Chapter 10

As you go through life, each new phase or step you could consider a new chapter. I'd like to think that my chapter 9 is closing and I'm staring at the opening page of chapter 10. The difference with Chapter 10 is that it is one of the only Chapters that I don't know exactly how long it will be! This will make much more sense when I get to it. But here is a brief summary of all of the chapters of my life:

Chapter 1
Birth-PreK

The last few of Demon's puppies... moving from Houston to Dallas, and then back again within the first year of my life... riding in car seats, learning how to ride my bike at about the age of 4 (Christy took my training wheels off of my 'Rainbow Bright' bike, broke them, and threw them in the trash.. but she then taught me how to ride my bike). Playing school with Christy and Bart.. and LOTS of crying--I had to get my siblings in trouble some how!

Chapter 2
Kindergarten-4th Grade

I remember the summer before I started Kindergarten driving by the nearly completed Klenk Elementary and saying, "bye school, I'll be there next year!" The days of elementary school seemed to fly by through all of the Easter hat parades, Field days (go blue team!), and playing Oregon Trail.

Chapter 3
5th Grade Safety Patrol

In fifth grade, I was one of the few blessed students to obtain the role of Safety Patrol and that bright orange sash. It was glorious! I got to tell all the younger kids what to do and what not to do (since there was no one to boss around at home). I remember feeling so cool, especially when I got to work the carpool line and tell the parents to keep on moving down the line with a steady movement of my hand. Looking back on it now, I would like to apologize to all of the children I bossed around and the parents I thought I was in charge of.. I bet it was funny to them though.

Chapter 4
Middle School

I started at Wunderlich in the fall of 1998 at a measly 4'-11" and 65 pounds, (about the size of your average 3rd grader) but boy was I popular! I remember one day when I was walking late to clas (I had a pass because I didn't ever do anything wrong) and I ran into Bart in the hall. He, however was running without actually running to get to class on time. I saw that he was chewing gum because he was a BIG eigth grader. I willed up enough nerve to talk to him at school (breaking his rules he set for me on the first day) because there wasn't anyone around. I asked him if I could have a piece which he reluctantly threw my way. From that moment on, I was rarely in class without some gum in my mouth. I perfected the skill of hiding it under my tongue when talking and mainly sucking on it in class so I wouldn't get caught.
Middle school was also filled with sports, volleyball, swimming, track, and the beginning of my lifelong dream to be a cheerleader. I still know some of those cheers.

Chapter 5
Freshman Year

When you come from being the big man on campus in 8th grade, you think you are "it" at the beginning of freshman year. Well, everyone knew who I was because I was "Bart's little sister." My freshman year at KF I cheer on the JV cheer squad because only 3 freshmen tried out. It was fun getting to cheer with older girls and go to competition with them, I made a lot of friends and had fun, but when the school year was coming to a close, I knew I didn't want to stay around.

Chapter 6
Private School

The second semester of my freshman year at KF I made a proposal to my parents to change schools. I was fed up with the public school system and researched some of the private schools around our area, compared tuition costs and people I knew and decided on Northland.
I was able to try out for cheerleading before I was even attending NCS so that I could cheer the first year I was there. I felt so cool when I made the squad because since the school was so small, there was only a varsity (at KF there is no chance you can make varsity until you are a Junior, and you have to have cheered on JV first). I went to cheer camp with Northland and made some really good friends. Taylor, Tiffany and I were inseparable. I have such wonderful memories from Northland from being so involved across the board in Choir, Cheer, Soccer, Softball, and short stints in Swimming and Track. If I could change anything about my high school career, I would have moved to Northland sooner.
I have such lasting relationships with some of the faculty and staff like I wouldn't have known in public schools.

Chapter 7
Freshman Year of College

I started my freshman year of college with 22 of the 55 people I graduated with from Northland. I know, you're shocked. That's nearly half of my graduating class. Well, going into Northland I never thought I would EVER go to ACU because that's what everyone did. One spur of the moment trip to Sing Song my senior year sold me and I never looked back.

Chapter 8
College

College is just, college.. from pledging, to school, to YoungLife, to moving into a house, college was a blast. I was definitely ready to be done though!

Chapter 9
Marriage

Getting married was everything I hoped it would be and more. Brandon is my best friend and nothing makes me happier than for him to be the last thing I see before I go to sleep and the first thing I see when I wake up.. unless of course, Bridger has to go potty. :) We are just so happy living our simple life in our little bitty apartment that I've made home. Learning how to cook and clean up after not only myself, but someone else has been a task, but I have loved every minute of it. I've made it into a challenge to come up with new dishes to cook.

Chapter 10
Married Life without school or kids

And thus begins chapter 10, I'm out of school and married and there are no children for 2009 (do the math) ha! The reason I said this is one of the only chapters in my life that I don't know exactly how long it will last is because everything else before this chapter had a definite ending or time period, but this one I don't know! My mom would love for me to give her a definite time period, but mom, sorry, I'll let Christy take that baton first. So I begin my Chapter 10 of simple life. No kids, no school, just married bliss and our little bitty apartment. I can't wait to see how the story unfolds, and I'm sure you can't either...