Meet Abel, Rosie, and Marianna from Hudson Valley, NY

Everything in life happens for a reason and here’s the proof… As Betsy approached Marianna in the Main Lodge and struck up a conversation, Rosie popped her head out from behind her big sister, sporting the biggest grin. She was literally struggling to see from underneath that fabulously huge adorable hat. Within minutes, the girls’ brother, Abel, approached, and the conversation continued. They were accompanied by their grandmother and a friend. Marianna, being the eldest, at 13 years old, is definitely the leader of the pack. Marianna admitted that being the eldest is hard work. Fun fact: Marianna and Abel are Irish twins and the age gap is just a little over a year. Rosie is eight. Marianna is a fantastic artist and she is incredibly creative. Abel loves sports. Rosie is a tiny dancer and loves gymnastics. The siblings have a bond that is incredibly strong and they deeply love and support each other. Each one proudly boasted their favorite things about each other. At first glance, one might believe that the children are simply on an outing with their grandmother during the holiday break. However, when Betsy asked about their parents, they hesitated to say that they did not see their parents for Christmas as their parents are no longer present in their lives. It is their grandfather, who is raising them, but sadly, he spent Christmas in the hospital and is still there. Their grandfather is bound and determined to get home to them by Monday. (Prayer warriors, please send up some prayers for their grandfather) To cheer them up and make sure that they enjoy their holiday break, their grandmother, who lives in a separate household, stepped in to make sure they were taken care of Betsy could tell that the children were struggling a little bit so she offered to share a little of her own life story with them. Her story is similar. As soon as the children realized they were on common ground, and that they were not going to be judged, it seemed as if the weight of the world lifted off their shoulders. The takeaway from the conversation today was, “Our one common ground as humans is that we want to love and be loved. Sometimes all we need is to be seen, heard, valued, understood. Our mess is our message. We may not get to choose where we came from but we get to choose how it defines us.” Thank you for sharing your story with us and thank you for visiting. You’ve got this!

Many loving hearts are lifting you up