Today is Thursday, October 15th, 2009. We have been all over the place in the last year and experienced more than I care to relive but they say writing is good. And I may find that it is good for me, but will it be good for everyone? We will see.
It all started last year around April 19th, 2008. We were living in our house on 44 acres in Hohenwald, Tn. Life was good, really. We attended TPC and had an amazing church family. Darren and I were working in missions as much as we could. His favorite mission field is Indonesia, mine is the Ukraine. Darren and the kids had decided to go to Louisiana to visit his parents and Courtney. I stayed home cause we were dog sitting for the Zebells. I also wanted to take some time to spend with my daughter Lauren who lived in Brentwood. She didn't visit much so I thought I could go into town and just hang out with her. She had been in a bad relationship that had ended and I thought she may need some family time. We had a nice time together that weekend. Many other things had happened in our life during this time. On March 10th, we lost our major client and had unemployment visit our household. Because of this we decided to sell our house and move back to Spring Hill, near our church family. After reviewing things over and over, praying and seeking outside counsel, we decided to stop working for ourselves and seek outside employment. On April 22nd, a day in history that I had to lean on the Lord with all I had. Two things happened to me that day. I found out that Lauren was still seeing Micah after 4 months of making us think they had broke up. I also recieved a call that my maternal grandfather was in the hospital after having a heart attack. This was the day I bought the book "The Shack" too. This will have amazing significance later. My mom, Lauren and I headed to Texas to the hospital to be with my grandparents. When we arrived they told us that he had to have heart surgery. That he had a 95% chance of making it, that he needed a triple bypass. Some history of our family, my mother's sister died at the age of 62 due to heart issues. We have many in our family that died of heart issues. The doctor saying that he had a 95% didn't help calm our nerves. My grandfather decided to have the surgery. Lauren flew back to Tennessee because she had to return to work. She and I had not gone near the conversation of regarding the news of her and boyfriend still dating. I had to put all of that hurt on the back burner for a while.
My grandfather had the surgery, came out and had to go back in. He didn't come out of the second one. He was placed on a ventilator and my family had to make a decision. My grandparents got married when my grandmother was 16 and my grandfather 18. They had spent their entire lives together. Shared 3 children and 6 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren together. My Grandmother had never lived alone, now she had to face life in that very way. Mom and I discussed what the options would be for my grandmother. We decided my mom would move back to Texas and live with my grandmother. The funeral was on May 5th, 2008 for my grandfather. I came back home and we talked about it and we decided that maybe God was leading us back to Texas. I couldn't believe the words were coming out of my mouth because I had said when Lauren was 5 years old and I left Texas that I would never be back. Texas was not an option, that entered my mind. It wasn't just me anymore, we were a family. My mom has lived by us since the kids were little, we couldn't imagine not living near her. Lauren was living on her own and doing very good. The plan was we would move on June 1st, and my mom would go ahead of us. We continued to pray and see God's guidance in our decision. This is where the book "The Shack" comes in....I sat in a chair in my living room and read that book from the beginning to the end. God brought me comfort through that book, He healed my sadness and grief. As well as showed me a side of having a relationship with Him that I had never seen. Everything that had happened up to this point was leading us to Texas. We rented a house in Arlington Tx and planned our move. We didn't like leaving our church family but we had been told that sometimes God leads you to A to get you to C through B. So we stepped out on faith. Things were pretty good for us for a while. We both got jobs, good jobs. We didn't expect them to come our way, but they did. The jobs didn't last long because God lead us to running our own business again. We got back into doing the foreclosure business in November 2008. Then around July, Lauren called and said she was coming to Texas. She had hit bottom, had no job, no place to live. We made it through to October and then Micah came to Texas. This is where the story gets fun....He was taking Lauren back to Tennessee. Well okay, we see how will that work for ya big boy? After some conversation, he decided to not take her with him. But they decided to get married. On November 9, 2009 she married Micah Womack. Let me tell you, we were not happy. Micah had lied to her about most of his life. He said he was related to LeeAnn Womack (lie), said he was going to school to be a preacher (lie) and the list goes on and on. The one thing that kept us going and trying is that we have God. Many months of drama and more drama goes by and Lauren tells us she is pregnant in February. Now we ask ourselves....what NOW? Our business leads us to Houston shortly after this news of a baby. Of course, we became emotional...we caved. Let's all be a happy family. Sounds good huh? Well didn't happen. Around the second week of March, Micah leaves Lauren in the middle of the night while she is sleeping. Breaks her phone so she can't call anyone. She wakes up hysterical, crying and can hardly speak. She calls my grandmother and cousin. My cousin calls me and says Lauren needs you, Micah left her in the middle of the night. On March 13th, my grandmother, mom and Lauren come to Houston. While visiting me at my house in Houston, my grandmother trips over her bag in the middle of the night. She falls flat on her back and hits her head on the floor. She said she called out to us, but we didn't hear her at all. We sleep with a fan on high and can't hear anything. The next morning, I get up and go to work for a few hours before the girls want to hit the shopping scene. When I got home my grandma tells me she fell the night before. She said she feels fine, we go shopping and out to eat that night. She goes to bed, gets up saying she has a headache and feels nauseous. She said she needs to go to ER, then she says she is okay and will try and go back to sleep. She goes to bed, sleeps all night. The next day she says she feels kind of bad has a head ache. We drive to Arlington, she still isn't feeling good. My mom and cousin take her to ER, while I stay at home with Lauren who is feeling sick from the pregnancy. On Monday March 16th, 2009 my grandmother dies. My family is devastated. My mom retreated into herself and struggled with her grief. I kicked into gear and did all I could to help her plan the funeral. Because of all the planning and work, I don't know if I grieved the loss of my grandmother or not. I have cried over it and thought of her quite often. Some days I think of her and I get sad when I realize I don't have her to call and just chat with. But somewhere inside of me, I know that she is happier and at peace. The drama with Lauren's marriage didn't end, they separated, filed for a divorce, went back together, decided to separate and get divorced again. Now we are at today. What a year huh? God doesn't give us more than we can handle. I have thought of that over and over through each step of this last year. I know it makes us stronger, builds character, makes us look at life and things in different ways. But I say one thing to you all, you never know how much you miss, love or need a person until they are gone from this life. We do have the promise that we will see them again one day.
As of today October 15th, 2009, the kids are in school, Darren and I still work for ourselves. We are members of a great church. Lauren is staying with us until the baby gets here and then she will go back to Micah. I don't know how that all will go. I pray for her that it will be okay and she will be able to get what she needs out of this marriage. I have thought about this alot and I think that all this pain this last year has been to strengthen me for the pain I may feel or experience over my daughter and my grandson. With all the joy he will bring me, I fear the pain.
So this is where I end this post, this is where we are right now. I look forward to blogging each day that comes, the events good and bad of The Wilsons.
