Monday, June 3, 2013

Home Is Where God Is Part One

           I'm excited to say that I'm doing my first series!! It's going to be a three part series entitled: Home Is Where God Is. It's about some of my life experiences that got me to where I am today.
         
         When I hear other kids talking about the home or homes that they grew up in, I fall still and quiet. At first it was because I was embarrassed and ashamed; but now I realize how blessed my childhood really was.
           I didn't grow up in a nice house, or really a house at all; I spent the majority of my childhood in a motel in Long Island, NY. The home that my family rented was sold when I was 4, so we had to move. We stayed with a family friend for a year, and then we moved out. With no place to go and very little money we were forced to move into a motel.
            My father, mother, older brother, and myself, (my oldest brother was in college at the time), moved into a small one bedroom, one bathroom motel room with two beds. Paying hundreds of dollars a week to stay in the motel, while still buying food, gas, and all other necessities, we were left unable to save up enough money for even a deposit for an apartment; which by the way is Extremely expensive in NY!
           With very little space, and being left house poor, (or really "motel poor" :)), many things were a stuggle for us including keeping our sanity. At the time I was still going to public school as was my brother, (I was in elementary school and he was in high school), so needless to say no one else was in our situation, thus we were embarrassed to talk about our home life.
             You would think that going through something like this we would have hated each other, but we didn't. I can honestly say that the years that we spent in that motel were some of the best years of my life with my family. We bonded so much, by simply having time to play games together like monopoly and uno. We had time to really talk and bond with one another,(living in such cramped quarters what else could we do? haha).
              Looking back at things now form the perspective of a young adult, not as the 5 year old to 10 year  old that I was, I see how crucial that time was for us. At the time though all of us, save for my mom who kept a constant, firm faith in the Lord, got frustrated and even angry with God because we didn't understand why we were going through what we were. Well now I understand, and I am thankful to God that He allowed me to go through it! I don't take anything for granted, especially the bond that living in that motel created with me and my family.
              I lived in that motel from first grade to fifth grade, I'll never forget the name of it; it was called The Rainbow Motel. Now if you go to the place that it was located it is no longer there; I forget what it is now, I"ll have to ask my brother. Now I am not embarrassed about my past, I now embrace it!! God has blessed me with experiences and perspective that not many people,(especially people my age), have. I learned that no matter where I am my home is where God is.
            Come back tomorrow for part two where I'll tell you how we left the motel and NY behind.
                                                   -Alexandra

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