The OK Adventures of Peppersloth and Annie

‘Six impossible things. Count them, Alice!’ (Alice in Wonderland, 2010)

                It seems impossible that in just over a week, I will have been in Oklahoma for SIX WHOLE MONTHS! Half of a year has already gone by, since I loaded up my car with books and set off on an adventure into the unknown! It really is crazy. Time has gone by quickly, yet also slowly. There have been so many times when I wanted to give up and quit. But a lot of things have kept me going, and I would like to give thanks for them.

                The first people I need to thank are my parents. This move was not easy on them, but they have handled it like champs! I have always been the odd child out, and not just because I’m the only girl. I have always marched to the beat of my own drum, and been slightly unpredictable. My mom has always said, ‘I’m not going to tell you to not do it, because then you definitely will!’ And even though this wasn’t my parent’s favorite of all my choices, they have loved and supported me through it. My mom and I talked about it the other day, and she said she thinks this was the right move for me. That means she has been wrong on TWO occasions in her life! I am so thankful for the people I get to call mom and dad. They are the best. No one has ever sacrificed so much for me, or loved me, or cared for me like these people do. Carl and Kim go above and beyond for their children…especially their favorite one!

                The second group of people I want to thank are the people of Church in the Wild. I left a church in June of 2019. It isn’t REALLY a church, but for the sake of the blog, we’ll pretend it is. The experience was so awful that I never wanted to go to another church. But my mom kept encouraging me to try again. I had been following CitW on Facebook, because that’s the cool thing to do. I remembered seeing a post where they brought all of their singles up to the front and prayed over them. It was beautiful! I had never seen a church do that! Most churches expect singles to serve more than marrieds. I had never seen a church love and care for their singles like that. It left enough of an impression on me that I decided to try it. But I was determined that I was NOT going to serve, I was NOT going to go to small group, and I most DEFINITELY was NOT going to make friends! Within a month, I was in a small group. Within two months, I had friends. And now I serve every time I go back to Ohio. CitW was the miracle I needed when I was at my darkest.

                The next group is everyone in 2019 who went out of their way to tear me apart. Thank you for bringing me so much misery and drama that I hit rock bottom. Thank you for causing me so much pain that I didn’t want to be me anymore. If you hadn’t bullied me so badly, I wouldn’t have quit my job. If you hadn’t cruelly manipulated me, I wouldn’t have left your church. If you hadn’t used me to get what you wanted, I wouldn’t have walked away from what I thought was a perfect friendship. If none of these things had happened, my life wouldn’t have changed for the better. There would have been no reason for my mom to tell me to start over, and to find things in life that bring me joy. There would have been no reason for me to look into teaching, and then Coree wouldn’t have had a reason to tell me about teachers in Oklahoma. So, thank you. Thank you for being the worst people in my life, so that I could become the best person in my life. I’ve never been happier with my life, and I couldn’t have done it without you.

                Also, thank you to the state of Oklahoma! Thank you for taking me in without blinking an eye! Thank you for giving me a job, and a roof! Thank you for giving me a fresh start! Thank you for your beautiful lake, and your awesome zoo! Thank you for your incredibly friendly people! Thank you for your sunshine! Thank you for giving me opportunities I’ve never had! Thank you for giving me a new life!

                Finally, thanks to God for his amazing grace and second chances at life! He continually amazes me. He continually does things I’ve never thought of. I didn’t want to come here! I wanted to go to the ocean! I’m a water person! Not a desert person! But God opened so many doors, there’s no way I could have lived anywhere else. There was never any other choice, except to come here. And I’m so glad I was obedient to the call. Thank you, God, for knowing what was best for me.

                I am so thankful for this life that I am living. It seems impossible to believe that I almost gave it up a year ago. I can’t believe how far I’ve come since then. But I’m very ok with it.