Day 4: Your Parents

My parents are the most awesome parents in the entire world!  I know I might seem a little biased, but its really the truth.

Let me give you a little background on my parents.  My dad was adopted at 3 months old, in the past couple years he has found his biological parents which is a miracle and it has been great getting to know them.  He grew up the only child but we now know that he is the oldest of 10.  Pretty crazy huh!?  My mom is the youngest of 4 girls and she has one younger brother, she grew up on a dairy farm.  My parents met in the 2nd grade.  They dated in high school but also dated other people.  They were married shortly after high school graduation and have been married for 34 years.

My parents have always been a great example of what marriage should be.  They're sure to tell you that it isn't always easy, but the hard times just make the good ones that much better.

My mom has always been my best friend and my dad has always been my hero and protector.  My dad was in the Army (recently retired, whoo hoo!) so he wasn't always around when I was younger but I always knew he loved me and would be there when I needed him.  My mom not only set a great example of what a wife is but she also taught me how to be a strong military wife.  The biggest lesson she taught me was that even when your husband is deployed you shouldn't get carried away worrying about him because the same God who watches over him here does the same while he's over there.  

I am really so blessed to have such amazing parents, I hope that I can live up to the example they have set!

Day 3: Your First Love

(I apologize ahead of time, I didn't mean for this to get so long!  Kudos to anyone who happens to make it through the whole post.)

Ah, my first love...or so I thought at the time.  Justin and I met when I was 13 and in the 8th grade, he was a year and a half older and in the 9th grade.  Our first "date" was meeting at the mall with some friends and walking around...how romantic, lol.  I really thought he was something, we spent a lot of time together and when we weren't together we were on the phone talking.  Typical early teen "love."  Our first kiss was at the Ft. Worth Zoo in front of the gorillas, again, how romantic, right?

Justin and I ended up dating until the second half of my junior year in high school, almost 4 years.  If you had known me in high school I would have sworn to you that he and I were going to get married.  I was head over heels in love with him and couldn't imagine my life without him. 

Our relationship took a turn for the worst in the last year.  Justin had quite the temper and it got a little out of control at times.  I never told anyone about this and never thought much of it, I guess I was more interested in staying in a relationship than being safe.  One day it all went a little too far.  Justin and I were in the mist of a breakup, not really together, but not totally broken up either.  I don't remember what set off this whole chain of events, I just remember the events that followed.

I came out of my last class one afternoon and Justin was waiting out in the hall for me.  I tried to ignore him and walk past him but he grabbed my arm and told me he wanted to talk, that he would drive me home.  I tried to argue but I could tell he was going to make a scene if I did so I just went with him.  I told him we could talk on the way but I wanted him to take me straight home.  We get in the car and instead of heading to my house he drives to his.  When we get there I refuse to get out of the car.  He ends up taking my purse and backpack to try and get me out of the car, which works because I had lots of school papers I didn't want messed up.  Long story short, I tried to get the backpack back from him which resulted in my shirt being torn, me being slapped across the face, my arm being bitten (yes, bitten), and me hit a few other times.  I didn't get the bag back.  I did however manage to get my purse which had my cell phone in it.  I went outside in the front yard (where people could see me so I knew he wouldn't do anything), called my mom at work, and asked her to come get me.  I didn't tell her at the time what happened but I was crying so she knew I was upset.  I sat outside and waited for my mom to get there. 

I have NEVER seen my mother so upset as she was when she pulled up and saw me sitting in the yard, shirt ripped and crying.  I literally thought my mom was going to kill him.  Lucky for him, my dad was out of the country on business and my brother was in Korea at the time with the Army so they couldn't do anything.  My mom took me home and looked me over, asked what happened, and I told her everything.  She called Justin's mom (they worked together), told her what happened, and told her we were going to the police.  We went to the police station to file a report.  The police weren't much help.  I had bite marks on my arm and bruises multiple other places, along with my ripped shirt.  The police said since I didn't actually bleed (he never broke the skin) that they couldn't press any abuse charges.  The whole thing was pretty ridiculous.  They ended up doing some sort of charges but I don't remember what they were.  Justin had to go to court and he was given a fine.

That is how it ended with my first love.  About a week after all this, he had a new girlfriend.  I was heartbroken for a long time after this.  I was still in love with him but knew I could never be with him.

A lot has changed since then.  Justin and I got back in contact with each other while I was a freshman in college (we hadn't seen each other in over a year since he was older and graduated a year before me).  We thought about dating again but decided it probably wasn't a good idea and decided to just remain friends.  He apologized for everything that happened and I truly believe he meant it and had changed.  Justin and I are still in contact with each other.  We are both happily married and he has a beautiful little girl. 

My first love definitely had it's ups and downs but through the whole ordeal I learned how important it is to love yourself and stand up for yourself.  While I'm sad things happened the way they did, I'm glad that in the end everything worked out and we both came out better people.

Day 2: Meaning Behind Your Blog Name

I decided to name my blog "One Day at a Time" because I've learned in the past few years that the only way to make it through life a lot of the time is to just take it one day at a time.  I've been reminded many times that you although you can learn from the past and hope for the future, the only thing we have right now is today and we need to make the best of it.  Yes, the past molds us into the person we are today, but if you get so hung up on the past you'll waste the present away.

I'm excited about many things to come in the future, but I'm taking things day by day, otherwise I might get a little overwhelmed.  Maybe it's just a personal thing, who knows.  I am so over the moon excited to meet our little miracle in November but if all I thought about was November it would seem like it was taking forever.  I'm just enjoying day by day, week by week all the things I'm experiencing and trying to cherish each moment.

I've been to the point before where I took the present for granted and I hope I'm never there again.  We don't know what tomorrow holds so it's best to make sure you make the best out of what you have in front of you today.

Hello blog world!

Since this is my first time blogging and I'm not sure I'll be very good at it, I thought it might be good to start off with a 30 day blog challenge.  Doing this challenge will give me a chance to get used to writing and will give any reader who happens to stubble across this a chance to get to know me a little bit.

Here's the challenge I've decided to do:

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts
Day 2: Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3: Your first love
Day 4: Your parents
Day 5: A song to match your mood
Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7: Favorite movies
Day 8: A place you've traveled to
Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend
Day 10: Something you're afraid of
Day 11: Favorite tv shows
Day 12: Something you don't leave the house without
Day 13: Goals
Day 14: A picture of you last year - how have you changed?
Day 15: Bible verse
Day 16: Dream house
Day 17: Something you're looking forward to
Day 18: Favorite Place to Eat
Day 19: Something you miss
Day 20: Nicknames
Day 21: Favorite Picture of yourself ALL TIME Why?
Day 22: What's in your purse?
Day 23: Favorite Movie
Day 24: Something you've learned
Day 25: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26: Your Dream Wedding
Day 27: Original Photo of the city you live in
Day 28: Something that stresses you out
Day 29: 3 Wishes
Day 30: a picture of yourself this day and 5 good things that happened since you started the challenge

So, let's not waste any time, here's day 1!

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts

This is my husband, Matt, and me (Felicia)

15 facts...I can't promise how "interesting" these will be, but they will be facts, lol.

1.  I'm an Army brat who grew up saying I would never marry a military guy...I'm now an Army wife.  Never say never!

2.  After trying for 4 years I am so extremely happy to say that we are expecting our first child in November.

3.  Matt and I will celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary in December.

4.  I love to decorate cakes, I usually do that for my friends kid's birthdays instead of buying them presents.

5.  I can sing all the states in alphabetical order.

6.  I can also sing the books of the New Testament in order.

7.  I am a Christian and very proud of it!

8.  I love pickles.

9.  We have 2 dogs (Max and Ruby, and yes, they are dogs, not bunnies), and a cat (Chloe).

10. I have never lived north of the Mason Dixon line (except when I was little and my family lived in Germany which I don't remember), but next year we are moving to Washington state.

11. I used to trust easily but due to some things that happened in my life that is unfortunately no longer the case.

12. I love to read.

13. I love music, mostly country and contemporary Christian.

14. I'm a HUGE Atlanta Braves fan.

15. I hate feet but I love getting pedicures.

So there you have it...me in a nutshell.  Hope you found at least one of those facts interesting.  I'm going to try to stay on top of this and actually do this daily, we'll see how that goes!