All about Katie

By Suwanee Lennon

I figure if you are reading my blog, you may be interested in knowing about me.  I was born in Minnesota, and lived there until just before I turned 14.  I grew up in a godly home, and have 3 sisters.  I was saved when I was 7 years old, in my living room with my mom.  I don't remember the date, but I remember that I felt so happy after I prayed and asked Jesus to come into my life.  Getting saved did not make me perfect, but it did make me forgiven.  I have made many mistakes, but God has forgiven me for all of them.  That is why I try not to regret anything that has happened.   I don't dwell on the past and I look forward to taking what I have learned, and using it to help others not make the same mistakes.  When I was 11 years old, I got hit by a car.  I was riding a bike with a friend through a parking lot at the police station (to get to the sidewalk), and a car hit me (that was before helmets were required!).  It triggered seizures, which I was told I would grow out of, but I still get them when I'm stressed/tired.  It messed with my memory too, and I don't remember a lot of my childhood.  I remember some things, mostly from seeing pictures.  I was hit, I think, the same day we got our first foster kids.  My poor mom!!  She is superwoman though and was able to get the babies and still take care of me after my concussion!!  We moved to Florida right before my 14th birthday.  My parents were the best and bought us a house with not only a swimming pool, but a water slide as well.  I loved that house and have fond memories of spending our summer vacations swimming with our friends!  I got pregnant with Ashley right before finishing high school.  I never should have been alone with a guy, and I am proof that some guys don’t take “no” for an answer.  Getting pregnant changed my college plans.  I never was going to have an abortion, so I had to not go to TN where I planned to go to college, but stay close to home and go to the community college nearby my parents house, since they just moved to a different part of FL and I needed their support.  That was the best college.  No cliques, no stress :)  I loved it.  I got my 2 year A.A. degree.  My focus was criminal justice.  I wanted to work for the FBI, but God wanted me to have a harder job, and let me be a mom!!  I love it and I wouldn't change it for anything!  When Ashley was 3, my parents moved back to where we used to live, and I decided I was ready to move out on my own.  It was scary being a single mom, living alone, but God allowed me to live in an apartment near a friend from high school, who I knew would look out for me and help me if I needed anything.  That was a blessing to me!!  I soon tired of the apartment life and decided to buy a townhouse.  God gave me the perfect place to live.  I loved that townhouse!  It was the best, and I did it myself with God's help.  I was a single mom that wasn't on welfare and wasn't poor.  That really was a huge accomplishment for me.  It may sound like nothing, but it really was important for me to provide for my daughter.  While I was buying the townhouse was when I met Nathan.  He helped me fix it up and paint it, not knowing we were going to get married and live there together.  I think it helped make it feel like his home too, since he was involved in all the work from the beginning.  We got married 11 months after we met.  He had some rough times getting Ashley to accept him, and to not feel like he was taking me from her.  But they really bonded the more time they spent together.  We got pregnant a month after we married, with Marissa.  When she was 6 months, we took the leap and up and moved to NC.  It was scary but also an adventure!  Nathan was able to adopt Ashley before we moved, the courthouse was so sweet and helpful it getting it finalized before we left FL.  Her adoption day was on Nathan’s birthday, so his birthday is extra special now!!  After we moved, we were having a lot of trouble finding a good church.  I had Dylan and we really didn't have any close friends or feel at home at a church.  I decided to put Ashley in girl scouts, and we met the best family there!  We are still as close as can be to this day!!  What a blessing God has brought us!!  We soon found Emmanuel Baptist, and met some more amazing friends.  God has truly blessed our lives.  God has now directed our path back to FL, which is bittersweet.  We are happy to be living near family, but sad to leave our friends.  Nathan will be home more and that is more important than anything!!  I look back on my life and I don't see the bad choices I made, or the stupid things I did.  I see God's hand in everything, and even when I was stubborn, I see God redirecting me, teaching me, and helping me grow.  I am God's child, and that is the most important thing in my life!!