Here we go again......

It has been many years since I wrote a blog. I attempted to reopen my last blog and realized the email address attached to it is long gone! You can read my old blog, but I cannot add to it! I am learning my way around this new set up so, please, bear with me. It has been several years since I spent time writing.  Most of the time, my ramblings will be how the Lord is dealing with me about something or something I have learned when studying Scripture. This first blog will be an introduction to my transparent heart. 

I do not have perfect English. I am not a Theologian. First and foremost, I am just a woman who loves the Lord with all of my heart. I am a wife to two men....only because I am a widow of the first man. Contrary to popular belief, the second marriage to Tony Strickland does not cancel out the first marriage to Mike Pence in my widow's heart. (side note....I was not married to the VP of the US!)  I am a Momma to six children. Mickey is the oldest and will hit his 30's this year, and the youngest is Alec who will be entering his 20's soon. The stair steps go as follows:  Mickey/29, Dylan/27, Devin/24, Neely/23, Tori/21, and Alec/19. But Devin will forever be nine years old. He entered heaven the same day as his daddy. Mickey and Dylan are from my first marriage. Neely, Tori, and Alec are from Tony's first marriage to April. Tony is a widower too. His wife passed away of esophageal cancer approximately seven weeks after my husband's accident in 2009. God is our Creator. He knows us better than we know ourselves and is capable of many miracles. Tony and I lived well over a 100 miles apart and had never heard of each other. It was completely by divine intervention that we met...and his concerned aunt. I will leave that story for another time. 

Fourteen years ago, we joined our blended family. We have not just 'blended' together; we have molded together. You never hear the word "step" in our house unless "stairs" are the topic. Mickey married a beautiful young woman, AJ, in 2014 and gave us two amazing grandsons, Wyatt and Kaden. Mick fixes anything broken and does it well. He is in high demand! Dylan has given us his 'Mini Me' in spunky but incredible, Josiah. Dylan & Josiah married our lovely Janessa in 2020. Not long after, they gave us our beautiful Freya. She entered this world early and has been going full-force ever since! I don't really understand Dylan's job, but he rides trains and keeps it on the track! Toot! Toot!  Neely is a paramedic and Assistant Fire Chief of her local Volunteer Fire Department, working with her long term boyfriend, Dakota. She takes after her older brother and works all of the time. Her heart is to help hurting people. She & Dakota enjoy participating in old war re-enactments. Tori is working along side her boyfriend, Alex, at Toyota. They really enjoy car shows and races.  My 'baby' Alec will be graduating from Lincoln Tech soon. He works on equipment in Vincennes. He was just in Kindergarten when I became his Momma. He is bigger than all of us now, but he will forever be my baby!  I may not have given birth to ALL of my kids, but I have an unbreakable, unshakeable bond with each one of them. Each one is very gifted. Each one is a pain at times. They can fight with each other, but no one else can. They are uniquely loved, and they love uniquely.

For a few years after Tony and I married, I spoke in different churches and women's luncheons. It is my desire to share what the Lord has done for me, even in the midst of such sorrow. I want to share HOPE!  I have counseled with women from several states both in person and online. Grief is not pretty. Grief is not easy. Grief is not something you 'just get over'. Grief is unique to each person. God doesn't forget you. He holds you. If you have never lost a spouse, you cannot empathize with someone who has. You can feel sorry for them, but you cannot put yourself in their shoes. The grief of losing my husband was much different than the grief of losing my son. Hope and peace are possible even when life seems impossible. Even the word 'death' sounds dreadful. But for those who have hope in Jesus Christ, death is just a part of life...eternal life. There are worse things in this life than death. Dying without a relationship with Jesus is far worse than earthly death. There is HOPE if you will just look to Him!

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."  Romans 5:1-5