Before
Wrangling wriggly kids after a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disneyland. A happy family unknowingly celebrating their last vacation together. Our lives were soon interrupted by a season of pain and loss, a season that also proved God’s sovereignty, faithfulness, and love.
After
God’s comfort and healing for my family, during the years that I single parented and adjusted to our loss, became the story I wrote for my children. That narrative expanded to two books: a memoir and the sequel.
The after picture is a snapshot of the joy and new life given us by a God who heals, helps, and blesses. My new husband Craig is not a bandage over my pain nor a trophy of healing; he is the love of the second half of my life. (However, I did introduce him as my trophy husband at both my high school and college reunions.) Craig’s arrival brought bonus blessings into my life: an expanded family of two amazing stepdaughters, one strong son-in-law, and two beautiful grandchildren (not pictured.)
I am grateful to God for what He has done, but these three smiling pictures do not begin to tell our story.
