I grew up with grandparents who were extremely good Christian people. In fact, I'm quite certain they were perfect. My grandmother never judged. She just listened. As I was going through this awful time with Addi and my grandma was nearing the end of her life-it was Addi she would always ask about. She prayed for her continuously and probably until the moment she died. She would always talk about the "holy spirit" and I honestly, just didn't get it. It went in one ear and out the other. I didn't understand the concept. I am certain now I felt it at times but didn't recognize it because I was too busy dwelling in negativity.
In January, my daughter's life took a drastic change for the worse. Drastic. As a result, our lives changed and were uprooted. Again, there is a part I won't discuss due to protection of the innocent--but to make a long story short--her life was spiraling downward at rocket speed. She got evicted from her apartment. Had the worst kind of people hanging out there 24/7--no one was paying a utility, no one was paying for rent. Her car, that she still owes her grandma for, was missing---I still don't know where it is, other than some guy wrecked it and even hit another car. The only reason that I know that is because her insurance company sent her a letter that she had let her insurance expire.
During this time I had to focus on my job and the extra tasks I now had at home, due to her choices. We had a HUGE trial coming up. Beyond huge. It was a week long trial on a case that had been pending for 2 years. It required my attention and my bosses attention for a month. During that month, my boss and I would spend evenings late at the office with our client, who is the sweetest lady. She is a faithful servant of God and the more time we spent together, the more she was learning about the things going on in my life. She messaged me one night and wanted a picture of Addi and she wanted to add her name to a prayer group. I said "Well, sure, that is sweet." Literally for two months and still even today, I would get these random texts at the oddest times that would say "Don't respond...I just want you to know that Addi is covered in prayer. God is going to work a miracle in her life." I would thank her for her texts but my faith was diminished that she was going to make it out alive.
She was sick with staph infection. She was not making any changes she needed to be making to get her "life" back---she was lost. She was in a spiral so far down that she resorted to shoplifting. She was actually caught shoplifting at a store by one of her best friend's little sister's and she ignored her. She now feels terrible about it and is writing her an apology--but that is how desperate she was to get heroin. She was stealing from Joplin to Branson and poor Target--she got her purse confiscated there twice. This was behavior that was not like her. She was not a shoplifter. This was a new low in life.
I called my friend Vicky who works at the City of Joplin. Vicky used to work with me and Addi at a law office in town. She became a surrogate mother to her of sorts. They both thought I was a negative, critical butt head to work with and found comfort in each other having to work with me and Cruella (my nickname for my boss, that she knows is just for fun). When that law firm split up, Vicky went to work for a city court---and so we have kept in touch. Joplin city Court, unfortunately, have had Addi on tickets for a myriad of things from larceny to domestic fights to just general drama that circulates in an addicts life. She received two sunmons' in the mail at our address. At this point, I just wanting to know how many she had pending. Vicky and I talked and she told me the court dates. I told her that I doubted my boss would represent her on them since I was at the end of my rope. This was March 7th.
That night also, Addi, by agreement with a friend named Jane, to go to dinner and talk. Jane is another "surrogate mom" of Addi's and the mom of one of her friends. Jane also loves her dearly and has also refused to give up on her. She felt Addi wanted out of the situation she was in--and as they talked, Addi agreed to go into treatment the next day. As stated in my previous blogs--that never happened that day. Rather, she chose to get high with her boyfriend.
At 7:20 am on March 8th, I got a text message from Vicky. It said "Addi has been weighing on my heart all night long. I've been praying for her relentlessly. I feel God is going to move in her life." I thanked her, and said "I sure hope so".
Our friend Jane was headed to get Addi to take her to treatment. She wasn't going. She took her friend Clancy with her too to try to talk Addi into doing the right thing. Bottom line was she was not going and boyfriend didn't want her to go. They had other plans. Well, I was on the phone with a friend of Addi's who was helping me during this time with moral support, and a girl who WAS Addi a year ago so knew the urgency. She was in trouble just a year ago and she was just as sick. She said, "Stephanie-she is going to die if she doesnt get help today. I can feel it. I'm going to do something." So--a well check call was placed to Joplin Police Department. Upon their arrival, they became suspicious of boyfriend's behavior by him reaching into a drawer---they called in drug dogs and more police and that was that. They found drugs. Heroin and Morphine if I do believe. They arrested them.
This whole time, I'm at the law office, and I'm kicking into gear. I called the local PA and said "My daughter was just arrested. She is dying. She is so far addicted to heroin that if she is released she will die. She has staph all over her and this is it. This is my last chance to save her." Come to find out, she was over the county line. She was in Newton County. She was taken to Joplin City Jail and then would be headed down to the Newton County Jail---and guess who would be in control of her there? Vicky's husband. She is married to the Newton County Sheriff, Ken Copeland. When the Jasper County Prosecutor found out that the case would be in Newton, he also called the Newton County PA to get us some help. So then, I called the Newton County Prosecutor. I told him the same story. He didn't know anything about my story. He knew nothing about my daughter. We talked for a long while about the problems she has had-- and he listened. He said, "I will ask for a high bond on her, but you can't get her out or it won't help her. It won't do any good for her if you do." I said "I can assure you that none of us will bond her out. She will die within days if she is out."
She arrived at the Joplin City jail and was informed that Newton County had 24 hours to charge her, or she would be released if they didn't. Literally, on the 23rd hour, Newton County charged her with possession. The JPD told her that she was being transferred and that her bond would be $10,000 cash. One of the jailers said Addi goes "That is because of my mom." The jailer said "No, I don't know your mom, but the Judge sets the bond." She said "Trust me. My mom did this."
She had just told her brother two days before that she was "in a dark hole and cannot get out." He felt she was dying and/or suicidal. He was terrified. So when she got to Newton County, she got placed in a suicide suit. She again said "Why am I being put in a suicide suit?" They jailer said "Sheriff's
orders." Addi replied "you mean my mom's orders." Again, the jailer said "I don't know your mom,
but my boss said you were to be put in a suicide suit in isolation due to your staph infection." So into the suicide suit and isolation she went....
The next day was a visiting day, so Vicky went to see her. She and her husband both chatted with her. They prayed with her. Sheriff said, "Steph, I just don't know. I think she's in there, but I'm just not reading her well." Vicky said "I refuse to give up. I have faith in God's restoration of her heart and soul and body." That night, in isolation...she started reading a book. It was the Bible.
So I had strangers praying for her; faith by these women that "God would intervene" ---a text that morning that "God was going to intervene and by 3:00 p.m. she was in a jail cell. By the next day, she was sitting a jail cell in the county jail that Vicky's husband is the Sheriff. What was happening? My "faith" started sparking interest...and it only gets even more eye opening from there....
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