Growing Up

I was raised in the Piney Woods of East Texas, in a small town called Karnack, located just miles from the famous Caddo Lake.  My parents are the best, dad worked hard for our family, but always had time to spend with us.  Dad was a logger by trade, working many days from sun-up to sunset.  My mom was a home maker, tending to us, and the house all day. 

My older brother was mainly into cars, my sister, loved books, or spending time with our cousins, my brother John, well he was always into mischief, or following dad around as he worked on his trucks. As for me, I was the animal lover, always bringing home something.  I am thankful for parents who allowed me to do so, I always had chickens, ducks, geese, goats, dogs, and more..   To others we may not have had much, but to me, we were the richest. 

We were raised in a conservative home, as children we didnt have TVs, video games, or such.  We spent our time playing outside with cousins, making up our own games, or playing old favorites. 
However, our life wasnt all play, we had chores to do as well, In the spring we help mom with the veggie garden, when we had one, summer time we either helped inside, or cleaned yards, in the Fall we would rake the massive amount of leaves that fell from the many oak trees in our yard.  Raking was not a favorite of any of ours, but we did it, often making big piles and jumping into them..  I remember several times our black lab dog would join into the fun.  The Winter in East Texas can get very cold, we normally always had ice storms, everything would freeze over, and we would be stuck home..  One year I remember we were without lights for two weeks, thankful for gas heat. We would all bundle in the living room to sleep at night. 

Then when I was just twelve years old, my father had a sudden heart attack and passed during the night, this sparked a new chapter in our lives.  Being so young I simply wanted to believe it was a bad dream that I would wake up from, but I never did.  It was during this time, that I learned the true meaning of having a loving family.  Everything that I had learned in my short life, would help me to become the person I am today.  Being the oldest child at home, and with my mom having to take work outside the home to make ends meet, I stepped up and helped with home duties.  During the following years after my father passed, my mom's sister moved in with us, she help tend to our home and us kids while mom cleaned homes for other people.  I was determined to make the best of this time, and do my part.  My aunt taught me to cook, clean, and how to do so much more.  God was great to us.  Most of all my family stayed together, it was a hard time for all of us, especially my mom, but she never blamed God, she would take us to church each week, and made sure we knew that all our blessings where from God. 

I am thankful today for all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and the many friends we have that helped us during these times, but most of all, For my God, who kept his hand on us, and always met our needs! 

Sincerely,

Jesse Adams