Rodney and I always say that God sent us into each other's lives so purposefully at the time he did,

because he knew we'd need each other to get through some of the hardest things to ever happen to either one of us.

I lost my grandma, and Rodney lost his mom.

We had each other to lean on, but we were adults. We had memories with them. They were at

all of the big life events, but my stepchildren had an even harder experience. They had

wonderful memories, yes, but their sweet granny wasn't going to physically be there for their weddings or for the birth of their

children. That's hard, especially when the loss was so sudden. One of the last times my stepdaughter spent with her

granny, they had wine together. They took silly pictures, and she still has one of those pictures up in her house.

She kept the wine bottle. Those items are more priceless to her than nearly anything.

The same is true for Nicole Stevenson. She was 16 when she lost her grandparents,

but the day before they were brutally and senselessly murdered.

Nicole had made a Facebook post with a picture of herself and a group of friends,

accompanied with a comment about being so tall.

Her mamma had commented, quote,

you may be the tallest, but you're also the best, end quote.

That memory. That comment. The snapshot Nicole took of it is priceless to her now. We hold on to what we have left. When we don't have the

physical person to hug tight, we put value into the things they touched, or the words they said.

Most of the family, the friends, the neighbors, the church family, heck, even strangers,

who met the couple at the center of our case this week, have things to hold on to.

They touched so many people in such a positive way that it's hard to believe that

they met the fate they did. This is the story of Bill and Peggy Stevenson. I'm I'm I'm

I'm

...