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Published on:

1st Jul 2024

E61 - Bonded Through Recovery: Ronnie and Amanda's Love Story

Bonded Through Recovery: Ronnie and Amanda's Love Story

In this episode of the Prisoner's Pardon Podcast, host Michi J welcomes Amanda and Ronnie Woodle, a remarkable couple who have conquered their struggles with drug addiction to become successful business owners. The episode delves into their unique love story, which began amidst a troubled backdrop of drug use, and how they navigated through cycles of addiction, legal troubles, and family challenges. Amanda and Ronnie share openly about their journey of recovery, the importance of mutual support in overcoming addiction, and the value of re-establishing family bonds. Their story is an inspiring testament to resilience, commitment, and the power of love in achieving a better life.

00:00 Welcome to the Show


00:13 Meet Amanda and Ronnie Woodle


00:34 A Love Story Born from Addiction


03:00 The Struggles of Recovery


08:00 Turning Points and Realizations


11:59 The Role of Family and Grandkids


15:33 The Road to Redemption


19:16 Life After Addiction


28:42 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

Transcript
Amanda:

it can be done and you can do it together

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I think for us and for everybody

that we talk to about stuff like

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this is that it can be done.

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, it's not just a choice.

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It's a determination.

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And don't let them tell you that

you can't do it because you can.

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And you can have everything that you want.

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Do you have to work for it?

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Absolutely.

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But it can be done and

you can do it together.

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Michi J: Hello everyone.

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And welcome to a

prisoner's pardon podcast.

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. I'm Michi J your host.

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And I'm so happy to have you

here I know I always say it's a

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special show, but you know what?

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It always is.

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Today I have a couple on.

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Their name is Amanda and Ronnie Woodo.

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Yes, a couple.

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I never thought I would

have a couple on as well,

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but.

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I had to have these two on because

they are successful business owners.

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Traveling the country

together as a couple.

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It's an incredible love story,

this story didn't begin this way.

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It began with recovery looking

at what they're doing now,

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how successful they are.

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You would never think that they

had to go through a recovery.

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Yes.

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Both of them was hooked on drugs.

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But now.

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They're not.

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The incredible thing is how they did it.

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Together.

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Michi J: I'm going to let

them introduce themselves, and

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then we're going to get into

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They're

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Michi J: story, hi, Amanda.

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And hi, Ronnie.

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Amanda: Oh, hi.

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Good to be on the show.

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Michi J: Well, thank you so much.

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Okay.

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I want you to tell us,

like, how did you two meet?

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Amanda: So we actually met through

drugs, um, honestly, because, um, my

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ex husband and his ex wife were friends

and we all were in the meth scene.

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And, um, I had separated from my

husband, but was hanging out with

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friends of theirs still, and the

circles just overlapped, right?

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So then we ended up,

um, partying together.

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Yeah.

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And, uh, it kind of just went from there.

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And.

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Um, he and his wife ended up separating

and divorcing and me and my husband

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ended up separating and divorcing

and it just kind of, I don't know, I

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hate to say that it was meant to be

through the addiction because that

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was not a great way to start it.

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But had we not both been in that

scene, we would have never met.

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Michi J: True

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Ronnie: story.

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Michi J: Yes, you know what, that's

fine to say, because a lot of

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couples meet under, , less desirable

circumstances, but they do meet, right?

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So you

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Amanda: know,

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Michi J: So what attracted you to,

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Ronnie: amanda is beautiful.

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So I was just instantly interested

in her when I first met her.

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Amanda: And Ronnie's personality and humor

is what attracted me to him at first.

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He's just, he's always happy

and jovial and laughing.

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And it was nice to see that, , whether

it was drug induced or not, which by the

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way, it's not, cause he's still like that.

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Michi J: Well, good thing.

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Right.

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Absolutely.

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Now, what actually you, you met over

drugs and what happened after that?

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Amanda: So we, well, actually I got

in trouble on a few occasions shortly

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after we got together, uh, mostly

misdemeanor possession type of things.

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, and we're in Wyoming, so I don't know how

the laws differ from, , Wisconsin, but,

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um, Our department of family services

is pretty tight with stuff like this.

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So we lost our, well, I lost

my kids, Ronnie's kids weren't

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living with us at the time.

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Um, and we kind of went through the,

the whole rehab and out of rehab and

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getting the kids back and being okay

for a little while, and then right back

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into it again, and just like the cycle

just kept continuing, you know, and

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this has been, you know, that was over.

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Well, I've done meth off and on since

I was about 18, so I'm, you know,

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granted, it's been nine, 10 years now,

but it was a good 25, almost 30 years.

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You know, it was a long time, not

that it was always all the time.

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And I didn't lose the kids till

early thirties probably for the

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first time, but I did lose the

kids twice to this, you know?

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And so then there, like

I said, it was a process.

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And so we would clean up and

we'd go through rehab and we'd.

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Get the kids back and then we'd be

good for a while and then we slippery

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slope down again and it was just

like a, I was so tired of picking

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ourselves up out of rock bottom.

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It wasn't even funny.

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Ronnie: Amanda lived in Gillette

since she was a child, like, which

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is northern Wyoming, by the way.

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Amanda: And

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Ronnie: I'm from Rapid City,

South Dakota, South Dakota.

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And, uh, I moved up there to

work in the oil field anyway.

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Um, so me and Amanda are the

same age, but we didn't know each

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other from school or anything.

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Cause I moved up here

when I was 18, I guess.

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But, uh, anyway, um, we decided to make

a complete change and we moved, um,

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150 miles away from that town just to

get away from the people and everything

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surrounding that lifestyle, you know?

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Um, but, um,

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Amanda: You can find it

wherever you're looking for.

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Yeah, which we find out got

hung up on it again up here

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Ronnie: remove code

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Michi J: So What kind of drove you

towards drugs in the first place?

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Was it because it was what

everybody else was doing?

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What what kind of got you into that scene?

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Ronnie: For me, it was, uh, bikers,

uh, banditos, because he grew

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Amanda: up right outside of Sturgis.

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So motorcycle rally type stuff.

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Yes.

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And for me, I grew up in the

sheltered Christian home.

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Where I couldn't do anything.

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So that's what was kind of my outlet.

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Not that I got, you know, it was

mostly pot back then until after my

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first divorce and then it was kind

of the people I was hanging out with

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kind of experimental type stuff.

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And that's, that's one, once you

start experimenting and you find,

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if you find it fun, it's a quick,

Hey, let's do this more often.

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And then all of a sudden

you're doing it all the time.

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So,

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Michi J: right.

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So was that like a slippery

slope sort of deal?

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It kind of slipped up on you.

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Absolutely.

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Amanda: Every time we've gone back to it

has been like that, which is why we know

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we can't even try it once now because

we call it weekend warriors, right?

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So you pick a weekend, you're like, you

know what, we should just do, you know,

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meth for the weekend and clean the house

or just, you know, party and have fun.

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Well, in our area, it's not, it's readily

available, but you have to know the

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right people and it doesn't always hit

at the right time because we're not big

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city, we're rural small town, right?

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Right.

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So we would try to find it on a Friday

night and it would be like Sunday

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morning when we'd finally get it and

then you're up for 24 hours, which

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then puts you into the work week.

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And then, so then you're looking for

more because you're tired because you've

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been up for the weekend, you know,

and it just kind of all of a sudden

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perpetuated into instead of just an

every once in a while weekend, you're

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doing it three quarters of the week

and then you're doing it every day.

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Michi J: Oh, okay.

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So this is different.

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This is like looking at

it in a small town way.

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Yes.

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And it's not as accessible and

it kind of messed up your routine

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because you couldn't absolutely

imagine you guys absolutely are funny.

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Okay.

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That's hilarious.

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Okay, so that's, that's good to know.

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And, you know, people are, you know,

doing this and they need to hear this,

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and this is just what, what's going on?

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So yeah.

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And when you were doing it and

you, you slipped up and how, how

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did you, you get out of that?

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You know, you, you just woke

up and look, I'm tired of it.

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Amanda: What

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Michi J: happened?

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Amanda: This final time, or like the

times before, before we went back

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into it, because they're different.

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So when we got in trouble

earlier, the last time, uh,

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Ronnie: That we did it, um, it was,

um, after the SWAT team busted down

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our door and pointed a laser sights

at everybody and we went to jail.

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Amanda: But we were ready.

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So the other thing about where we're at

is that, so we hit, we started dealing

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it because we were being ripped off

by the people we were buying it from.

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But in order to do that, we had to

drive to our nearest Large metropolitan

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city, which happens to be Denver, right?

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To acquire it, right?

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So now all of a sudden we're

drug running and drug dealing.

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So that's where this

kind of all tripped up.

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But on top of that, It was

the, the quality back then.

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So we're talking nine and a half

years ago when we got busted.

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So about 10 years ago, I would say we got

to a point where we were, we were done.

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We were tired of doing it.

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We, it wasn't doing

what we wanted it to do.

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It was garbage.

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It was expensive.

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You know, I mean, it was just,

everything was going wrong.

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We couldn't keep jobs.

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It was just one thing after another.

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And we got to a point where we both

looked at each other about six months

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before we got busted and we're like, Hey,

We need to stop because this is crap.

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But the problem was is that we didn't

have jobs except for, for dealing drugs.

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And so we couldn't get jobs

cause we couldn't stay off the

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drugs long enough to get them.

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And, um, it just ended up being one of

those things where we were ready to quit.

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We just didn't know how, and

as we were deciding to quit.

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I had a medical bill, like a

large one for a neck issue I had

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that went to collections and they

started hitting our bank account,

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like right before rent was due.

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So we were like, okay,

well we're done doing this.

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And then they took

everything we had for rent.

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So we had nothing to

provide for our family for.

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So we made one last trip

to Denver to get more.

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And that was when we got busted.

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Well, that's it.

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Like two days afterwards, we got busted.

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So it was, I want to say it was

a blessing in disguise because it

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was, it was a little bit more of a

kick than what we were expecting.

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Yes.

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Ronnie: I wish I wish it could have

happened with two less felonies.

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Amanda: Yeah.

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But either way, I mean, the

end result was what we needed.

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So

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Michi J: for sure, for sure.

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So this is like.

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You're both you what you came

into agreement together like,

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Hey, this is not for us.

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So you both were on board because normally

I shouldn't say normally, but sometimes

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a lot you do see people where one wants

to get off and the other one doesn't and

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you two were together on that as well.

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So how, how did this happen?

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It's just like, you, you nudged

each other and like, I was already

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thinking that Amanda, I was just

waiting for you to say that.

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What?

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Amanda: Yeah,

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Ronnie: it's getting older

and tired of, you know,

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Amanda: it's

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Ronnie: kind of

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Amanda: wasting our lives on what?

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I mean, we were renting this

like shoe box house for.

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There was crap, you know, and it was, we,

we'd always kind of, we would peak and

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then we would valley and then we would

fall off the planet and then we would

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peak and we would validate, it was just

like, there were people our age that

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were, you know, had great careers and they

were traveling and they had, you know,

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all this stuff that we wanted, right.

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And, and it wasn't, it

wasn't just a drive.

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It was more of a, what are we doing?

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Yeah.

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So, but, but on, on top of

that, really, really late.

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Yeah, really late.

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Really late.

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Because we were, you know, Yeah.

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Late for late thirties.

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Late thirties.

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But, uh, you know, and, and our

kids were getting older too.

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That was the other thing.

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Our kids were watching what we were doing.

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Michi J: Mm-Hmm.

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Amanda: And we had grandkids coming

because my son had already had

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Myra, right when we got busted.

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So we had our first granddaughter that

was like a year old when we got busted.

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And it, I just, I didn't want.

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I didn't want, you know,

I didn't want that.

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I didn't want the family.

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There was, it wasn't even

necessarily a status thing.

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I just didn't want the, the grandkids

and our kids to not want to be around us.

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And I didn't even want to

be around us half the time.

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I mean, we were dumb.

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Michi J: That was, you know what,

that I was going to ask about that.

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What about the kids?

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Did that kind of rob you?

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But you say, you know, you

automatically went there.

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Thank you for that.

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The grandkids.

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So, you know, I kind of liking

you guys to Bonnie and Clyde.

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So I don't think the great.

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We have five now.

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Oh, Congratulations about that.

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So that's good that you stopped

when that first one came.

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Cause you would have had

a lot of explaining to do.

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Well,

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Amanda: you know, I just wish we

would have stopped before the kids

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came because they we've put our

kids through way more than they

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should have ever had to go through.

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We, we really have now they've,

they've mostly, mostly turned

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out to be really good people.

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You know, some of them still have a little

ways to go, but you know, um, My son's

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been through Ronnie's my fourth husband.

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I'm his third wife.

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So

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Ronnie: together.

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We're lucky number seven

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Amanda: But you know, so I put my my

son who is now he'll be 29 and in August

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and you know I put him through three

failed marriages And, you know, the

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whole time pretty much drug addiction.

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When I was with his dad, it was mostly

pot, you know, and I don't really consider

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that an addiction, it was just what we did

at the time, you know, and then after that

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it was, you know, meth and coke and pretty

much anything I could get my hands on.

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Not to mention a lot of

alcohol back then, too.

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And not that I don't

drink now, because I do.

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Um, but I'm very responsible about it now.

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Because we have driving jobs and whatnot.

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So, um, but, but it, you know, when

the grandkids came, it kind of put

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a different twist to it because my

son was basically like, Nope, we're

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not doing this, you know, and I'm,

I'm extremely proud of him for that.

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He's tried it all.

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He used to have a problem with,

um, well, he used to have anger

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issues too, but behavioral issues.

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But, um, but alcohol was his big

thing and he doesn't even do that now.

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So,

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Ronnie: but, but he does do

kratom and it's a problem for him.

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Amanda: Yeah, that's true.

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But it does keep him from drinking.

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So I guess there's that.

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And, you know, he's got a mine job,

so, you know, he has a very, you know,

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he does, he does what he needs to do

and he provides for his family and I

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couldn't be prouder of the two of them.

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Ronnie: He calls his mom all

the time for advice about, uh,

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Amanda: about life, financial

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Ronnie: issues,

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Amanda: taxes, and car titles and

just, you know, stuff like that.

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And I love it.

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I love the fact that

I'm his go to, you know.

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That's

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Michi J: awesome.

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That's awesome.

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I'm so proud of both of you, um, in

making, you know, looking at the kids

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and the grandkids and, watching those

little eyes watching you and knowing that.

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Hmm.

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I don't want them to see that.

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So in making those changes, so

that was when you two made those

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changes again, you said that was

right when the grandkids were there.

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And one of the things that you

did, you said you, you moved away.

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Amanda: Well, so we moved a

couple of years before we quit.

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So we moved in moved in 2012,

July, June, June of:

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Like I said, about two hours

away from quote unquote home.

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And started new and that lasted about

a year before we got right back into

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it again, we got busted in March of

:

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Michi J: So why, why haven't

you touched it since?

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Is it you didn't move again did you?

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Amanda: No, no, we got

busted in this town.

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Ronnie: We thought we were

done when we left and let, and

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then they fell into it again.

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And then after we got

busted, I mean, that was,

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Amanda: well, we, like I said, we

were, we already knew we were ready.

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We were ready to be done.

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And I think that that's

the key for addiction.

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You, I don't care.

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How many people tell you you need to

quit or force you into this or force you

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into that, you know, yes, going to jail

helps because it makes you, you know,

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clean up for a while, but until you are

ready, you are not going to quit, period.

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I don't, I don't care who it is.

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It has to be that ready to quit

thing, which we both were, we just

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didn't know necessarily how, and

then I ended up, you know, and I

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only spent like three weeks in jail.

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Ronnie had like two, but I had an

eight to 10 year sentence over my head.

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That was the other thing.

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I didn't want to miss out on seeing the

grandkids grow up and our kids graduate.

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We had at least one that hadn't graduated

from high school yet, you know, and it

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was still pretty little and, you know,

there was just all these things in life

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I didn't want to miss out on because

I was sitting in prison somewhere.

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Michi J: So, I would like,

rationalize this to be

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something like, it's, it's love.

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Amanda: It is.

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For each other, for ourselves,

for our kids, for our

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grandkids, for a better life.

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And, and you know what?

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And we have that now.

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And now we're switching gears again, but

because we had, we got what we wanted

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and now we want something different.

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You know what I mean?

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Michi J: Ronnie, you are

about to say something.

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Ronnie: I don't recall.

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Michi J: Okay.

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I'm sorry about that, Ronnie.

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Um, yeah.

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So I like what you said, Amanda,

that you have to be ready and people,

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it depends on the person, what

makes them ready for you, you too.

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It was the grandkids.

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You were paying attention to what

they were paying attention to.

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So that's, really significant.

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So after you're ready, then the

necessary steps was it hard to do

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did you feel, , some sort of pressure

after you, you were ready, but you

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still had to make some changes.

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Everybody does like you,

make some small changes.

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Of course, you weren't hanging

around and you weren't, you know,

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Amanda: we severed ties with

everybody except for, um, my best

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friend who happened to be one of

the people we used to party with.

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Um, but they were extremely respectful

in the fact that we said, do not

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bring it over and do not come

around if you're on it, period.

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And we had to do that

for a really long time.

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Nowadays, it's not as big of a deal for

us because we're, we're comfortable in.

379

:

Being clean, so we could be around it and

not be tempted by it now, but for a good

380

:

probably four or five years, it was like,

nope, and if we showed up anywhere where

381

:

it was happening, we just left, we had

to, because we know we can't do that one

382

:

time without it becoming an issue again.

383

:

And we have too much to lose now.

384

:

I mean, we have, we have a nice

house and we've got great jobs

385

:

and we just bought an RV and are

hopefully semi retiring in four years.

386

:

Ronnie: It's not an RV,

but it's a motor coach.

387

:

Amanda: What's the difference?

388

:

We have a huge 39 foot bus, basically.

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:

Like one of the really big, it

looks like a tour bus, basically.

390

:

Michi J: Wow.

391

:

Amanda: So, and you know, I never in a

million years would have dreamt that we

392

:

could have gotten to where we are now.

393

:

In like nine, 10 short years, really,

394

:

Michi J: from where

395

:

Amanda: we started.

396

:

Yeah, 10 short years.

397

:

We've got retirement.

398

:

We've got, you know, we have awesome,

awesome, we've got great credit scores.

399

:

We've got brand new cars.

400

:

We have four wheelers and motorcycles

and we take vacations and, you

401

:

know, it was everything we wanted.

402

:

We just took a long time to get here.

403

:

Michi J: Well, 10 years is not that

long compared, you know, looking

404

:

at how much you accumulated.

405

:

Amanda: Oh, absolutely.

406

:

I, I could have never dreamed we could

have done it in 10 years for sure.

407

:

But we've worked

408

:

Ronnie: to do it.

409

:

Our next step is going to be also

for, The grandkids and ourselves.

410

:

Um, we're going to early retire and

that's kind of what the bus is for.

411

:

Um, but so that we can visit

family and grandkids and things

412

:

that we don't have time for right

now because we work way too much.

413

:

We do work a lot.

414

:

We work a lot.

415

:

Amanda: And they're growing up

without us because we work too

416

:

much now instead of, you know.

417

:

Do drugs all the time.

418

:

So,

419

:

Michi J: well,

420

:

Amanda: yeah,

421

:

Michi J: it's a big difference.

422

:

You went from very, unproductive

lives to very productive lives.

423

:

And now you're transitioning to where

you want to make sure you're in.

424

:

Even more productive because you're,

you're looking at your grandkids and

425

:

you want to, , establish relationships,

better relationships with them because

426

:

you realize the importance of that.

427

:

Am I getting that right?

428

:

Amanda: Absolutely.

429

:

Absolutely.

430

:

Because, you know, well, our oldest

granddaughter just turned 10.

431

:

She, she plays soccer and she's.

432

:

Fantastic at it.

433

:

And they travel and she plays

soccer games all over Utah.

434

:

And it's, I, I've gotten

to see one practice.

435

:

She's played for four years and

I've got to see one practice.

436

:

I have yet to see a game

because she's too far away.

437

:

And we have like 36 hours off on a

weekend, except for the one week a

438

:

year, we get off together because

that's all we get off together.

439

:

Right now.

440

:

Michi J: Okay.

441

:

All right.

442

:

So you two, it just looks like in,

you know, I was around you to you

443

:

to have an awesome relationship.

444

:

You're laughing, you're talking

together, you're engaging.

445

:

I mean, I, I do call you

guys, Bonnie and Clyde.

446

:

You all are so well matched,

you know, so well matched.

447

:

And it's really hopeful with someone

that probably been through some

448

:

relationships that didn't work out.

449

:

And, and now, you know, You know, giving

them the hope that they can get to that

450

:

place where they do have that individual.

451

:

So I do applaud you be, you know, being

together because like I said, you got

452

:

couples that fall apart under the.

453

:

Way less of pressure than you

guys did having SWAT teams come

454

:

into the house and stuff like

455

:

Amanda: that.

456

:

You've had relationships fall

apart for way less than that too.

457

:

And the other thing was, is when

we went through treatment, they

458

:

almost didn't let us do it together.

459

:

Because, because of the fact that

most of the time one or the other of

460

:

the couple will fall off the wagon

and then it takes the other one with.

461

:

Michi J: Right.

462

:

Amanda: So a lot of

times they separate them.

463

:

Michi J: So how

464

:

Amanda: did you

465

:

Michi J: get them to

let you do it together?

466

:

Amanda: We, uh, pled with them.

467

:

We said, Hey, you know,

we need to do this.

468

:

You know, this is something

we need to do together.

469

:

Um, we're both all in and if it's

going to work, it's going to work.

470

:

And if it's not, it's not.

471

:

But then they gave us a shot.

472

:

They also told us that if it

wasn't going to work, they would

473

:

separate us out after that.

474

:

But, you know, they w they didn't want

us to, at first they almost, they've

475

:

tried to make us separate completely.

476

:

They tried to make us

live in separate houses.

477

:

Yeah.

478

:

Ronnie: My judge,

479

:

Amanda: my judge tried to do that twice.

480

:

Um, you know, tried to make us.

481

:

Before we were married, when I got in

trouble, they tried to, to separate us,

482

:

we were, um, engaged and they're like,

no, you need to, you know, break up

483

:

with him and I'm like, we're engaged.

484

:

It's not going to happen.

485

:

Sorry.

486

:

And then this last time when,

you know, we'd been married

487

:

for years and years and years.

488

:

Say what's our,

489

:

Ronnie: what's our anniversary is here.

490

:

Amanda: What do you mean

what's our anniversary?

491

:

What number?

492

:

You don't know what number is?

493

:

I

494

:

Ronnie: can't think of it right now.

495

:

Amanda: Twelve.

496

:

Twelve.

497

:

We've been married 12

years as of end of July,

498

:

Michi J: we've

499

:

Amanda: been together for 17.

500

:

Michi J: Wow.

501

:

This is an incredible story.

502

:

I really, that, that is

what I was talking about.

503

:

It's very unusual.

504

:

It's usually one day fall off

and the other one,, want to stay,

505

:

you know, so it's like, but I'm

glad to hear that it is possible.

506

:

It is possible.

507

:

Together.

508

:

And it just depends on the people.

509

:

So, and, and they gave you a shot.

510

:

So I hope, people are listening

to this then to understand that

511

:

family does need to, if at all

possible, keep them together.

512

:

So

513

:

Amanda: definitely, Oh, that was just

give the hope and give the extra chances

514

:

because it's not like my biggest thing

was I was, when we left Gillette.

515

:

I had had the kids taken away twice, and

then this third time, when they, Gillette

516

:

DFS, Department of Family Services,

told me this is your last chance.

517

:

If she goes away again, it was my youngest

at that time, because my oldest was Old

518

:

enough to go with his dad at that point.

519

:

Um, and my, our youngest is autistic,

so it was a different kind of case.

520

:

Um, but they're like, if, if they

take her away again, she's gone.

521

:

So when we got busted with our

felonies, I immediately was freaked

522

:

out because I thought we were done.

523

:

I thought she was gone for good.

524

:

And that they were going to place her in

some foster care, you know, she'd end up

525

:

being part of the system and I, it was

not going to be okay one way or another,

526

:

but I tell you what, the biggest thing

for me with that too, was that the DFS

527

:

system in where we live now worked with

us immediately and they're like, we're not

528

:

trying to take her away where we live now,

529

:

Ronnie: where we moved from,

they were, they were the

530

:

ones that said, uh, it's over

531

:

, Amanda: Like made this jump through hoops

for years and gave her back finally.

532

:

Here where we're at now, it was like four

or five months, and we did everything we

533

:

were supposed to, you know, we were daily

UAing, and everything was good, and we

534

:

were going to classes, and we were doing

everything we were supposed to, and we

535

:

had her back in like four or five months,

and they're like, no, we're planning on

536

:

reuniting, because I had given up hope as

soon as I went to jail, because I thought,

537

:

our daughter's gone, she's gone, I'm,

you know, I'm never gonna see her again.

538

:

And just, I think that hope, hope and

ambition and something to work for

539

:

Ronnie: that day, a lot of them,

540

:

Amanda: they allowed us because it was,

you know, I, I really was at the point

541

:

where I was like, we're just, we're just

done, we're just done, we had to be done.

542

:

Michi J: So that's good that, um,

I'm just gonna say that alluded to

543

:

forgiveness and them giving you chances.

544

:

guys.

545

:

To rectify that situation, so we

do need to have that compassion for

546

:

people to give them chances, of course,

protecting them and the kids at the

547

:

same time, of course, but also allowing.

548

:

Or that family to be reestablished.

549

:

And so many times, like you said,

department of family services, , some

550

:

of them, they do work to, they have like

the wrong mission is to take the kids.

551

:

And when they should be looking at

how we can keep the kids with you,

552

:

that's a whole different perspective.

553

:

And that means you'll be doing

things a lot differently.

554

:

So that is just a miracle.

555

:

You guys, that's, that is a miracle that

you were able to get the kids back because

556

:

normally DFS is, it's the entity unto

themselves and they have different rules.

557

:

It's a whole nother court system.

558

:

So

559

:

Amanda: it definitely is,

560

:

Michi J: definitely is

definitely different from

561

:

the criminal justice system.

562

:

They have their own system and we

do really need to bring them to have

563

:

the some standards and keep it like.

564

:

Not just, you can do this over

here and then you go to the

565

:

next county and it's different.

566

:

So then we're

567

:

Amanda: at now that we were

fortunate to the fact that they

568

:

have funding that helped us.

569

:

They, they put us through rehab and

they paid for stuff like that, where it

570

:

was, you know, when we were unemployed

and straight out of jail, we didn't

571

:

have to try to figure out how to pay

for everything on top of all of that.

572

:

So they provided treatment for us.

573

:

Michi J: That is not

done in a lot of places.

574

:

Amanda: Like I said, small

town, small town, which I guess

575

:

is the fortunate part of that.

576

:

Ronnie: He says it's a small

town, but this is the second

577

:

largest city in our state.

578

:

Michi J: Well, we're going to be

wrapping this up now, but what is

579

:

the main thing you want the audience

to take away from this conversation?

580

:

Both you and Ronnie, you can

say two different things,

581

:

or you can do it together.

582

:

Whichever you like.

583

:

Ronnie: Buy a motorcycle.

584

:

Amanda: No, I think for, for us and

for everybody that we talk to about

585

:

stuff like this is that it can be done.

586

:

You know, it's not just

it's not just a choice.

587

:

It's a determination.

588

:

And don't let them tell you that

you can't do it because you can.

589

:

And you can have everything that you want.

590

:

Do you have to work for it?

591

:

Absolutely.

592

:

But it can be done and

you can do it together.

593

:

Michi J: Together.

594

:

I like that.

595

:

Together.

596

:

Together.

597

:

You can do it together.

598

:

Ronnie: Okay,

599

:

Michi J: well, thank you so much.

600

:

Amanda and Ronnie, this was a pleasure

and you are my Bonnie and Clyde.

601

:

I really thank you for coming on and

sharing your experience and sharing

602

:

with the audience how to stick together.

603

:

I say, not just through beauty,

because yes, Amanda is very beautiful.

604

:

Ronnie is very funny as well.

605

:

So it's, you need those things and

beauty is from the inside out humor.

606

:

Everybody needs humor.

607

:

So.

608

:

Amanda: That's true.

609

:

Michi J: All right.

610

:

Well, thank you all.

611

:

You all have a blessed evening and thank

you for being on the show again and again.

612

:

I thank you again and again.

613

:

So that's all.

614

:

Oh, wow.

615

:

Yes.

616

:

It was a pleasure.

617

:

So

618

:

Ronnie: I was going to say thank

you for the opportunity also.

619

:

And this was fun.

620

:

Michi J: Thank you.

621

:

Well, that's it, everyone.

622

:

Thank you for listening and may you

have a week filled with blessings.

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About the Podcast

Prisoner's Pardon
Prisoner's Pardon Trailer
A Prisoner’s Pardon, through storytelling, describes how prisoners are set free from physical and/or spiritual prisons (ex. Domestic & Drug Abuse) only via a pardon and not a reform program.

About your host

Profile picture for Michi - J

Michi - J

Michi J is a Chicago native who now lives in the Milwaukee area. By day, she works as an energy-industry analyst; she spends her remaining hours pursuing her lifelong passion of exploring and proclaiming the coming Kingdom of Christ. Her fiction and non-fiction writing explores, through storytelling, the parallel existence of physical and spiritual laws. Her favorite authors include Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Charles Spurgeon, C.S. Lewis, A.W.Tozer, Dr. Tony Evans, Erwin Raphael McManus, and Kitty Foth-Regner.