Heidi, also affectionally known as “the lady with the blue hair!” is a Wife, Mother of four and Mimi of two.
She and her family live outside of Coeur D Alene, in Northern Idaho. She has been married to Tim for almost 20 years. Her children are now 27, 23, 14 and 12. She is also “Mimi” to her two “Grandwonders” as she loves to call them. They are currently 3 & 4. She will also be welcoming a new Son-In-Law into her family next spring!
Heidi has been called to be bold, courageous, God-seeking and fearless. She is a safe place to land for the temporarily-broken in spirit and heart. She has the honor and call on her life of serving people like yourself who have been affected by their loved one's addiction. She is here to help you heal from hurt, anger, shame and disappointment that you feel when you love an addict.
Approximately 5 years ago, Heidi started on the rollercoaster ride of a lifetime in this very arena. One she did not choose, but was thrown into, due to her daughter’s addiction and mental health issues.
When her youngest daughter was 17, everything was going great! She graduated a year early from high school, was voted valedictorian and had TWO full-ride scholarships to college. She had stepped into her next phase of life and it was going great (no broken home-life to blame) ... until it wasn’t.
She simply 'fell into the wrong crowd'. She started to party and met a guy whose mother would ultimately be her downfall into a life of drugs until the age of 22. During this trying time, Heidi struggled to help her daughter during her addiction. She tried "all the things” that you're told to do: tough love, setting boundaries, putting her in rehabs etc. Yet her daughter always fell back into her addictions.
Her daughter ended up pregnant, a typical side effect of that lifestyle. Here was the “hope” that maybe she would stay sober for her baby; surely she could do it for this little life?!
Unfortunately, that was not the case (as I'm sure you're well aware because you're here searching for your last hope!).
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As a matter of fact, and truth be told, she left her newborn daughter with Heidi and her husband, Tim, at 6 weeks old and said, “I can’t do this...” and she just left.
Now left to raise a newborn with issues due to the drug use, plus her own boys, Heidi spiraled into a world of EXHAUSTION, ANGER, RESENTMENT, DEPRESSION and overall feelings of HOPELESSNESS and LONELINESS, with some PTSD thrown in there as well for good measure! While there were times of sobriety for her daughter and she did try a few times to be a mother, she just ended up pregnant again! Her girls are 10 months apart...
Heidi's daughter then thought she would hang out with an old friend, who turned out to be trouble, and off to jail her daughter went, again. And Heidi and Tim were left with two gran-babies and two young boys of their own to care for and raise.
During this time, God carried Heidi thru all of this. He refined her thru the fire of loving an addict.
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While stuck in her own private and LONELY HELL, God called Heidi out. He told her that there is a platform for her pain, but she must do the work. Nothing, except the GRACE of God, the POWER of FORGIVENESS, and the POWER of LEARNING new skills and tools could have saved Heidi from this.
Heidi now helps those who have dealt/are dealing with a loved one's addiction to equip them with the skills that she learned after the fact. She's here to help them get to a place of peace much faster than she did, even if their loved one doesn’t ever get and/or remain sober.
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