Unfortunately I know the effects of this tragedy. . . . Not once, Not twice, but three times! My oldest five children were the victim of a father that did NOT want to participate in their lives after our divorce. They went years and years without hearing one word from him. Now that his youngest daughter is 18 years old, he told her that he knows that he was wrong to stay away from them. He is sorry for missing all those precious years of seeing them grow up to become the wonderful adults that they are today. He told her that he was the one who really missed out! But I know how much pain our five children felt believing that he did not love them enough to be part of their lifes.

My current husband lived in a daily unbearable pain because his ex-wife illegally took their three children to Germany. His youngest son, Jason was only 2 years old. Today he is 19 years old, and they have only seen each other twice in all those years. The pain still remains with my husband today.

His oldest son, Jeff was 10 years old when they were taken to Germany. His love for his father, and his father's love for him was tremendous! Then his mother took the children and left without a word. His father went back to court to get custody, but when he went to get them in Germany the country would not abide by the "International Kidnapping Laws". Craig's heart broke, but Jeff's heart was broken also. Being so young he did not understand how to make his pain go away. Jeff did not know the language in Germany since he was raised in America. In America he was an all A student, in Germany he barely passed, and started hanging out with the wrong kind of kids. At the young age of eleven his stomach was pumped out from alcohol poison, and by the young age of fifteen, (August 1993), he was in a terrible car accident. He had many threatening life or death operations. He lived in the hospital for 18 months and in a rehabilitation center for the next 18 months. Thousands of miles around the world, his father was still grieving, not even aware of the terrible pain his son was enduring!

At the age of 18 Jeff came back to America to see his Dad. Today Jeff and his father Craig have a healing ministry to reach out to other father and sons in God's mericiful Love!

Our precious granddaughter Angelea Lynn Burnell was born on January 12, 2005. When Angel was 2 weeks old her mother took her away, and Brad did not hear from them for over 2 years. He has heard from them and is going to see his daughter for the first time since she was a tiny baby.

I am thankful that God has drawn Brad close to Him. He found hope and comfort in the arms of God. He believed that God would provide a miracle, and his family will be united. This page and book have reached many people who have prayed for them. Please continue to pray and Thanks for the prayers for their family to be back together. Below is a 2007 photo of Angelea

The story I wrote "Noah and the Flood" was written for my first granddaughter, Jasmine. When she was 2 years old I would tell her the story of Noah and how the rain came down, and flooded the world. I used hand motions, as described in the book to make it fun to tell her the story. I am praying that some day soon I will also tell this story to my granddaughter Angel. To download your copy click on the picture at the top of this page of the book cover. You will need Adobe Reader to open it. You can get your copy by clicking on the button.

God recently let me know that if we, (parents), prevent or discourage our child/children to not love and respect their father or mother, then we are breaking the commandment of not honoring our father or mother. I never thought of it that way. It makes sense that God would feel that way. He did make it as a top ten on his list of commands. God even said if we do obey this command we will be blessed with a long life, and if we do not turn hearts of fathers to children, and children to fathers He will strike the land with a curse. I had to repent, because I was wrong not to encourage my oldest children to love their father, in spite of his errors. I thought I was right because I never disallowed him to see and participate in their lives, nor did I discourage him. But I did not encourage the children to reach out to him. I always felt justified because of what he did or did not do. But when we go before God, it is all about God and Me. Excuses of what others do is not what God is interested in. It is about what I do and where my heart is.

One of my daughter's received a picture of Angel taken before Christmas 2005. I took the picture and placed her on her Daddy's lap - which is where she belongs. I hope to replace this picture with a real picture of her daddy holding her.

To read about Kelsey who has not seen her grandmother in five years go to:Letters To Kelsey.net