The Nightmare of a Five Year Old

By Neil James Westra

At the young age of seventy-nine years old, and with very limited education, he wrote this; his first book ever. This book tells about how at the age of seven he was put in a jail cell for several months in the basement of the juvenile home, and two brothers and two sisters were all adopted-out at that time. He and two other sisters were unadoptable. These children were separated for fifty years, lacking one week. Some of their tracks crossed, but they were unable to recognize it at the time. This is a true story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490856490

Neil James Westra

Neil Westra and his wife Kitty raised their three children on a farm in Michigan. Later he retired from the electrical trade, sold the farm, bought a used motor home and traveled for fourteen years mostly doing volunteer work. They now reside in Chickamauga, Georgia trying hard to get old.

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Copyright © 2014 Neil James Westra.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-5650-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5651-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5649-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014918368

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/27/2014

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Conclusion

This book is dedicated to Bethel Bible Village (BBV). They provide neglected, abused. and in-crisis children with a safe temporary home until they can be reunited with their families. As you read this book, you will understand why I think so highly of Bethel. Please pray for them as they do what God has called them to do.

BBV is located at 3001 Hamill Road, Hixon, Tennessee. 37343.

They can be reached by calling [phone] or visit their website at www.bbv.org.

If I ever had a hero, it would be Pat Boone for all that he and his wife have done for Bethel Bible Village over the years. I personally couldn’t thank them enough, and I know God has and will continue to bless them.

Neil.

If, as a non-Christian, you have wondered how another non-Christian could possibly become a dedicated Christian, then this book is for you.

If, as a Christian, you would like to see just how amazing and compassionate our Lord is to all His children, then this also is the book for you.

From the depths of hate and despair Neil traveled a road that none of us would want to travel.

From beginning of no love, to the greatest love of all, this book reveals God’s promise to us.

—Dennis Olsen, just a friend, 1 John 4:16

PREFACE

I don’t believe you can begin to understand what I am going through at this moment in trying to write this story. To begin with this has been a very emotional roller coaster for me to ride on and writing this book is a whole new world for me. I’m not a writer and don’t have much of an education. I decided to go ahead and write this book anyway because it will give most writers something to laugh about and some may cringe all the way through. I have great respect for those who can write and do so correctly. You will be able to tell who wrote this and won’t mistake it to belonging to a professional writer. Thank the Lord there are people who will work overtime to make this book readable. I believe I could make history if I could find someone who would print this book’s first draft. The title would be How NOT to Write . I bought books on "How to Write a Nonfiction Book by Bobbi Linkemer (LinkUP) and Memoir Writing for Dummies " Ryan G. Van Cleave, PhD (Wiley). These books were not quite dumb enough for me, but I would not hesitate to recommend these titles to anyone. They did help even me a great deal. I pray you will be able to look past my writing ability and get the drift of the story of what God has done for me.(I think the editor took some of the cringe out.)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

F irst of all I would like to thank Tom Johnson for convincing me to write this book. Tom works for a good friend of mine, Dennis Olsen, at Johnstone Supply Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During the holiday season of 2011, I had an opportunity to volunteer there and help out with a holiday dinner that they were serving for their customers. Tom and I had a chance to talk, and as I was telling him some stories about my life, either something he said or how he said it convinced me that I should write a book. Thank you again Tom.

Second I would like to thank my daughter, Rene Everette, for all of her input and corrections to this book. I don’t think I could have done this without her education.

Last but definitely not least, I would like to thank God Almighty for the grace He gave me to be able to put this down on paper. It was a real struggle, but God supplied. Praise the Lord!

CHAPTER 1

H istory states that The GREAT DEPRESSION started in 1929 and ended about 1939. During that time two people got together, and I was born right there in the middle of it all on September the 11 th of 1934. No one consulted with me about this, so I had no choice in the matter. To be honest with you, I don’t remember much about it. I was not very smart either or I would have declined the offer of daylight. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. Little did I know I would be locked up in a jail cell in a few short years. As my story unfolds, you will see that the word nightmare is the best way to describe my younger life. But the ironic thing is that another five-year-olds nightmare is what