What Goes Around Comes Around

Before I start, I want to make it very clear that I do not believe in karma. I believe in the blessings and judgments of God that happen to look and appear like karma. That being said, I am having an awesome week! I feel like being kind to others is opening up the ability for people to be kind to me. People are always kind to me, but for some reason people have been extra kind. I have gotten so many compliments lately. I think It's more of the fact that I am giving people a reason to be proud me. I am happy with my own decisions, and people are happy for me.

Being nice to people is so much fun. Not that I am not ALWAYS nice ;) but going out of the way to speak words of life over people is rewarding. It makes people better to be around, which makes me better to be around!

The only person that takes any flack for my experimental compliments is Isaiah Gaines. I try to compliment him everyday, but sometimes my compliments don't sound sincere. "You have big eyebrows", I says. Immediately he asks me if I don't like them... #complifail! I'm trying to expand my horizons and stop using the same generic compliments. Thank you Ms. Gaines for being so open to accepting new crazy compliments :D I will improve over time!

Updates: Jonah had his EEG this past Wednesday. Keeping him running smoothly on 5 hours of sleep was difficult :( He cried a lot leading up to it, but he was extremely well behaved for the test itself. We should know more on Monday.

Jonah had a birthday party this past week! I thought it would be really hard to celebrate his birthday with his other side of the family meeting Isaiah, but it proved surprisingly easy. everybody was there to celebrate Jonah, and he had a great time playing outside with all of his extended family! :) He got lots of cool gifts and nice clothes. His favorite gift was/is a Mickey Mouse bike. It is a blessing and a curse (metaphorically speaking) He wants to bring it EVERYWHERE, and that is no exaggeration. I have repeatedly told him the bikes cannot go into church, on slip n slides, up the stairs, or into streets. When he can't bring his bike, he wears his helmet. I hold the official appearance of a crazy overprotective mom that makes her son wear and fasten a helmet in public... :P If only they knew!

Financially, I am stable-ish. I found out this week that I have money on a child support card that I never knew about. This makes me very happy because it provides a cushion for me to buy Jonah things when he really needs them. Also (concerning money), Jonah's other side of the family is going to open up a money account for him to go to college or start a business. This is definitely a blessing, and I know he will be thankful for it when the time comes!

In conclusion, God is ALWAYS good <3
tell me something I don't know!
Renee Lynn

Happy Belated Birthday!

I’m excited to announce that I am officially 21 years old! I realize that I am about two weeks late in the blog department, but life is more interesting. In the past two weeks: I traveled to Tennessee to visit friends and family, started summer classes, saved a little money, gave someone a tattoo, moved out of my apartment, spent a few hours in the E.R. with Jonah, and made a gym schedule. Being 21 isn’t much different than being 20 aside from the fact that I feel a little older. I feel like I can finally rent cars and foster children!

This month I want to focus on the words I say to people. I want to edify people and speak life into their situations instead of tearing them down. I know how badly words can hurt a person because I’ve hurt plenty of people in my lifetime. I’ve said the wrong things at the wrong times, and accidentally crushed the spirits of people around me. I’m sure we’ve all said mean things out of anger. We are sinful people, and only God can change our ways. I want to be an inspiration to the people around me, especially in my words.

One thing I’ve learned in the past two weeks, besides the definition of fiscal cliff, is that actions speak louder than words. When I do something wrong, like kick someone out of my apartment, the first thing people like to attack is my Christianity. When my actions don’t appear to align with scripture, regardless of the situation, I am hurting the word “Christian” in the minds of the unbelievers around me. Another way to phrase this phenomenon is to determine me a hypocrite. I live a life that loves Jesus Christ, but I am not always perfect. I do not always do the right things. I am not always gracious. I cannot always forgive the same person multiple times. I am a sinner.

SO!! With all that said, my goal in life is to be a little bit better because Jesus was better. Every day I strive to look more like him. It’s a progression, but I’m working on it. Moving forward is always better than standing still. I don’t want grow up to be one of those Christians that never makes a difference. I want to change the world – one child at a time.

Renee Lynn

P.S. – May is foster care awareness month!

Who Am I?

There are thousands of people in the world, what sets me apart? We each have a unique God-given fingerprint that distinguishes us from the rest of the world - our DNA. Call me obsessive, call me crazy, but last Christmas I bought myself a DNA test. I did it on a whim. I wanted to find out more about my heredity. I wanted to know why my tan skin color was so different than the 'white' race choice I selected on standardized tests. My curiosity brought me to www.familytreedna.com. I saved almost 200 dollars, and threw it all down for a chance to really know. I don't regret it, and I still feel like it was a good choice. Now when people ask me "what are you?", I give them a genetic breakdown. One of the coolest parts about my results is that my DNA gets put in a database, and every time I get a new family link, a notification gets sent to my email. the closest match I've gotten so far is a 2nd or 3rd cousin. It's so interesting to me, and my nerd side starts showing. Let me stop talking about it and just show you!

Here's my breakdown. you can click on the picture to get a better view. Pretty cool right? I assume my darker color comes from either my native American background or the Middle East. I wonder if that's enough Native American to get a scholarship. :P

This is the country breakdown. My DNA matches up to the following countries. This doesn't necessary mean my ancestors grew up in these countries, but there is a very high chance that the original people migrated from here.

One of the best things about the country breakup is that it can trace both Native American and Jewish blood. There are characteristics in these blood types that are unique to these people groups. I happen to have both of them! I can't help but get a little excited knowing that I have blood linked to God's chosen people. 

:) There you go! This is me. I have charts of actual DNA breakdowns, but sharing time is over. I think I have a justified reason to start marking 'other' on my future race selections. :P

Renee Lynn

21 Things that Matter to Me

My 21st birthday is less than 21 days away. Most people look forward to the freedom of drinking alcohol in public. I look forward to the legal age of foster care in Virginia. I care about a lot of things, but this year I want to focus my attention on just 21 things that really matter. Not to say that I won't go on a tangent, but I want to try to keep my mind set on a short list of long term goals.

1. I want to invest time in my family - both my immediate family and my extended family.
2. I want to turn the terrible twos into the terrific twos
3. I want to read more
4. I want to foster children
5. I want to live a frugal lifestyle - learn contentment
6. I want to show more mercy - forgive more easily
7. I want to graduate college
8. I want to write more - a blog counts right?
9. I want to make healthy life choices
10. I want to bless other people
11. I want to exercise my God given talents - theatre, poetry, exhortation
12. I want to have a mentor/ be a mentor
13. I want to focus on making long lasting female relationships
14. I want to honor God with my words/ actions
15. I want to save 10,000 dollars
16. I want to practice persistance
17. I want to waste less time
18. I want to erase the victim mindset
19. I want to have a schedule - one that I can commit to but break if necessary
20. I want to stay out of debt
21. I want to write a book - this one may take longer than necessary :P

With God, anything is possible. I believe it. I stand on it. I testify to it's truth.
May 17th - here I come! #twentyoneorbust

Renee Lynn