Rise above...

Celebrate everyday!

These last fourteen months have been rough, to say the least.  But even these obvious adversities that countless families and friends go through every day can only take their toll if you let them.  No one will understand this but this last year I gained a brother and a sister.

I gained a brother who I can count on, go to just to laugh and sometimes cry.  I gained the brother that protected me growing up whose love and acceptance I cherished above all.  I know he isn't perfect but it's not his perfection I am seeking but rather his tenderness when no one is looking, his heart of gold when he fought for me and I felt all alone.  A brother's love cannot replace a father's love and I miss my father dearly, but he is what is closest to my dad now and it fills the empty space.

My sister...my sister.  I am the mother who raised you.  I am the mother who made the birthday parties to celebrate your birthdays, and then cleaned up any sign of a celebration so our parents wouldn't find out.  I am the mother who took the spankings because I couldn't stop you from leaving and punished you by locking you out.  Now I have a sister, one that understands, who knows the depth of my pain and does not belittle it, who treasurers our children unconditionally.  She fills my life with laughter as loud as thunder, and sweetness with her smile.  My days would be incomplete without her in my life.

Somehow, we've made it - adversities and all.  But that's why Jesus died for us...so we could rise above it all.  Thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my soul.

I found this poem on the internet signed by the enternal_optimist and it said it better than I ever could.

There are more days of sunshine, than darkness...time only makes it better.


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To Rise Above
by enternal_optimist


As a stone tumbled in coarse reality,
constantly worn as it is refined,
adversity, its true beauty shows.

So it is by trial we find,
all that we are capable of, the strength that lies beneath.

We are not defined by our trials,
but by how we face them.

We are all afraid; bravery is a choice,
that though you may lose, you will never be defeated.

Who among us does not have flaws?
Who does not bear scars?
Each of our journey's unique,
Our adversities leave upon us lasting marks,
They show us all that we have overcome.

Life; a constant struggle,
and by choosing not to give in, we rise above.