Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Shouldn't there be thorns among the roses? Unfortunately, that's not how life works sometimes. We want our life to have roses, but it has thorns instead. But I think if we look close enough we can see some roses among those thorns. Sometimes they are pretty hidden and we have to really pay attention. It's interesting how marrying my husband brought so much heartache to my life, but at the same time brought me blessings. Marrying him was a huge mistake, and if I could tell my younger self what to do, I would say don't do it. BUT if I hadn't married him I wouldn't have been able to attend the church I attended for over 5 years and made so many great friends. I have some girlfriends now that I consider best friends from my years in McMinnville. My life is so much richer because of them! What about my husband's family that I now consider my own? They are awesome! Every time that the whole group gets t...

You may be wondering how I'm really doing, so I wanted to post this letter and let you know. It's occurred to me that it would be natural for you to think of me as being really sad because that's how I was when you last saw me. Every day was a battle, and at times it was so hard to keep my tears at bay. Sometimes I couldn't keep them at bay. Now things are different. I have so much hope for the future. I have a smile on my face. I don't walk around with tears just waiting to be shed. I'm in such a good place for this time in my life;  it's so good to be with my family. I definitely have some healing to do, and I have to be patient with that process. But the church family here has wrapped their arms around me and stood with me like you did when I was there. (I still feel your arms from a distance <3) It's a little hard to know how much of this to go into because there are wonderful people that I really don't want to hurt. But I didn't ...