Warrior Retreat Brings Healing para Veteran Family

VIDEO SCRIPT

Andy Butterworth

The adventure of having both parents missing a leg and having three normal kids that have two legs and love to run and play. And it’s a it’s a struggle to keep up with them. But this is so awesome that we have an awesome place to go to here. And the people are amazing. They make everybody feel welcome.

I mean, this is one of the first times we haven’t had to, like, chase our kids and worry about our kids for a couple of days in a row in I don’t know how long.

Julie Butterworth

And he was injured in Iraq and oh, for when they were driving in their Bradley and were hit by an RPG.

Andy

We found a really awesome spot set up for an ambush. They had the same idea and they beat us to it and they hit us. Hit my Bradley with two rocket propelled grenades, and one of them hit in just the right spot and the 1 in 1,000,000 shot and went all the way through the turret. It went through my lieutenant’s left leg and through my right leg, just past my left knee.

And almost all the way through the whole vehicle. It’s been 20 years since I got hurt, and I’m just now, within the past 2 or 3 years, learning myself again and learning that I got unresolved issues. Man, we all got things, just learning how to one give it back to God and two to talk through it and work on it and not try to drown my sorrows or drown it out with alcohol or drugs or, you know, just fast motorcycles.

I did all that stuff and it was, my wife saved me. I think God put her in my life at the time. I needed her to, to bring me out all this. God obviously had a plan.

Julie

God has played a huge part in my life. I am an amputee, because of a birth defect, and my parents raised me to know that I was born that way for a reason.

And when I met my husband, Andy, and he told me about his accident. I know, and I’m confident that that was God’s plan, even though it was such a horrific trauma. And I know that we were brought together and we would not have had the situation that different. This is our first time at Joni and Friends Warrior Getaway.

Andy

One of the first things we did was, my wife signed this up for one of the individual one on one counseling sessions with one of the counselors here. that was great. One of the biggest things that really helped me in that I always try to give advice to guys that have been through things like that and like, you have to talk about it.

The more you talk about it. I won’t say it gets easier, but it does and it almost kind of gets easier to accept it.

Julie

We wanted to come to Joni and Friends Warrior get away, because our family hasn’t gotten to be a part of the healing process yet. I have gone to caregiver retreats before and Andy has gone to veteran only retreats.

We’ve gone to couples retreats.

Andy

There’s a lot of stuff out there for me, and there’s a lot of resources for my wife, but there’s not always resources for our kids, and there’s not always a lot of this stuff. It’s just adults.

Julie

Prior to coming to Johnny and Friends, I was feeling a lot of weight of parenthood and trying to be the perfect wife and have the perfect household and also maintain homeschooling my child.

I can’t say enough how much that weight was lifted just having the kids have somewhere safe to go to just come out here and wholeheartedly be able to trust the person that’s watching my children and know that they’re also learning, and they’re also learning about God and how to treat others. While Andy and I are building our relationship.

Andy

It’s just so nice to have the whole family together and to kind of just get this time away from the home, away from that, what can normally be a chaotic environment to come to someplace where we can all have fun and relax and just kind of get away.

People Interviewed and their Titles
Andy and Julie Butterworth

Recording Location
North Carolina, USA

Organization featured in this Story
Joni and Friends – www.joniandfriends.org