A brief note or two for first time visitors. First, welcome! I’m so glad to see you! Are you in need of rescue? Here is my rescue story. I share it because I know it can be your story too! It is my prayer that every post lead you one step closer in your walk...
A Shocking Announcement Standing in the dayroom I stared at the Memo of the Day. I’d read it three times and my heart sank. A prison-wide lockdown was scheduled for next week, the very day of the trial for my parental rights! Lockdowns during past court hearings had...
A Day in Prison: Education and Unexpected Friendships Filing into the prison visiting room with the rest of the ABE students, I found a seat and dropped into it. It was September 2016, and the quarterly education meeting was about to begin. The visiting room furniture...
Facing Institutional Hurdles: Battling the Psych Department “I was kicked out of Anthony.” I turned in my chair to see who was speaking. Vikki, one of the ABE students, was talking with the teacher, Ms. Shaibley. It was a Monday afternoon in August 2016 and the school...
A Brother's Love: Reconnecting Amidst Trial and Turmoil “Noel, do you have Tim’s newest phone number?” I asked my oldest son. I was concerned about Tim and felt certain additional support from family and friends would help. “I do,” Noel replied. “I have not called him...
(19) Meeting Mr. Bot From Surviving to Living Serial Audiobook https://episodes.castos.com/659ef4b1483350-07089036/1741821/c1e-1q350cjjrrpu1j84d-ddknzrdgh84o-57veme.mp3 Writing to Connect: A Mom Behind Bars At my desk, I finished another letter to my children....
(18) Projecting Hope From Surviving to Living Serial Audiobook https://episodes.castos.com/659ef4b1483350-07089036/1730532/c1e-g0gz2i33v79h0qox7-jk0xvdnqhjr-pgsymn.mp3 “Hi, It’s Holly! How are you?” I was reaching out to every family member, friend and organization I...
It was April 2016, and I’d spent the past three months trying to find a home in Minnesota for my son Tim. It was not going well. Tim, now age 13, seemed despondent. He’d spent the past 2 and a half years in a slew of foster and group homes in Washington,...
A battle was on the horizon, one I hoped to avoid. In January 2016 I’d received news about my youngest son, Tim, who had been in foster care for 3 years. Social Services was seeking to terminate our parental rights to make Tim more desirable as a potential...
February 2016 and another birthday in prison. When I first arrived to prison it had been March. I’d had an entire year before my first birthday there and I had watched all year, interested as other women celebrated birthdays and tried to make them special....
I think of this as the beginning. I was asleep, maybe dead all my life, before 2016. I was 40 years old. “Mom, I’m not sure I believe in God anymore,” my oldest son Noel explained on the phone. It was October 2015, and Noel had just turned 21. Trying...
