Small Beginnings

Since she was an elementary school teacher I was interested to hear how what skills she uses in ministry that she used in school. She told me that she uses a few videos to help reach the visual learners. She also has music with motions to help reach the children who learn better by music and by moving around. The last thing she mentioned was College Park dollars. She uses these to help encourage and motivate the children to memorize Scripture, behave properly and attend regularly. They allow the kids to spend their dollars one Sunday a month. She also mentioned that the children can use these dollars to help earn a scholarship that will help them go to camp. I thought that this was an amazing and interesting

My family, friends, and teachers have all nurtured my character, in one way or another. There are some experiences, however that seem to stand out a little more. They seem to be at the tip of my mind. The memories of a loving grandmother who makes me laugh, the one who keeps me going, one who demonstrates a love like no other. In my years, I have seen her invest in an abundance of people. She has led some to Christ. For others, she has offered her hands and feet, in times of need. As for me, she has given pieces of herself. She has shown me what it is to be a servant, she has given me a sense of adventure, and has taught me to never take what I have for granted.

I think that all of my lifes experiences even the hardships have defined how I've grown and matured. I've been told my times that I used to be a crazy, hyperactive kid growing up. That I used to not be able to sit still and constantly got into trouble. Some of the stories of I remember and some I think we're a little exaggerated from the truth. For the ones I do remember are the ones that I will remember for my whole life. Such as the times I would come home with bruises and cuts from day camp or the one of the many times I was sent to the my pre school's principal's office for causing trouble. Or the scar on my forehead that is constantly reminding me of my past self. And I wouldn't want any of my past to change, because it has taught me many lessons. Eventually as I got older my personality definitely was shaped by the friends I hung out with. My class in middle school was noticeably split up into those stereotypical school groups: athletes, gamers, gangsters/ delinquents,and the misfits. I spent my middle school time as a part of almost all of the groups. At the beginning I felt like being part of the athletes would make me popular, but I soon found out most of them were too full of themselves. I like playing sports and winning along side my teammates, but they stayed known as my teammates and not friends. Later I starting hanging out with the gamers and it was probably the most fun I had during my middle school years. Most of them became great friends of mine and I

A time when I faced a challenge was when my mother and father separated. I was around seven years old,so I don’t remember exactly when they broke up. Unfortunately,my mother never told me the reason why she left my father. After that my mother and father and mother set up visitation days. I would go to my father’s house, which was his mother’s house, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, every other Friday and weekend. I would would be with my mom on Monday, Wednesday, and the Fridays when I was with her on the weekend. Being the naive little child I was, I thought that it was normal for children’s parents to have separate houses. I started to realize how wrong my thoughts were around the age of 10. I would see my friend’s parents together and wonder why my mother and father weren’t like that. My suspicions were confirmed when I interrogated my mother about it. She told me they weren’t talking to each other anymore.

Before I migrated to the U.S. I had a lot of friends and family. I used to live in the Philippines with my grandparents, my grandpa is 62 years young, he is a retired policeman, my grandma is a housewife. I lived with them when my parents were abroad. Moving into a foreign country can be difficult, I didn’t know much English. I had to get my grades up so that I can enter middle school in the U.S. I was a troublemaker in elementary and I needed to redeem myself so I can go to school in the U.S. We had a whole summer to get our visa, but before that we had to say our goodbyes to my relatives and friends. We had a party before we went to Manila. I felt sad when I said my goodbyes, I also was happy at the same time.

This experience has been emotionally demanding for me and a bit awkward. First off, immediate family speaking, we have an implicit norm of not offending people by criticism their actions but also, it’s weird to compliment people on their behaviour. We stick to “thank you”, “I appreciate what you did” and when there is a behaviour we find annoying we don’t say a word. As for my big family, in which I include my immediate family (mom and brother), my boyfriend and my local church, we are “allowed” to give compliment and to share emotions with one another. With this context being placed, it was easier to compliment my church sister C and my boyfriend because we had this pre-establish norm of “it’s acceptable to compliment and receive compliment and criticisms” but a bit harder to throw the first one at my mom.

1:00 AM - I had another dream after sleep beckoned me. There weren't nightmares this time, but my last dream had family drama in it. Why do I keep dreaming about my family when I have nothing playing on my computer? I must have deep-rooted family issues I haven't dealt with yet. My memory of my dream is starting to fade now, so here I go.

I was two years old and I stayed home with my mother until I was three. Then, my father opened a grocery store. At that time I had no idea what was happening, I just knew I was traveling somewhere and that was going to be a blast. Afterwards, every day I was going to the same place for thirty-seven years, which is part of my life. I always treated my house as a hotel and the store as my first home. All my schools from Preschool through Highschool were walking distance from the store, including my first job, which was three houses down. Being at the store help me mature, since I was a little girl I facing a variety of customers. Some of the customers were sweet and friendly, yet some of them used profanity just because we did not meet their demand. My knowledge of working society came from the store.

For the first 9 years of my life I was the youngest of 3 siblings. At the age of 6 my parents separated and that is where some of my life struggles began. Both my mom and dad are extremely loving and nurturing people; however, they had a tendency to triangulate the three of us kids in regards to who gets who, when, and all those fun things that come with divorce. The schedule I was on for most of my childhood was Tuesdays and every other weekend with my dad and the rest with my mom. I grew resentful of this as I got older because I felt that it should be more even and that didn’t change until I was well into high school and made the decision to change the schedule for myself. Then when I was 9 years old my mom had a little baby girl. Long story short, my little sisters father is in her life now but wasn’t for the first year or so. This was hard for me at first because I didn’t fully understand the situation, but regardless of my understanding the love I had/have for my little sister was/is unconditional. Even though there is quite an age gap between my younger sister and us three older siblings, we are all still very close. Before my mom had my little sister she was a paraprofessional at our elementary school, and then after she had her she started doing daycare. My dad finished his degree in business and economics and he has sold insurance my whole life. While my mom always had struggles with money, my dad usually did not. Both of my parents taught me hard work ethics and I

For an individual to be a success, they must possess qualities beyond intellect. To flourish in your career and in life, your character must move you toward your aspirations. Throughout life, several experiences have formed me into a person of resilience, empathy, and composure. Such qualities have allowed me to reach my goals and serve my community. In addition to my intelligence, these qualities render me an exceptional student and employee.

My life, in my opinion, is not boring or dull, but rather quite exciting. It has always been crazy and it still is now. When I was 4 years old, I had both my tonsils removed, resulting in me only being able to eat soft foods for 1 week. When I was 6 years old, I was diagnosed with ADHD. That made me have to take ADHD medications. Every time the medication would seem to be working, it would become ineffective, making me have to switch medications. I’ve heard the names of the medications so many times, they are burned into my mind. Dextroamphetamine. Clonidine. Methylphenidate. Guanfacine. Amoxatine. Lisdexamfetamine. The doctor kept on switching my medications for about 2 years until we finally found something that worked. But another problem had to crop up. At the age of 10, I broke my right collarbone and had to get a sling. Of course, it had to be my dominant arm, instead of my left, but as luck would have it, it was my right. Now I am 13 years old, and I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin with my mom, dad, and my sister Zoe.

I spent most of my days immersed in a fantasy world while curled up with a science fiction book on my big brown couch in my living room. If I wasn't reading, I would be drawing cartoons, watching movies, teaching myself random skills on YouTube tutorials, or singing loudly along to my favorite songs. Activities like these filled my youthful and solitary days as I patiently awaited my parents to return home from work.

I live in a small house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I was starting middle school in a few months. I didn’t want to leave all my friends I had in Elementary school but my parents said I would make new friends at my new school. The summer went by so fast it was already the first day of school. I was so scared but before I had enough time to get back into the car my mom had already drove off and I knew I had to get through the day so I could go back home and play with my friends I had already knew. Throughout the day teachers helped me find where I need to go and I realized I had one girl with the same classes I had which made it easier for me and her. Sixth grade was over and I had made so many friends but I only had a best friend I made that year. In seventh grade, I had the same classes again with my best friend. I never thought I would make more friends. I trusted this girl with everything but things started to change throughout the school year. My best friend was not my best friend anymore by the time we were going on Christmas Break. Noting made sense on why she just stopped talking to me. I would come home and cry and talk to my mom about everything, “just let her be and you guys will be friends again” my mom said so I just left it and maybe my mom was right so I just let it go until Christmas Break was over and we had to go back to school.

One of my favorite places to go as a kid was to the reservoir with my family. We would start packing a few days before we left then my brother and I would go to school on a Friday then afterwards we would go camping. Every time I would hurry home because I was so ready to go camping. When I was little I felt like my family and I went camping everyday even though it wasn’t. I have so many memories from camping and there so funny.

Learning about my heritage and my family has always fascinated me, and doing this cultural genogram was an awesome experience to learn more about my family. To complete this project I interview my mom who is the genealogist for both sides of my family.