Thankful for my heritage/roots

Last night at youth we had a quick lesson about being thankful. It was good. With that one thankful holiday coming up and all everywhere I look (blogs, Facebook, emails, etc) people are writing what they are thankful for, and last night we all had to say something we are thankful for most people said my family, one said God's presence, one the church proud of who said that one:-), and a couple other different ones. Well it got down to be my turn I was trying to hide but thanks to Sis LEE lol she won't like that, love you, got pointed out and ended being last better than first. I couldn't think of any one thing I hate that I said jokingly I am thankful for being me which I am thankful for that I am ME no matter who I am with or around but then serious thankful I said I am thankful for my heritage and my roots. I don't know about most people but I am proud of where I came from, I can say I am not ashamed of any of it. I may not like all of it but it is what makes me, me. I as well as my husband have an incredible heritage, my husband's is a little more impressive. So here I my life story and a little heritage :-) On February 2nd 1985 my mommy had me ( I was born out of wedlock although I would not know this for many years later) I was born in Coos Bay, OR my mom had been pretty much raised in church, my daddy was there for her the whole time even though he didn't have to be he chose to be ( he wasn't my biological but chose me:-) and he was raised in church and they both have a Christian heritage 8 months after I was born my parents got married on 10/5/1985 in Roseburg church called Christian Life Center the Pastor who married them was Pastor Knight this is the church I would grow up in. When I was 21 months old my mom had a baby boy my brother born on 11/06/1986 Joshua David Levi, we were very close to the Knight's sometimes I still miss some of the memories. When I was 46 months on 12/29/1988 my sister Emilee Joi was born, around the time I was 4/5 the Knight's would leave Roseburg and go back to Stockton :-( shortly after moving back down there Pastor Knight would die in a plane Crash. Pastor Knight passed the church to one of the Greatest man and family I know and I miss them all the time to this day Pastor Don Richardson, he was my Pastor for 8 years roughly maybe more, when they were leaving I was upset I bawled, I was 13 when they left, Sis Richardson was my school teacher from kindergarten, she could do no wrong, they took me to my first Youth Convention and many other Firsts, I am very grateful God placed this family in my life and I miss them still after 13 years :-). Ok back tracking when I was I think 10-11 I found out the story of how I came to be I found out I had another side of family. My mom told me because my Grandpa was very sick and they didn't know how long he would be alive, my grandpa was a minister he was a wonderful man, I loved listening to him talk. From the time I found out I was over there a lot, they lived 2 hrs max away so every chance I got I was there. I got close to my grandmother and love this woman dearly. Ok after Richardson's left at age 13 a man by the name of
Pastor Carl Brown was my pastor, this was an era of trial for him I am sure , and the church :-) at this time my parents started struggling in church, they ended up not going to church while us kids kept going, we would walk to church, my mom would drop us off, or my grandparents would pick us up, this is a time in my life I would not trade for anything this is what made me. At the age of 16 I went and stayed with my grandparents for 5 months on a horse ranch this was another great time of my life. After that I moved to Coos Bay to live with my aunt and finish school my grandmother also lived here. If I had a rebellious time it was my 16th summer :-). I started going back to church with my grandmother after 5 months of being isolated from anything. This is where I would meet the loves of my life God and my husband Jeremy. I met Jeremy and less than a month after meeting we started courting, this was an interesting time and I loved it all, we had trials before we got married but a month after we started courting we knew we were gonna get married. I knew this was the man I was going to marry. So 4 months after our first "date" we were engaged, we talked all the time and about everything, he was and is my BEST FRIEND. 5 months after getting engaged we got married on 10/12/2002 best day :-) oh I was 17 :-/ lol. I got done with school early :-) 9 months after we were married I found out I was pregnant yikes, six months later I had a 3 month early baby boy weighing 1 lb 12 oz and 14 inches long, he was my miracle and still is, his name is Jacob Michael and he lives up to his name, he was in the hospital for a little over 2 months. I had him a week before my 19th birthday. When he was 6 months old we moved to Portland metro area and attended Pastor Gary Gleason church OCUPC 3 years after moving there we had another son Judah Milo born on 8/14/2007 he was 5 weeks early weighing 4 lbs 8 oz he was in the hospital for a week 3 days longer than I so not to bad, a year later I found out I was pregnant again I balked and cried I didn't want another baby yet on 05/15/2009 Kaleigh Louise was born she is a MESS, right after her 1st birthday we moved to Washington our Pastor Tim King, I am excited and thankful to be here extending my roots and heritage to my children.