A little bit about me...
Where I grew up...
I grew up rural Wyoming, my dad helped out on our family ranch - which usually meant that I also got to help out on the family ranch, to my dismay at a young age. Now that I am grown, I LOVE helping out on the ranch. I thoroughly enjoy the physical labor, the quality family time, and getting to hang out with a bunch of mellow cows.
My fam bam...
I was raised by an AMAZING set of parents. My mom was a registered nurse (RN) and my dad worked at a Power Plant in our hometown, but also worked on the ranch - so really he had two full time jobs (and still does). They raised me and my three brothers, yep - I'm the ONLY girl, to be strong Christians and to trust in Jesus. My oldest brother lives in Seattle with my beautiful niece and nephew. My second oldest brother actually lives a mile from my parents and helps out on the ranch, daily. He lives with my adorable three year old nephew, cute as a button seven month old nephew, and his amazing wife. My baby brother is enlisted in the army and lives in Seattle with his incredible wife and my delightful niece, but they are expecting a baby boy in March! As you can see, my family is a tad bit spread out!
Life today...
Growing up I made three promises to myself:
I would NEVER marry someone from my hometown.
I would NEVER live in Colorado.
I would NOT be a cat mom, only dog.
Low and behold, God had different plans. In 2018 my mom actually hooked me up with my now husband and yep, you guessed it, he was from my hometown. In fact, he was actually someone that I had grown up with in my home church. Samuel and I started dating in October 2018 and were engaged in September 2019. I was graduating college in December 2019, so we wanted to get married in the spring following my graduation so I would be able to move to him. He lived in....DENVER! Of course he lived in Colorado. We were married in March 2020, and actually had to cancel our wedding due to Covid. We were supposed to get married on March 28, but we moved the wedding up a week and got married March 21 in our hometown in Wyoming. A couple of days after we were married, the border into Wyoming closed and it was clear we would not have been able to get married the 28th if we had waited!
Three years later and we are still riding that honeymoon stage. You'd think after being locked up with each other for months right after getting married we would be over it, but we weren't! We were actually incredibly thankful for quarantine because it helped us grow in our relationship (not to mention get my dog, Tonks, and his cat, Crush comfortable with each other.)
Samuel and I have four animals. When we got married, I brought my black miniature schnauzer, Tonks, into our family, and he brought his orange tabby kitty, Crush. We also adopted Rex when he was eleven weeks and is now pushing two, he is our sweet gray tabby. In September 2022, we decided to add one more pet, our lovable yellow Kala. We haven't had any human babies yet, so we count these lovelies as our kids for now.
My faith...
In addition to the facts about me, I thought it would be important to include information about my faith. I'll share part of my testimony here for anyone interested and share why I believe what I believe and perhaps some of my struggles.
Testimony
I was raised in a Christian home. My mom and dad were devout believers and raised my brothers and I to go to church every Sunday and to be involved with our church. I accepted Jesus into my heart when I was around six years old and was baptized when I was eleven. Since then, I have been a believer, even during my toughest times of doubt.
I have heard many people's testimonies, and have appreciated that there is something different for everyone. Some people were raised in Christian homes like me and had that influence, others have faced struggles that brought them to know Christ, and others felt like something was missing so they sought out Christ. Keeping this in mind, it took me a long time to be okay with having different points in my life that brought me closer to God or resulted in me pushing him away.
When I was in 6th grade, my momma was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). I wasn't entirely sure what it was at the time so didn't think much of it. As I grew and I saw how it negatively affected her, I questioned how God could let that happen. But, even though I watched the MS negatively affect her physically, it also brought her so much closer to Jesus. I was able to witness how she grew in her faith, already being a firm believer, and how she didn't let MS change her relationship with God. She never got angry with Him or blamed Him, instead she thanked Him for what she had and allowed Him to change her. After watching my mom grow in this way, I found my path back to Him. Since then, I have never been angry with God or blamed Him. I have learned that God has a plan for everyone's life and when things don't go "right" in my eyes, God is using it for His plans.
Throughout High School, I did what I wanted. I was a tad rebellious and chose to take my own paths, regardless of how my mom and dad tried to guide me. I was fairly social throughout school and had no problems talking with people. My senior year, I started secluding myself from the drama that was involved with High School girls. I hung out with my boyfriend at the time and my family, and that was pretty much it! However, I still did what I wanted. A couple of years later I made a poor decision that resulted in guilt and shame. After this event in my life, it sparked severe anxiety that I honestly, struggle with to this day. That said, God used that event in my life to teach me. Teach me to rely on Him and to recognize that the rules He gives us, He gives for our protection. Since then, I have worked on honoring Him and making decisions that would be pleasing to Him. I still suffer from anxiety and a bit of OCD, but I have learned to trust in God so much more and to rely on Him and his plans for me.
Why I believe
A common question Christians get asked is why? Why do you believe what you believe? Why do you trust in God? As mentioned in almost all testimonies - I trust and believe because He has shown Himself at work in my life. I believe, because I have seen Him at work in others lives. One passage that I am constantly reminded of when it comes to my faith is actually something that Jesus said to doubting Thomas in John 20:29: "...Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." I haven't physically seen God, but I have seen what He does with my life and how He guides me in His plans for me.
Struggles
I know that most people who are believers struggle with doubt. I am no different. Doubt is something that creeps in when you least expect it, or when you have been dwelling on it too much. Faith and doubt counter each other. Faith, however, is something that we can work to grow and strengthen. Once we have strengthened our faith, the temptation to doubt will weaken and not feel as overwhelming.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Philippians 4:6-8:
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, in there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
I have always felt that Paul wrote this passage for me. I have a very difficult time with anxiety. Worrying and fearing different things. Of course I am reminded that it is all in my head, and that I am able to conquer it, but I am only able to conquer it with Christ's help, and sometimes I have a difficult time trusting Christ to ease my fear. It is certainly something that I am growing in and will likely be a lifelong battle.
I grew up rural Wyoming, my dad helped out on our family ranch - which usually meant that I also got to help out on the family ranch, to my dismay at a young age. Now that I am grown, I LOVE helping out on the ranch. I thoroughly enjoy the physical labor, the quality family time, and getting to hang out with a bunch of mellow cows.
My fam bam...
I was raised by an AMAZING set of parents. My mom was a registered nurse (RN) and my dad worked at a Power Plant in our hometown, but also worked on the ranch - so really he had two full time jobs (and still does). They raised me and my three brothers, yep - I'm the ONLY girl, to be strong Christians and to trust in Jesus. My oldest brother lives in Seattle with my beautiful niece and nephew. My second oldest brother actually lives a mile from my parents and helps out on the ranch, daily. He lives with my adorable three year old nephew, cute as a button seven month old nephew, and his amazing wife. My baby brother is enlisted in the army and lives in Seattle with his incredible wife and my delightful niece, but they are expecting a baby boy in March! As you can see, my family is a tad bit spread out!
Life today...
Growing up I made three promises to myself:
I would NEVER marry someone from my hometown.
I would NEVER live in Colorado.
I would NOT be a cat mom, only dog.
Low and behold, God had different plans. In 2018 my mom actually hooked me up with my now husband and yep, you guessed it, he was from my hometown. In fact, he was actually someone that I had grown up with in my home church. Samuel and I started dating in October 2018 and were engaged in September 2019. I was graduating college in December 2019, so we wanted to get married in the spring following my graduation so I would be able to move to him. He lived in....DENVER! Of course he lived in Colorado. We were married in March 2020, and actually had to cancel our wedding due to Covid. We were supposed to get married on March 28, but we moved the wedding up a week and got married March 21 in our hometown in Wyoming. A couple of days after we were married, the border into Wyoming closed and it was clear we would not have been able to get married the 28th if we had waited!
Three years later and we are still riding that honeymoon stage. You'd think after being locked up with each other for months right after getting married we would be over it, but we weren't! We were actually incredibly thankful for quarantine because it helped us grow in our relationship (not to mention get my dog, Tonks, and his cat, Crush comfortable with each other.)
Samuel and I have four animals. When we got married, I brought my black miniature schnauzer, Tonks, into our family, and he brought his orange tabby kitty, Crush. We also adopted Rex when he was eleven weeks and is now pushing two, he is our sweet gray tabby. In September 2022, we decided to add one more pet, our lovable yellow Kala. We haven't had any human babies yet, so we count these lovelies as our kids for now.
My faith...
In addition to the facts about me, I thought it would be important to include information about my faith. I'll share part of my testimony here for anyone interested and share why I believe what I believe and perhaps some of my struggles.
Testimony
I was raised in a Christian home. My mom and dad were devout believers and raised my brothers and I to go to church every Sunday and to be involved with our church. I accepted Jesus into my heart when I was around six years old and was baptized when I was eleven. Since then, I have been a believer, even during my toughest times of doubt.
I have heard many people's testimonies, and have appreciated that there is something different for everyone. Some people were raised in Christian homes like me and had that influence, others have faced struggles that brought them to know Christ, and others felt like something was missing so they sought out Christ. Keeping this in mind, it took me a long time to be okay with having different points in my life that brought me closer to God or resulted in me pushing him away.
When I was in 6th grade, my momma was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). I wasn't entirely sure what it was at the time so didn't think much of it. As I grew and I saw how it negatively affected her, I questioned how God could let that happen. But, even though I watched the MS negatively affect her physically, it also brought her so much closer to Jesus. I was able to witness how she grew in her faith, already being a firm believer, and how she didn't let MS change her relationship with God. She never got angry with Him or blamed Him, instead she thanked Him for what she had and allowed Him to change her. After watching my mom grow in this way, I found my path back to Him. Since then, I have never been angry with God or blamed Him. I have learned that God has a plan for everyone's life and when things don't go "right" in my eyes, God is using it for His plans.
Throughout High School, I did what I wanted. I was a tad rebellious and chose to take my own paths, regardless of how my mom and dad tried to guide me. I was fairly social throughout school and had no problems talking with people. My senior year, I started secluding myself from the drama that was involved with High School girls. I hung out with my boyfriend at the time and my family, and that was pretty much it! However, I still did what I wanted. A couple of years later I made a poor decision that resulted in guilt and shame. After this event in my life, it sparked severe anxiety that I honestly, struggle with to this day. That said, God used that event in my life to teach me. Teach me to rely on Him and to recognize that the rules He gives us, He gives for our protection. Since then, I have worked on honoring Him and making decisions that would be pleasing to Him. I still suffer from anxiety and a bit of OCD, but I have learned to trust in God so much more and to rely on Him and his plans for me.
Why I believe
A common question Christians get asked is why? Why do you believe what you believe? Why do you trust in God? As mentioned in almost all testimonies - I trust and believe because He has shown Himself at work in my life. I believe, because I have seen Him at work in others lives. One passage that I am constantly reminded of when it comes to my faith is actually something that Jesus said to doubting Thomas in John 20:29: "...Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." I haven't physically seen God, but I have seen what He does with my life and how He guides me in His plans for me.
Struggles
I know that most people who are believers struggle with doubt. I am no different. Doubt is something that creeps in when you least expect it, or when you have been dwelling on it too much. Faith and doubt counter each other. Faith, however, is something that we can work to grow and strengthen. Once we have strengthened our faith, the temptation to doubt will weaken and not feel as overwhelming.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Philippians 4:6-8:
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, in there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
I have always felt that Paul wrote this passage for me. I have a very difficult time with anxiety. Worrying and fearing different things. Of course I am reminded that it is all in my head, and that I am able to conquer it, but I am only able to conquer it with Christ's help, and sometimes I have a difficult time trusting Christ to ease my fear. It is certainly something that I am growing in and will likely be a lifelong battle.