Healing and moving on

I think I have mentioned before, the up and down good and super traumatic ride that was my childhood. Well, this year, I took the leap for ultimate healing, and ultimate happiness. I thought for a long time I knew what true forgiveness was, and that I had moved on with my life, but that was far from true. True forgiveness and healing came with the wonderful struggle and happiness that was the birth of our son.
I hadn't spoken to, or seen my dad in 11 years. I decided, after much praying and contemplating to write him a letter. This was almost 3 months ago. This past weekend, we had a Anderson family reunion of sorts, and it was a lovely visit that highly exceeded my expectations. It was a very comfortable, and wonderful family event.
My dad gave Tyler and I gifts that meant something to us in our childhood- things that had been our moms. I can't express in words how touched I am.
Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways. His love and knowledge of each of us and what we bear and struggle with is amazingly apparent in opportunities that can come to us if we seek to have charity in our hearts, and be Christlike.
My treasures included: A bag that my Mom had from California, 3 of her dolls, I know my aunt Debbie had painted one for her, and my aunt Cindy made her the yellow paper mache one, and her very first set of scriptures, and a book signed by an author she knew.

I hope that our family will be able to move forward and realize just how much we need to treasure each of our relationships with our family members, despite the difficulties we have all faced.
I am pretty sure that this picture shows how happy my Dad was to see his grandkids, and to have his children together.