10 years ago.. and Values

Do you ever think back to when you were in high school and realize that where you thought you would be is so very different than where you are now?

10 years ago I was a junior in high school. I was 16 years old, had my own little beat-up '91 Honda Accord with bumper stickers all over it that said "Hula girl" "Island Girl", "Lacrosse". My best friend was Angelo. We had been best friends all throughout high school. I was in JROTC. I never really had any intention of joining the military. I honestly signed up my freshman year because they said they were going to be taking a field trip to Disneyland. Yeah... we never did go on that trip to Disneyland, haha. I ended up doing 3 years of it though and loved it. I was a Christian, and I loved Jesus for as much as a teenager knows how to love Him, but I didn't live according to his word in some ways. I was permiscuous. I had many boyfriends.

My junior year I planned on applying to the University of Hawaii and going there with my best friend, Angelo ("Jel" as I called him) and my Hawaiian boyfriend, Antone. We were all going to room together. I planned on marrying Antone, my high school sweetheart. I wanted to major in Secondary Education and become a high school English teacher. I was good at English.

That dream didn't happen obviously. We never did make it to Hawaii. I ended up moving to California my senior year and not having any friends. Not a good way to end high school. Pretty much no good memories of that year. I graduated and went to college for a semester before I got burned out and decided to enlist in the Army.

Then the Army led to finding my first real and last real love of my life, Jason. He was 25. I was 19. We got married after 2 months of knowing each other and prayed that God would bless our marriage. He has. We have twins. Jason is pursing ministry. I'm going to be a pastor's wife. Our kids are beautiful and we are just blessed. I am closer to the Lord than I have ever been in my life. I didn't know 10 years ago that my family and myself would be headed this direction-- basically a path toward Christ and having that be the most important thing in my life.

As for my children; both Jason and I feel like we have conservative values for Jonah and Leila. When it comes to love and relationships, we do not feel like having boyfriends or girlfriends is appropriate as a child or a teenager. We do not believe in dating. Dating serves no purpose than just to mess around with emotions and one's heart. It's tempting to want to go further in a relationship than one should before marriage. There should be no sex before marriage. Yes, there will naturally be hormones and feelings toward the opposite sex as they are teenagers, but God wants us to control these temptations.

We believe in courting. Right now in mine and Jason's life, we believe that courting is most appropriate. When Jonah and Leila are ready and mature to be on their own and support themselves, meeting someone for the purpose of them potentially being their spouse is the way to go about it. It is like "dating with purpose". When someone dates, it's not necessarily to find their future spouse. Courting is investing in someone with the intention of finding your spouse. So obviously your choice needs to be wise as to not court a handful of people.

Dressing modestly is very important for me to teach Leila. As I've been getting older, I am realizing that modesty is such a necessary part in teaching my young daughter. I do not like shorts or skirts to be too short or shoulders to be shown. Definitely no cleavage. Now I am not talking turtle necks and sweatpants-modest, but I don't think showing too much skin is attractive. It's just not lady-like to me. We as women need to respect our bodies and save our bodies for our husbands to see only. Modesty is attractive. Even when swimming, I have Leila wear board shorts and a rash guard top. I want to teach her at an early age to respect her body in this way. We do not need to attract boys' attention on us. It leads to lusting after us and the Bible is against lust.

Anyway, I sort of got off on a roll with my beliefs now as an adult. As a teenager I was so different and had such a different outlook than I do now. I guess that is the point of this blog post. These are more for me to read and look back on in my life and see how I develop as a woman, mother, parent,  but if you're still reading then, hey! Thanks for reading! :)