Gretchen, stories like yours amaze me at what the Lord can do in a person's life. Many have gone through what you have and then became bitter and ended up treating their kids the way they were treated. The love and concern you show to your neighbor children show how much the Lord has healed your heart.
Truth, you are so right -- He has done a great work in me, and He continues it (that clean up on aisle seven thing) -- by that I mean, there is more healing coming all the time. I often think about Joseph's words to his brothers who sold him into slavery, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good," and how God used the murderous intent, the worst of betrayals by his own brothers, to save those very brothers' lives later. It is a stick in the devil's eye every time I help another person out of what God has restored to me. I like that.