Sandy's Miracle

Sandy’s

Miracle

Patsy Giddings

&

John Borgstedt

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: 1-800-839-8640

© 2013 by Patsy Giddings & John Borgstedt. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/25/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0611-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0610-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-0651-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013900688

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

My Prayer

Chapter One My Earliest Memories

Chapter Two Innocents Lost

Chapter Three State Custody

Chapter Four Emotional And Mental Abuse

Chapter Five Foster Care

Chapter Six Meeting My Adoptive Family

Chapter Seven Adoption And Name Change

Chapter Eight Abuse After Adoption

Chapter Nine Loss Of My First Child

Chapter Ten My Life Today

About The Author

Book Reviews

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book First and Foremost to God:

You gave me the precious gift of life

And then taught me to appreciate it

I live for your honor and glory.

I also dedicate this book to my husband

And children

Thank you, for all your love, support

And understanding

I love you all.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is written with special thanks to:

• My husband Mark,for your love,understanding,total support of all my dreams. for the outstanding job you did on taking the cover picture of my book. And most of all, for being my soulmate,I love you honey.

• My children, Jonathon, Amanda, and Rebecca, you are the sources of my greatest joy, and my life would be empty without each of you in it, thank you for all your love, support and encouragement through the years.

• My granddaughter Elizabeth, for allowing me to use your picture for the cover of my book.

• David Ayers, for caring, believing in me, and initiating the writing of this book, which would not exist, had it not been for you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

• Chris Mullens, for your professionalism, patience, endless hours of help and encouragement, for pushing me and being my voice when I needed one. I couldn’t have written this book without you.

• My CASA family, Johnnie Wheeler, Judy Greenwood, Rita Turnipseed, Rondi Van Vorce, for all your encouragement, support and most importantly your friendship.

• Jennifer Kelly, L.C.S.W, for your unconditional love and encouragement, for helping me to accept and overcome my childhood abuse, and for accepting me just as I am, God truly blessed me when he brought you into my life, thank you dear friend for your tireless efforts.

• Sue Fredrick, for your generous spirit, encouragement, and our lunch dates; I am so blessed to have your friendship.

• Dr. Richard H. Wearing, for the interest you’ve shown and the encouragement you’ve given, thank you.

• Jennifer Stainbrook, Randi Thomas, for your support, friendship and always lending a helping hand when I needed one.

• David Giddings, for all the love, support, and help that you gave me through the years, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

• Pat Thomas, for your editing skills which allowed this book to be published.

• Manhattan Beauty Salon, thank you Jennifer Brown and Shannon Lee, for your creative talents in hair and makeup and the wonderful look you gave me for my picture.

• Willard Cantrell, for the outstanding pictures you photographed for my book.

• And to the Lord, for His constant inspiration, guidance, and unconditional love…

Thank you all for making this book possible

MY PRAYER

Heavenly Father, creator of the universe, and everything in it, I humbly approach your unreachable throne at this time, to thank you for the privilege and honor of being used as your instrument, to glorify you and Your Son, Jesus. I thank you for the opportunity that’s been given me, to be a voice for the abused and neglected children of the world. Thank you for the sweet precious life and many blessings you have given me throughout my life. Father in Heaven, You are the master Author of the greatest book ever written, The Bible, so I humbly pray for your guidance, direction and blessing in the writing of my book. I pray this prayer in Jesus Holy name. AMEN!

CHAPTER ONE

MY EARLIEST MEMORIES

I sit on the sofa in my living room, with a cup of coffee in reach, and my computer on my lap. My four Toy Chihuahua dogs have surrounded me, one on each side, and the other two laying across my neck. I am now about to embark on the story of my life’s journey, and expose to the world, the deep dark hidden secrets of my past. I pray God will bring back to my memory, the severe childhood abuse I struggled so hard, my whole life to forget.

I was born in Los Angeles, CA. My parents named me Sandra Gene, and gave me the nick name Sandy. Shortly after I was born, my parents moved our family to Lansing, MI, where we lived in an upstairs duplex apartment. My family consisted of my parents, one brother and two sisters. My siblings and I shared a bedroom and at bedtime, we would all sleep on the same bare mattress. We had few toys to play with and very few clothes to wear.

When Uncle Chester, my daddy’s brother, would come to visit, he would find us kids, many times not wearing shoes, or coats, while playing outside in the winter snow. Yes, my family was very poor, but my siblings and I were too young to know or care.

Both my parents were unstable, uneducated, and had no parenting or money management skills. Instead of buying food for the family, my mother would spend her food stamps on drinking and partying. My daddy’s pay checks never made it home either, like my mother, his money was spent on drinking and eating out. With all this said about my parents though, I can still say I loved them both very much. I was far too young to realize they were not being good parents, so in my heart I had the best parents in the world.

Some of my earliest memories, at about the age of four, are of good times spent with my Uncle Bob, my mother’s brother and his wife, Aunt Marie. Uncle Bob and Aunt Marie had five children of their own and frequently would take my siblings and me on extended visits to their home. Uncle Bob and Aunt Marie knew that mother and daddy were not taking care of us, and were very concerned for our wellbeing. I recall a time while on a visit with them, Uncle Bob picked me up, and put me in his lap while he was eating. He began to feed me from his plate and with a big smile on his face, he asked me if I was his little girl and I replied, Yes, uh-huh. Of course at that moment I felt just like a princess!

I also remember a time, when my mother came home from grocery shopping, and called us kids into the kitchen for a bowl of ice cream. The minute I heard ice cream, I began to jump up and down with sheer joy, and ran as fast as I could to her side. Yes, I can truly say, the memories I have of living with my family, at the most tender and innocent years of my childhood are like having precious gold.

I have etched them deep in my heart and soul never to be erased!

I had a mother and daddy that I loved very much and a brother and two sisters to play with. In my four year old mind, I was happy and life was good! But little did I know my life and everything in it was about to change forever.

I was told years later, while mother would be out partying and drinking, that she would leave us kids home alone, or with whomever