Fully Armed With Unbreakable Faith: A True Story

By Jennie Allison

Fully Armed with Unbreakable Faith is the true story of the spiritual awakening and the life path journey of Jo Allison, who is no one famous and is not well-known for anything other than being a pleasant and friendly person to most people who meet her. Her story, however, is very unusual and unique and at times very scary and life-threatening. Jo has spent most of her life trying to figure out her place in the world. She made choices in her life that led her down this wild and crazy life journey. After many nightmares, feeling like she was being possessed by a demon, and thought she was going crazy, Jo discovered the full armor of God. Her faith became very strong and soon was unbreakable. In her story, Jo shares all of her life experiences, some happy but some of them very dark, heartbreaking, and sad. However, it doesn't matter what the situation is; Jo can see and feel the light, and when a dark situation is lit up, she receives understanding and then miracles and signs from God, angels, the divine, and the universe. In 2020, Jo received major spiritual clarity and discovered a few hidden talents she received from God. Jo also discovered she was specifically chosen to reveal and share many spiritual truths she received through visions, dreams, and spiritual communication from God, Jesus, and angels of the highest good. Jo's intention for the book is to inspire others and put love, hope, and unbreakable faith back into the hearts of all human beings and to help heal the world. However, she does reveal some truths that will be hard for some to accept, but God wants this story told and everyone to be enlightened and informed. This book is a guide and a key that will unlock a door to anyone who reads it from front to back cover. Once you're enlightened and have gained understanding, you can go through the door. Once you get through the door, you'll be ready to level up into your next journey on your life path leading to your destiny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798885053419

Book preview

Contents

Chapter 1: In the Beginning

Chapter 2: Life Turned Upside Down

Chapter 3: Learning about Church and God

Chapter 4: Rollercoaster Ride through High School

Chapter 5: Lesson Finally Learned

Chapter 6: The Beginning of a New Path

Chapter 7: Death-Related Dream

Chapter 8: Wedding Bells and Our First Home

Chapter 9: Continuing House Renovations for a Precious Arrival

Chapter 10: Unexpected Heartache

Chapter 11: Witnessing the Face of Satan in the Flesh

Chapter 12: Rainbow Baby

Chapter 13: Raising a Family and Dealing with Ups and Downs of Life

Chapter 14: The Betrayal

Chapter 15: The Truth Sets You Free

Chapter 16: Getting Angry and Receiving a Miracle

Chapter 17: The Nightmares Begin

Chapter 18: Nightmare No. 2—A Firm Grip

Chapter 19: Nightmare No. 3—Physical Evidence

Chapter 20: Nightmare No. 4—Violent Awakening

Chapter 21: A Very Important Realization

Chapter 22: Saying Goodbye to My Dad

Chapter 23: Decorating the Christmas Tree

Chapter 24: Small Miracle from Heaven

Chapter 25: Dream No. 5—Big Celebration for My Dad

Chapter 26: Toni Lynne’s Wish

Chapter 27: Death, Heartache, and Dreams

Chapter 28: Unforgettable Drive through the Oklahoma Panhandle

Chapter 29: Death No. 3—More Heartache and More Dreams

Chapter 30: Death Nos. 4, 5, and 6—Premonition

Chapter 31: Depression Overtakes an Entire Family

Chapter 32: Dreams Begin Again along with Another Death

Chapter 33: A Wonderful Friend Sent by God

Chapter 34: More Visitors from Beyond

Chapter 35: Learning How to Forgive

Chapter 36: Making Amends and Moving Forward

Chapter 37: Sadness and Sorrow Replaced with Miracles and Blessings

Chapter 38: Why Is This Happening

Chapter 39: What Was Expected Finally Happened

Chapter 40: A Dream with a Warning

Chapter 41: Hitting Rock Bottom But Never Losing Faith

Chapter 42: Answers, Understanding, and Forgiveness

Chapter 43: Dream with a Warning Becomes Close Call in Realty

Chapter 44: New Discoveries and Miracles

Chapter 45: Determination and Perseverance Pay Off

Chapter 46: Losing My Mother But Receiving a Beautiful, Unexpected Miracle

Chapter 47: A Very Special and Wonderful Sign from God

Chapter 48: Satan Is Furious

Chapter 49: Another Shift Has Occurred

Chapter 50: A True Awakening

Chapter 51: Eve’s Confession

Chapter 52: Major Clarity About Suicide

Chapter 53: Grateful, Blessed, and Prepared

Chapter 1

In the Beginning

Hello, my name is Jo Allison, and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be sharing anything about my life with the world. I’m not anyone well-known or famous, and I mainly just hang out with family members in my small hometown of Fargo, Oklahoma, and the neighboring town of Woodward. Even though I appear as an ordinary person or your average Joe, some of the events I have experienced in my life have been anything but ordinary. When I reflect on some of the things I’ve experienced in my life, I mentally take a step back and think, Wow, I can’t believe all of this happened and I’m still here to talk about it. I’ve kept so many things locked up inside for several years, which makes it enormously scary for me to open up and share my life with everyone, but I feel strongly compelled to do so even though it exposes some intense and dark intimate details about myself as I traveled, sometimes blindly, through the treacherous path of my life journey. I sincerely hope that after you hear my story, you feel immensely inspired with increased faith, hope, love, and peace forever in your heart.

I’ll just start from the beginning when I was born on January 24, 1962, in Woodward, Oklahoma. My family was living in Liberal, Kansas, at the time, but my parents had grown up in Woodward, and my mother, Marie Woodmansee, wanted all her kids born in Woodward, which was her hometown. When I was two months old, my family and I moved to Lawton, Oklahoma, when my father, Bob Woodmansee, got a job working as an accountant for a department store, and my mother stayed home to take care of me; my older brother, Adrian; two older sisters, Kathy and Liz; and eventually my youngest brother, Richard, who was born one and a half years later. When I was a child, like most kids, I always loved hearing my mother tell me stories of how I came into this world, and she said the doctor who delivered me had told her I was born with praying hands. My mother often said that I always had my hands up and held together as if I was praying, which was even captured by a photographer in one of my baby pictures.

I don’t remember much about living in the town of Lawton except for three very vivid memories. My very first memory I recall was when I was sitting in a high chair in our kitchen eating either breakfast or lunch and my mother was watching the funeral of President John F. Kennedy on TV. I’m sure most people would think that this seems like such a dark, cold first memory for someone to have, but I’ve learned throughout my life that specific memories and specific, vivid dreams that I’ve had are pieces of the puzzle that have brought me to where I am at today in my life. What I remember about my first memory was seeing how upset, heartbroken, and worried my mother was. I remember I felt helpless because I couldn’t talk or console my mother. What’s weird to me, now that I’m a grown adult, is the fact that I knew at that time that it was a funeral she was watching on TV, and I knew what a funeral is and even understood the concept of death.

My next memory was much more lighthearted and of sisterly love. I was probably around the age of two, and I remember watching my two older sisters playing with Barbie dolls. I liked watching and just being there with them, but I finally decided I really wanted to play with them and not just watch. I begged and pleaded for them to let me play with one of the dolls and they finally gave in. I think it was then that I really bonded with my sisters and felt like a part of them. That’s the only time that I really recall the three of us doing something together, other than holidays and family get-togethers. As we got older, I had a separate special bond with each of them. We never really did anything together when we got older because we all had different likes and dislikes and different personalities. Fortunately, I was able to adjust myself to their liking, depending on which sister I happened to be around at the time.

My third vivid memory was when my family and I moved from Lawton, Oklahoma, to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1964 when I was almost three years old. I remember it was late fall, because I recall seeing leaves of all colors in the trees and on the ground, and the air was so crisp and turning cold as the sun was starting to go down and the night air was settling in. I could smell the smoky aroma of burning fireplaces, and it made me feel so warm and cozy. I could feel the excitement and happy feelings of my parents, and my brothers and sisters as we were starting a new journey and chapter in our lives. I loved our new home so much, and I was especially excited because we had an upstairs in this house. I recall the first thing my older sister and I did was scoot our little butts down from the top of the stairs all the way to the bottom, positioning our hands and moving them as if we were holding a steering wheel and driving!

Shortly after we moved to Oklahoma City, my mother got my older brother and sisters enrolled in school. Fortunately, we just lived directly across the street from the school that they attended, which really benefited me because I was able to watch them play on the school playground, and that really helped me cope with missing them so much all day until they returned home when school let out.

Life was so wonderful while we lived in the city, and I felt like I was on top of the world! My dad got another great job as an accountant, and my mother stayed at home to take care of us kids. My dad had to travel a lot for his job and had to spend a lot of days and nights away from home and his family. We missed our dad when he was away, but our mother kept us busy with all kinds of fun activities during the week. When our dad came home for the weekends, we would get so excited and run outside to meet him when we saw the car pull up in the driveway! My dad always made sure every Sunday was Family Fun Day, and he would devote all his time with us by doing anything from going to an amusement park to just going for a drive out in the country. Probably one of the coolest things he did with us as a family was take us to the Will Rogers World Airport to watch the planes take off and land, and this was outside along a chain link fence, very close to the runway! I don’t know if anyone else ever experienced this, but it sure left a fun family memory for me today. It was so thrilling and exciting to watch this up close.

At the young age of four, I had my first experience of being left alone, not intentionally though. My mother’s washing machine had broken down, so she had to make a trip to the laundromat to wash all the clothes. She had to take all five of us kids with her because my dad was working that Saturday afternoon. My parents had raised us very well, and we all acted in a very well-behaved manner anytime we were out in public. When we arrived at the laundromat, we helped our mother carry in the detergent, bleach, softener, etc., and the clothes. She then had us all sit quietly and watch TV. We were all behaving extra well because she told us if we were good, she would buy us a soda pop and a snack from the vending machine. I didn’t talk much and was never a very loud child because I had so many brothers and sisters that I felt as though I could not out talk or compete with them. I usually sat quietly, not talking, and just observed everyone.

After being at the laundromat all afternoon, the laundry was finally done. My mother told my little brother and me to sit very quietly while she and my older brother and sisters loaded up the car with the clothes, laundry soap, bleach, etc. I always did exactly what my mother told me to do, and I sat without saying a word. When the car was loaded and ready to go, my sisters went ahead and got into the car. I heard my mother from a distance tell my older brother to get my younger brother and take him to the car, which he did, and I continued to sit patiently, thinking my mother or my older brother would come back to get me. However, I saw my mother place my little brother in the car, and then she and my oldest brother also got into the car. Then they drove off. My thoughts at that time were, Okay, so there wasn’t room for me along with all of my brothers and sisters, full laundry baskets, etc. I didn’t panic and knew my mother would return to the laundromat to pick me up. I remembered her strict orders she gave to each of us kids when we first arrived, which was to remain seated and to not talk to anyone. I continued to do this after I was left there alone and instincts that I must have been born with told me to look around and become aware of my surroundings. I felt safe at that time, but I didn’t know how long that safe feeling would last. I instinctively knew that if I didn’t cry, I wouldn’t draw any attention to myself or allow anyone in there to realize I was alone without any adult protection or supervision. No one in the laundromat bothered me or questioned me as I patiently waited for my mother’s return. I honestly have no idea how long I sat there waiting, but daylight had turned to night.

Just as I was beginning to feel somewhat apprehensive, the swinging glass door quickly swung open, and my mother came rushing toward me with panic and tears in her eyes. She grabbed me in her arms, just holding and hugging me tightly as she apologized repeatedly with tears streaming down her face for not realizing she had left me there until she had arrived home. Apparently, my father had arrived home from work sometime after my mother had, and after he had been home for a while, he noticed that I wasn’t with my brothers or sisters. He asked my mother where I was, and her heart sank as she literally dropped everything she was holding in her hands when she realized that I was still at the laundromat all alone with no protection whatsoever. My father watched the other kids while my mother quickly returned to the laundromat. When we arrived back home and walked through the door, my family quickly ran toward me, hugging me and telling me repeatedly how happy they were that I was okay and home safely. Overall, the experience of being left all alone was very hard for me as it was happening, and it did leave quite an impression on me, but it also made me realize how much my family loved and cared for me, and it left me with a warm happy and gracious feeling in my heart. Due to being left all alone, I learned how to instinctively read people’s faces, their body language, and how to listen to my intuition at an incredibly young age. This learning experience also taught me about faith, patience, and love. I somehow knew that I had a guardian angel with me that day, and I could feel that presence within me, but I was too little to understand this or explain it. Little did I know at that time, and most importantly in the future, just how much this experience alone would help save my life as I moved forward in the direction of my guided path. I realize now everything happens for a reason, whether it is good or bad, to help us learn as we move forward in life.

Something else I recall from my childhood while living in Oklahoma City that occurred every single day as soon as school let out was the large group of boys who congregated in our front yard. My family and I lived in a two-story house and part of our house rested on a hill. The front yard was like a small cliff with a steep drop off that led to our driveway. To get into our front yard, you had to climb a few winding rocky steps leading to our front door. The wall of this cliff was formed with rocks, and all the boys loved climbing this wall with their bare hands all the way to the top! They would also divide up into groups and race each other to see who could climb up the rock wall the fastest. My mother became very upset the first time she saw this, as she did not want any child to get hurt, and my parents, of course, did not want to be responsible for paying any doctor bills should anyone get hurt since they were on our property. They would willingly leave when she would scold them, but they always returned the next day like clockwork, ready for a new adventure in rock climbing! There were a few girls who would show up to cheer these boys on. I’m sure all the kids thought we had the coolest house in the neighborhood. Thinking back on it now, if either of my parents would have been innovative at all, they could have been the ones to invent rock climbing for kids like you see in parks today!

Before I was old enough to attend school myself, I would always watch my brothers and sisters go to school every morning. I would stand at the door watching intently, wishing so badly that I could go with them. I would watch them until I could no longer see them or until they walked through the door entering the school. After doing this daily for a while, I noticed other kids walking to the same school. Then I would see other kids who I knew were older walking by, but they didn’t go through the playground or go up to the school. I noticed that they would just keep walking straight ahead on past the school. This made me very curious, wondering where they were going every day, so I asked my mother about it. She let me know that these older kids were also on their way to school but were going to a different school than the one my siblings attended. This confused me, and she explained to me that those kids were older and attended a junior high school. My mother then warned me to never talk to these kids, as they were much too old for me and had no interest in playing or talking with me. I was still curious about them, so I continued to watch these kids each day as they would go to and from the junior high school. One boy, who always walked alone, caught my eye immediately, and I became so fascinated with him. One thing that made me so fixated on him was that he had the prettiest, darkest brown hair I had ever seen. His eyes were just as dark to match his smooth, brown, shiny hair. I could also tell from his tanned skin that he must have spent a lot of time outdoors probably swimming or maybe even playing summer baseball. I barely remember this, but I can vaguely recall that I was so fascinated and curious about him that I decided I was going to talk to him even though my mother warned me and told me to never talk to strangers or any older kids. However, I could not help myself and something kept tugging at me to watch for him as he was walking by on his way to school, and something in my inner voice kept telling me to go outside and talk to him. One morning, I finally decided to do just that. My mother was busy washing the breakfast dishes and taking care of my little brother, so I went out the front door to meet up with this boy I was so curious about. I recall waving at him, and he waved back.

When he caught up to me, I asked him what his name was, and he said, My name is Vince. He then asked me my name and how old I was, which I readily told him. I remember he had such a nice, soft voice, and he was so friendly and polite. I also found out from him that he just lived two houses down from me. My instincts, which I had already discovered I could trust, told me that there was something very special about this boy. After talking to him just for a minute or two, he told me he needed to go so that he wouldn’t be late for school. I was quickly heading back to the front door of my house when my mother abruptly swung the door open and firmly grabbed hold of me by the arm, marching me back into the house and scolding me very harshly for going out the front door without her permission or her supervision. I told my mother why I went outside and what I did, which made her even more furious with me. I began to cry and immediately regretted going against her wishes. She again expressed to me the importance of not talking to strangers and explained what kidnapping meant. She further explained she knew that some older kids were nice but that some might not be and that I could be harmed in some way, so it would be better if I just stayed away from all older kids until I became older. I never spoke to the friendly, dark-haired neighbor boy again during the time that we lived in Oklahoma City.

The years went on by and when I was a young adult at the age of twenty-one, I discovered that this boy with the darkest brown hair I had ever seen had become a famous musician and singer. His name was Vince Gill, and when I heard his singing voice for the first time, I noticed that it was just as beautiful as his speaking voice. I had often thought about Vince Gill through the years, wondering what he had become or what he had done with his life. It makes my heart happy to know that his path led him to success and happiness.

Okay, back to my life experiences while we lived in Oklahoma City—my three older siblings got to attend a summer activity daytime kid group. They got to do all kinds of crafts, exercises, dancing, and swimming. Well, I was finally old enough to attend, and it was so much fun and entertaining! The highlight of the one summer that I got to attend was participating in a theatrical arts competition. The group that I was in chose to do a nighttime outdoor play under the stars. I was even chosen to play in the starring role as a little fishing boy, of all things! My mother always kept my hair short in a pixie cut, which made me look like a little boy. So since we didn’t have any boys in our group, I was chosen to play the character of the fishing boy. I didn’t have any lines to learn in the play, as I didn’t even know how to read yet, but I did have to move my mouth as if speaking and move about the stage, expressing myself through body movement and expressions on my face while a narrator told the story. I loved pretending and participating in the play felt natural for me. I had so much fun, and our group even won first place! The prize was a swimming pool party at a local park.

I really had a splendid summer that year, and when that summer had come to end, it was finally time for me to begin school. I recall being so excited, and I felt on top of the world all the time. I loved school, loved my teacher and all the kids. I was such an outgoing kid and was not shy at all. I felt comfortable and at ease just walking up to other kids and carrying on a conversation. I talked very often and always spoke up anytime I wanted to say something or express myself. One thing I recall I loved so well about school was listening to stories, music, singing, dancing, and most of all, any art project, especially drawing. I remember when I was first learning how to draw, I felt so helpless because I just couldn’t control my hands enough to draw the pictures and thoughts I could see in my head. However, I remember feeling so determined and set on drawing every day so that I could get better and better at drawing the picture I envisioned. I was finally able to achieve this one Saturday afternoon, and I remember feeling such joy and satisfaction! I remember that night while lying in bed, I said to myself, You know what, I’m going to be an artist when I grow up. I’m going to draw, paint pictures, and write songs. I felt so positive and determined that this was what I was going to do with my life. I never told anyone in my family or friends that this was what I wanted to do more than anything.

Ironically, not long after making the decision that I wanted to become an artist, there was an episode on the TV show The Twilight Zone that I recall more vividly than most of the other episodes of this TV show. The story in this episode was about a lady who lived in an apartment building with other tenants, and the entire city and other surrounding towns were experiencing an extreme heat wave in the weather. This lady also happened to be an artist, and every painting she created happened to always have a large sun hanging in the cloudless skies of her landscapes. The temperature outside kept rising more and more with each painting she created, making it unbearable for everyone. One of the lady’s friends finally asked her to paint something different for a change—something other than a landscape with squelching heat radiating from the sun. The lady decided to paint a waterfall with glistening water streaming from it, and there was no sun in the painting at all. The weather dramatically changed and brought great relief to all. This episode of The Twilight Zone really made an impression on me and made me realize that I wanted to become an artist even more. It also made me realize that it was possible to put your feelings into a painting and onto a canvas, and if you’re a very good artist, you can make others feel something when they look at your painting.

Toward the end of the school year in 1967, there had been numerous reports of various kidnappings of small children around the age of five or six years old. As I mentioned earlier, we lived directly across the street from the school, so my mother would usually help me get across the street and then would watch me as I walked the rest of the way by myself through the playground and then into the school. However, due to the numerous reports of child kidnappings, my mother again had a serious talk with me about strangers and what to watch for, not to ever accept candy or rides from anyone. I found myself once again making sure I was always aware of my surroundings and always had my guard up and inner radar on. My mother also decided she would walk me directly into the school each day, and then I would walk home with my older brother and sisters when school let out. School was finally out for summer, and things seemed to go back to normal, for a short while anyway.

The summer of 1967 was a busy summer with all kinds of fun activities, yet I could feel tension in the air between my parents. My father had lost his job with the company he worked for, which went bankrupt and laid off all their employees. My mother had never worked since she and my father had been married because back in the sixties, most women stayed home to take care of their family. My father was not having any luck getting another job in his line of work, and he was becoming depressed and was drinking more than I had ever noticed. There was also arguing going on between my parents, and I just did not quite understand what was going on. All I really knew was that I wanted things to go back the way they were before my dad lost his job.

One bright and sunny morning, I noticed my mother was packing a suitcase full of clothes belonging to her, me, and my little brother, Richard. I asked her why she was packing our clothes, and she replied that we were going on a marvelous bus ride to see our grandparents in Woodward, Oklahoma. I was so excited about going, but I didn’t understand why the rest of our family wasn’t going. My mother explained that my father and older siblings needed to stay and take care of things at home while we were visiting our grandparents. Before we left, my mother and father talked to me and Richard, about not talking to strangers and to always remain at our mother’s side. We also had another discussion about kidnapping and how to avoid this by staying alert to everything around us and to yell and scream if anyone tried to do anything with us.

My father drove us to the bus station, and then we said our goodbyes. My mother reassured us that we would be gone only a few days and would be returning to our home in Oklahoma City. It was such a long bus ride, and I remember just watching all the people and wondering where they were all going. One couple I recall were dressed in clothing I really had not seen before, and their hairdos were kind of different. They were young people, probably in their early twenties, and I recall the guy had really long hair and a mustache. His hairstyle seemed totally different to me because all the men I had ever seen always had short hair. He also had on what I called sailor pants, which were really bellbottom jeans. The girl looked normal in her clothing to me, as she was wearing a short dress, but she wore a headband in her hair—I had never seen anyone wear anything like that in their hair. My mother noticed I kept staring at them, which she then told me to quit because it was not polite. When the bus came to a stop for people to get something to drink or use the restroom, my mother quietly told me that the two people I was staring at were hippies.

I asked her, What is a hippie?

She then said, They are just people like us, and most of them are fine and just dress a little differently. However, some hippies aren’t so nice, like to cause problems with other people, and sometimes break the law. My mother knew I was a little concerned about the couple now, so she made a point to strike up a conversation with the female, and we discovered that they were a very friendly couple who were on their way to see their families. One of the things that was so awesome about my parents is that they never judged anyone by their appearance or the color of their skin. They treated all people the same with kindness and respect, and they made sure they raised my brothers and sisters and I with the same values. They, of course, also taught us to always treat people the way we would want to be treated.

We finally arrived in Woodward, and I noticed things had really changed a lot since the last time we were there. They now had a Dairy Queen and a new TG&Y (Toys, Games, and Yoyos) store. We had a lot of fun while in Woodard, and there were times when my mother would leave us with my grandma for a few hours, and then she would return to have more fun with us. Friday had arrived, and now it was time for us to go back home on the bus. I had really missed my dad and siblings, and I was so ready to get back home!

After returning to our home in Oklahoma City, my parents started remodeling and making repairs where needed. We now had new carpet throughout the house, freshly painted walls, and new linoleum on the kitchen floor. Our home looked beautiful, and I loved it! Since we had returned home from Woodward, my parents seemed to be getting along better and were not arguing with each other anymore. Things seemed to be really looking up for us even though my father still had not found a job yet.

One Sunday morning, my parents had my brothers, sisters, and I sit down together so they could talk to us. They then broke the news to us that we would be moving to another part of the state to a town called Fargo, Oklahoma. My parents then explained to us that my mother had taken the bus ride to Woodward a few weeks earlier because she was looking for a job for herself and a house for us to move into. She got the job she had applied for, which was at a mental hospital in Fort Supply, Oklahoma. There were no houses available in Fort Supply or Woodward, but there was one in Fargo. My brothers and sisters were excited, but I really didn’t know how I felt. I was already happy right where I was, but my family reassured me that I would be just as happy living in Fargo as I was in Oklahoma City. After much persuasion, I decided to be happy and excited just like they were.

The day that my parents told us we would be moving very soon, I decided to call a few of my friends to let them know. My friend told me she had been through the town of Fargo before when she and her family were passing through on their way to Colorado. She made me feel somewhat better when she told me that it was a nice little town and that this part of Oklahoma was very pretty. I started to feel a little more enthused about the big move.

Preparing for the move was kind of fun because we all got to help. We went through all the toys and picked out a few we thought we just couldn’t live without and then donated the rest to unfortunate children who didn’t have toys. We did the same with our clothes. We even got to help wrap some of the breakable items with newspapers, and then my mother carefully placed them in the boxes. I remember I felt so big and important because I got to help with packing fragile items that meant so much to my mother. One item I recall carefully wrapping with newspaper was a piggy bank my mother always kept on a shelf in the kitchen. The bank was a pale pink pig with a happy grin, and it was decorated with Christmas holly and berry. The eyes on the pig had a twinkle about them, and it even had lifelike eyelashes. This piggy bank was always something special, and it had sentimental value to me. It always reminded me of happy family times spent in our kitchen with everybody laughing and having fun.

After helping with the packing for a few hours, I decided to take a small break and just go outside in the backyard. I loved our backyard because it was filled with such beauty, and I just wanted to soak it all in as much as I could. Our back patio was covered and was surrounded by full-sized windows and screens, and the wooden floor was painted a bluish-gray color. I can still hear the loud, hard snapping sound of the backdoor as it would slam shut behind us when we would go outside! I can also recall one time when Richard and I were playing outside, and he was singing and acting like Johnny Cash. I remember there was a small outdoor broom standing against the house and he picked it up and used it as a guitar and then said, Hello, my name is Johnny Cash. Then he would continue singing the song. To the left of the back porch, we had a mulberry tree. I can still see my older sister, Liz, sitting in that tree having the best time eating all those mulberries. During the summer, she always went barefooted and usually had purple feet from squishing all the mulberries on the ground! Around the front side of the porch and left side of the house, we had a honeysuckle bush and a mint bush that we all loved smelling and tasting. We also had a swing set that we spent hours upon hours playing on and having so much fun! Further at the end of our backyard, my mother had the most beautiful rose bush I had ever seen, even to this day. It had the largest, most beautiful white roses that smelled as sweet and beautiful as they looked. There were also squirrels that I watched daily that would run at full speed back and forth all day across the telephone lines that ran through our alley. I also recall blue jays always in our backyard that would dip down and dive at a neighborhood stray cat. Anyway, the point is, I knew I was looking at this beautiful backyard for the very last time, but I held those beautiful memories in my heart forever.

Well, our last day in that house went by so quickly. The sun was starting to set in the evening sky. Everything was packed and ready to go. The time had come for us all to get into the car and be on our way to start another new chapter in the adventure of our life. My dad started the car and just sat there for a minute before he slowly put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway. I kept staring at the house and never took my eyes away from it. I was in the backseat with my older brother and sisters, and I was the only one who turned completely around facing the back windshield, with my knees in the seat (keep in mind back in those days we did not have seatbelts and there were no seatbelt laws at that time), sadly looking and softly saying, to myself, Goodbye to our home forever. I think my father began to realize that this home really meant something to me, and he then reached his hand upward to turn on the radio, probably trying to distract me from my sad feelings. When our house was no longer within my view, I slowly sat down and just peered through the side windows, visually taking in the many landmarks I had grown to know so well along the path to and from our house and intuitively knowing that it would be many years before I would ever get to come back to see our home again.

Chapter 2

Life Turned Upside Down

Evening had turned to dark as my family and I made our way from Oklahoma City to Woodward. We finally arrived at my grandmother’s apartment, and we were going to stay overnight with her. As we got out of the car, I noticed lightning flash across the summer sky, and as I looked up, I could not see any stars anywhere. I felt a few sprinkles of rain touch my skin as we quickly walked up the steps leading to the front door of the apartment building. It was late, and my grandmother was still up waiting on us so she could unlock the door and let us in. She lived in the apartment alone, as my grandfather had died when I was only a few months old. My grandmother’s apartment was very small, consisting of only two bedrooms, so my parents slept in the spare bedroom, my little brother slept in the baby bed in the spare room with my parents, and my older brother and sisters and I slept on bed pallets on the living room floor my grandmother had prepared for us. I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t take my mind off the storm outside. The lightning had become much more fierce and brighter than it was when we first arrived, and there was the constant loud rumbling of thunder that came along shortly after each lightning strike. Then the wind picked up strongly, making the tree limbs and branches make crackling sounds as they swayed back and forth. Rain began pouring down hard, and with each flash of lightning, I could see small tree limbs and leaves blowing fiercely down the rain flooded streets. I quickly pulled the covers over my head and held them there firmly and tightly as I began to quietly cry to myself.

My oldest sister, Kathy, quickly hugged me and stated reassuring me, It’s going to be okay. The storm will be over soon.

My father then got up and came into the living room where we were sleeping to look out the windows and observe the severity of the storm. He also reassuringly stated, It’s just a strong thunderstorm that will pass through quickly and will be over soon. My father went back to bed, as the wind had finally died down and the rain was coming down gently before it eventually stopped altogether. Kathy and my dad were both right about the storm not lasting long, but I was worried that more storms were coming.

Kathy gently grabbed me by the hand and whispered softly