Restoring Acres

Copyright © 2013 Lydia D. Hart.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-9146-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9147-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013906653

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/19/2013

CONTENTS

Acknowlegements

Preface

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1   Someone Who Understands

Chapter 2   The Book

Chapter 3   Restoring Of The Heart

Chapter 4   A Horse’s SEAL Of Approval

Chapter 5   A Thanksgiving Feast

Chapter 6   Horses Helping Heroes

Chapter 7   Speed Bump

Chapter 8   Ground Work

Chapter 9   John Gets A Leg Up

Chapter 10   Trevor’s Surprising Birthday

Chapter 11   Hero Friends Reunited

Chapter 12   A Stormy Cookout

Chapter 13   Waiting Out The Storm

Chapter 14   John Finds Peace

Chapter 15   Rescued

Chapter 16   Construction Zone

Chapter 17   Restoring Acres,

Restoring Rescues

Chapter 18   Searching For Understanding

Chapter 19   Felon Forgiven

Chapter 20   Time To Grow Up

Chapter 21   Freedom In Forgiving

Chapter 22   A Growing Relationship

Chapter 23   Pistol Whipped

Chapter 24   Dan’s Christmas Surprise

Chapter 25   Struggling Through Loss

Chapter 26   Turning Point

Chapter 27   The Enemy Among Us

Chapter 28   Onward Christian Soldiers

Chapter 29   Flames And Flashbacks

Chapter 30   Facing Fears

Chapter 31   Life Amid Destruction

Chapter 32   Jehovah Jireh: God Will Provide

Chapter 33   Plea Bargain For Life

Chapter 34   A New Beginning

Chapter 35   Training For The Team

Chapter 36   Called To Duty

Chapter 37   Thunder

Chapter 38   The Answer

Chapter 39   The Lord Is My Shepherd

Chapter 40   A Chaplain Treasured

About the Author

DEDICATION

Restoring Acres is dedicated to all who serve and protect. This includes all Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and Police personnel, and their families. Without Police we wouldn’t have safe places to live. Without our Military, we wouldn’t have the rights and freedoms we do. Without the families supporting them, we wouldn’t have such a strong force protecting those rights and freedoms near and far. Your service and sacrifices are very much appreciated. To those who sacrificed lives or family members, your sacrifice will not be forgotten. To all who have served and sacrificed, THANK YOU FOR MY FREEDOM! May God protect and greatly bless you all!

IN MEMORY

Chaplain Albert C. Skinner served with my dad in the Army in Vietnam during 1968-1969. He served with a number of infantry units and was known to be a Soldier’s Chaplain. My dad really enjoyed working as his assistant and cherished the time he had with him. Chaplain Skinner had previously enlisted in the Navy, serving in the reserves, as well as active duty in the Mediterranian. Chaplain Skinner retired from the Army at the rank of Leiutenant Colonel in September 1988, and completed his mission in God’s Army when he passed away peacefully on July 2, 2012. Thank you, Chaplain Skinner, for your service to the U.S. and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (Information provided by Chaplain Skinner’s wife, Mrs. Ann Skinner.)

Officer Vincent P. Bann Jr. was retired from the Stark County Sheriff’s Office. He then began working part time with Alliance Poilce Department. He worked for almost 8 years as a court transport officer transporting prisoners to and from jail and court. He died suddenly on January 20, 2012 at the age of 74. Vince was a joy to work with. His love and relationship with God was evident in his speech and his actions. It was not unusual for us to converse about scripture or church. His example was definitely one to follow as a Christian, an officer, and a Christian officer. Thank you to his family and his wife, Beverly Bann, for allowing me to include his story in this book.

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

First and foremost I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without God’s leading, this book would not exist. It is only because of His words, guidance and direction that Restoring Acres has become what it is. Next, I thank my parents, Jerry and Carla. They taught me to listen to and follow God’s leading no matter what. My father, a Vietnam veteran, has helped me to realize our military veterans need and deserve so much more than what they are given. U.S. Army 1LT Lucas Madill has become a very special part of my life and has been totally supportive throughout the writing of this book, even to the point of telling me to write while we are together. I really appreciate and cherish his love and support.

The following people have helped with specific parts of the book. They helped by answering questions, giving me ideas, providing a personal story, showing support, or in some other way helped to make this book possible. These people include: SFC Jerry Hart, U.S. Army, Korea/Vietnam, Combat Engineer/NBC specialist, retired 1997; Capt. Terry Hestilow, U.S. Army, Vietnam/Iraq/Afghanistan, retired 2008; Pamela Weibel, friend and Editor; Spc. David Marshall, U.S. Army, Afghanistan; Ptl. Aaron Perkins, Alliance Police Dept.; Sgt. Fred Hager, U.S. Army, Armored Regiment; Sgt. C.R. Ady, Stark County Sheriff’s Office/USMC Infantry Corporal 1986-1990; Officer Vincent Bann Jr., Stark County Sheriff’s Office and Alliance Police Dept. until end of watch January 20, 2012; Dr. Gail Pavliga, PhD., Licensed Clinical Christian Therapist; William T. Rhodes, U.S. Army 1971-1974, retired Huntingdon Police Dept.; Daniel Kidd, friend and singer/song writer; 1SG Kevin O. Roberts and wife, Rhenee, U.S. Army, Iraq; Ed Kennedy, Portage County Sheriff’s Deputy; Dawn Marie Adamson, U.S. Army, Iraq/Afghanistan, 1989-2005; Ben Butcher, friend since 2006; Keane O. Toney, retired, Canton Police Dept., 2001; Alan Noah, U.S. Navy; and Benjamin Madill, U.S. Army veteran and artist (www.MadillArt.com), who did a great job with the cover!

There were many who helped with the book in some way. To those who wished to remain anonymous and those mentioned above, you are equally appreciated. Not only for your help with this book, but for your service to this nation, whether by protecting in a municipality, or by fighting in wars around the world. May God bless you and your families greatly!

PREFACE

I have always enjoyed writing, even as a kid. I was home schooled and was often found sitting somewhere with a notebook and a pen or pencil. I wrote poems, short stories, and a few longer stories. I wrote of animals, children, adults, silly topics or mysteries.

One time I wrote a story using characters from two of my favorite shows at the time. It was a story about cops and angels. One of the cops in my story was a Vietnam veteran. In the story, he was involved in an incident where his partner was shot. That brought flashbacks of his time in Nam when his buddy was killed. The angels in the story helped guide him through this all too familiar situation.

In September of 2011, I felt God telling me to write a story. At first I thought He wanted me to just rewrite this old one. He bugged me about it until I finally got my computer, sat down and started thinking. I started writing, trying to think how to use the same kind of idea and make it work. But God had a better idea.

Thoughts started filling my mind. A veteran. Recently back from deployment. Jogging on a forest trail. Thinking about his missions. Struggling with his return into civilian society. I began writing the thoughts that God flooded into my mind. Before I knew it I had several pages written.

Still thinking of it as being just a story, it was a couple months before I broke it down into chapters. I had no idea God was about to make it into a novel! Forty chapters and about six months later, Restoring Acres was completed.

The Vietnam incident I mentioned earlier was based on a true story from my father. Some of my father’s stories, and stories of other military and law enforcement veterans, are included in this book.

Throughout Restoring Acres, each character struggles with something they have had to face in their jobs. Restoring Acres describes some calls that law enforcement officers have to handle, the dangers involved, and what goes through their minds in the middle of the incidents. It describes what our military veterans go through on the battlefield, what they have to face when they get home, and the struggles their family members go through.

But through all this, and with the help of God and horses, they find hope, forgiveness, healing, love and self worth.

I am the granddaughter of a MIA/POW veteran of WWII. My father and uncles served in Vietnam. Friends and family members have served in just about every branch of the military, and in just about every conflict since WWII.

I became a commissioned police officer in 2006, but began as a reserve officer in 2002 when I was 19 years old. I was seriously injured on duty, I have felt fear when fellow officers went to calls involving barricaded subjects, and I have experienced the loss of a partner.

I began working with horses when I was ten, bought my horses when I was fourteen, and I have helped friends and employers with foaling and raising horses. I have trained horses and given riding lessons, and have worked as a mounted police officer since 2007.

My prayer is that, as you read, you will also find understanding, healing, forgiveness, peace and love. Things that only God Himself can give.

Lydia D. Hart

FOREWORD

Lydia Hart is one of my nearest and dearest friends. When she told me she was writing this book, I was a little unsure about it at first. Though she was a police officer, I didn’t think she had the knowledge to write about being in combat and the after effects it has on someone. Though I wasn’t sure, I supported her from beginning to end. Giving advice and guidance when needed. As the pages started coming together, and after many conversations, I realized that God was leading her to write this book. God guided her day by day, providing the words, and the emotion connected and together they nailed it.

I am proud to have Lydia as a long-time friend, and I am proud of her accomplishments. During our friendship, she has helped me with my walk with God. I have always been a Christian, but being in combat made me forget about God for a while. Her strong Christian attitude brought me back to God and I can never say thank you enough. I love you Lydia and I wish you lots of success with this book and with future endeavors in your life. I will always be praying for you.

Okay, Jack thought. "After you’ve been in combat, everything changes. We wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares, scared to death we are still there in the heat of the battle. Anything that touches us is the enemy until we somehow snap out of it and realize we are safe. We jump at every snap, pop and boom. Crying babies and screaming children tear at our hearts and minds. We see that little boy laying there, screaming out in pain. The little girl whose body has been mutilated from an explosion.

Fireworks send us back to the combat zone with every blast and flash. When something touches us, we tense up. We’re in survival mode until we remember we don’t have to fight every touch. And that takes time.

The after effects of war are very hard to deal with for both sides. Whether we come back in one piece or missing parts, we have the mental torment that we deal with every day. It gradually gets less. But it never goes away. It is hard on us and harder on family because they don’t understand. And the fact that they don’t understand makes it harder on us. We just want to put up walls and avoid relationships all together. It’s just easier for everyone that way."

These words seem to be taken right from my mouth. This is exactly how I would describe what myself and other combat veterans go through on a daily basis. Things do get a little easier, but never fully leave you alone. A place like Restoring Acres would be very therapeutic to many veterans. Maybe someday God will guide Lydia to have a place like this where we can be restored.

Dawn Marie Adamson

US Army, Military Police

Disabled Combat Veteran

INTRODUCTION

All of us, at one time in our lives, have probably had a traumatic experience.

The fact is that any experience that carries emotional attachment can be a life and behavior controlling stimulus. The sounds associated with the experience stimulate behaviors and reactions. The colors, tastes, and smells cause our bodies to begin to react physically to an experience that may have happened years ago in the same emotionally charged way as it did then.

I have found that there are two realities with people; the one reality that is perceived and the other reality that encompasses what is really happening. The perceived reality takes over when a current event (smell, sound, taste, etc.) triggers memories from our past trauma. Our bodies cannot refuse to immediately jump into survival mode and react to all that is happening. The reality of what is happening only stimulates the body to react as it did in the past and the mind can only perceive the reality of the memories of the past. Therefore, the reality of the present takes a back seat to the past.

In this book, RESTORING ACRES, the author successfully captures the realities of the present and the past and shows, with perfect emotion, the inner conflict each person deals with on the emotional, physical, and spiritual levels. RESTORING ACRES very clearly lets the reader feel and experience, on an emotional level, the conflict a person goes through dealing with these realities. Even as I write this, I remember the traumatic experiences I had and the trauma it caused my family.

RESTORING ACRES doesn’t leave you in the struggle with your realities. It points you, through the lives of the characters, to the only way this can be dealt with. I am here to tell you It can be dealt with successfully. The answer is in the pages that follow. I know it works because I have been there. I can’t say it will go away 100% but I will promise that the emotional trauma does not have to control your life.

The stories are based on real life experiences from real people just like you. They are told through fictional characters in a unique, skillful way that will draw the reader into the stories - stories you will not soon forget.

Jerry Hart

Vietnam Veteran

RESTORED

by

LYDIA D. HART

A soldier, weary and broken, plagued by memories of battle.

The thoughts and sounds of life in war always keep him rattled.

Even in his own, safe home, nothing is the same.

He tries returning life to normal, but he can’t get past the pain.

Police protect and serve in too many ways to count.

The stress of each call they see, at times it wears them down.

A child of abuse, an overdose, a senseless homicide.

What they see in their career, can drive them to suicide.

The battle rages inside me, a struggle I can’t control.

I’ve become someone else. What has happened to my soul?

My family ran away like I’m an evil clone.

How can I carry on? I’m left here all alone.

Who can understand? Who will love me like I am?

God, put me back together. I’m useless like I am.

Make me a new creation, restored by the Lamb.

So much I want to say. I ask, In whom can I confide?

From somewhere near a still small voice, quietly replied,

Fear not, My child. I love you. I’ll never leave your side.

Matthew 11:28-30

(NIV)

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Chapter 1

SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS

S ometimes, in the heat of the battle, our survival training takes over and we forget about everything else. All we can think about is making it out alive. When a comrade falls, nothing else matters for that moment. You are filled with fear, anger, hate for the one who took him out.

I come here to clear my head. Escape from the thoughts, the memories, the feelings. People say I need to talk about it. But they have no idea what I’ve been through. No idea what it feels like. How it hurts to return to those memories. The nightmares. The terror and the pain that comes with them. They wouldn’t understand. They just want to hear a good war story and don’t care about what I feel. If only there was someone who understood…

The young battered hero paused his running and thoughts a brief moment at the top of a small waterfall he passed by every morning on his run. As he stood there he heard an aged, gentle voice behind him say, It’s a beautiful morning for a run. On this cool, March morning this man, in his sixties, sat against a tree with a book. His face was kind. He looked as though he was at total peace with the world.

The runner didn’t want to be bothered, but he wanted to be polite and not ignore the man. Yes sir, it is. He turned and started running again.

Over the next few weeks the old man was there just about every morning. The runner was kind of getting to where he actually looked forward to seeing this stranger’s kind, smiling face every morning instead of dreading his presence. One morning he jogged on by as usual. Then he stopped, turned, and walked back to the old man.

You’re here every morning, aren’t you? He asked, catching his breath.

Yes sir. I am, the man replied. As long as the weather is decent anyway. You are, too, I’ve noticed. This is a good place to get away from life’s demons for a while.

Demons. I keep trying to shake mine, said the runner. But they just won’t back off. See you tomorrow, he said as he jogged off.

You can’t run from ‘em son, The old man said softly to himself.

A few mornings later, the old man was sitting by his tree as normal. The runner came flying by at top speed, kicking dirt up on the man.

Whoa, son! He called out. What’s the hurry?

The runner slowed to a halt. He bent over with his hands on his knees. He looked over his shoulder at the old man, who was now brushing dirt and debris off of himself. The runner turned and apologized. I’m sorry, sir, He said as he walked over to the man.

As the old man quickly studied the runner’s face, he could tell something wasn’t right. Are you okay? he asked.

Let’s just say, the demons are out in force this weekend, he said between breaths.

Ah, I see. The old man reached out to shake hands. Name’s Dan Bailey.

Jack Turner, the runner replied as he shook Dan’s hand.

Care to sit for a few? Dan offered. You look like you could use a moment of peaceful rest.

Jack took a seat by Dan. That’s something I haven’t had for a while.

What’s that? Dan asked.

Peaceful rest. Not since… Jack paused and looked at the ground. He wasn’t sure he wanted to mention anything about his service to another uncaring stranger.

Dan could sense Jack’s pain. Since your tours?

Jack looked at Dan, amazed he knew. Yeah. How’d you guess? Jack asked, waiting for the questions he wasn’t so keen to answer.

Sometimes it takes one to know one, son, Dan replied.

Jack just looked at Dan. You served?

Dan nodded. Vietnam. ’68 to ’69. During the Tet Offensive. Dan was a veteran?

It’s an honor, sir, Jack said as he reached to shake hands once again. Thank you. They sat silent, just looking out at nature. After a minute Jack said, We lost another SEAL in Afghanistan last night.

Ah, I heard about that, Dan said, understanding in his voice. I’m sorry. It still hurts even if you don’t know the person. Once you’ve been in, they’re all family, aren’t they?

Yes sir, they are. The two sat there silent a few more minutes, the only sound being the waterfall and the creatures of the forest. It is peaceful here, Jack finally said.

Yes it is, Dan agreed. "That’s why I’ve been coming out here a long time. But I hadn’t