This post has been on my heart for a while but honestly it's difficult to write and I've been praying about the words before publishing them in ink (as Erica Albright says in Social Network). Now that our family is back together and life is getting back to normal, I've been able to actually process this experience with CPS and I can say with all sincerity that the phrase, "you will know who your true friends are" became so relevant.
As my life and Mike's life unraveled around us, there were two forces that carried us through. I've blogged about the most obvious one, God; I want to share about our friends and family, our real live Superheroes. Some of you may be familiar with the idea of the Christian Church in action, let me describe what this really looks like:
In Matthew 25 Jesus tells as a story (a parable) about the sheep and the goats and he describes a time when he will recognize those people who fed Him when He was hungry and clothed Him when He was naked. In response to their confusion (because they could not remember ever feeding Jesus when He was hungry), he replied, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." This truly describes the sacrifice that too many people made over the last 6 months for Mike and me.
Start in Phoenix Children's Hospital where my pastor's wife, Stacy, and my great friends Holly and Kristy visited not just once but several times. In addition, we even had the support of my sister and brother-in-law Christie and Kevin who were only in town for the weekend from Denver, my father and mother-in-law who were getting married that same weekend, and my mom and Bek who drove back and forth from Tucson everyday for four days (sometimes in the middle of the night). My co-workers Rose, Jessica, and Kristin worked over the weekend to plan lessons for a last-minute substitute teacher in my absence.
The night Kenzie was taken, I was surrounded by the love of my mom (who was furiously cleaning my home to manage her own pain), my friends Kristy and Dana and pastor's wife, Stacy who sat and cried with me all night while we waited for an absolution that did not come.
Two nights later, friends from all over the valley crowded into my livingroom to pray with me including Sarah, Kristy, Christy (my previous pastor's wife), Holly, Jessica, Lindsay (who was already uncomfortably pregnant), Tami, Stacy and her husband Frank (my pastor), and more that I'm forgetting. There were so many unexpected and appreciated gestures such as Tami bringing dinner for anyone who was hungry.
Only a week later, almost 40 people took time off work, drove from other cities, and sacrificed their time to sit in a court room all day. There were people there I had never met and Mike hadn't seen in years but they heard of our plight and wanted to come and show their support in the courtroom. Two of my pastors (including one from my last church) came to stand in testimony. There were families, friends, church members from both CCS and Chaparral, Tres Dias, and co-workers sitting in Juvenile court. We were even supported by people like Kathy, who by all rights should have never wanted to be there for me (after my appalling treatment towards her), and she came all morning with her three month old son.
Without diminishing the divine power and intervention of our Heavenly Father, we must attribute our daughter's return to Jim Padish with Padish and Wells Law, who fought for our case relentlessly (and working his influence even when we didn't even know his maneuvers) pro-Bono.
Additionally, I can't forget my father and mother-in-law who opened their home to Kenzie for 10 weeks while we waited for justice.
This is the Christian Church in action. These are real superheroes. If anyone ever asks me how I can believe in a God I can't see, I will say, "I have seen the army of God encamped around me."
