My Families

Family: 1. parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not.


What a definition eh?? If you ask me, I think that's pretty sad that "The Most Trustworthy Source for Definitions" at Dictionary.com has this as the first definition for "family." And if you really wanted to ask me again what I thought, I'd say that the definition of "family" should go something like this...



1. Father and mother and their children, considered as a group, living happily together and pursuing God together.



Now sure, you may think this is a little far fetched... especially in today's society, and c'mon,, it just doesn't work that way. I mean look at this world. There are families composed of Father + Father + kid (who will most likely be very messed up when older), or maybe a Mother + kids, or Father + Kids, or possibly no parents + kids, the list could go on and on. Then you consider the fact that the majority of families are the equation of Mom and Dad and Kids. But, you throw the argument out that nearly all of the "normal" families have problems too. Not just small problems like who gets the green toothbrush, or Jonny got the biggest piece of pie, but big problems like prodigal children, drug or alcohol abuse among teenagers, or even the parents, a young child dying thus leading to depression and anxiety, countless health problems, or even.. divorce,, thus leading to the equation of Mom + kids, or Dad + kids, or even worse... mom this weekend, then dad next weekend, either way leading to even bigger problems. You tell me that problems among families will never cease to exist. I won't argue with you about that fact for one second. Problems will occur, and strife will not be inevitable in a family, BUT I will argue that Jesus Christ is that answer to ALL of that.





Jesus Christ commands us to be like Him..... Simple right?



Let me say that when you see a family who has one main purpose in their life, and not just a bunch of "get through the next day goals," and that main purpose is to Glorify God and "be like Christ," let me tell ya, you will see nothing but God. When someone is sincerely striving and going for God as hard as they can, you will see the side effects of it. You will see suffering and trials, problems along the way, but ultimately you will see God and His blessings over that person. The Holy Spirit will flow out of them. God's Word will be BURNING IN THEIR BONES (Jeremiah 20:9 (one of my favorite verses btw))!! That's what is so amazing about the concept of family. When a family has that mindset, and their goal and passion is to strive continuously for the Lord, such an amazing impact can flow from that family! Unfortunately, that concept has been lost these days. It has been thrown along the wayside, and trampled on. It has been taken out of our schools, and been forbidden to be encouraged. The idea of life these days is just simply "take control of your own life, and live it how you want." How sickening is that?! Where do you think broken families and broken hearts come from!? Why do you think this world is taking more and more turns for the worse?! Why do you think more and more people are committing suicide every year, and more abortions take place?! Why do you think people die every day in car accidents because of drunk drivers?! Why?! It's because this world wants to live WITHOUT GOD! I don't need to state any more statistics or general facts we all know.



A person is modeled and formed almost entirely from their parents and family life. This world is living proof that the concept of family that God created it to be has completely almost vanished... and unfortunately, it's getting much worse. That should so burden us as Christians to be striving towards the best family life you can possibly have! I know I'm not a parent yet... or even a spouse for that matter (okay, I'm only 17 and not really worrying about it too much at this point), but when I'm older and hopefully raise a family, I really pray that it will be a family that is God honoring. I pray that my future children will grow up to be not just good kids, but Godly kids who love the Lord and want to carry on a Godly heritage. It's almost weird to be thinking about at this point in my life, but I don't want that kind of stuff to sneak up on me without any plans! Lol Godliness should be the main focus for a family, and that's not coming from me, but from God Himself in the bible.

Now (this part from now on was supposed to be from the main idea of the blog,,, but as usual, other thoughts come to mind, and I end up usually writing a book on them, as observed from the previous section of this blog :), I can truly thank my personal Heavenly Father for blessing me with a fantastic family and two amazing (not just good, but..) Godly parents. I don't know where, who or what I would be if I was not a part of this family. Right from the get-go, my parents decided on having a Godly family, and they set a lot of goals with an eternal perspective. Their first child was a girl, and her name was Elizabeth, and very sadly, she died within a few hours of being on this disgusting earth. She went home to be with her Lord and Savior in heaven. (I'm not going to elaborate too much on these types of things simply because I could write a long emotional thing that is totally irrelevant to this blog (maybe some other time)) Then, not too long after Elizabeth, I was conceived as a little tiny thing in my mommy's belly. I was a scary pregnancy my mom has said. When I was about 7 months old (in the womb), I guess a doctor had to give my mom a shot with some ginormous needle, and I guess I was within centimeters of being punctured by that needle from the stupid (oops, sorry) doctor. A close call is probably the most frank way of putting it. There were a few other things, but I can't really remember at this point, and you probably don't want to hear me babble about it anyway. But either way, I ended up going over due two weeks (and good thing... otherwise my name would be Patrick (a story for another time)) causing my mom another two weeks of joyous suffering she really didn't want to be experiencing. But then, on the day of March 28, 1992, I entered this world as a little screaming boy. (Weird to think about). I grew up about the same speed as every single other kid on this earth, which is a good thing. I got a new sister when I was only one, and then a new brother when I was just about 4. And of course, there would be another 6 along the way.

So, I have been known as "The Oldest" since my sister Sarah was born, and it's pretty cool. People ask me all the time what it's like to be the oldest of nine kids, and I usually just give them some cliché answer of how it's great because "I'm da boss." Ha! Well all oldest child kids know for a fact that this isn't true hardly at all. But now to tell people, I can write all of the real answers down here, and simply say "Hey, check out my blog!" So relating to that long section I was talking about earlier on families, I must sincerely say, "Thank You God,, You have truly blessed me with a marvelous family." Ever since the beginning, those goals my parent's set for our family were put to good use. Obviously, some rules have come and gone... more coming then going at some points, and more going then coming at others, but all in all, my parents are amazing what they do, and God bless them for it. They threw away that whole "take control of your own life and do what you want" garbage. Instead, they adapted the theme of Godliness for themselves, and thus our family. God's Word has been the foundation for teaching, and God's Love has been at the heart of words and actions.

I was homeschooled until... well, my senior year, which I'm now in. Let me tell you, it's NOT easy. In fact, it is quite difficult to home school children. It's even harder when you have 6 or 7 kids at once that you are trying to teach, plus raise to be Godly children, plus mold them into a well-rounded individual. I am truly thankful for the effort and time my parents, especially my mother put into me personally. She started me in piano lessons when I was just five years old, which I am still taking to this day. I was able to read by the time I was four, thanks to her. She put me in gymnastics when I was 7 or 8, which I was in for 3 years (which helped me a lot with agility and other areas of physical health). She had me involved with voice lessons for at the least, four years. She had me try out violin, which I didn't get very far in at all, but hey, I tried it! She trained me to be polite with manners and etiquette, which is one of the most important things to teach a kid. She taught me how to answer a phone properly. She transported me to and from basketball practices for years! She taught me responsibility, and leadership skills. I could go on and on. And don't be confused if you're wondering why I'm not including my dad in these things,, my dad has had a tremendous role in my life along with my mom, and I am just as thankful for one as the other. All in all though, my parents both taught me how to be a well-rounded person, with capabilities in music, speech, manners, drama, communication (which is a HUGE one), and the fruits of the spirit, but most importantly, they taught me God. I was taught from the very beginning of Christ's Love, and about Jesus so much, and that's the biggest thing I am thankful for my parents investing in me. I have learned how to think for myself, but along the lines of a biblical mindset. I love being the oldest of nine children, because no matter what they do, or what they think of you, you will always be looked up too (even if I am shorter than my brother who is four years younger than me :p). It puts a huge incentive to live for God, and show them how to do it through words and example. It teaches True Love,, the Love found in 1 Corinthians 13. I can easily admit that I am terrible at this high standard for love taught in the bible, but being the oldest of nine kids most certainly helps you work on it! I have found myself miserable at times, but after doing a little self-evaluating, I find the reason I'm miserable is because I'm getting wrapped up in this world's motto of living for "self" and not the bible's standard of living for God and others. It’s the idea of putting others before yourself, and ultimately God before yourself.

Now, there are a few other reasons I may like being the oldest, or even part of a large family. They could be along the lines of privileges, to benefits, to trust from mom and dad. Now unfortunately, there are probably more things I dislike about the whole big family thing (which I really need to work on) then there are likes, but the Lord is helping me with that. Ultimately though, I am TRULY thankful for the family I can call mine, and the Father who can call me His child. He’s the Father whom I accepted as my personal Father and Savior when I was just four years old. So I don't think the words "Thank You" quite cut it when I want to tell God "Thank You" for TWO amazing families... but when I see Him someday in the glory of Heaven, I can simply say those two simple words of "thank you" and know that it doesn't matter if I say thank you or not, because He loves me just the same either way. Yesterday, today and forever He will love me. :)