Bulletin E-Edition:
more photosRecovering drug addicts Kara Holt left 34 and Cheri Rausch 38 have a lot to be thankful for this year: They are both drug- and alcohol-free. They will be spending time with their families this Thanksgiving and they have formed an important friendship with one another.
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
It's been a tough year.
But even in the midst of hardships, Central Oregonians are finding reasons to be thankful. Here are four of their stories.
Published: November 26. 2009 4:00AM PSTCheri Rausch doesn't remember last Thanksgiving. But today will be different. It will mark her 60th day of being drug- and alcohol-free.
For the first time since she started using methamphetamines 12 years ago, the 38-year-old will spend the holiday with her family as a recovering addict.
Her eyes well up when she mentions she will also be allowed two overnight visits with her 3-year-old son, who is in her mother's custody.
“We will be thankful I'm not on drugs,” Rausch said. “I've spent many holidays distant, not eating food, showing up late. This year, I'll be on time, engaging with my family. This year will be pretty special.”
It only took three days this summer for Rausch to lose custody of her son and her job as a manager at a chain restaurant.
During Rausch's drug treatment program, she met her housemate, Kara Holt, 34, who is also a recovering addict. Holt has been clean for nine months after using methamphetamines for 17 years. The two women live in a Bend safe house.
This year, when the two sit with their families around a turkey dinner, they will have something else to be thankful for: their friendship.
“We didn't know each other when we were using, so the relationship we have is one that is real in this world,” Rausch said. “I think that's pretty cool.”
Holt said it's nearly the first time in her adult life she's been able to trust women.
“I thought women were conniving and vindictive (when I was using),” Holt said.
Both women agree it's going to be a good Thanksgiving.
“I will have my children with me, and I can smile. That's something I could never do before,” Holt said. “I was pissed off every day.”
— Lauren Dake, The Bulletin
Every day, Melissa Abramson crosses off another square on her calendar at home — and then does
the same on her calendar at work, the one at school and the one she carries in her purse.
For nearly seven months, Abramson, 24, has been counting down the days until her husband returns home to Redmond from his year-long deployment to Iraq, where he is serving with the Oregon Army National Guard's 41st Brigade Combat Team.
It's an experience she's been through before — her husband, Cpl. Dominic Abramson, 27, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005 — but Abramson said some days are better than others.
The hardest times, she said, are days like Thanksgiving.
“Last time, I thought (the holidays) would be easy,” Abramson said. “But on the actual day, it's very, very tough. There's something about the holidays. ... On both Thanksgiving and Christmas, I didn't want to be around people. It was almost like, if he can't be here, I want to be by myself.”
This year, though her husband won't be home for the holidays, Abramson is thankful she'll be able to celebrate with someone who understands what she's going through: her sister, Tia Dougall, whose husband is also deployed to Iraq with the 41st Brigade.
The deployment is a first for Dougall, 26, and her husband, Staff Sgt. Dan Dougall, 33, who live in Redmond and have two young sons. Dougall said the last several months have been a whirlwind as she's tried to keep up with work, taking care of her sons and doing all the chores at home.
Without her sister's help and advice on dealing with a deployment, Dougall said the experience would have been even more difficult.
“It would be really depressing,” she said. “I can go, go, go, but sometimes I just need downtime and someone to talk to.”
Today, the sisters plan to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends. They say they're thankful they'll be together and know their husbands are safe.
Most of all, they're happy to move one step closer to the day when their families will be reunited.
“You really learn to appreciate what you have when they're gone,” Abramson said. “Even little things that would annoy you, like the toilet seat left up — you miss that because it means they're home.”
— Erin Golden, The Bulletin
As 4-year-old Taylor Ehrens chewed on string cheese and watched cartoons, her mother, Tosha, noted
that Taylor's been pretty lucky.
She still gets sick, but she doesn't have to spend that much time in the hospital — and the trips to Portland for chemotherapy have switched from once a week to once every three weeks.
Early last year, Tosha and her husband, J.R., found out that Taylor had Langerhans cell histiocytosis, a rare blood disorder that caused tumors on the side of her head and her collarbone.
“It's not something you ever think will happen,” Tosha said.
Taylor underwent chemotherapy for six months, but the tumors came back — now, she's almost done with a second round of treatment.
But the Ehrenses hope the worst is behind them.
“We're hopefully on the downside of this disease,” Tosha Ehrens said.
This Thanksgiving, as they prepare to visit relatives for the holidays, the Ehrenses said they're happy the family is together and that both parents have jobs.
J.R., a roofing contractor, was unemployed for much of the winter and spring, and then worked out of Government Camp and Post for weeks at a time until about a month ago.
“I'm thankful he's back, let me tell you,” Tosha said.
She's also grateful for her co-workers at the Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Bend, who support her, ask if there's anything the family needs, and threw a huge baby shower when Tosha was pregnant with her younger daughter, Marley, now 1.
All of them go out of their way,” Tosha said. “I don't ever have to ask.”
And now, the family is getting extra help from Summit High School, whose students have adopted Taylor as their Sparrow.
Girls from the Sparrow Club bought Taylor a princess costume, complete with tiara, for Halloween and took her trick-or-treating.
Taylor talked about the outing for days after, Tosha said, and club members later called to see if the family needed anything for Thanksgiving.
“The girls have been great,” Tosha said.
— Kate Ramsayer, The Bulletin
After two years of saving $85 each month for a down payment, Arlena Wilson is thankful to be a homeowner.
For the single mother of six sons — ages 5-21 — saving the money wasn't always easy. Wilson worked with the Redmond-based nonprofit Housing Works to find programs that would help her buy a home.
After she established her savings program, Wilson sometimes pleaded with her Housing Works case manager to let her drop out of the program.
In the end, Wilson made every payment on time, and on Friday, she closed on a 1,740-square-foot Bend home.
“It was awesome,” Wilson, 40, said of the signing day. “I worked really hard at it for a really long time.”
Wilson saved the money in an individual development account, or IDA.
The accounts offer a three-to-one match to an individual's personal savings. For every $85 Wilson deposited, the IDA put in $255.
Federal and state agencies and private foundations provide the matching funds.
Wilson figures she will spend about $230 per month less on her mortgage than she did on rent.
The savings are helpful, but Wilson is happiest to own a home to share with her sons.
“Just having the stability for my kids and not throwing my rent out the window, it feels really good,” Wilson said.
— Patrick Cliff, The Bulletin
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