There is no way to start a project of chronicling those that make a difference to me without first establishing who, what and where my foundation comes from. This is exceptionally hard because I can’t think of anyone that would really care about where I came from, so I will start with my favorite part of my life – my Faith. It’s no secret of where my faith lies. I was ordained as a Minister by my church www.abundant-grace.com in 2000, on the Sunday morning that my mom passed away. I have always grown up around the Church, and my faith has always been very real to me. We joke that I have a “ministry to the misfits, both human and animal” and that’s pretty much the truth of it. I love to be with the people that are rejected but the normal human race. Those that are different but nonetheless have tremendous stories and testimonies behind them - those that “regular humanity” has no place for. I don’t bible-thump, I don’t condem, I don’t preach. I (try to) live by example. If you see something in me, at the end of the day, that seems to be different, I would love to share with you, what that is so that you have the opportunity to have it to. Enough said about that because most of you already know who I am and what I stand for. Let’s move on.
My Family. Now, I know this subject is confusing to begin with and it would take a blackboard and three hours to make you understand all the events of my lifetime. Suffice it to say that I am blessed to have my adopted family, my birth family, my young-adulthood family, my extended-family, my first-marriage family, my second-marriage family, my church family, my McHi Band Family and my Miracle Connections family (Traumatic Brain Inury and Children’s Cancer Warrior connections). That’s a lot of Christmas presents so I’m glad we pick names. Familiy is important to me and I pretty much just adopt anyone that even smiles my way. I mean, after all, we ARE all part of the same family, one way or another… right?
John is the glue that holds me together. He taught me to breathe again when I was at a point in my life where I thought I was suffocating. He brought peace back into my life and reminded me of all the good things that were left to experience in life. Without him, I think I would literally be dead by now. He is a gift from God and I love him very much.
My girls, Hannah, Tori and Megan are my joy – most days anyway. They are bright, beautiful and just all-around awesome and I am blessed to call them mine. Megan provides my with entertainment, “words with friends” challenges, and gives me new facebook status’ constantly - she is hilarious! Tori is the one that keeps me in line and face-slaps me with reality when needed, and Hannah, well Hannah keeps me moving. Someone said to me when Hannah was born that she would be the one to keep me busy and she has lived up to that.
Unless they had never told me as a child that I was adopted, you would have never known it. My family never treated me any different than that of an actual blood-related member of the family, nor was I treated any more special. They allowed me to be me. There was never any feeling ore treatment that suggested that I wasn’t part of them. My birth family has accepted me unconditionally - of course, they really didn’t have a choice considering we didn’t connect until about 8 years ago. The name of this website is www.ourfreakingfamily.com because we realized that we are really just a bunch a freaks. We have a circus background, and I was no exception except that after I was adopted at birth, my adoptive family worked more in the public relations aspect of the circus and not so much the performing side. Some have retired, some are still making a living at it. Either way, circus blood flows through my veins in one form or fashion, I was also a gynmast in my younger life without really knowing why and this should help some of you understand me without much of a further explanation needed.
Bottom line… I’m a freak. But I’m okay with that.
