Lifes Defining Moments... Hmmm. Where shall I start? This morning as I watered the Oak Tree seed that my oldest son sent me for Mothers Day? (Thanks Amber!)... As I watered it the little tiny seedling actually turned towards the sun... Right in front of me and not in slow motion... ! It was amazing... Definitely today's Defining Moment number one. One sense of Awe to start the day....
As long as I can remember people have been telling me to write a book... I have to say that I have led a pretty interesting life.... Not interesting in the way that you may think... No travels to far away countries and climbing tall mountains... No scuba diving or swimming with dolphins... (although this is something I want to do!) No Mission trips to save the world... one child at a time...
My life has been a rollercoaster ride for sure.. But not in any of those ways. There are too many stories to tell... The mountains I have climbed have not always ended with the Happy Ending as you stand at the top and look down on the world and all its beauty... The Valleys I have visited not always filled with fields of flowers.
My life has a different kind of story to tell.. I won't start with my childhood... although I am sure I will fill in gaps as I go along. My life is a story of how a little girl that was lost grew up and was found , loved and saved by a complete stranger in a town far away from her home.
A story of real life... trials.. tragedies.. and too many blessings to name...
Be patient with me as I tell my story a little at a time... Not always in order, for that is me... I am about as unorganized as can be.. My own chaos in my kitchen cabinets and in my closets is just a glimpse of the person I am... Don't judge me.. For I do love Beauty and cleanliness in all things... I just don't possess that part of the brain that says.. Hey make your life easier and organize these cabinets... and when others do it for me I am at a loss as how to keep it that way. Just something that I don't understand. Although I do envy those of you that possess these gifts... My gifts are those of a different kind.
Back to Defining Moments.. I told you this would not be in order... If you are looking for someone to tell you a story in that starts in the beginning and ends at the end... You may want to stop reading now.
My life is made up of many defining moments.....I have learned a lesson from every one of these moments.. each one shaping me into the woman I am today.
The cries of my newborn babies as he/she are brought into the world and placed into my arms.
The feeling in my heart when I found out my son Zachary had cerebral palsy
The time my son decided to water the plants in the house with the hose from outside.
The day I packed up my Van...and left Utah forever.
These are just a few of many.. each one having a story of its own... We will get to all of that.. and more..
The Defining moment in my life ...really ... is the day a strange lady in Midland Tx took a very lost young lady and made her feel beautiful. Told her that God loved her and took her to church... dragging her up the aisle after to the pastor and telling him that I needed prayer... This Pastor looked at me with tears in his eyes after praying and said... "white dress..." I could not understand what he was talking about... There were so many emotions going through me at the time that I felt as if I would pass out... Mortified that she dragged me up in front of everyone basically pushing me into the ladies arms and exclaiming for the world to hear that I was Mormon and needed to be free.
Well I can tell you right now that it was not the Mormon in me that I needed to be free from...!But she was convinced that once I was set free from the Mormon in me that all would be well... God love her... I love her... She changed my life and died from Cancer a year later.... I will never forget her as long as I live and talk to her still. I feel her with me. Her name was Pat Sims... a 50 year old Southern Belle with Beautiful Blonde hair and a smile as wide as Texas... Why she took time with me I will never know but she did, and I am so grateful to her. I wish I would have told her how much she meant to me... I remember at her graveside her daughter coming up to me and telling me how much she loved me and how I enriched her life... I was dumbstruck.... I did nothing to enrich her life... She changed mine.
If letting her cook me beans and cornbread for dinner and talking to her on the phone as she talked about the latest deals at Dillards enriched her life.. .then she is even more amazing than I knew then.
She would take my then toddler Sydnee shopping with her. I doubt Sydnee even remembers her now.It was such a short time she was in my life,
Back to the "white dress" as I was wiping tears of shame, oh there was alot of it back then, and feeling like a flood of something washed through me, the Pastor explained to me that God saw me as little girl in a white dress. Pure and loved.
I was sure he was out of his mind... I was anything but Pure then, and loved? By God? After the choices I had made? (again... we will get to all that later...!)
That night I prayed harder than I had in a long time.. not just the prayers I had been saying all my life but a real deep down soul wrenching prayer and I heard God respond to me. He said I am your Father.
Oh God.. Thank you for loving me! Do I deserve it ? No!!! How much grace does one person get because I was pretty sure I had used all mine up... But I didn't understand it then. I don't know... Really.... I just know he loves me. He is my father....
You see... I never knew by Biological Father... Well.. if you call seeing some bald guy on the News at Ten one night as the person who called 911 the most for no reason...(some kind of notoriety!)and having your mother explain that is your father knowing your Father then I guess I knew him...I met him a couple of times after that.
Wow... Are you sure I am related to him? I would think as a 14 year old.. He was balding.. an alcoholic and drug abuse and died just last year pretty much penniless from drinking.
But that my friend, is another story too... Please be patient with me.. there is so much to tell..
Thanks to my friend Liz, who brought over her friend Rochelle to meet me yesterday for finally putting it in me to blog... I have had many many people ask me to tell them my story.. But never have the time... maybe this will be the time. Maybe this way.. a little at time you will hear my story...
I have Seven children,One beautiful granddaughter... Seven Dogs a cat...But it does not end there my friend..I currently work full time for American Airlines, own my own Boutique(Hot Chocolate.. a chic boutique) and am building a Ice Cream Shoppe... Oh life is full.. Very Full and I love every single crazy second of it.. Because I am walking in the Lords Direction! Oh how things will change when you realize that our Human nature will be t he death of us... Literally.

I have a Wonderful Husband who was brought to me through God himself. Someone who puts up with me. Who loves our Children. And our animals. Who believes in never sharing a drink....haha .(germs... ICK!). and hates green peas....Who loves the sun.. hates the snow...loves going out to eat and sitting out under the Texas sky at night... I do have to say however... he is not perfect... He doesn't like mashed potatoes.
But he is....someone who believes that God is most important.
My life is a God thing.
100 %
Well my friend.. I have to quit for the night.. Thank you for sharing this special time with me...
PS... My sweet 23 Year old daughter just got home from buying a new car... she says she needs to throw up...!
Buying a car......another one of those defining moments.....
Love you Brookie.... You will miss your truck.. of course... we are Women and become emotionally attached to all things... inanimate or not....