Letters From Samuel: 2014

I cannot let November go by without making a new post. November is one of my favorite months ~ I love Thanksgiving ~ Christmas is around the corner ~ and my favorite...our Anniversary is this month. November 22nd, we will be celebrating 25 years!

Our marriage is such a Trophy of God's Grace. I guess all marriages are. These last 25 years have been some of the hardest...yet sweetest that I have known. I am so thankful for a husband that has loved me unconditionally, spoiled me rotten(er), and yet has been strong and stubborn enough to put me in my place and keep my feet on the ground. :-)

We were married in my parents living room that afternoon by a Pastor named Elder Quinton Looney. We have laughed over his name many times ~ because that certainly did set the tone for our marriage! :-)

I love this photo. Little did we know that 9 months later Lee and I would become believers and followers of Jesus Christ. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life in Heaven and a peacefully abundant life here on earth, then click here to find out how you too can be saved. Then 1 month later, on September 9th, the Lord would call my father home to Heaven.

God has been so good to us over the years and I have much to be thankful for. And since November is National Adoption Month ~ I would be remiss to not mention one of the greatest blessings God has ever given us ~ the adoption of our beloved son, Samuel Lee Shelton.

This picture was taken the day Samuel's adoption was final ~ June 4th, 1995

Thanksgiving

[Source: Wikipedia]

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well.

Something else I am thankful for is Forgiveness. The Bible mentions forgiveness in one form or another approximately 116 times - but the concept is there many more times. This meme came across my Facebook feed recently ~ and I LOVE it:

Oh how often I have sinned against my Heavenly Father - and He has forgiven me "as far as the east is from the west" for the inexcusable ~ time and time again.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Psalm 103:12

~Visits & Conversations~

Samuel and I had some great visits and conversations this past month, as did Tay and I. I love both our weekend visits w/Dad and my special visits on Tuesdays either by myself ~ or sometimes with Tronna or Ariel ~ or both :)

I love the look on Lee's and Samuel's face both in this picture. Lee looks like he is saying, "This is my son! I am SO proud of him!" (he concurred :) ) And Samuel, just looks plain....happy. He is at peace and full of joy! God's grace is evident in his life ~ of which I am so thankful for!

One conversation with Samuel I am particularly thankful for was on Veteran's Day. We were discussing how he was merely 26 days away from his 18th birthday and 26 days away from leaving home and joining the military (unbeknownst to his father and I) when his sin was revealed. I expressed how sorry I was that Dad and I were so set against him joining (right or wrong, we had our reasons) and wouldn't really give opportunities for open dialogue about it. One of our many FAILS. But here was Samuel's response:
"No, Mom. I'm GLAD God stopped me from going! I'm GLAD I got caught! The military would not have been good for me! Besides, NOW I am in the LORD'S Army ~ And that is SO much better!"

♥ I just LOVE him ~ This son of my heart ♥

The other conversation that am very thankful is below:

Dear Family, October 2014

Hope all is going well at home. Everything is going good here. Our computer teacher is gone for most of the week. She gave us a big assignment to work on while she is gone. She expects for us to write a 4 -10 page “opinion” on a whole PACK of papers she gave us to read. I'm looking forward to getting started on this project. Mike said he would help me with spelling and stuff like that. :)

Hope that this week went by fast for you guys with “Billy” (we kept our Pastor's dog while they were traveling for a week – p.s. No comment...LOL – actually by the end of the week we – us, Sandie, and Billy were all tolerating each other quite well...) It sounds like he is really trying your patience. I don't blame dad for not wanting another dog.

I can't wait to see my family again. I really look forward to having good visits with you. Last week's Saturday visit was one of the best ones ever. I like having heart-to-heart talks like those.

In my Bible reading today I read Proverbs 14:27 “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” This really struck me because of the way I was living before I got caught. I was in the snares of death.

Well, it's almost time for 1:00 pm dayroom so I'm going to say goodbye. Love you guys so much.

Your Son,

Samuel

Lee

Shelton

Dear Mom & Dad, November 19, 2014

I love you guys so much. I want to start by saying Happy Anniversary! It is so cool that I will be able to celebrate it with you guys on this Saturday. I hope you guys have another 25 years of love and happiness. Mike is making me a card to send you.

Love,

Samuel

Shelton

Other tidbits/answered prayer I am thankful for in recent months concerning Samuel:

Samuel told us this morning that he finally got to get out and help shovel snow! (he crazy). Anyway, he said when he got outside, one of the CO's came up to him and told him that he had specifically asked for Samuel ~ because he had observed him working in the kitchen on Saturday and had noticed how quickly and efficiently he works! That made his day! God is good!

~~UPDATE FROM Thanksgiving visit 2014: ~~

We had a GREAT visit with Samuel and Tay today. We all shared many of the things we are thankful to the Lord for. Samuel shared a couple of things that just continue to amaze us as we witness God's blessing and favor. They may seem small...but again, even the smallest of things are very big to us right now.

1) Samuel has to miss working in the kitchen for lunch time on Saturdays for our visits, though he still gets paid for them. After a couple of weeks of this, he went to the CO in charge and explained that Saturdays are the only day he gets to see his dad, but on the other hand he didn't think it was right to knowingly keep missing his lunch duty and still get paid for it. The CO said he would discuss it with the head CO, and they came back to him and said that he is too good of a worker and that they didn't want to lose him and they will work around him to do whatever they need to keep him!

~God is so Good~

2) He has been wanting to get a part time tutor job and the tutor instructor came to Samuel and told him that she really wants to hire him part time and what does Samuel need to finish so he can do that? He told her he needed to finish his last module, Employability (this is one of many life-skill modules they have to finish for credit while there). She asked him why he hadn't written and asked to take it. He explained that he had written and asked to take it on three different occasions, but that it still wasn't happening. She told him that SHE would take care of it this week and make sure he got his module in so he could start working for her as soon as possible.

~God is so Good~

3) One of the other inmates had looked very familiar to Samuel ~ they are on different quads so they only see each other in passing or across the room during visits. The young man had the occasion to see Samuel though the other day in the kitchen, and went up to him and asked if he knew where they might know each other from. Samuel couldn't think of where and the young man asked him, "Aren't you and your family the ones that sing hymns in the visiting room? Samuel told him he was, and he said, "I want you to know my family thinks that is really cool that you guys do that. Many have noticed." Anyway after talking a while longer ~ they realized that they had played basketball against each other ~ each for different Christian schools. Yes this young man is a Christian too....

Which prompted me to ask, "What is it..WHY is it that so many young Christian men are incarcerated?" (We have met several Christians). When we were finished with our lengthy discussion, here was the conclusion as Samuel stated, "Because we have raised a physically, emotionally, and spiritually lazy generation who are lukewarm and smothered in entitlement." Bingo.

(p.s. Please don't be offended ~ we know this isn't true of everybody)

After the above discussion, I excused myself to the restroom and had a good cry. I asked the Lord, "How can be my heart be SO broken and SO full at the same time?" His GRACE continues to whisper to my soul, "ALL things WILL work together for good, according to MY purposes." If I didn't believe that with my whole being ~ I surely would wither up and die.

~God is so Good~

And from our visit with Tay today....

We really are thankful to have Devonte as part of our lives now. He makes us laugh and we are thrilled at the growth we see in him! We love to hear him pray. He is a very thankful young man for all that God is doing in his life. Please keep praying for him and his family. His family has a lot of very serious needs/issues. He is excited that he got moved in with a new celly, Scooby :-) Scooby has a TV and that does help the time go by faster. Tay also got a job in the kitchen as Samuel did, and that helps the time go faster as well!! Plus they get paid ~ it's only a little, but it's something!

Here are pictures of Tay and his celly, Scooby:

Devonte Scooby

Our latest letter from Tay:

Dear Godparents,

Hey how are you guys doing? I hope everything is going good. I want to start this letter off by saying I love both of y'all. I want to let you guys know that I wouldn't have wanted no other Godparents. I thank God so much for giving me the best Godparents ever. I thank you guys for everything you and Dad do for me. My time is going so fast because of you and dad.

I'm so happy that God been blessing me so much. I can't wait to see what God got plan for us when I get out. I feel that this is my way out of Milwaukee and I really hope my Momma leave too.

It will take some time to get use to everything (he's really worried about what us country folk eat... LOL)

I'm happy that I got a Dad in my life. I feel like it's hope for me now. I give all the thanks to God, He is the reason for everything happening. I hope that Zakhee change his life. I will try to be a good role model for him.

I'm really happy that I open my heart to God. I can't wait to show everybody how much I change.

I will try not to call so much, but it will be hard (he really tries hard to be frugal). So I will end this letter by saying I love both of y'all.

♥Miss Y'all

In my last letter to him, I sent him a picture of the types of food we eat ~ just to set his mind at ease!

~Blessings~

We are so thankful also for the opportunity to go home to Ohio for the first week of November ~ Thanks to the generosity of my husbands nephew, Charles and his family. My husband was
able to deer hunt every day ~ nearly all day long! I visited with my Mom and some friends throughout the week and had a very special time!

We got MEAT, Baby!!

This hunting trip helped breathe life back into my husband, of which I am very thankful.

On the Saturday before we came home, we got together with Lee's side of the family for the FAMILY FEAST!! His family has always included my Mom in their get-togethers ~ something for which I am very thankful. They have been incredibly supportive of us and we love them dearly!

Our niece Tabitha, and her niece Nadia (our grand-niece)

My Mom

Our niece Amber and her son, Davyon

Thumper's (Charles) wife Trisha and my Mom

Our grand-niece Isabella

Lee and his brother Jack and his wife Loretta

Our niece Kazmine - holding Isabella

Thumper, Trish, Connor, Tyson, and Celsey

Our grand-nephew Michael

Doin' the Duck-Face Thing :)

Celsey

Lee's sister Rita and her grandbaby, Nadia

Our grand-niece Chasity

Lee's sister Rita and her daughter Tara and her boyfriend Carlos,

and her son Kaden, and daughter Nadia

Lee's sister Rose

Our grand-niece Kazmine

And Lee's brother, Larry's family (who couldn't be there):

It's a little dated...cause that adorable little baby is now TWO!! So, L-R: Peyton holding Lawrence, Jared, John, Bryce, Larry, his wife, Brandy, and Madisen

Lawrence Edward Shelton II (he just turned 2 this week!) ♥him!!

And I must mention Lee's beloved Mother, Dixie who went Home one year ago on November 30, 2013 ~ We all miss her so much and are so thankful for her and a life well lived!