Well - the last 7 days have been spectacular! My mom flew in last Friday night and we did some shopping for bridal gowns. I found a dress Saturday morning in Indianapolis, it has the BLING I was looking for, along with accomodating the style choices of some of my highly favored friends I polled, and it's strapless to appease Greg's vision. I'm excited to see what it'll look like when it comes in brand new and in my proper size. Dress shopping was fun, but I'm glad that stressor is over with. It was an added bonus to have mom here to show around town and just to talk to about decisions and wedding plans.
Upon arriving home Saturday evening from Indy, I was THRILLED to find a letter from Gregory - inside he had put the slip of paper that said I was approved for visits. He wrote the one liner 'the balls in your court'. We've been waiting for several weeks now to get through the visiting approval process, and this has been one of my top priority prayer requests! So Wednesday morning I flexed out some time from my job and headed down to Plainfield, Indiana to suprise Greg at the Short Term Offender Program.
So - what do you envision as you walk into prison? For my experience - it started in a parking lot where I followed another woman up to a big tall metal gate with the wires across the top. I pressed the button and the lady on the other end says 'state your name'... as I did I heard the gate click open for my passage way up a long paved sidewalk. As I reached towards the crest of the hill I reached another gate with a speaker. As I approached the gate the door automatically was clicked open. I walked through it and climbed the stairs into an historic looking house like building. I followed the arrows that led me to room with a scanner and metal detector. The lady asked for the number of the offender I was visiting and my photo id. As she processed me in, I placed my keys in the locker provided and stepped through the scanner. I then received a visitor badge and was asked to wait in another tiny room. At that point I was escorted with 3 other moms visiting their sons through the building and out onto the prison grounds. As we walked I noted inmates working in various locations throughout the campus : mowing, trimming, taking out trash, etc.... I followed the group as we passed through a third gate with a barbed wire fence on top. We walked across the campus (the facility is located on the grounds of an old boys school) and passed by several buildings. Some of them looking like the dorms for the prisoners, another building labeled the chapel, and we were led into a giant meeting room with vending machines and tables and chairs. We were told what area we could sit in and we waited for our loved ones to arrive.
I was greeted with a long, lingering hug and then a kiss. We got to enjoy an hr and a 1/2 visit and just relish in the freedom of not communicating through a phone or a glass window, it was glorious! We talked, we laughed, and we dreamed. The visit was not near long enough, but we parted remembering that this situation was temporary, I reminded Greg as i departed to 'Stay strong, and remember greater things are yet to come.'
Upon the visitors leaving the room and being escorated across campus and through the multiple gates, I learned that as we were still walking within site, the inmates were being strip searched in the room we had just had our visit in. Greg told me he could see me walking across campus as he was being thoroughly searched for any contraband, etc...
Funny things Greg has learned about prison: people are CREATIVE as you wouldn't believe the things people can make out of nothing. The prison is a smoke free facility, however this certainly isn't the case as bags of tobacco are brought in by staff and sold to inmates, who then internally have their own profit ring as they sell to other inmates within the facility. Staffers look the other way as inmates hideaway in the bathrooms to smoke. Batteries are a hot commodity as 2 Batteries can be stripped and used to make a flame to light their cigarrettes. The list goes on....
Greg has been struggling these last few weeks - he has chosen to isolate himself from the other inmates. He barely talks to anyone just because he feels he's better off this way, if you say the wrong thing things get messy or if you talk to the wrong people, etc... So in his isolation, Satan's been playing with his thoughts. I'm happy to report that following my visit Wednesday and our conversation tonight he's sounding more upbeat and happy.
Monday I interviewed for a position with Indiana Mentor, the job would be a career advancement and a great financial plus. I felt like the interview went really well but won't know anything for at least a week or two as she said they would run references and get our background checks completed before making a decision.
So - All in all - a great week - mom came to visit, I got to see Gregory after several months, found a wedding dress, had a promising job interview, and got posession of my apartment.
Next week will also be full of fun as I fly back to missouri and get to spend time with loved ones, get my hair done, make some more wedding plans, and then pack up my storage unit into a UHAUL to drive on out to Indiana to unpack and get settled. I'm so looking forward to going 'home' this next week.
Thank you for your prayers ~ and your continued prayers on this journey.
