We are ALL Overwhelmed

Something that I have realized lately is that everyone has something hard they are going through.

What seems hard to me, may not seem hard to you. What seems hard to you, may not seem hard to me.

But it is enough to take our thoughts away from reality and bring that overwhelming feeling. Some people find it easy to hide their pain. Some wear their pain on their shoulders. But either way, every person that you come in contact with, or just pass by in the hallway at work, church, or in the aisle at WalMart, have something that they are dealing with that just might make them not see you when you pass by. Or they might be short with you when they are waiting on your table.

Maybe you don't hear from someone for a while. Maybe they are just going through a hard time and don't want to share their pain with anyone else. Maybe someone lashes out at you for seemingly no reason at all. Maybe they are just going through some pain that you know nothing about.

I say all this to say, maybe you need to give someone the benefit of the doubt next time they say or do something that offends you. Maybe they just need prayer for their circumstances. Maybe that is their cry for help. Maybe they need that soft answer just to show them that someone cares. Just think of the help you can do if you give a soft answer and are able to pray with them or just for them. Think of the blessings we can all be a part of if we would just think of the other person when we are offended instead of ourselves.

Smile of the Day

I received a letter today.
It was from a guy that Mike met in R&E. Mike sent me a letter to send to him and I decided to add him to the list for the Card Swap that I do through Prison Talk, Elsa's Inmate Card Project:

a support group for individuals who have loved ones incarcerated called Prison Talk. One of the programs some are involved in is entitled Elsa’s Inmate Card Project. How it works: The members of our group will swap names of our friends and family for holidays, birthdays, etc. We will then send out greeting cards to the men and women who’s info we received in the swap.

Anyway, I was so taken back by his letter. Well, I'll just tell you some of what he said...

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to write me. Yours and Mike's letter meant the world to me. Y'all are really the only ones that have wrote me other than a few of my family members. Thank you once again. Now I want to tell you thank you for getting me on this card list. (Elsa's Inmate Card Project) Your the first and only person I have ever met other than Jesus Christ that has ever went the extra mile with me. There are no words to explain the feeling I have right now!! ... If I do have a envelope to spare I will write to tell them how thankful I am of them for putting a smile of my face and heart. It does make you feel like your loved, cared about and not forgotten about.

He went on for a few pages telling me about his family and talking about his time with Mike.

The reason I was so taken back my his letter was just the fact that I had only told him about the card project and let him know that he was added. He only has received 1 card so far, but to see the thankfulness in his letter for going out of my way to do something that I am enjoying so much, it just made me feel like I actually matter and that I really can make a difference.

Now on to trying to show my husband that same feeling...

My worst enemy

We never know when our whole world might be shaken and we're left wondering what just happened and where do we go from here.

I've had a lot of those moments. I just wanted to have the time to process it all. In those moments, Mike always knew he just had to give me some time to sleep.
That is my answer to a lot of things. Studies do show that when you sleep your brain does a sort of defrag and takes all the info of the day and puts them each in their compartments of the brain. I can wake up from a nap when I'm overwhelmed and nothing has changed, but I feel more at ease and able to face what's going on.

We all have our ways of de-stressing. Or we just dont know how to cope and end up making things worse. I've learned so many coping skills but sometimes none of those things work.

What do I do then?

I pray.

Prayer should be my first option, but I don't always think to pray when I'm struggling with myself. I'm my own worst enemy. I've always been my worst critic...but God is my best. He wants me to call on Him and rely on His strength to get through it all. He may not always pull me out of a bad situation, but He's promised me He would carry me through.

A Slow Start

I've tried to start this blog for about 2 months now. Something has stopped me each time. I guess it was either being too scared to share our story or I just didn't know what to say. I guess it was a little bit of both. But here I go starting the journey of telling our story through the eyes of this prisoner's wife.
I guess I could start by telling about myself and my husband. Mike and I met in November of 2009. The week before we met, I had tried to commit suicide after feeling I was alone and no one cared about me anymore. Two weeks before we met, he had been ripped away from his 2 teenage children after being arrested for a crime his ex-wife put him up to.
He spoke to me and I knew instantly that I wanted to get to know that man. We were inseparatable for the first 10 days we were together. We would even finish each other's sentences. It was like we had known each other for much longer than we had.
After not even a month, we started dating. Through 2 years we grew closer together and fell even more in love. It's not like we had a perfect relationship, but we both fought hard to stay together.
Mike asked me to marry him in May of 2011. We planned to have a wedding on October 29th. However, after getting so frustrated with planning the wedding, we decided to elope in August. We had a wonderful few weeks of being newlyweds, but before our 3 month anniversary, October 28th, he got his letter from the court saying he was due in for court a week later.

Our whole world stopped.