Brian and Ruth Christine Newsletter: Edition 19
April 2004 Newsletter
Happy spring to you all! Isn't it wonderful to watch the leaves burst forth from gray and brown branches? And aren't the flowers splendid in their array of colors and shapes! God truly is a remarkable Creator. We too have this gift, having been created in His image. My cellmate makes bright and colorfully creative flowers out of toilet paper and paint made from crushed up color pencil lead! He also makes spiders that make people jump when properly placed.
Welcome to spring and welcome to our little newsletter put out to keep you informed of what is happening behind bars and in the lives of Brian and Ruth Christine.
The two of us have not seen freedom since before the towers fell, though it's hard to believe it's been that long. But we're still here and we're still kickin.
Keep reading to grab the latest news on these two hardened criminals who would dare to love their children and risk their lives to rescue them out of the hands of strangers...
Quote: "If cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better to fight." Gandhi.
Disclaimer- This newsletter is not published by an organization, a religion, a group, a company, or an association. this newsletter is nothing more than words on paper. Readers are not members of any of the above and shall not be labeled as such
Fact- Children laugh an average of 400 times daily. Adults laugh an average of 12 times daily
This month has been an eventful month for Ruth and I. Most notably, Ruth's parents along with our three oldest daughters came for a visit to the good ole US of A. Ruth got special approval for visiting with them and saw them for four days the 1st week of April. They had then planned to come out to Pendleton to visit me for a day, but my prison blocked the visit and gave me a phone call instead. Our girls were very disappointed in not getting to see me. They have not seen me since August of 2001. In fact, my phone call of late was the first contact I'd had since then. Every once in a while I do receive a little note of a signed card from them.
However, I was very pleased with the phone call and I was also able to talk to them when they later visited at my mother's and grandmother's houses. I learned that each of them knows that I love them. They do love me and miss me too. They said they do receive my letters and that they wish they could come see me. Bethany, our oldest, talked to me the most. She gave me a kiss over the phone, what a sweetie =).
Ruth's visits went very well. I will let her comment on them herself below. There has been no word back yet on our direct appeals hearing, which took place on the 25th of November of 2003. But I just put it on my prayer list that we'd hear back on it soon. So I'll be expecting some news on that front.
I learned that my sentencing was seriously messed up recently and I'm working on getting four years knocked off my sentence. Any prayers directed at that accomplishment are greatly appreciated. The possibilities of what could happen in our case are endless, so there is no use speculating. God alone knows. I also have it on my prayer list that He release us both from prison within and year and a half.
I'm not as eager to get out as I once was. I now realize I may be somewhat institutionalized and it will be a great challenge to put the pieces of our life back together after these years apart. You have all the odds against you when released as an ex-con, especially with the post prison supervision (aka parole officers) who can walk into you home at any hour unannounced, search all you belongings and throw you back in prison for drinking a beer. There are people serving life here because while on parole, they got caught drinking a beer and so violated their parole. What's worse is frame jobs, but I won't even go into that. Suffice it to say, it will be very, very challenging to stay out in the free world because America's appetite for locking up it's citizens is voracious!
Quote: "Don't cross your brides until you get to them. We spend our lives defeating ourselves crossing bridges we never get to." -Bob Bales
Quote: "Read the Bible, it will scare the Hell out of you." -unknown
Prison Experience
By Brian Christine
Recently, a good friend of mine asked me what it is like in prison. I wrote the following in response:
You want to know about other experiences in prison. Well, it's a strange place. Have you ever watched a flock of birds, how they can be flying and all of a sudden they all move a different direction at once and you wonder how they do it?
Well prison is like that, a bunch of people making up a larger living breathing organism. You know almost immediately when any drama happened. Rumors spread like the dust blown by the strong winds here. It gets into your hair and clouds your vision with grit.
Most people are living in fear and try to look "hard" to mask it. Here at this prison, there is a lot of fake violence done right in front of the cops so there is no real danger. In other prisons there is true danger where people get stabbed and killed. This prison has a very tight way of controlling it's inmate population. They do this by instilling 100's of petty rules and being strict so the bigger crimes aren't even a thought. But in my opinion, that makes it better because there are hardly any drugs, etc.
Drugs always cause drama and drama leads to violence and violence makes your time harder. But it's not so bad. Living in a war would be a thousand times worse.
Then there's all the BS (bureaucratic stipulations) you have to go through just to do a simple thing like get your watch fixed under warranty or get a hair cut. But like most anything, you get used to it and accept it as normal in time.
Quote: "Let the sighing of the prisoner come before Thee" Psalm 79:11
Mrs. Ruth Christine in fact, though in prison they only call you "Miss Christine", or in my case "Miss Ruth" when people get confused over my two first names!
Time is flying. On May 5th I will only have exactly 5 years of this sentence left to serve. Though God willing, it won't be that long.
Spring sprang here a while back and today walking in the yard, I spotted at leas 7 different varieties of wild flower through the fence,
My job at DMV is going well. I am finally off training status and answer calls by myself. I am getting used to the hours and all the politics that come with every job. The pay is good. (the best there is in prison) which will be helpful for a lot of things. I was able to send Brian some money towards getting his guitar and give money to our daughters for them to be able to buy something from us. I am still on the waiting list for the craft programme, hopefully I will get into that soon.
As Brian mentioned, I received visits from our 3 oldest daughters and my parents this month. That was wonderful and an all-around answer to prayers! There were a lot of obstacles to be overcome for the visit to happen. My first counselor denied me getting to se the kids, but then God gave me a new counselor who was much more helpful. My parents booked the flight over before then even knew they could get in to visit! God moved hearts in order to get my girls in to see me.
The visits were great. A little hard, but good. We played out in the courtyard and crawled in the canvas tunnel, read stories, built towers, talked and ate snacks. I got to spend a little time with everyone individually to talk or play. It was good to know that the girls have missed me, and of course bittersweet- because it is hard for them.
I am proud of Bethany, for her faith, when we had a chance to talk she told me that she knew God had a plan with me being here and her there. She told me she prays for us to be together again. She knows we will be in heaven but wants to be together on earth first. The visits were hardest for her. She cried twice and this is unusual for her.
Lydia was very animated and it was exciting to see her creativity in the games she made up. She was always wanting hugs or kissing me on the cheek.
Miriam has a strong personality and you could really see that. She said a few classic things right out of the blue. One time she state that she wasn't going to get married. So I asked her why, she said she didn't want to kiss a boy!
They all seem to have a basic understanding of what it means to be a Christian and go to heaven, which I was pleased about. We got to take some photos to go with the memories.
It was good to see my parents too and to sit and talk. They are doing well with raising our girls and that's a lot of work. All in all, it was a really good visit and a huge blessing from God.
God Bless all of you
Love Ruth.