Growing in God

Well, we are completely settled into our new condo! We got moved in on January 2, so we have now been living here for close to 3 weeks. I was so excited for this new fresh start, but I didn't fully realize how tough this would be, either. Let me first start off by saying that I do LOVE our new place! It is really nice, really close to a lot of stuff, and is so much easier to take care of and maintain. I am loving it. But at first it took some adjusting. When we first got moved in and I said good-bye to our house, I was very emotional over it. It had really hit hard that I was going to be leaving the place that I grew up in and lived in my entire life, and that I was going to be leaving the place that will always be "My Mom's House". I had a brief meltdown and I cried, I almost felt like I was leaving my Mom behind and part of me behind. And when I got back to the condo, I had a hard time calling it my "home". It did not feel like home at first. It felt...

2016 has come to an end. And all I have to say is that it is about time! 2016 was just a very rough year on me and my whole family. Starting out with watching my Mom be horribly sick and then going from that to watching her die, was the most awful, painful thing for us to go through. And since saying goodbye to her, it has been such a rough journey of learning a new normal and learning to do life without her. It has been incredibly difficult and was not something I had in mind for 2016. But there has been some good things that have happened this year as well. As far as my goals I had last year for myself. The first goal I had was to continue to work to make money so I could be even more independent. And that goal I for sure succeeded in. And in fact, I ended up saying goodbye to my old job as a before and after school child care worker and started a new job as a Preschool Teacher's Assistant at an actual daycare and it is full time instead of part time. I love my job and I am mak...

Before I begin this blog post officially, let me just say that I did, overall, have a nice Christmas this year. So don't thinking that I just had an awful Christmas just because of what I titled this blog post. I had fun with my family and we were able to enjoy time with each other and catch up and have fun and they made me feel loved, even though I was struggling. Ok, so now that I have that disclaimer out of the way, lets officially begin this post. My Mom loved Christmas time. It was her absolute favorite time of year. She loved decorating, baking goodies, cooking delicious foods, and most of all doing fun things together as a family. And this year, without my Mom around, my Christmas spirit and cheer just was not there. In fact, it made this Christmas season a really tough one, emotionally. First off, there was no one I knew that could decorate a house as beautifully as my Mom did for Christmas. It was our joke that she was never truly done decorating because she was always...

This year is the first Thanksgiving without my Mom. A lot of you may be thinking that I am having to work hard to find things to be thankful for this year with having lost my Mom and all. But, really, I still have a lot to be thankful for. First and foremost, above anything else, I am thankful for my Mom. I am thankful that I got to have her as my Mom for a wonderful 22 years. She was the best Mom ever! She loved me, supported me in everything, prayed for me, guided me, gave me advice, and helped me anytime I asked her. She was the most selfless, faith-filled, strong woman I knew. She let God guide her through each day just one day at a time. She cared for everyone around her and always put me and my family, and God first. She taught me so much and did so much for me. I would not be who I am today if I did not have her for my Mom, heck, technically I would not exist if I didn't have her as my Mom! I love her so much and I miss her more and more each day. There is not a moment tha...

Thinking back to being a student sitting in the seats of Holland Christian's auditorium during chapel, I remember hearing a lot of great speakers. Some were just funny, others had amazing stories that you could just never forget, and some just really hit home with the lessons they were teaching. I always really liked when past students of HC would come back to do a chapel and share things they have learned, it was always interesting to hear how far they had come in their lives. And I remember thinking to myself on occasion, "if I were to be asked to speak in chapel, what would I talk about?" At that time, I really never could think of anything that would really make people listen to me, and also I was too afraid of panicking and having a nervous breakdown. But lately, now that I am older, a little wiser, more mature, and have gone through a lot more of life, I feel have more to say. And, for some reason, lately, God has been putting a lot of things on my heart and giving ...

On September 14, 2015, I had a surgery that changed my life forever. I had my gastric sleeve surgery. It was on that day, that I began a very hard, but yet very worth while journey, that I do not regret one bit. I have come so far and have become a whole new person. I started out weighing 401 pounds, I wore size 4X shirts and size 30-32 pants. I had little energy and would get tired and winded easily. I never wanted to do anything. I couldn't fit on hardly any rides and had to worry about weight restrictions where ever I went. I couldn't sit criss-cross applesauce or cross my legs. I barely had a lap for kids to sit on and couldn't play very much with kids before I would get tired and need a break. I felt fat, ugly, disgusting, and like I wasn't worth anything and like I was nothing but a fat, useless piece of crap. I hated myself and was very depressed. Now, I am a new person. Now, I weigh 219 pounds, I wear size Large shirts, and 18 pants. I have so much more ener...

So, it has been awhile since I have updated on my life happenings for this blog of mine. Lets just say I have been quite busy and there has been a lot going on. For starters, I now work for an actual daycare, full time, instead of the part time job I had working for a before and after school program at one of the local public schools. I am absolutely LOVING my new job! There are a lot of really great people that I work with, the kids are great, and the job itself is busy, but fun, so the days go buy fairly quickly. There are some trying moments and rough days, but that happens no matter what kind of job you have, but despite the occasional rough day, I still love what I do and am very happy at my job and I feel like I am right where God wants me. Where are things at with our house? Well, it is for sale and on the market. We have had a few people come and look at it, but have not had any offers yet. Really hoping and praying we sell it soon, because I really think we all(me, my Dad,...