My mom and dad have always told my sister and I that God and family is the most

important. My parents taught me that no matter how angry my family made me, thats all that I
had, and we just have to forgive and move on with our lives. As a child, the words never stuck
with me; Now, it comes to me as a moral because family and God play a major part of my life.
My parents raised my sister and I together; We played the same sports, we went to the same
school, we even had matching outfits growing up. My sister and I grew up together, and now that
I look back- my sister and I are close and we truly see each other for who we are.
Family dinners are a priority in my home because it gives us all a chance to unwind and
bond with each other. We would take a break from homework and turn off all the electronics in
the house so that our focus was at the dinner table. It was a time to bond and discuss what we did
that day; our frustrations and our anger was released, and just talking about it helped relieve the
tension. My family is the foundation of who I truly am, and who I want to become in the future.
I live In a diverse background, which consist of being Native American and being
Christian. I like to honor my Native American ancestors by practicing and living the traditional
ways. I want to respect my elders by speaking and learning the language, however I also do
believe in the faith Christianity. Ultimately, the way I see it is I believe in God, and in Native
American culture my family and I still pray to diyin dine'e, who is God that we state in our
prayers. I practice my Christianity in school with his teachings and understandings in classes that
I have taken.
Education has always been a value that my parents have taught me. Doing homework
before anything else taught me responsibility. Growing up my parents taught me that the bear
minimum of education wasn't enough. As the world is always transforming, my parents don't

want to see me struggle. My parents have influenced me to be a better human being. They always
encourage me to push my limits and break through my barriers.
When I struggle with school, or when I struggle with how to fix my hair, I can always
count on my Shad (older sister) Tee. She is my role model in life because she is not afraid to
stick up for herself or others. She is a mentor that is always guiding people in the right direction.
She is always there for a helping hand, and she doesn't turn her back to those in need. I like to
model my life around her because she always sees the good in people, and she understands what
you're going through.
One struggle that I have encountered and is hard to discuss with others is my low part in
life. At that certain time, I was hiding things and keeping secrets because that part of my mind
told me to. It engulfed me, and I never realized how horrible I was treating my body. I became
distant to my friends and family- I became a whole different person. My eyes had no life, my
skin had no color, my smile faded, but in my mind it felt right. I have gotten help, but I still
struggle with these thoughts. It's hard to talk about with others and even to my family because
that tiny bit of me is afraid to let go of the past. It is a current battle I am still facing, but I
continue to fight to get my old self back.
I like to say that I am a forgiving person, but everyone struggles with who has hurt them
in the past. I struggle to forgive people who are wolves hiding in sheep clothing. In the past I
have let people in and let them know who I am because I thought I could trust them. I let my
guard down and they seen who I truly was and they left. They discarded me and they excluded
me from having fun. It made me feel awful and made me wonder if the problem of them leaving
was me.

It took me a long time to come to terms with these people. I took it day by day, and just
like family, I had to forgive and move on with my life. I couldn't let the past hurt me over and
over again- I had to stop letting it control who truly was. Deuteronomy 31:6 says,"
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who
goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
A high point in my life that brought me fulfillment and joy would be finishing my first
year of cross country. I didn't believe in myself that I could do it at first. Running in the dead heat
doing hill repeats on tank hill seemed like suicide to me, but I wanted to prove to my dad, sister
and mostly myself that I wouldn't give up. The first day was the hardest because all that day I
kept saying," I'm going to do this... I can't do this... Nobody's really pushing me... I can and I
will." I went the next and the next day, and through the sweat and the pain I fell in love with
running.
Seeing my baby niece being born was terrifying, but also amazing how special God's
creation is. My sister and I were attending a college graduation party when we got a call from my
aunt. She told us that her water broke and she needed to go to the hospital immediately. My sister
and I zoomed off and ended up in the delivery room with dresses and heels. We were there day
and night refusing to leave my aunt's side, while we waited excited for our baby niece. My baby
niece arrived after 12 hours of hard labor; All the waiting and tiredness vanished once we saw
her cry for the first time.
I have never wrestled with choosing a side between practicing my Native American
culture, nor being a Christian. Knowing God was something my parents taught me, but I never
knew of other religions. I assumed at public school that everyone knew of God- everyone
believed in God and prayed to him. It wasn't until I came to Rehoboth that praying before class,

prayer request and studying the bible wasn't allowed in public schools. Learning of other
religions made me realize how the world is evolved into different ethnicities.
During the summer I read an autobiography called Crying Wind which tells a story of how
the main character struggles with her inter being, and what's her purpose in life. She struggles
with being unwanted since birth, and she is looked down upon because she is a woman and she
tries to find a purpose in life. She is forced to live on her own at fifteen in a big city, with no
money and no family. She has never felt loved and she struggles to go down the path of
alcoholism like her aunts and uncles in the past. It's not until by fate she finds a paper of a local
church- she learns of God the Father and she gets beaten for letting the white man fill her mind
with their cultures. Crying Wind made me understand her struggles both internally and
externally, and how she found herself in her faith with God.