JOY Comes in the Morning!: The Story of a Personal Journey with My Mother, Alzheimer's, and God

By Kelly Kainer Billington

This story is about a simple, well-respected, dignified, but strong and relentless small town woman who, as a Mother, had 4 children and, as a Grandmother "MiMi", had several grandchildren and great grandchildren as well. There was no doubt that her family and God were most important to her! She was a secretary for a junior high school for over 20 years and was a classy lady indeed. She was a dedicated choir member in her church for over 30 years. She was very rarely sick until her 50's and 60's. The signs and symptoms became evident that something was going on, but what?

A study campaign was launched to discover what was causing these changes. They simply wanted to know more and to understand what was happening to their beautiful Mother! The experiences were somewhat overwhelming at times.

BUT THEN, there's GOD!

"Weeping may endure for a night, but JOY comes in the Morning!" -Psalm 30:5 NASB

Beautiful moments with their Mother are shared in this heartfelt story of the kind of love that never ends! Eleven and a half years into this disease and after natural treatments, her Mother was able to come back to her daughter's home from a 2-year residence at an assisted living facility off all drugs for the remainder of her life. What a blessing it was! Her children knew in their hearts that their Mother would want to be at home because she loved being with her family so much!

Based on these experiences, it is easy to believe that this disease is possibly preventable. And hopefully sharing this story will help someone who might be experiencing the same thing. So be healed by this beautiful story as it is definitely worth the time it takes to read it.

Beautiful moments with their Mother are shared in this heartfelt story of the kind of love that never ends! There was an earnest determination that her children loved her so much that they wanted her to be at home with family when it was her time to be with the Lord. In their hearts, they knew that it was what their Mother would have wanted, because she loved being with her family so much!
It simply touched the heart in that moment their Mother realized that she had been moved back to her daughter's home! What a blessing it was!

Through these experiences, the author was led to discoveries, treatments, and God's ever-loving Grace that she shares in this story. It is quite possible that it was discovered 100 years ago that aluminum gets into the brain and causes havoc. But sadly there are many people suffering with this disease today.

Based on these experiences, she believes wholeheartedly that this disease can quite possibly be prevented and desires to honor her Mother and God by simply sharing her story and discoveries. And hopefully it will help someone who might be experiencing the same thing. So be healed by this beautiful story as it is definitely worth the time it will take to read it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Nov 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781489749734

Kelly Kainer Billington

Kelly Kainer Billington is blessed to be a mother of one amazing son and a grandmother (Nana) of two awesome grandsons! Her family and God are most important to her. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration-Management w/Teacher Certification. After 12 years in public schools, she became a real estate broker, investor, renovator, and manager of the family businesses for 22+ years alongside her beloved husband who went to be with the Lord in 2022. She has recently retired to spend quality time with her family. She manages her own website at www.kellykainerbillington.com and has included a beautiful tribute to her beloved Mother as well as a link to her copyrighted documentary of her discoveries of Alzheimer's disease. Kelly has several children's books on the market, such as: God's Goodness in YOU and ME, which focuses on bringing God back to family life! Her NANA and ME Series offers You are GOLDEN!, You are HONEST!, and You are CLEAN! They focus on the Golden Rule, Honesty is the Best Policy, and Cleanliness is next to Godliness. In moving forward in her career as an author, she hopes to help and inspire people of all ages!

Book preview

Copyright © 2023 Kelly Kainer Billington.

Simply Crystal JOY, LLC

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-4974-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4975-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4973-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023921868

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 11/22/2023

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 My Beautiful Mother

Chapter 2 Signs and Progression

Special Thank You to the Caretakers

Appendix A

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This book is dedicated to my beautiful mother,

who has always been an inspiration to me and

will always hold a special place in my heart.

She has forever impacted my life

with her courage and determination.

And she managed to engrave on my heart

these inspirational truths:

All you have to do is believe.

This too shall pass.

And, in the end, God wins!

Thanks for the party, Mom! I love you!

INTRODUCTION

How does that saying go? Life is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re going to get. I believe wholeheartedly that God works in mysterious ways and that, sometimes in life, we face challenges that take us by surprise. And I believe that as long as we stay close to God, keep the faith, and continue that good fight, it is all good! Through the experiences that I had with mother, there were some challenges that simply do not compare to any other prior experiences in my life that I can recall. I am sharing this story for the simple reasons that I desire to please God, to honor my mother, and to hopefully help someone. Through my time spent with Mother, it became very clear to me that she had a desire to help all the hurting people in the world somehow. It was deep within her heart that she just did not want them to hurt anymore. My hope is that this story will touch those who are hurting and heal them in any way possible. No matter what they are facing, I pray that it helps them in some way. And I believe that my time and efforts will have been well worth it if this book helps just one person. I am sure of two things: God loves us unconditionally, and my mother is smiling—because she always did!

So let me begin this story by telling you a little bit about my mother. I will share the signs and symptoms of the stages we experienced, hoping that someone will recognize them, which may ultimately help them. I firmly believe that what we experienced can be prevented. I will also share the medical experiences as well as natural treatments and of course a few happenings along the way.

CHAPTER 1

My Beautiful Mother

I n the early to mid-1950s, the days of sock hops, my Mother, Rita Joy, was a cheerleader, twirler, band member, and FFA sweetheart in high school. She was very popular and very pretty, and she married her high school sweetheart and had four children. She was later blessed with seven grandchildren who referred to her as MiMi and eventually great-grandchildren as well. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother, and friend and was very faithful to her church and her family. They were most important to her. She stayed at home with her children until the baby of the group—that’s me—started school. We all attended the local Catholic school through sixth grade, then we went to public schools through twelfth grade. She worked in the office of a local retail store for a while and then went to work for the school district. Although the pay was not as good, she felt that the schedule better aligned with those of her children at that time. In fact, she later passed up the opportunity to work for a business where she would have made more money so she could keep those hours. She always put her children first. There is something to be said about sacrifices, especially those made by a parent. She started out as a teacher’s aide at one of the elementary schools and eventually became a principal’s secretary at one of the junior high schools. She was very proud of the school district and was glad to be part of it.

Mother had a good life, as it was, with a loving family and a nice home. However, she and my father divorced in 1986, two months after their thirtieth wedding anniversary. She sold the old homeplace and moved into a cozy one-bedroom apartment, where she lived as a single woman for twenty-three years. And I must say, contentment must be a good thing; she seemed very content in those years, and it looked good on her.

Mother can easily be described as a predictable person. In her twenty-seven years of working for the school district, she arrived promptly at 7:00 a.m. every day and then ate a morning snack and read the paper. At 7:30, she was at her desk and ready for the day’s work. She exercised three days a week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday) and recorded her favorite soap opera every day to watch it when she got home from work. The principal, her boss, watched the soap opera as well, and they would talk about it every day. I always thought that was the cutest thing to see them visiting in the office about that soap opera. You could say those were good memories for all!

Mother would usually order lemon-peppered chicken breast at restaurants. She ate a burger every Wednesday evening to take advantage of the burger special at the local diner. She was a dedicated choir member for the Catholic church in town for more than thirty years, so everyone knew where she was every Sunday morning. And she would go to the donut shop after church every Sunday, sit with her group of friends, and enjoy her spiced cake donut with coffee.