The Day It All Began

Hello Everyone! After seeing so many of my other friends starting their own blogs about their lives decided to start my own. For those of you that I don't know or those that I don't get to see or talk to on a regular basis this will be a small look into my life as a single mom! I am not an amazing writer and do not have a lot of free time so don't expect too much, LOL.

Here is a brief introduction about me and my life. My name is Kristen Alexander and I am a 27 year old single mom to my 4 year old son Ayden. I currently live in Charlotte, NC and work two jobs (mainly due to the failing economy and loss of hours to make ends meet). My main full time is as a Manager for a Metal Recycling Company but I am also waiting tables at night and on weekends @ OTB. My son is my life and whole world and I love him with all of my heart. I am a normal, loving, fun girl who will do anything for anyone if I can. I am gulliable and clumsy. I am not very patient and I put way too much pressure on myself and probably judge myself more than anyone else could. I put on weight after having my son, and although I am not obese, I want to lose some of that weight so that I can jump in the pool with my son during the summer and not feel self conscious about my stomach and thighs! I am trying to work out and eat right, but with my schedule it's almost impossible. For the first time in my life I am HAPPY! Seriously, I am HAPPY with my life and MYSELF. I am not worried about not finding "The One" or getting married. I am letting God write my love story for the first time ever and letting Him bring us together in His time. I have so many more blessings than I could ask for. My family is the greatest ever and it took a long time to figure out that no family is perfect but that they are the only ones that are going to be there for you unconditionally. Execpt for a few select friends that have stuck by my side, my mom and dad have been the biggest support team ever. They go above and beyond what they should or could do and truly shown me what it means to be a parent and love your family with the kind of love God has for us.

My life didn't take the road I thought it would, but nothing ever happens the way you plan. God had a different version of "my life" waiting for me. I was the sweet, good, christian girl who lived in a loving, protective world with my parents and little brother. My parents raised us in church with great Christian morals and values. Everyone always thought that I would be the one who would graduate with my nursing degree, fall in love, get married and have a fabulous family and life. Nonetheless, I was your typical prodigal child. I moved out at 18, started college, and a life of staying out late and having fun. I left my protective world and God behind and thought I knew everything. I was right and could justify just about any rebutal you could but in front of me. The extent of my partying was typical for most 18 yr olds on their own for the first time. While I was in school for nursing I found myself making poor decsisions and ended up pregnant by a man I barely knew and didn't love. The day I found out I was pregnant I couldn't believe it. Here I was a promising 22 year old girl with a bright future ahead of me and I was stopped dead in my tracks by a road block and a choice to dismiss that road block and go on about my life as if nothing happened or take the detour. Obviously I chose the detour and despite the ups and downs it was the best decsision I ever made! I ended up quitting school, for the moment, and getting a full time day job. Things didn't work out with Ayden's dad, as I knew they wouldn't, and about 9 months later I began my life as a single mom. The day I laid eyes on my "little person" I knew my life would never be the same. It was 2004 and I was living in Fayetteville at the time. I had just turned 23 and had no idea was I was doing. I sat down and prayed to God to forgive my and lead my life according to His will. I gave my son to Him and promised that I would raise my son to know and love Him as his Lord and Saviour.

That was almost 5 years ago and I thank God for all His blessings today and for the future. It has been a crazy ride so far and as any other Christian I have slipped and made more mistakes. I still sin and mess up. That is why God's forgiveness is so wonderful. Sadly many Christians take his forgiveness for granted (as I did in the past) and think as long as they ask for forgiveness they can live their life any way they want. That's not the case and I feel sorry for those people. They don't have a real sense of what it is to be a Christian and live by His word. I am working everyday on making my relationship with Him stronger. I am learning how to revolve my world around Him instead of bringing Him into my life when I have time. It's not easy but God never said it would be. The other day I realized just how much I had strayed when I told some friends of my new look on life and some decisions I had made on some serious issues that involved a life change for God. They looked at me and laughed and said "Yea right, you can't do it". That moment was very sad for me. I saw then that I truly had been a disgrace and not worthy of calling myself a Christian. Now I want to change that and change people's perception of me and my life.

I have many more days in my single mom life ahead of me and I am looking forward to each and every one of them. They have made and will continue to make me the woman I am today. I am stronger and more patient than I ever thought I could be. Thank you GOD, Mom, Dad, Sean, Trish, Christine, Alli, Julie and the rest of my family and friends for being there for me and Ayden since day one!

Word of Advice (from my friend Amber W.): "Never ask God for patience because He will give you things to make you patient for!"

XOXO,

Kristen