BEE-live in God Book

Our daughter, Oleta De'An, was arrested and arreigned in Dallas, Texas. She was later placed in Bryan Federal Prison Camp - we took her on January 4, 2006. Her crime was selling crack cocaine and considered a conspiracy with 4 others. She wasn't a user - just sold it for a "friend." She had been raised so much better and knew better. We were all devastated.

When we first started seeing her court appointed attorney he told us the sentence for this was life in prison. My daughter was only 24 years old at the time. He told us there was no room for the judge to waiver. The Federal guidelines were pre-set. And if you are arrested in Federal Court there is NO probation.

He kept repeating himself - LIFE he would say. When the meeting was over he said he could not believe we were so calm about it all most people became very upset. We told him we couldn't say our hearts didn't fall from our chest when he told us that but we told him a Higher Power was in charge and we'd just have to deal with what was to come. We just kept saying things would have to change we couldn't accept life.

We all prayed and my prayer groups prayed. The next month he announced the guidelines had been changed. It was now 25-life.

We kept praying.

A couple months later he told us the guidelines had been changed again. The Federal guidelines now were becoming more flexible and the judge could make his own decisions and use his judgement. WOW...awesome - GOD was really working in all our lives.

In September, 2005 she was sentenced and on that day the attorney told us the guidelines had become even a little more flexible but he was not sure what she would get.

She was given 10 years and 1 month but with the appeal her attorney gave and me speaking to the judge in court she received 8 years and 1 month. With good behavior she will hopefully get out in mid-2011.

GOD has worked so many ways through all of this:

People thought we were crazy when we'd say, "she got 8 years and we are so excited." But she could have been serving a LIFE sentence.

De'An has learned to forgive...she has forgiven her biological father who wrote his writes away to her the week after she was born (Christmas Eve of 1978) and never made contact with her. Now, she writes to him and occasionally he puts and effort forth and writes her a paragraph. If that is all he is capable of then she is satisfied with that.

She has forgiven a family member whom she harbored ill feelings against because of what she'd been told by an officer of the law. She has learned sometimes you can't always believe everything even they tell you.

She has re-established the close relationship she had with her daddy, who adopted her when she was 4 years old in January, 1982 after we were married in July in 1981. All of our relationships have become closer and she realizes what she really does have in a family.

But most of all she has returned to her relationship with our gracious heavenly Father...she sees the importance of having GOD in your life again. She feels the peace HE can give her and she sees HE is faithful in answering prayers.

This situation has been a hard road to walk and to keep walking for all of us but we have a Savior to walk beside us and without HIM we would not have made the journey. I don't know what people do without HIS grace and mercy in times such as these.

People would say, "I just don't know you handle this." I tell them by the Grace of God I handle it...without HIM in our lives we couldn't have.

My husband and I say, "thank You Jesus for Your love and Your peace. And thank You for bringing our daughter back to us and not giving up on her."

Back to Story List