Thank You, God.

Today is a big day for me. I've been waiting for this day for so long, and it finally happened. I'm so overcome with emotion, I don't even know where to begin.

The last few months have been an excruciating emotional journey for so many people in my life, and we've had to keep quiet about it, in order to literally save someone's life. That someone is my little sister, Ashley. She is not genetically related to me, but she is every bit the little sister I never had. I held her when she was three days old, and I was only 8. Our families spent every holiday together, went to church together and I was also her babysitter. She was the happiest little blonde hair, blue-eyed tomboy of a girl. She loved macaroni & cheese and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I loved being around her because she was always laughing. It didn't matter what I said or did, it cracked her up. She was just adorable.

She is now 20 years old and her journey from childhood to adulthood has not been an easy one, to say the least. She has battled with drug addiction since she was 11 years old. Nobody understood the hold drugs had on her at even such an early age. Nobody understood why she even started using. She came from a good home, with alot of love. She had a great childhood -and then she started using pretty much anything she could get her hands on.

Since then, Ashley's life has been a rollercoaster of hardcore drug use, sobriety, drugs, sobriety and so on. Then when she was 17 she got pregnant with her son Trace. And during her pregnancy, she was perfect. She did everything the way she was supposed to, and gave birth to a perfect tiny baby boy. He looked just like she did the first time I held her. I thought for sure that the responsibility of raising a child would keep her on the straight and narrow. And it did....for a while. Then she started using again, and this time it was Meth. She lost it after that. She quit her job, blew alot of money in a short period of time and left her son to be raised by her parents.

I was FURIOUS. I know that anger is a secondary emotion, always brought on by something other emotion. I felt hurt, dissapointed, betrayed, you name it. I just wanted to be done with caring about her. So, I wrote her an email. I told her I was finished with her, and that she was a good for nothing loser and that I was out of her life for good - sober or not. I just wanted to stop caring so much about her.

Then one day, I was watching a show called Intervention on A&E. This show is a documentary that features people who are suffering from various forms of addiciton, but what the subjects don't know is that they will face an intervention. I've seen the show a number of times, it's really a touching show. And this particular day, after this particular episode, I heard in my heart "Write the show about Ashley." And at first I couldn't believe I had such a ridiculous idea. Write a TV show???!!! Yeah, right.

"Write the show." I heard it again. I thought about it for a moment. Then I figured it wouldn't hurt anything if I did. So, I did. Once I started writing, all this emotion came pouring out of my heart for the sweet little girl I once knew. The next day, I was contacted by the producers of the show. They gave me long list of things I needed to do, one of which was telling Ashley about "a documentary" that featured people suffering from addiction. They made it VERY clear that if Ashley ever found out during the filming that they were affiliated with "Intervention", they would pull the production team and go home.

Well, Ashley and I weren't speaking. I tried to get in touch with her. She ignored me. I had to find someone else who she would listen to. So, I asked my little brother Tony. At first, he really didn't want to do it. Didn't want to break trust with her. But, thank God, he changed his mind. He told her about it, and she contacted the producers. And the ball started rolling. During the next few months, there were times when I thought this whole thing wasn't going to happen because Ashley had to do things that I figured she wouldn't do. But then, when I had all but given up, she would randomly do these things.

She still would not return my calls or emails. So I gave up.

Then, the producers called me and told me that it was going to happen. They were flying out in 2 weeks to begin filming. When I did my interview over the phone, they told me that Intervention gets 50,000-60,000 email submissions a year. And they choose roughly 20 people. Ashley was one of those 20.

They came, filmed a large variety of things for about a week and then, the intervention took place. I was very nervous about how she would react, not only to the intervention, but toward me as well. Before I read my letter, I made her look me in the eyes so that I could apologize to her for the email I sent her. I told her that I didn't mean what I said about her, that I spoke out of frustration. She just told me I didn't have to be sorry. When I looked in her eyes, I saw that Ashley was gone. She wasn't there. The drugs had stolen her. I can't even BEGIN to put into words how emotionally draining the rest of the process was. It was so hard to watch her parents and sister break down. My father, Ashley's pastor, cried during his letter to her. Jason, who NEVER cries, broke down at the end because we knew if she didn't go, she was so deep in this drug use that she was going to die. So, after some hard pressure, and the reminder that her son NEEDS her, she decided to go. That was almost one month ago.

Maybe you think that that was the moment I've been waiting for. But, although it was amazing when she said yes, it wasn't what I've been waiting for. No, sir, my day was today. I've been waiting to hear the voice of my sister, my friend. I've been waiting for her to understand what I had been doing for her. I wanted to hear her say "Thank-You." Her gratitude symbolized the return of the sweet girl I know. The drug user wouldn't think to thank someone for anything, as she's too wrapped up in herself.

And today, much to my surprise, she called me from treatment. She thanked me over and over and told me that I saved her life. She's said she's really happy. For the first time in her life, she's learning about herself and why she struggles so much with drug addiction. It's alot of work, but she's doing great.

I just can't stop thanking God for providing such a wonderful opportunity for her. It's just so rare. I can't stop thanking God for working with every person involved so that the whole process went as it did. Her family was incredible. The producers and crew were amazing, wonderful people, who really care about the well-being of the people they follow. But mostly, I can't stop thanking God for Ashley. Because my life is better with her in it. I love that girl. As frustrated as I have been with her, I love her with my whole heart. And I'm so glad that I get to write this today, knowing she's alive and breathing, and on her way to recovery. This is the best chance she's ever going to get.

Thank you, God.

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