"Do not let them look down on you because you are young..."

My 14 year old cousin lives with my parents. She does so because my uncle took his own life just 6 short months ago. This was her current blog post:

"Its time for a change.
Current mood: thankful
Category: Life

Well my life is, well, lets just say awesome .

This year has changed my life for the better.

Let me go over somethings...

1.My stomach problems are gone.

2.I've gone to a better school.

3.Made better friends.

4.Quit some stupid stuff I dont think I need to say what it was.

5.Played softball, got active again.

6.I'm going to church and made new friends there as well.

7.Haven't missed a day of school.

8.Got A's and B's.

9.I have a better relationship with my family.

10.I've realized how lucky I am and that everything is going to be okay things work themselves out I have my family and friends support.

I think God picked me out to go through the stuff I've gone through and maybe share my testimony to another kid in the future or one of my friends and just tell them that everything is going to be okay.

But when one door opens another door closes let me go over some of the bad.

1.I lost my dad.

2.I lost some of my friends.

But that's okay everything happens for a reason.

Right?

I believe so. I am grateful for my struggles.

So yeah everything happens for a reason."

Umm...wow.

I don't know about you but I'm not sure I would have had the capacity at the age of 14 to have a list of positives far outweigh the negatives. Especially only 6 months after losing my dad and completely starting over. "I am grateful for my struggles"??? I do nothing but complain about my struggles and wonder why some things just can't be easier. Seems like we can learn a lot from our young ones. I am so proud of her!

Stretch?

So today I have been indulging in my quarter-life crisis by spending hours online looking for that "perfect" fit of a job. My search has left me more confused and more convinced that I am going to end up like Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation and be "holding out for a management position" when I have NO relevant experience with anything. All pity parties aside...I decided to turn on some inspirational music and take yet another spiritual gifts test only to find out that my number one gift is the same as it was back in 2001 and probably won't ever change. Not that I want it to change, hospitality is a great gift, I'm just not sure how to turn it into a career. There is of course the hospitality field such as a hotel but that's not really welcoming people into my home. (Lightbulb) Maybe I could open a hotel or b&b...if anyone would like to fund this please humor me with a comment. I think it could be cool, unlike my shameless attempt to just get someone other than my husband to comment on my blog.
Anyways...my mind immediately jumped to babies as that is the natural place in life I am currently a part of, but even more than that, I wanted to read about fostering/adopting. "Coincidentally" Ryan and I were both seperately thinking last week about adopting our first child and I have been thinking about it ever since. I jumped on a local website to read more about this and as I am reading about becoming a foster parent I hear a man's voice come across the radio telling listeners to "go to OliveCrest.org for more information about becoming a foster family". Lo and behold, that was the exact website I was on doing exactly what that man wanted me to do. Now, I know we as Christians have this uncanny capability of making everything a sign from God, even if there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for the situation but come on...this totally weirded me out. I'm not sure if I'm convinced this was a sign but I'm starting to wonder if this idea Ryan and I came up with isn't really just the doings of the One who tells us to "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4


P.S. I still need a job if I'm going to support all the babies I told Ryan to bring back with him from his trip to the Philippines. Any ideas?