Why Blog?

When I was considering starting blogging again, I really thought about what the purpose of my blog would be. Would I just vent everyday ramblings to the unknown world? Tell you all the hilarious stories about my awesome boys? Tell you about the Savior of the world that I love and serve? Well, yes. All of those. But I want there to be a purpose to my writing. So, I guess you'll know what you're getting into if you continue to read on. Here are the purposes I came up with other than those previously listed: I want to encourage anyone who happens upon this page. I want you to have a smile on your face and feel like someone has given you a pat on the back. I want you to get to know me and my family. I'd love to tell you about my friends, my church, and my passions. Hopefully I can keep it up to where you will walk through some of this short life with me.

I think that in order for you to get to know me, you need to know my heritage. So, fresh on my mind (since he and his family were here this past weekend) is my brother, Darin. Darin is my older brother by 3 years. He was a Senior and I was a Freshman. I've always said that he got "the brains, the height, and the looks" and all I got was coordination! Sorry, bro, but truth be told, you were in college before you had full control of those long limbs of yours! My parents have said the whole time we were growing up, "oh, this is our favorite age!" Now they say that this is their favorite age because we have both given them grandboys. Well, if I'm honest, the same is true about the way I feel about Darin. You see, with Darin being my older brother, it was his job to make sure his little sister didn't grow up a wimp. It was his responsibility to beat me up but also to protect me.

When we were young, we didn't really get along so well. He was my brother for crying out loud! We weren't supposed to get along! On road trips, there was a line in the minivan seat. You didn't cross, touch, or even think about touching that line. On many occasions I'd yell out, "MOM! He's looking at the line! I know he thought about crossing my line!" Ugh...my blood is boiling just thinking about how frustrated I got. He acted all innocent, but he was the instigator. I ALWAYS got in trouble. ALWAYS. It wasn't fair! He would egg it on and I would be the one to get in trouble. Was I usually to blame? Sure (mom, don't take this as admition to anything), but HE WAS TOO just for pushing my buttons.

When he turned 16, he gained some independence and of course was in high school. It took him away from a lot as far as I was concerned. If he had a ball game, I had to go. If I had a ball game, he had something else to do. That's life. It really didn't bother me that much then.

Then our life got "flipped turned upside down" in 2000. Our dad was asked to consider moving us from Missouri (where I was born and raised, and Darin had lived there since he was 2) to Oklahoma to his home town. After much prayer and consideration, our family felt that the Lord was leading us to Locust Grove, Oklahoma. For Heaven's sake, the nearest Wal-Mart was 20 minutes away! We were used to being 5 minutes from everything but a mall, not that we even lived in a huge town in Missouri. So, we packed up and left. Darin and I moved to Oklahoma the day before his Senior and my Freshman years of high school. The church had given our family the opportunity to stay in MO until Darin graduated, but he felt that we needed to GO! Boy, in the back of my mind, I wanted to slap him silly! How dare he (or God) take me from everything I knew! But we went. On the first day of school, Darin was practically the only person I knew. There were a few familiar faces from us going there as kids to visit our grandparents, but that was it. We lived there for a few weeks with some family friends before our parents sold our house and moved down. I leaned on him. He was my family for that time. We still had our disagreements and such, but we were all each other had.

He graduated and moved to college about 40 miles away from home. I continued playing sports and trying to get involved in school stuff. I saw him very little, but looked forward to him coming home. That's when I started really appreciating him. I saw how hard he worked. I knew he was an outstanding student, follower of Christ, and human being. Oh, to be like my big brother....  My senior year, our softball team was playing in the District finals not far from where he went to school. It was finals week for him. Again, he hadn't been to many games of mine at all for all of my life, so why would he come to this one? During about the second inning, I heard a familiar voice from the stands. He had taken a study break to come see us play and we won! More than a victory for me was my brother being there. As I choke back the tears, let me tell you that from that day forward, our relationship changed. I respected him as a man. It meant the world to this little sister and he even came home a few times to watch me play basketball that year too.

He went on to graduate with a Pre-Med degree, got married that summer, and I had gone to college in Nashville. We didn't get to talk much because of busy schedules and lives, but each visit home was great to see him and catch up like we were never apart.

He and his family came this past weekend to cheer my dad and I on during the marathon. Most importantly, though, was Lincoln's baby dedication on Sunday. He made sure that I knew he wanted to come for that. Again, it meant so much to me!

Darin is graduating from medical school next weekend. He not only has passed med school, but has EXCELLED in everything he has done. I will be there with a smile on my face, and probably a proud tear in my eye. THIS IS ONE PROUD SISTER! I love you, bro!