Power of Commitment

This is such a beautiful story. Things like this only happen with God.

We are family!

Family, it can mean several different things to any one person. It could mean love, hate, guilt, joy, laughter, pain, confusion. To me- family means being there. I adore my family. I adore each and every one of them and all their craziness. God gave each of these people to me as my life character list and I am going to share a little about each person with you today.

Husband- He is my rock. He is there to remind me that life is not always as hard and crazy as I can sometimes blow it up to be. He is my comic relief. That one person who can make me crack a smile when I want to ball my eyes out or punch a brick wall. He is the one who has to be reminded that sometimes things are serious and we do have to take them seriously. And I love him for each of those traits.

Mom- She is my best friend second to my husband. She is my constant. She is my warrior. She has been there to pick me up off the ground and to laugh nights away in the mountains of Haiti. She has always supported me, through every single one of my crazy ideas. She NEVER puts herself first, and sometimes we have to remind her that she needs too.

Sister 1- She is my third best friend (I am very lucky to have so many awesome best friends in my life). She is the optimistic, the one who believes against all odds we will all make it out just fine and not just fine, but better. She never answers her phone, but she knows exactly how to be there for you if you need her and exactly what to say. She is my younger sister, but I firmly believe she is my older sister.

Dad- He is the fixer. He believes that if it is broken, he can and he will fix it. We always call Dad when something is broken, whether that be our car or our hearts, Dad'll fix it, he always does. Dad is my motivator. He pushes me to be a better person. He is the prime example of becoming the Dad he wanted to be, despite the example of a Dad he had.

Brother- He is the calm one of the whole gang. He is the one you call when you are so far deep in crap you just want him to calm you down. (Which I did my junior year of high school) He is the guy that no matter the time between, he will always be the same caring, geniue guy who wouldn't leave you hanging no matter what.

Sister 2- She is my plus 1 sister. I gained her when my brother got married. She is the one I can relate to. She is the one who can dig through our messy pasts together and just be happy and proud of how far we both have come. She is an encourager. She will be there when you need her, and be there to just say how proud of you she is.

Brother 2- He is the prime goofball. I gained him when my sister got married. He has seen me at my worst, and seen me at my best. He can pull you out of a civil war where you just lost your leg, and make you feel like you're on top on the world. Your problems are never problems when you're hanging out with him, they're just a good story.

"What else is family if not a commitment to keep showing up?" -Glennon Melton

Why Should You Take A Mission Trip to Haiti.

This is my first piece of publication for my ENG 303 class. This is an informative piece directed to an audience who has ever considered a mission trip to Haiti, and ways to go about making that possible. 

5 Tips on helping others get through hard times...

5 Tips on helping others who are going through a tough time in their life:

1. When someone wants your advice, 9 times out of 10 they don't want your advice, they want love. Each time you hear, "I need some advice", think to yourself that the person is actually saying "I need some love". Which is almost always the case, in my own personal experience. When someone is going through something hard, they want to be loved and to be listened to. So LOVE & LISTEN.

2. Quit saying "It all happens for a reason".When someone is going through a hard time, the last thing they want to hear is that their situation is occurring for some unknown reason. The reason is never appreciated until after the fact. And by saying this to someone it makes them feel that their grief or sadness is un-important because you think it is happening for a reason.

3. Let them grieve. It could take one month, one year, or ten years, BUT let that person have their grief. Never rush someone through a hard time, and make them fear as if their grief is too extreme. You will never know exactly how something in someone's life may affect them. And even if the same thing has happened to you, all people are entitled to their own reactions to situations. 

4. Be there.When someone is going through a difficult time, they just want people to be there. Check up on them, they will want people to be there, but don't want to necessarily ask people to be there. If you are lucky enough (and obviously you are important to them!) to know what they are going through, that means they trusted a piece of them with you, so be there!

5. Never say "It could be worse." While this may be the case, that something worse could have happened, telling that to someone going through a struggle will not help. To them, this paining hard time, is the worst thing to them, in that moment. 

You would think some of these things would be a no brainer, but sometimes people say or do these things, maybe unconsciously. Just remember, you were that important to your friend/family member/person for them to confide in you! Just listen, love, and be there!! :) 

What if we stopped trying to pretend everything in our lives is perfect?

Recently I've been reading this book called Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton. There have been SO many things that have stuck out to me in this book. (So make sure you go read it, it's awesome!) One of the first things that stuck out to me was when Glennon talks about how women are constantly painting a perfect picture of their lives to other women. Get real, we ALL do it. We want people to think our lives are perfect, and wouldn't want to give them the idea that something is wrong, or that we actually don't have it all together like we may seem.

I find this so true in my life. Sadly, I've done this. I talk to other people and just tell them and highlight the things going great in my life, when in reality there are double the amount of good things going wrong! So many times, I've covered up the bad things in my life, to others, and pointed out only the good things. There are two things this does- keeps our true feelings and problems inside therefore not dealing with them and makes other women feel like man, that girl has got it all together! When in reality neither of them do.

Glennon decides that she is going to "put down her armor, and weapons" and just show her real self to every person she meets. She states, they're either going to love it, or run from it, which will tell her who she really doesn't need in her life.

Women spend most of their time convincing people their own life is perfect and that everything is just great. Life is great and it can be, but we all have problems, we all have horrible things happen to us, things we can't deal with alone. And God didn't intend for us to deal with and go through life alone, God gave us that drive inside of us to be with people, to talk with people, to share life's joys and life's struggles with one another.

So I think I've decided I'm just going to tell my life how it is. I don't need to spend my life trying to convince people my life is perfect, my life is ANYTHING but perfect these days. I want more people in my life who choose to still share in my life, even though my life comes with joy and yes with it's fair share of struggles and trials. I challenge you to do the same! Life is better together.