"The Way Home" DVD

Description
How would you feel if you turned your back "for a second" and your 2-year-old son was gone?  Vanished.  Randy Simpkins knows the answer to that question. "The Way Home" is not just based on his family's story, it is their story.  Randy was absorbed, as usual, in work.  He thought his sole purpose as a husband and father was to provide for his family.  That's it.  That's how he saw it.  What did she expect from him?!  She was always nagging him, wanting more.  In every way she could, she was crying out to him to love her, to love their 3 boys. The older boys were growing up without the father they needed. Joe was only 2. She wasn't giving up yet. Today they were leaving for a much-needed vacation, but could it mend their marriage and glue their family back together again remained to be seen. Maybe this vacation was going to be the answer to her cries. Randy just saw it as an imposition, but knew he wasn't going to get out of going. Pretty much dragged away from work just in time to leave on vacation, Randy was supposed to be packing up the car and he was left with the care of Joe, but, true to his nature, he still managed to slip back into the house to check his work email, leaving Joe, 2-years-old, riding his trike outside. Telling Joe to play close to the house, Randy gets distracted with work (again). How long does it take a two-year-old to disappear? Where could he be? Frustration with Joe's possibly having gotten it into his head to take off for Grandpa's on his own, and frustration with each other, Randy and his wife go from frustration to real fear over their little boy gone missing. The search begins and authorities have to be called in, but then the support and love of a whole community begins to pour in.




My Review
This is a true story. The Simpkins family was involved in the making of the DVD and it is very believable. This could happen to any one of us, and what would we do? It is easy to feel with them as they go through minute-by-minute agonizing and heart-wrenching thoughts, feelings and decisions with the authorities handling of the case, and all the community support. Simply, but powerfully told, I felt as though Randy and his wife could have been my neighbors. I could have been one of those helping to look for Joe--or praying. How Joe's disappearance affected everyone, the outpouring of love from the community, how God changed Randy Simpkins that day--this is the story of "The Way Home." I thought the casting was good, especially the two main characters of Randy and his wife. The little boy who played Joe in the opening scenes grabbed your heart, and you really felt the ache thinking of him lost and alone "without his mommy." The heart of the story though, is the change that God brought about in Randy, which is communicated very well. I would recommend this DVD. It is not depressing or excessively emotional, as I originally feared, but it is heartwarming, and shows how God works in the life of a man and in his family through the biggest crisis of their lives. Definitely get this DVD and watch it.
You can find out more about it and purchase it at either of these sites:
The Way Home (Amazon)
The Way Home (Lionsgate)


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this DVD free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are completely my own and were not influenced in any way by receiving this DVD free. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”