Meet Pam from Pennsylvania

She is from a blended family and has 2 full brothers, 2 step brothers, and a step sister. She attended college at Penn State for finance, but instead, decided to pursue a career in teaching, later becoming a high school teacher. She said, “While growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. She had a hundred acres of land and there was a large flat boulder on it that we called, “Picnic Rock.” We would often pack a picnic basket and hike out to the rock to surround ourselves with nature and enjoy conversation. I was always by her side as her little helper. She had beautiful gardens and taught me everything she knew about gardening. I helped plant her gardens, feed her birds, water her plants, and pull weeds. Today, I have over 30 plants all over my home. They bring me so much peace. Every holiday, I was by my grandmother’s side in the kitchen. She was the light of my childhood. My grandmother is the kindest and most pure soul I have ever known. I tell my students to ‘choose kindness’ because our world could use some more of it. I know how grateful I am for the kindness my gram has shown me.” Pam married a man that worked as a welder on the pipeline. She said, “He was the one who brought me to teaching and who brought me to God.” She moved wherever his job took them. She has lived in Colorado, New Mexico, West Virginia, Utah, and Texas. At 20 years old, never having had any children of her own, she became the stepmother to his five children. Pam is an outdoorsman and enjoys hunting and horseback riding. She said, “My husband and I had been trying to have our own child for two years. Then one year on Mother’s Day, while at church, they called all the mothers in the congregation to come forward. Being a stepmother, I went up. I ended up breaking down in tears. Without a moment’s hesitation, a wave of people from the congregation came forward to embrace and support me. That’s when I realized that was God’s way of saying that everything was going to be okay. Even though I wasn’t going to have the baby that I so passionately desired, I knew it just wasn’t my time for that prayer to be answered. There have been many times in my life when I have felt so alone. Each time, I knew I was never alone – that God always had my back and with Him I could do and be anything I wanted. I went back home to Pennsylvania to visit family for two weeks. While I was there, I realized that I had lost so much of myself in my marriage. I had forgotten what it felt like to truly laugh, feel accepted, and to be genuinely happy. It’s been two years since I left Texas and have been divorced. It has been incredibly eye-opening finding my independence. I am so much stronger now than I ever thought possible. I am beyond proud of who I am and what I’ve endured to get here.” The one thing Pam wants to tell the world is, “There will be some hard decisions to make in your life. Don’t hesitate. Follow your intuition and trust your instincts. They are the best guides. Make sure that whatever you are investing your time into, that you love what you’re doing. Thank you so much for visiting!