During my lifetime, I have had much heartbreak and have witnessed a lot of dysfunction within my own family, but the love has always prevailed and we have managed to come together whenever we need each other. I am a forgiving person and although sometimes difficult, because of pain inflicted, it has been hard to forgive, but over time, God softens my heart and the forgiveness comes. What I find even more difficult though is to forgive those who intentionally hurt and disrespect those I love. This is what I am feeling now. Watching my husband grieve the death of his mother is really hard, but watching his family kick him when he’s down, not only infuriates me, but it also saddens me that he is hurting. As Ben Franklin said “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes”. We know death will happen and it’s sad for us who are left behind but the grieving is so much harder when those in charge disrespect the dead by not honoring their wishes.  Last week was hard enough, wh...

For over 30 years now I have had a Rollercoaster ride relationship with my mother in law. So many ups & downs, highs & lows. Nobody was good enough for her "baby boy" in the beginning, but by the grace of God, I stood the test of time and she eventually became to love me. Especially in the last 5-10 years, we got to have many meaningful and quality conversations. Her upbringing and past caused her to become a very bitter woman, but if you were lucky enough to see past that, to sneak in through the cracks of her hard exterior, you could catch a glimpse of the heart she truly had and tried to hide from others. I was fortunate enough to see and grow to love that part of her.   Like all of us, she was flawed in many ways. Sadly the mistakes of her parents, and the mistakes she made with her own children, are the negative things our human nature seem to hold on to, but God's grace is never ending and it showed in the last several years of her life. She showed love and ...