Life Lessons/Experiences

So at church a few weeks ago Pastor Don shared some life experiences He talked about how God uses moments in our lives to prepare us for the future.... he encouraged everyone to write down life lessons they learned. I shared some of mine at my TMB NG and here are the rest.

P.S. if u wanna watch the sermon it is really good so check it out here  http://www.ccvonline.com/Arena/default.aspx?page=14868&item=174


My Life Lessons/ Experiences....thus far :)

1. Humility - We bought a new house while I was in 2nd grade but needed the money from our old house to start building the new house. So while it was being built we lived with my gma. I went to 3 schools that year and it SUCKED! I got to be the new girl which was humbling(2ng graders are not nice people!). I did see the true good some people have - Renae Sutter being one of these people totally scooped me up on my first day at Park Meadows and we have been friends ever since!

2. Some things are not worth it...and that is okay - In 4th grade you were allowed to join band. You got to leave class during the day to go to band and so I had to do this! I played the flute(i know surprising a 4th grade girl and the flute...so creative). I HATED the flute...i mean i liked it for a little bit but i wasn't really in to playing music. I hated my teacher he was SO mean to people who were not the best. i did it until 5th grade but at every concert I wouldn't actually play because I was so afraid I would mess up and the teacher would know(which he would and his face would turn red as his jacket and he would just stare at you). I remember going to band one day and the teacher made us go through the line and play the same notes solo. When he got to me and my friend(we didnt do good) he told us "you made this bed and now you will sleep in it". We cried not even knowing what that meant and then quit. Now I am not saying it is okay to quit things but I am saying sometimes things are not worth it. I knew I didnt want to be in band passed grade school and I really just did it to get out of class so it wasnt really worth it for me. It was such a relief to quit band and I have never regretted not playing the flute. 

3. Try - In 6th grade there was going to be a spelling bee. Any of you who read anything I write must know I am not so great at spelling or grammar...never have been. Everyone had to get up and tryout for this big spelling bee. So the teacher had us lined up at the front of the room. The first word I got the was Musician. I laughed and said I dont know and sat down. The teacher was pretty upset with me and said, "it isnt even a hard word! think about it.. Music - Ian". I was so embarrassed because honestly I probably would have messed it up but not even trying was WAY worse than giving up. So I learned you just gotta try sometimes and it doesnt really matter as long as you give it your all. I have had to test this as an adult in a few different ways. I tried voice lessons(with the help of my mother in law), cake decorating, and even oil painting. I try new things all the time with church and with the girls...I try...right now im trying bangs lol.

4. Be Yourself - There isnt one specific event that lead me to this but pretty much all of middle school I learned this lesson. Middle school sucks in general. Mean girls, awkward puberty, BOYS, emotions...ugh it is all lame! Until middle school I always had my core group of friends and then we all got split up and grew in to our own peoples. The biggest thing I saw was everyone trying to find a clique to mesh into and I dont feel like I did this. I had friends from every group and I wasnt ashamed. I was friends with the smart "dorky" kids because I was in gifted classes and they became my friends. I walked with the tall gay guy in the halls because he was funny as heck and I loved it! I went shopping with the preppy girl who had the cutest clothes. The stoners came and jumped on my trampoline everyday. And hello my church friends! I had a bunch of acquaintances in every crowd and had a really close friend from each group. I stayed this way through hs and I feel it has allowed me to have so many more meaningful relationships. Everyone has moments were they act a little different to fit in but I feel like mostly I stayed goofy and myself and didnt care....And if you didnt like this about me then we prolly werent friends! LOL.

5. Regret - I danced at The Dance Shoppe from 4thgrade - 9th. I LOVED dance I still love dance. I thought I would always dance there and then at college. Note: I was never a "dancer" I just LOVED to dance always did Jazz and some hip-hop..never the best just loved loved loved it. In 8th grade when it came time to sign up for high school classes I choose Theater instead of Dance because, -snob voice- "I danced at a studio". Then I got really involved at church and my bible study day was the same day as dance so i choose bible study. I was so mad that I didnt do HS dance. I coulda learned so much more dance stuff by doing it in school. I saw all my friends doing it and then felt it was too late to join a year late and just ALWAYS regretted that. Finally in college I took dance and again fell in love but it just made me regret even more the years I missed because I was being a snob and then was too chicken! p.s. I need to find a dance class...

6. Travel/Experience New Stuff! - by freshman year in highschool I had been to space camp, snorkeled in Catalina island, went to the Bahamas on a Disney cruise ship, explored washington dc, stepped into time square, rode a toboggan thing in colorado, froze my butt off in new mexico, felt extreme humidity in Michigan, broke my fear of roller coasters in cedar point Ohio, and  put my feet in the pretty Florida ocean...also recently going with Petyl to Pennsylvania and seeing Amish country, the jersey shore, new york city again(this time experiencing fighting with a cab driver and negotiating prices on knock of LV wallets in a back store room behind a secret door and eating at Serendipity(pic))! I never realized until recently how much my parents sacrificed for me to get to experience things they themselves werent and hadnt ever done. Every school trip or vacation with friends/family that I could go on my parents pushed me to do. I wish I appreciated what I was seeing and doing at the time as much as I do now. I hope that one day I can take my kids to historical and fun places like I got to go...

7. Humility(can always use a few doses of this!) - Each year of hs I went with my church to Rocky Point Mexico to build houses for families in need. It still amazes me the living conditions these people have just a few hours away from my home. One of the families we built for lived in a house made out of freeway signs and poles pushed down in to the sand holding it together. One house had a running toilet and I will never forget the women taking us one by one in to show off her toilet and how proud she was....how many times had I been proud of my toilet? On top of this these people were the happiest nicest and most giving. The kids had the biggest smiles and hugs for everyone that was there. The women were always making food for everyone working on the house and the men were always helping as much as they could. It made me so thankful for what I have but also showed me that what I have doesnt make me happy.

8. Loss - My Grandpa Young lived in flagstaff when I was a little girl until my gma was gone. He then lived with us or at my cousins for about 4 years and then he got remarried. He was my favorite relative. he was so funny and giving and such an amazing grandpa. One day I was riding back from flagstaff and got SO emotional. I was thinking about my grandpa and I had this huge feeling that I wouldnt see him again. I thought he was going to die. At this time my grandpa was in Hawaii for his 1 year wedding anniversary. I got home and told my dad and my dad was a little freaked out but told me he was okay and having the time of his life and would be back in a few days. Well the next night my dad woke me in the middle of the night to tell me my grandpa had died in Hawaii. I was so mad at my dad for "lieing to me" even though he didnt know this was going to happen or why I some how knew. It was the biggest loss I had and still have experienced in my life. I miss him everyday and wish I could have known him more as an adult. It does make me cherish the fact that my babies have awesome grandparents and it also makes me really just tell people i love them as much as I can....Loss is a hard lesson and I am so glad I will see my gpa again one day.


9. Fate..Luck...or Just God's Plan - I was fishing with my friend and her family for a weekend. We fished in 4 different places over the weekend and ALL day. We had caught NOTHING and it was becoming a joke..for everyone except her Dad who was kinda pissed lol. Anyways it was our last fishing spot and I had run out of worms so started putting my stuff away. My friend had one more worm and got mad at me..she didnt want to fish alone and told me to keep fishing. Laughing and being sarcastic I threw out my line with no bait and immediately began reeling it in. Well what do u know I caught a foot long rainbow trout. note:her dad was not happy about this lol! Anwyays I really learned that anything can happen and you just have to be ready for it :)

10. Jump - When I turned 18 I went skydiving for my bday! I was so scared but so excited. In the plane I remember looking out the window and thinking oh man we are still going higher and higher! They sang happy birthday for me while going up and then it was time to jump. I fell at 100miles per hour for a whole minute until I was instructed to release the parachute. When I finally reached the ground A huge adrenaline rush came over me. I couldnt believe I actually did that and it was surreal. It was an amazing feeling and I took away from it was just jump..do crazy stuff and then tell people about it. It's awesome!

11. His Plan - Coming up to hs graduation I had a good plan. I was going to go to Azusa College in California and get my degree in Teaching. I would meet the "Jesus Hot"(Jesus hot is a term i made up in hs youth group. The guys who were hot on the outside and on fire for Jesus...Jesus Hot) man of my dreams and fall in love. We would get married after I graduated. I would work for a year and then start trying for babies around 25 years old. I would then stay at home and take care of the babies while my husband made lots of money. Well I slowly learned that my plan was not His plan. I decided something about moving to Cali after graduating wasnt right and I would go to Community college first...then I started dating Trustan just after graduating. I fell in Love(and he is Hot so that is good!). I wanted to marry him pretty much after 4 months of dating. He really cared about me. He introduced me to his friends he always had his arm around me like I was something to be proud of. He loved me. I continued on with school at community college and was married the end of sophomore year. I learned that not only was Trustan meant for me but his family was too! I feel like I was missing out before or something that is how much i fit in to there crazy bunch! A week before the wedding we decided we were going to try for kids right away. 4 months in to marriage we were pregnant. When I held Petyl for the first time I have never had such a sense of peace knowing this is exactly where I was supposed to be in this moment(yea it coulda been the epidural but I think it was something more). I never took a break from school and got my teaching degree through NAU at Paradise Valley Community College. I brought my baby to class every weeek until I had to leave her while I did student teaching. After I graduated Trustan went back to school and is still working his way through now. He has a good job that pays the bills and provides insurance but we are in no way rich. I could never imagine not being a stay at home mom and not having my babies now. I am so glad that I get to be a young mom and that I have the husband I do. It isnt always the easiest path but it was the path meant for me I know it and wouldnt have it any other way.

12. Wrong Path - Many of you new persons in my life may not know this but I owned a business! Imagination Avenue first of all is an amazing place to take your lil kiddo especially in the heat of summer. I went there the first time in the heat of summer with Petyl right after I graduated with my amazing Early Ed Degree. It was closing and I just thought "what?! this place is amazing!" So after doing some research, questioning things, and getting some cash together. We bought it! I thought wow we r going to make this place even better and just impact the world with Imagination Avenue...Well It turns out I do have a passion for children and families but I am not so Business Savy. After 2 months the numbers were way down and I was prego with Haylo and just didnt feel good about it at all! Someone told me that God will never let you go too far down the wrong path. And I feel like he rescued me and well my whole family from this wrong path for us. I put IA on Craigslist and sold it 2 weeks later(seriously if that wasnt God then who was it?!?). It is still an amazing place...and actually the family who owns it now has really done some amazing things so Go check it out! http://www.imaginationavenue.us/

13. Mommy Love- through my pregnancy with petyl i was so nervous of the delivery I was so scared of the pain and in a lot of ways i was afraid to be a mom. I had always been a babysitter or nanny but being a mom was and is still a scary thing. After having Petyl the most amazing thing happened. I experienced True Love. I mean seriously I loved the kids I nannied and my baby cousins but when you have your own child..it is amazing the love you feel. And yes I felt it in pregnancy but it was so intensified holding and watching this beautiful little girl grow. When I got pregnant the second time I was worried that this love would be pulled apart to be shared between both babies...or that I just wouldnt be able to love another the same. Man was I mistaken! The love grew. I now have more true love than I ever knew possible. I love my kids more than any thing I could ever imagine or try and describe. I can like feel the love coming out of me when they are close by and my heart pulls towards them. And yes i get mad and upset with them but the love I feel never weakens it grows stronger every day. The coolest part of all this is that I know God in heaven has this love even more for each one of us. I feel like the love that we are allowed to feel for our kids is just a tiny glimpse of what God feels for us. I think that is why my relationship with God and my own parents has grown so much stronger with having kids...it is amazing!


14. Sacrifice - With these last two lessons I also experience sacrifice. I love my life and I love my family but it is a different life when you are a wife and mama. I have sacrificed my body through 2 pregnancies and nursing two babies. I have sacrificed my sleep...petyl was up every hour and a half for the first 13 months of her life and haylo still gets up twice a night. I have sacrificed my independence of just being able to run to Starbucks or go see a movie. I have sacrificed my standard of clean in my house. I have sacrificed my hair and makeup at times(i still cant leave the house without makeup on but it is definitely less involved than before). I have sacrificed a lot as a mom and wife and if you are not a mom or wife then i am sorry u just really dont know..it's just different... but I would never change it for the world.

15. No one is perfect - This lesson I learned multiple times in my life. I learned it when my adults did things that let me down as a kid. When best friends choose anothers side over mine. I learned it when Jesus Hot boys turned out to be very very awful people. I learned it when new acquaintances that I let in my life turned on me. Its hard to realize that no one is perfect and that is why Christ is so important...he is the only one who was and that is why we need him so bad!

I think that is all i got for now...I hope this blog wasnt too boring or churchy but I do love Jesus what can I say lol. I think it is cool to look back on these experiences and see how I can use them to better my future for myself and people around me. And it is just cool to remember a bunch of cool stuff that has happened in my life. Everything happens for a reason and I love all that God has brought me =]

December/Snow in the desert/Resolutions

This December was awesome! We had so many fun events with the Rowlan's. Grinch Night, Snowman Night, Baking Day, Polar Express Night, Reindeer Day..im sure im forgetting some but they were all fun times! I think my favorite was decorating the trains and watching brieson and kambren as reindeer get shot by petyl with the nerf gun.

Christmas Eve Services at CCV were so good and fun but very honest with what is real...what we all need I really liked it. Went once with my TMB girls and then with all the Rowlans. If u wanna check it out  or send it to someone else go here ->

http://www.ccvonline.com/Arena/default.aspx?page=14268&item=170

We had our first(many more to come) SMY Party! The triangle reunited with added family and babies! See Brandon Morgan, Amanda Schoech and Myself(Christine Young-now Rowlan) were all very best friends in Highschool and at CCV. We all got baptized together at our first CIY in the Ocean! Now we are grownups and the S and M moved to other states BUT S cam back and it is only a matter of time before M is back too! We had a great night just talking and catching up...I am looking forward to more nights like that! SIDE NOTE: We didnt take any pictures because we are lame!

We were also blessed with an End of the year snow. Yes thats right SNOW in PHOENIX! It wasnt a lot nor did it stick but it was still amazing. Petyl and I had just bundled up to go play with her new Barbie Jeep and then i saw the little white flurries in the air...it was so simple but amazing all at once. It was only a few minutes and then it stopped and we came in a little after. I was pondering the Phonician Snow and it made me get all emotional(yes thats not a big shocker with me but w/e). I know it isnt like a miraculous thing happened but well it kinda is. I mean how often do we see snow here in Phoenix? Just those few minutes of Snow reminded me that God is so wonderful...he is so big and so amazing and sometimes..well a lot of times I forget that.

It has been a crazy year for me. The end of my pregnancy was a lot harder than I had planned. Hubby has been super busy with work and school so I am home alone with our beautiful but crazy babies a lot. Our car's have taken turns popping out on us so it seems they are never both drivable at the same time. I have been really busy with church stuff but without a consistent vehicle to drive it makes being a part of everything more stressful. Plus all the regular little dramas of relationships and family stuff...it all can kinda bring me down. But the big picture is that regardless of all that I have had the most AMAZING year. My body issues from pregnancy all worked out and went back to normal. We added a beautiful rollie pollie baby Haylo to our family and big sister Petyl is getting smarter and amazinger everyday. We have had a lot of awesome people help us out with rides. Church..well church is becoming way more than just a Sunday service for me again. It is also awesome to see Petyl embrace nursery and all the activities. She Prays every night and she sings the songs in nursery..she loves going to church and bible study...its so cool to watch her. I have little extended family branching out all over the place because of church activities. Hubby is going great in school..did have to drop a class this semester but got A's in the other classes. I dunno sometimes we go through little hard things but no matter what in the end we see that God is great. No matter how tough or how frustrating things are he just keeps comin in with a few sprinkles of snow on my life to lift me up and get me on track. :)

Speaking about being on track...it's time for Resolutions!
This year I really want to try and refocus the resolutions to be...real and then follow through!

1. Get in a T group and Read the whole New Testament(then hopefully move on to the Old too!)
2. Continue learning about and committing more of myself to God.
3. Get Organized. In the house and in Life...and stay up on it!
4. Exercise(like plan and do it) at least once a week.-Preferably a dance class!
5. Eat Fast food Less than Twice a week(includes Starbucks and ice cream too!)
6. Be better. I want to be the Virtuous Woman in Proverbs for God, my family and for myself.

Thats it....Hello 2011 I am ready for ya! :)

Here are some pictures too :)