Experiences....Life and Death

Hey!

Just wanted to blog....I feel like I need to, since I have so many thoughts and things in my head that I just needed to get out on paper some-how.....and not that I need this blog as a venting session, but just I feel I get more organized and just become a better person when I can journal, look as something and remember it....because to be honest if I DIDN'T write things down....I would be so confused and forgetting things left and right!!

So, the title of my blog is Life and Death....partly because my great uncle passed away this past weekend, and I just came back from the visitation last night. I have heard this question asked a million times before and today I'm asking it to myself.....Why is it that the older you get, the less you see your family, and when you do, it happens to be more at funerals and weddings than in our normal life?! I hate it!! I hate the fact that I don't get to see my family more!! Family, means everything to me...and I think it will mean even more, once I have a family of my own!! I might be crazy, but I LOVE MY FAMILY......I LOVE MY FAMILY SO INCREDIBLY MUCH....FOR ALL OF LIFE....THEY MEAN THE WORLD TO ME, THEY TRULY DO MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME......even though sometimes we all can get a little crazy....there isn't anything I would not do for any of them. I look at even my extended family uncles, aunts, cousins, and realize I am so incredibly blessed by God Almighty! I have so many incredible memories from my childhood, and at family get togethers....and even though I'm not that old.....it seems like in the last 10 years even, the family is pushed aside, and it's "every person for themselves" Are you kidding me?! I would do anything for my family, next to give my life and my possessions for my family....and then next to that there is God's family.....which I would also just about say is as close as my blood family....I see them more often that I see my real family back home....and I feel like I do have family at Stone Creek Church that have forever changed and altered the course of my life for eternity......I love them, ALMOST as much as my family :)

but anyway......I guess I just have this utter respect for my family.....my great uncles and aunts mean the world to me....they just have such rich lives and stories and have truly been blessed by God....my great uncle Charlie had 4 children, 8 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. He was also served in WW II in the Navy aboard the Attala, and also was able to DC in 2009 for an special recognition for his military service.... I guess my family is just full of people who really love each other and stuck together throughout the years! Maybe it has to do with growing up in a small farm town....I dunno, but I consider myself blessed to be in the family I am born into.....and to sit at the feet of such great and honorable people when I was younger.....I will always have a deep respect for my family, and I truly want to honor them, as I have seen first hand how family comes together and just does stuff...helps out whether big or small.......I have such a giving, gracious, and loving family to tell all the stories, I would have to write about 15 pages for people to understand....(maybe I should write a book! ha!) I totally understand the saying, when you marry.....you really do......for all it's worth, you marry into the family as well......you become a part of something much larger than yourself, your schedule and preferences change....and you do that......well at least I do....out of respect for my family......I conclude with this......Don't miss out on your own family.....Take time for your family.....You can NEVER go back in time.....time only continues to push us forward....as we look forward we are leaving a legacy behind us.....What kind of legacy am I leaving? I know priorities and things have to change the older I get.....My parents did a good job of raising me....but I want to do an even better job of influencing the people, kids, and family that will come after me........also....I think of how Jesus lived.....He lived the life of a legacy, worthy, and honorable, ONLY because he was an obedient child to His Heavenly Father....He spent time with Him.....EVERY DAY.......my greatest thing in my life I want to pass on to people, is nothing about me really, but I want people to KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that God LOVES them....that God's love in me, would be bigger than myself...that people would know they are loved for eternity!

I know this is long, but just thought I'd share with you

In His Steps,

Crystal