I'm feelin 22

Today at 10:56am I turned 22! I honestly can say it has been  an amazing day.  I woke up to the sound of rain! If you live in west Texas, you know that hasn't happened in a very very very loonnnng time. So literally from the moment I woke up today it has been amazing. 

Blessed with another year and moisture....pure bliss! 

Shortly after waking up Braylon exclaimed "it's your burfday mama.... You three yayyyyy!!!" (He thinks everyone is two like him so apparently I am three since I had a birthday haha.) after I told him I was actually twenty two he has been telling me "yay momma your two two".  Which reminds me, I was thinking 22 was still pretty young until a little one at church told me "wow your going to be 22 on Sunday but 21 today" (this was earlier in the week)  I said yes that's right! And he said "wow so you have already been 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 and now you will be 22 that's cool! I have only been 1 2 3 and will be 4 next. 22 never sounded so old until he counted up to it! 

But then I began to think how awesome it is that I have lived for 22 years, experienced life for 22 years. It's pretty awesome, so many memories. I started to reminisce, Looking through photo albums, recalling stories, telling Braylon some of them. Going back and seeing how God had worked in my life from placing me into my parents loving arms at a 7 days old, being raised in church, proclaiming Christ as my Lord and savior, stumbling and being dusted off, graduating high school, being blessed with a healthy handsome son, getting engaged, graduating undergrad, being accepted into my first choice law school.... Knowing God has been beside me every step of the way, and not knowing what all he has planned for my future but knowing that he has a plan for my life, a purpose.... Wow!!! What an awesome feeling.

Then suddenly, I came to a realization. One that I have always known, but for some reason effected  me differently than it had before. Out of the the 8,030 days I have been on this earth, the 694 252 371  

Seconds I have been spent living.... Only one thing that I have done matters!   The moment I chose to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. The graduations, the accomplishments, the material possessions, don't truly matter! The decision I made long ago does! It will get me and you, if you make the decision, to eternal life with our Creator! 

The rest of the day has been spent lounging around with family, watching movies, and relaxing! I opened my birthday present from my parents and fiancé! .... A kitchenaid mixer!!!!

I am so excited to use it,(DJ is just as excited... It was a win-win situation for him...happy fiancé and a gift that gives back!) So later tonight I am thinking that I am going to make some homemade chocolate chip cookies! Yummay!  Today has been great, and it's not even over! 

A special thank you to this who have called, texted, posted on my wall, messaged me, or sent a card! I am blessed with amazing friends and family! 

-Brenda 

Introduction time :)

Hello everyone! I am officially a blogger!!! 👏😬

I have been wanting to blog for a while but never sat down and started doing it.  So this morning I woke up and decided today was the day to start! I decided to blog about my happiness, my joy, my bliss (as the blog name implies haha).  Thus, I will blog about my life happenings, my fiancé, my son, my family, my upcoming wedding (JULY 5th!), my upcoming adventure at Texas Tech School of Law, etc. 

So I guess since you will be following my story it is only right to give a brief introduction about me, and who I am right?

Okay, so here it goes.... I was born May, 24th 1992 (yes, my 22nd birthday is a few days away!🎉🎁🎂) in Springfield, Missouri.  My biological mother knew that she did not have the means to support me, and wanted my life to be full of opportunities that she knew she couldn't provide at the time.  Thus, she made the most difficult, selfless decision and decided that adoption was her best option.  At nine days old I left Missouri in the loving arms of my parents and back to Texas we went!  ✈️

I found out I was adopted at about the age of 8 and was content with that.  After all, I knew no different, my parents are my parents, they raised me, instructed me, nurtured me, etc.  I have always been a curious child... so I am sure that I wondered if I had siblings, how my biological family was doing etc, but never thought to pursue those questions and find answers until later in life...but I am saving that for a different entry.


My childhood was full of opportunities just as my biological mother had hoped, I was able to spend lots of time with my mom since she was a school teacher and off in the summer months, I also lived three doors down from her mom, my Nana.  What a blessing that turned out to be.  I would see my Nana everyday and would love to spend the night with her often.  She was such a blessing in my life, we cooked together, read together, pulled weeds together, cleaned together, drew together, did cross word puzzles together, etc. I always knew she was sick, COPD and osteoporosis don't go well together, but she wore them like a crown.  She never really led on that she was in pain or hurting and was so incredibly strong for her small stature.  I could go on and on about how awesome she was but I will save that for a different entry as well.  When I was in the 7th grade she passed away.  We knew it was coming, she was old, tired, and weary.  On October 10th, early in the morning, God called her home and I have no doubt he said "Well done, my good and faithful servant".  That was the first time someone close to me passed away, and it was extremely hard.  I saw her everyday from 9 days old, and then she was gone, but oh how thankful I was to have so many memories with her.

Shortly after that I began to dive deep into God's word, looking for comfort, encouragement, and assurance that I would see her again one day.  I came across several scriptures (Romans 10:9-10, Revelations 3:20, and John 3:3)  that made it very clear how to be apart of God's Kingdom. I was raised in church, I had witnessed baptisms, stood through numerous invitations, and learned about God my entire life.  But for the first time ever it clicked, me an unworthy, sinful, being was loved by God, created in his image, and had a plan to fulfill.  I went to sleep that night with lots of thoughts running through my head, and the next day sought the advice of my mom and dad.  I wanted to be sure that I was doing this on my own, not simply because I wanted to be with my Nana again, but because I wanted to fulfill my Creators plan, because I wanted to follow him, etc.  So, we sought the advice of my Pastor and prayed about it, after all it was a HUGE decision.  I felt that I was doing it for the right reasons, and felt God confirmed that so soon after I was baptized.  What an amazing moment and experience that was and has been...Ever since then, I haven't been perfect, no one is, but I have been picked up and dusted off numerous times and have been trying to fulfill God's plan (which was made apparent to me in high school but again it will be it's own entry) for my life and have enjoyed walking with God since then. 

My teen years - to now have been full of excitement and joy.   I started high school and cheerleading my freshman year. I met my child's father / soon to be husband my freshman year as well.  We were on and off my freshman year to my Junior year and then went our own ways my Junior year, only to begin dating again the summer before Senior Year.  Since then we have been together ever since.  I went to West Texas A&M that fall of my freshman year only to realize that I was supposed to be in Plainview, at Wayland Baptist University (something I never would have imagined but that God had in my plan) I came back, and quickly found a niche at Wayland and was closer to DJ (who had stayed in Plainview to work at his family business), so it was a win-win situation.  I was about to finish the last semester of my freshman year when I found out I was pregnant. It obviously was not the ideal situation, but I was determined to make it work.  I knew that DJ was the one I wanted to marry, and eventually start a family with and that he would be an amazing Dad.  I also knew that both my parents and his parents would be initially disappointed but would be an amazing support system.  I continued my education that fall, quitting was never an option, and a week after classes concluded that December we welcomed a handsome, healthy, son named Braylon into our lives. (That was such an amazing day...it will also have a separate entry later☺️)

He made our bond stronger, our lives adventurous, and our hearts full.  I continued my education that following January, got engaged to DJ during spring break of  2013, started an amazing internship in the Fall of 2013, and May 10th of this year I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Justice Administration with the Magna Cum Laude distinction.  However, my education doesn't end with graduating from Wayland. I am starting Law School at Texas Tech University this Fall.  It will be an extremely busy summer for me between teaching vacation bible school, getting married, moving into our house that we purchased in February, and preparing to start Law School.  So many exciting things! And all the more reason to blog! 

- Brenda 

(This was my original ring the band stood for Braylon and we planned to complete it with the other band when we got married... But it was stolen... and I learned the hard way not to take off my ring for even a second... DJ got me another beautiful ring after that one was stolen and I love it too!) here is my new one...

 May 10, 2014 - graduation🎓🎉

 And now onto TTU Law❤️👆