will just keep going to my appointments and try to push through all the hard times and just pray everyday that it might be the day I hear from Daric.

It's a long road

Monday evening was a real test of my faith and a real eye opener on how far I've came in my depression journey.  We got a call at about 8:30pm or so from Daric's dad telling us that Daric was taken from the school by ambulance to the hospital because he fainted.  So we rushed over to Shelbyville Hospital.  When we got there he was still very disoriented and confused but they got IV fluids in him and did blood tests and xrays and everything was fine.  During this time I was in the ER room the whole time and so was Bret's girlfriend.  Because Bret works out of state during the week and is only home on weekends.  So yes another women takes care of MY son during the week, which is a giant kick in the heart to me.  Also one of Bret's friend kept coming and going from the ER room to check on Daric but they wouldn't let Shannon back there (I did not know this at the time) that makes no sense to me, he is his step dad???  So during this time I had texted Bret and told him I wanted to bring Daric back home with me so I could take care of him but I never got an answer back.  Once the test all came back negative I stepped outside to call Bret.  I asked him if I could please take Daric home with me when he was discharged so I could take care of him.  He said "NO, he is going home with Ashley(his girlfriend)"  After arguing for awhile I went back in and kissed Daric goodbye and grabbed my things and we left.  I now know my limits and I know when I am close to a meltdown, so I left before I made a scene in front of my son.  We sat outside in my car until we seen him walk out and then we drove home.  My heart still aches from the fact that I can't even take care of my son when he is sick and I have to watch another women raise him.  I pray to God to give me the strength I need to get through these times.  I know Satan is lurking around every corner just waiting for us but it is very hard to ignore him when he is in the form of your ex-husband.  I want to have the courage someday to point at Bret and say out loud, so Satan can hear, and say YOU CAN'T STILL MY JOY, YOU CAN NO LONGER CONTROL ME!"  I will continue to pray for Bret and for this awful situation.  But I know I am probably going to have to deal with situations like this until the day Daric moves out on his own.  It is very hard some days to stay positive and not to step back into that deep depression.  I struggle everyday with these thoughts and with the hurt of not having my son with me.  Before I had no idea what to do because I felt like my only purpose in life was to be a Mom but lately I have been learning that there is more to me and my life than just being a Mom.  Even though I may be always smiling on the outside I still have a lot of sadness inside to overcome.  It was a long road to get to where I am today and I'm sure its going to be a long road to be completely recovered.

With God all things are possible

What an amazing Sunday we had!!  Shannon and I got baptized this past Sunday April 15!  It was amazing I got baptized first and Jim Plank was on my left side talking to me and Doris Schrock was the one who baptized me, it was an incredible feeling.  Shannon was next to get baptized and I got to help Jim baptize him which was such an honor!  But let me back up just a bit.  We had Daric that day so he was there to witness it along with my Mom and Step-Dad and also our very dear friends Eric and Jennifer Bertoldo!!  We felt so blessed that they came to our special day!  Baptism Sunday at The Vineyard is a huge celebration!  We just love our church family, we have made some amazing friendships there.  Oh and also I went Friday night with my Mom and Doris to see Chonda Pierce LIVE!!!  It was so AMAZING, she is my hero!  Her book got me through some of the horrible hospitals stays I had.  She is such a funny yet inspiring woman.  Oh and did I mention we got to sit up on the stage....yep that's right, almost within arms reach of her!!   So our hearts are filled with so much joy.  And our marriage is so much stronger and just keeps getting stronger the closer we get to know God.  I am so excited to see what He has in store for our future.  If I went back 7 months ago I would never have thought I would be where I am now.  Just to think that 7 months ago I thought I had nothing to live for and I tried to take my own life seems like such a blur.  I am so glad God lifted me up and I can see clearly now and I know that I have so much to live for.  Depression is a horrible disease but I feel like each day I keep my head up and pray and soon I can say goodbye to it and the medication I have to take for it.  I am just most thankful to have my son back in my life.  It's amazing how someones life can change so much in such a short amount of time.  The power of prayer is amazing and with God all things are possible!

 

 

Move on over black cloud

It probably seems like I've been MIA for awhile! Our life has been busy busy lately!  We finally got all moved, we are still unpacking the boxes which is the worst part.  Shannon and I moved everything from our whole house just him and I on Friday and Saturday and my Mom has been helping me unpack.  Thank goodness for her because she is a BIG help when it comes to unpacking and rearranging.  We started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University last week, so we are in week 2.  I really think we are going to like it, I'm ready to get a budget and get our money in order and get financially stable! We had a pretty bad snow this past Sunday and it got pretty bad out.  The roads were slick with ice.  We were going to my Mom's and Shannon was driving and the car in front of us stopped but it was too slick and Shannon couldn't get the car stopped fast enough and we had a little fender bender.  It didn't do anything to the other guys vehicle because the car hit his hitch, but it did damage our vehicle.  It broke the plastic or fiberglass (whatever it is) front.  We haven't got an estimate yet on how much that's gonna cost and I'm not looking forward to it at all.   I have been having a lot of headaches lately which I thought was due to my eyes so I have been seeing an eye Dr. for.  But then last week I went to the dentist for my cleaning and I told him about a tooth that was hurting me and he took xrays and I have an abscessed tooth and he referred me to the oral surgeon.  I went and seen him Tuesday and I have surgery set up for next Wednesday to have the tooth removed, the roots are up in my sinus cavity and the infections pretty bad so he believes that's why I have been having headaches. So even though I don't want to have surgery it is a relief to know what the headaches are from.  So sometimes it feels like we can't catch a break.  Its always something in this house.  Do you ever feel like a black cloud is hanging over your head?  Well I'm ready for this black cloud to move on already!

God is So Good

The craziness has started at our house as we pack!  We found a house to rent and we are moving next weekend!  AHHHH!  It is so stressful to pack and move!  I had been dragging my feet and procrastinating, which if you knew me would know this is VERY unusual for me.  But I guess I was still having a hard time knowing we were moving away from the house we put so much work into.  A lot of blood(Shannon's), sweat and tears went into this house and its beautiful.  But then this week I decided I needed to put my big girl panties on and just get in gear so now we are working like crazy to get everything done by next weekend!  But enough of the boring stuff and on to the exciting part of this post!!  On March 7th at 10:44am I got a text from Shannon that said I'm ready to accept the Lord as my Savior.  And my response back was: What? Stop!! Don't play with me! And he responded back I'm serious I am ready.  I was so overjoyed that I cried first then I contacted Doris because that's who Shannon wanted to pray with him that Saturday morning so she set it all up.  Now let me back up just a little.  Ever since we started Alpha at the Vineyard Shannon was very uneasy with it and didn't exactly feel comfortable there but he kept going to support me because he knew I needed it and loved it!  We went to church and he still wasn't sure about it, but he went every week with me anyways.  I accepted the Lord as my Savior and as I said in the past post that all my prayers started to be answered and he still wasn't convinced.  He thought it was all coincidence or something.  Then he said one morning at church he felt a cool breeze sweep across his shoulders and then he started looking at the situation totally different.  So Saturday morning came and we gathered in the sanctuary before Holy Spirit Day.  With us was Doris and her husband Cliff and Kevin and Jamie and Shannon and I.   Doris was there for obvious reasons!!  But he wanted Jamie and her husband there because she was the first one to ever pray with him one on one, and later he realized that her prayer was answered, just not right when he expected it.  So we gathered around Shannon and he accepted the Lord as his Savior and it was AMAZING!!  Afterwards he said he felt a warm burning sensation in his legs and knees and his knees were about to buckle.  I am so very proud of him!  He took a big step and its a huge step for our relationship.  I already loved him so much I actually thought there was no way I could love him more, until that day and then my eyes opened wider and I seen him in a totally different way and my heart loved him even more.  I am excited to see what God has in store for us in the future and I am so excited to be now walking hand in hand with my Husband during that journey!  I'm excited about our growing love with God and our godly love growing with each other. God is So Good!!

AMAZING!!!!!!!!

Oh where to start with this blog post!!  As I think I mentioned in an earlier post we have started a new church.  We also go to Alpha and at Alpha at the end we split up in small groups, well in the small group one night April told a bit of her story and her prayer need.  After she did I told her I really appreciated her sharing because all though her story was different than mine I felt we may have some of the same feelings.  After group she asked if we could exchange numbers and maybe get together sometime.  So we did and that next week we got together and we spent I think over 4 hours together.  We both just spilled our whole entire stories with each other.  It felt great to get it all out there.  She is an amazing woman and I was in awe at how far she had came.  Little did I know that April's words would change my life forever.  She told me about a woman she got set up with at church, Karen Goss.  So I found her on facebook and friended her.  Saturday March 2nd I sent her a message asking if I could meet with her sometime and she said sure we can get our calendars together, or Ill be at the church today.  So I hurried and got my shower and got ready and went to the church to meet her.  We went into her office and I was nervous and had no idea what to do or say.  So I asked her now what?  She said say whatever you feel or want.  So I just started spilling my story to her.  After several Kleenex's and a lot of talking came the AMAZING part.  Karen asked me if I had accepted the Lord as my savior, I said well I was baptized when I was 13, she said no have you accepted him, and I said well no.  She asked me if I wanted to right then, I said YES!   So we prayed and prayed and so Saturday March 2nd I accepted the Lord as my Savior and every since that day my life has changed forever!  I had to leave the church to meet my hubby to look at more houses to rent.  The very last one we looked at was THE ONE!  It is beautiful and we decided to rent it. Prayer #1 answered! When we got in the car after looking at the house I had a text message from Daric asking if just him and I could meet Sunday and talk!!!  We met and it was incredible, we decided to put the past behind us and start a new life together from that day on and I have had him over 2 times since then and he's going to start coming every other weekend!  Prayer #2 answered.  I think I said before that I had such a hate in my heart for Daric's dad, so I really thought the forgiveness with him would come later down the road.  Well when I took Daric home after our talk Sunday, I had to talk to his dad to see if he could come over for supper that week.  I was nervous because I wasn't sure how I would react.  He came outside and we talked about Daric and then he apologized??  So of course I apologized also.  We decided to leave the past behind us too and get along from now on, for Daric's sake especially.  I went to give him a forgiveness handshake and he grabbed and hugged me (he may have broke a few of my ribs LOL) Prayer #3 answered.  All this is with in 2 days!  Then that night I contacted my Mom and asked if we could meet and she said she was thinking the same thing. So we decided to meet Wednesday afternoon.  Then Tuesday morning we got a call that we got an offer on our house, we counter offered and she took it and we close on the house April 5th!!  Prayer #4 answered.  So Wednesday came and I met with my Mom and we talked for a long time and we also decided to leave the past behind us and move forward, and I think our relationship is going to be stronger now!  Prayer #5 answered.  If I hadn't seen all this with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it but it is all true.  God is GOOD and the power of prayer is amazing!  Ever since I gave my life to God I have had nothing but good things happen to me.  I have not felt depressed at all.  Now I know Satan is just right around that corner waiting to mess me up but Pssh Satan you ain't got nothin on me!!  Gods got my back!!  I am so very thankful that God lead April and Karen into my life. Thank you Lord and knowing your there is all I need!