45 - Todd and Sports

By Kay Heitsch

Todd was a good athlete. He started playing football in the 2nd grade. He was on a swim team in the 3rd grade. He played T-ball and baseball, and Todd played Tennis. Todd loved to snow ski too. He ran cross country and even tried wrestling.

However, football and cross-country running were his favorites.

I mentioned how Tim, a friend from Indiana, drove to Michigan for Todd's funeral earlier. Tim and Todd played football on the same team. Tim and Todd were up for "Most Valuable Player."Tim won, and Todd received the "Toughest Player" trophy. Yes, I was the crazy mom!

When we moved to Dover, Todd joined the football team. He loved it! However, his leg and growth plate were broken in practice. It was scary, so Todd decided to start running cross-country instead.

On the biggest football game of the year, the Dover football team dedicated their game to Todd. I'm proud to announce Dover won that game. It was a fantastic game.

A while after the game, a few guys from the football game came over to the house and gave us the game-winning ball.

Again, I saw God bringing good out of Todd's death.

44 - Not A Normal Day

By Kay Heitsch

Most days without Todd were somewhat normal, but not this morning.

While I was studying the Bible, a strange thought occurred to me. This was the thought. "Go to the corn stand at the antique mall." I tried to dismiss this weird thought, but it persisted.

After the "Bury the bird" experience, I decided to pay attention. I put my Bible down and said to the Lord. "If this thought is coming from You, I will go. If it's not, I won't tell anyone."

I had never been to the antique mall. Plus, I had no idea if there was a corn stand there. However, once I rounded the corner by the antique mall, there was a corn stand in the parking lot.

I wasn't sure what to do. So I reached down and grabbed one of my positive booklets that I carried in the van.

I walked up to the counter and handed the girl the booklet. She looked at the booklet. Then, much to my surprise, she asked, "Who sent you?" I couldn't lie, so I responded, "God."

This young lady told everyone standing there that she had prayed about 20 minutes before, and I was the answer to her prayer.

I gave her a hug, bought some corn, and got back in the van. As I drove away, I saw this young lady with her arms in the air, thanking the Lord.

I was also thanking the Lord for showing me that He was continuing to make something good out of Todd's death.

43 - The Race Is On

By Kay Heitsch

Evy and Susan continued stopping by the house to visit. I love seeing and talking with them.

One day, the girls reminded me that I had told Todd that I would run with him in the next race. Now, the race was coming up.

Yes, I had told Todd that I would run, but I was not a runner. I was half-joking when I said I could walk faster than those women my age run. Now, Evy and Susan were holding me to this comment to Todd.

I debated with myself and ultimately decided to run the race. It wouldn't be too hard. I never trained, but I did buy running clothes with a headband to look the part.

Ricky, Shannon, and I ran the race. It was harder than I thought. To make it worse, a guy kept running with me, complaining about how hard it was, and so on.

The next day, our neighbor, Bill, asked how the race went. I told him about the guy and also that this man's wife won. Bill laughed and informed me that this guy must have thought I was his wife's competition.

Well, let me tell you this was all the motivation I needed. I decided I would be the competition. I bought two cassette tapes. One was "Enjoying Exercise." The other was "How to Win at Sports." I listened to both daily and I practiced running.

Every time I ran, I came home and fell to the ground and sobbed my head off before I went into the house.

God knew I needed to release the pressure that was building inside me. The running and crying sure helped.

I'm happy to report that at the next race I ran, I saw this same guy and his wife. I ran right past her and won the gold in my age division.

I know Todd was smiling.

42 - Without Me Saying A Word

By Kay Heitsch

42 - Without Me Saying A Word

I was amazed how God had replaced Bill's drinking with singing. This was definitely not something I had ever thought of.

The group From the Heart stayed together for a while, but they eventually stopped going out doing programs and broke up.

I was worried that the singing might have been another crutch like the drinking, but it wasn't.

I had told Betty when I met her that I would not be staying at the church. I knew it was time to move on, and we did.

Betty and I remained friends until she died. Phil, Betty's son, had made cassette tapes of the group singing. Betty loved listening to them. She enjoyed talking about our times together and seeing how God works in our lives.

Over the years, Betty sent Brandon a birthday card with $5.00 in it. She did this until he graduated from high school. Brandon always sent her a little thank-you note. Betty looked forward to his note.

Brandon hadn't seen Betty since he was about 5 years old, but he certainly remembered her kindness and the birthday cards with $5.00 in them.

One of the last times I called Betty, I knew she was nearing the end of her life. I called Brandon, who was now an adult, and let him know about Betty's health.

Brandon made me proud and happy because, without me saying a word, Brandon ordered flowers and had them sent to Betty.

Carol called and put Betty on the phone. Betty was thrilled to receive the flowers, especially since they were from Brandon.

41 - From The Heart

By Kay Heitsch

It didn't take very long before Bill was singing a lot with this church group. One week, Carol asked Bill if he would like to sing a solo. Bill agreed that he would. To prepare, Bill stopped by the church to practice alone before he sang.

The morning of his first solo, I noticed Bill put a stool up front. Before he sang, he joked that he was going to be like Perry Como and sit while he sang. Then he said something else. He added, "I didn't understand what Kay meant when she said she surrendered her life to the LORD. But I do now.

This was the beginning of a new way of living.

A short while later, Franklin Graham came to an area near us. The newspaper had an advertisement asking for people to join the choir. Bill decided to go and join.

After Franklin Graham's message, he gave an altar call. Much to many people's surprise, Bill jumped over the rail and went up front. I can imagine what went through people's minds when they saw one of the choir members as we went forward. You know, God smiled!

Everyone enjoyed listening to Bill and this group sing. Churches were asking them to come and sing. So, they decided they needed a name. They came up with the name, "From The Heart."

One of their singing highlights was performing in Michigan and putting on a program at Grandma Z's church. Let me tell you, GZ was overjoyed.

40 - Not What I Expected

 40 - Triumph Through Tragedy By Kay Heitsch

Not What I Expected

God sure wasn't surprised, even though Betty and I were.

After Bill sang with this group a few times, they suggested he take a few performance tapes home.

I found out the group was getting ready for an Easter program. It was looking like they wanted Bill to sing with them.

Carol and Joe put a few performance tapes together in a case. Phil, Susan's husband, showed Bill how to operate the music sound system.

I could not believe it when the group handed Bill the keys to the church and suggested he come over and practice alone.

Now I noticed that on some days, instead of stopping and bringing home beer, Bill would actually go over to this little church and practice singing.

Much to my surprise, Bill did sing with the group for Easter.

A few days later, we all went out to eat and talked about the Easter program. Bill confessed he had been hung over at the program from drinking the night before.

Interestingly, no one gasped or showed judgment in any way. This was not what I expected. It was apparent these people accepted Bill where he was.

Again, I was surprised, but God was not.