Episode 606: Susan Siddoway, Finding Hope & Peace in my Daughter’s Journey

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Richard Ostler

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 839 Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

My friend Susan Siddoway (active LDS, married, mother of 6 and grandmother to 13) shared story of her daughter Holly who left the church, identified as bisexual, struggled with addiction, was single and pregnant and died at age 33 in 2019. Susan shares gospel principles, doctrinal insights and church leader statements that strengthened her love and support for her daughter. She talks of the light and knowledge that came to her about Holly’s journey here on earth, how she was so much more than someone who left the church and had addictions. She saw Holly as a beloved child of Heavenly Parents, who was serving and helping others. Susan tells of the many people who lined up to speak to her after Holly’s funeral services, telling about the light she had been to them and how she blessed their lives. She speaks of the heartbreaking decision Holly made to place her baby for adoption. Her strong feeling that a gay couple should adopt. The wonderful relationship Susan and her family have with these two wonderful married women who adopted their granddaughter. It is a beautiful family love story. If you are looking for peace and hope because your children have left the church, Susan’s story will help you. She has been on this road for 15 years and has the long-view to bring you hope, peace, perspective and to not feel like you are a failure as an LDS parent. I was deeply touched listening to Susan share her story. I believe you will be too. Thank you Susan for being on the podcast. You are brave. Your story will help many. Links: Holly’s Obituary: https://www.wheelermortuaries.com/obituary/Holly-Siddoway Facebook Group of LDS Parent with Children No Longer Attending: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1139458306236720

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome listeners to another episode of Listen, Learn, and Love hosted by Richard Osler.
0:10.3	My guest on today's podcast in my home is my friend Susan Sittaway.
0:15.6	Welcome to the podcast, Susan.
0:17.5	Thank you, Richard.
0:19.6	Sometimes we've kind of famous people on the podcast, but most of the time we have
0:24.1	rank-and-file Latter-day Saints that have really powerful stories to share.
0:29.7	And they might be a little nervous because they've never been on a podcast before, but often
0:34.1	they do such an incredible job sharing their family story. And that's maybe a
0:38.4	little bit how Susan feels right now. We started with prayer. And Susan and her husband are active
0:46.0	Latter-day Saints. They're in their 60s. They have six children. And they're going to talk about
0:53.9	parenting children where some have left the church. That's probably not what they're going to talk about parenting children where some have left the church.
0:57.3	That's probably not what they hoped would happen when they're raising younger kids, but it's
1:02.0	the reality of their life. And Susan's been walking this road for about 15 years, and this
1:09.1	might be helpful for some of you parents that are new to this road,
1:13.4	that have a child that has stepped away from the church, and that can be lonely. You can be full of
1:18.9	self-doubt and wondering what you should have done differently. You can be wondering how to find
1:23.1	hope and peace and how this works for your eternal family. Susan also has a story within a story
1:30.9	with her daughter, Holly, who died in 2019. And Holly, I kind of hope you're aware of this podcast.
1:39.6	Holly was not active in the church, worked through addiction, and Susan in this beautiful obituary
1:45.5	that she'll reference, I think saw Holly the way our heavenly parents saw Holly and saw
1:50.7	the good that she did in this world. And I love the way you've seen your children. So this
1:59.4	might be helpful for just members in general, but Elder Holland and
	...

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