so here we are in the middle of january, 2011. it was just 2 months ago that our son drew returned home after 6 years. this homecoming was one that i believe hundreds have prayed for on our family's behalf. some of you reading this post may be one of those and if so we want to thank you and ask that you continue to pray, for the journey of healing continues on. i shared with drew when he returned that i thought we should consider setting up a blog to share our journey with others in hope to bring encouragement to others who may find themselves in a similar situation.

from my postings you will hear from my heart as a mother.

being a mom is i believe one of the most important callings in life and i am so thankful for the opportunity to be a mother of five children, each uniquely different and wonderful. i love them so much. i have to warn you that i have so much i could write but i will just be giving tidbits along the way.

so in the six years that drew was absent from our lives, he never once was removed from our hearts. but....as a family we had to go on, we had choices to make...i especially remember realizing that i could let the fact that my son was out there, many times not knowing where, not hearing from him sometimes for months at a time...he was hooked, being consumed with addictions that were destroying him...yes i had to make a decision...would i allow hopelessness destroy me like an invading disease of the body or would i trust God, would i keep on living, grow with my family who surrounded me, who needed me, who longed for my strength to be renewed. thankfully i chose to trust God....oh there were so many times that if it weren't for others' encouragement i would have been swallowed up by the dark cloud of hopelessness. after all, when days turn into months and months into years, it is hard at times to wonder if hope will become a reality. i often felt as though i were grieving drew's death over and over but something kept rising up within me to believe that he is still alive and God's arm not too short to reach him wherever he was at.

so in these posts you may hear reflections from the past and also the present, for it all has come together in what i now see as a beautiful miracle of God's redeeming love poured out on our family. for our son is home! in future posts you will hear stories of our daily lives together as we walk this journey together, learning to know one another all over again. you can follow drew's blog also and be encouraged by his journey.