Personal Intro

Setting out on a new adventure is always exciting. A couple weeks ago I decided to embrace life again and dive in to a new and exciting journey, beginning with a blog. Knowing I should begin blogging with an introduction of who I am sent my mind off in a thousand directions. How do we truly define who anyone is? Is it because of their accomplishments? education? employment? family? I'm sure you understand exactly what I am saying!

A person becomes who they are through the adventures they have had in  life. As a child, I was most certainly the ugly duckling! I got picked on a little bit in elementary school, but the real trouble started when I changed school districts in the 8th grade.

The bullying started almost immediately. I was hit on the back of the head as other students walked past me on the bus. When seated, I was pelted with spit balls. The laughter from the back of the bus rang out loud and clear to me while the tears I fought stung my eyes. Day after day after day this occurred.

The school days weren't much better. Although I was free from these bullies most of the day, there were times that we did have to cross paths. I was tripped, taunted, and had the books knocked out of my hands plenty of times. At a homecoming football game, a group of bullies snuck up behind me and poured and entire bottle of perfume on the band uniform I was wearing. Nothing my parents did seemed to matter. This went on for two years and gradually tapered off.

This bullying took away any shred of self confidence I had. In fact, there are still days that my confidence is weak. Thankfully, my parents allowed me to go to a summer band camp in Grand Rapids, MI after my sophomore year of high school. It was amazing! The students there cared about all the learning we were doing, but even more important to me was that they liked me! They liked me for who I was! Can you imagine how I thrived being in an environment where I felt as though I was a part of the most popular group of students?

I took those feelings back to high school with me. I gradually came out of my shell and began talking a little bit more and gained more friends. I returned to that same school for college. This time I was a much smaller fish, in a much, much larger pond. I made a lot of discoveries that first year away from home. Most importantly, I learned to always work hard and do your best. My first year of college also marked the period of time when I began to really discover and learn who I am.

I continued to learn as life changed very quickly! I was married at the age of 20, had my first daughter at 20 months later and my second daughter just 19 after that! Church became more important to me. I really started to grow in my relationship with Christ and understand what it really means to live a life of Christianity. I was molded and shaped because of the time I spent in Bible studies and working with the church's worship teams. As years passed, homeschooling our children also helped to solidify some of the things that I had been learning - hard work, dedication, and doing things to the best of my ability. I learned about life through another set of eyes as my husband and I took on the challenge of becoming foster parents to teenage boys after they went through the program at Rawhide Boys Ranch. As our girls got older, we eventually stopped taking boys out of concern for the girls safety.

Life is full of defining adventures. There are many more examples I could give you of all of the ups and downs of life that took place between college and 2009, but let's suffice it to say that in general, it was a fairly good 20 years.

November 5, 2009, however, is a date that has changed my life forever. It is one of life's defining adventures that no parent ever wants to go through. That was the day I received the phone call telling me to come to Theda Clark as soon as I could - both of my daughters were in a serious car accident. Rebecca spent the next 5 weeks in ICU and another 3 in the inpatient rehab unit at Theda Clark. Hannah was released after just a few days. Both are doing well now.

Dealing with the after effects of an accident like they went through though is not easy. We are not, and honestly may or may not ever be back to "normal". We continue to embark on a journey of learning a new "normal". I continue to struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But do you remember what I told you in the beginning? I have decided to embrace life again and dive in to a new and exciting journey!.

I look forward to getting to know each of you as we continue this adventure together. Thank you for allowing me to share with you this evening.