Intertwined: the heart, the mind, the soul

Daddy's little girls
{from left: Kaitlin, Corrie, me, Nichole}

On Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 pm - 6 pm I have one of the most difficult classes to digest: Family Violence and Neglect. Most days the Professor lectures from slides that she already posted online so it's more of like a "zone out time" but on days she shows videos, I tend to have a hard time comprehending the things I hear and see. Today we talked about incest and watched a documentary called "Searching for Angela Shelton". It is about a woman who was sexually abused by her father when she was a child and is in search of women in the country named Angela Shelton to hear their life stories and share hers (mostly for self discovery and to empower women along the way). I don't think she realized that she would hear how 24 out of the 40 women that she met were abused. She talks about her past a lot and meets up with her step-brother and step-sister to discuss what happened to them all; lastly she ends up on her father's doorstep on Father's Day to confront him about her painful past. I won't tell you how that went because it will ruin the movie and you should just go watch it since it's free to watch (click the link above!). It was hard to watch/listen at times because of the amount of pain and suffering her and all of these women went through. 

I know this wasn't the point of the documentary but I walked away grateful... so entirely grateful for my family, especially my father. Sure he isn't perfect and has his own battles, but my father never hit me, never sexually abused me, never emotionally abused me; he was always a provider and still is. I bet it was not easy to go from a family of all boys (he has 3 brothers) to having a family of his own consisting of 4 girls. But he made it work. He loves us, supports us, and even though we are all grown, he still goes out of his way to provide for us without question. I came home today (yes... I am 22, graduating from college and moved back in with my parents... it saves me money and I love them for it) and had a conversation with my dad about the documentary while he cooked pot roast (he is a great cook, must be the Japanese in him, thank Grandma ^_^). As I told him about what I had watched today, he shook this head and said he couldn't even imagine laying even a finger on us girls and how it just confuses him to no end as to why someone could be so sick to do those things to their children. 

Mom, Kaitlin and I in the '90s...

{gotta love the sandals and socks.}

One more thing that I am thankful for is my mom. She is one of the most courageous, friendly, loving and giving people you will ever meet. She is also an inspiration. My mother was abused in several ways when she was a child. She comes from a family swamped with alcoholics and people who didn't want to take the time to love their daughter. She was teased by other kids and bullied frequently, her older brother at the time wasn't very nice to her either (they have a good relationship now). You would think that someone with all these difficult things put against them would come out bruised, broken, damaged and never wanting a family or intimate relationship of her own, but after she accepted the Lord in her life in high school, God changed her heart. She met my dad in college, fell in love, married him, traveled around the world with him (he was in the Army for 25 years) and had 4 girls. If you have had the privilege of meeting my mother, you would have never guessed that she came from the past that she did. But my mother is a pure example of what Christ can do in your life and how He takes the most broken people and molds them into something beautiful. 

Some people would say I am lucky, it's just fate that I was born into the family that I have. I would say that I am truly blessed. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with the family I have. We may not be perfect in any way, but I deeply love each person in it for who they are and how they mold me. 

~Me