I grew up in a good home, amazing mom and dad...a brother Mat and a sister Maria. I am the youngest of the three with my sister 4 years older, and my brother 3 years older. I was born in may 1987. I grew up in Caldwell, Idaho. Graduated in 2005 from Vallivue High school. Then enlisted in the Marine Corps as an infantry rifleman. I was blessed with a beautiful daughter from my first marriage, Chloe was born in December 2006 while i was away on deployment.
After that deployment i did two more, one with 2/4 and the last with 1/1. I then was honorably discharged in 2009, i then divorced and got a job at DirecTv doing customer service, there i met my beautiful wife Shannan. Shannan is my saving grace, she is what has kept me going, she is in a sense...my hero.
My wife and i have since quit working at directv and have moved on from that mess. I work at the Prison here in Idaho, forgive me if i leave out details on which one. My wife works in retail and we are expecting our first child to be born in mid august, her name will be Madilynn Elizabeth.
I was recently accepted to a local college, with the intent to obtain my Associates of Applied Science in Web Design. Web design has always been my dream, it has always intrigued me, and given me pleasure, by designing, creating and publishing. It will provide, God willing, for me to stay at home as much as possible with my girls, Shannan, Chloe and Madilynn. My ultimate dream is to be a father, a husband and an overall good man like my dad is and was to me.
Why web design....? Well for me that answer is simple, but to explain it takes a lot of understanding on the readers part. I dislike people, i am not a people person when it comes to employment and staff relations...i no longer want to work somewhere with an "HR" department, of Information Reports or false accusations. I refuse to work for someone who gains pleasure from holding your job over your head like a stick of cotton candy over a child's head at the fair. I work very well on my own, and at my pace...because frankly i believe my working pace is too uncomfortable for some. I enjoy being taken out of my professional comfort zone, being challenged and being on the radar.
Web design also gives me a sense of control, and as a human, i enjoy that. There is no one, i believe, that doesn't like being the one tugging on the reins. If i fail i have only myself to blame, if i succeed it gives me ambition to do even better next time. I have fallen and have always gotten back up. I believe i have encountered a lot of challenges for my life, maybe not a lot for some, but plenty so far for me.
My first honest challenge in my life was graduating high school, at first i didn't really appreciate what people were doing for me, as far as pushing me and trying to help me. I always assumed people were trying to control my life, push my life in the direction they wanted me to go and i often ignored them. About junior year in high school i finally pulled my head out from my rectum :) and decided i better do whatever i can to be the best i can, because what i do here, against popular belief, matters. I brought my grades up to the end of my senior year to an average GPA of 3.75 and graduated at the top 20% of my class of nearly 400 students, which at the time was a great accomplishment for me.
Next challenge i had in my life, was leaving my mom behind as i enlisted into the USMC. Those three months separated me from my life line, from my confidant, my shoulder to cry on and honestly...my best friend. My mom got sick while i was in high school, it progressed over time to the point where she is now, stricken to her home with rheumatoid arthritis, 95LBS and struggling with pain management through pills and mystery juices. The thought of my mom in pain hurt me, but it drove me to succeed every time i was on my DIs quarter deck getting thrashed, every time i missed a step in drill i wanted to be better because i knew mom would one day see me on the parade deck at graduation and i wanted to make her proud.
After boot camp graduation i got to my unit, 2/4 Fox company 4th platoon out of San Mateo, camp pendleton, California where i spend the next 3 years of my life. Before my deployment to Iraq in September 2009 my girlfriend and i found out she was pregnant, i was overwhelmed with fear and joy, like any 19 year old kid would be, we married in august 2006 and divorced in January of 2010. I as a young man, made the wrong decision to get married, i wanted to be able to be apart of my daughters life and thought the only way to do so would to be married, also i wouldn't have a way to pay for it so the health care aspect of being married in the marines made sense at the time.
In retrospect i would not change a single decision in my life, everything I've done, seen, said or heard has reflected in my actions on all my decisions and has led me to where i am today, happily married, with one daughter, and one on the way. God is good, God is great...always has been and always will be.
People ask me often after they meet me, to share my experiences with them, and i have always declined the opportunity to let an outsider get a glimpse of what it is to be me...I've labeled myself many things in my life with a wide range of descriptors, labels and "hats if you will". In my life i have been, broken, abused, neglected, loved, hated, admired, respected, feared, trusted, depressed, scared, courageous, shameful, disgusted, frowned upon, beaten, shot at, worried over, cheated on, taken advantage of, taken advantage, I've stolen things, I've had my things stolen, I've been destroyed and rebuilt, I've been favored and Ive been last picked but out of things that i have been, felt or been called my favorite thing of all is FORGIVEN.
My path to God was a winding road, with many detours, bumps, foggy avenues and cliff hanging "S" curves. I believe God truly rescued my life at the age of 16, a junior in high school...I was so upset one night over a girl being unfaithful to me, that i left her place and got in my car, after punching a road sing and breaking three of my knuckles. I was driving home and with teared filled eyes just didn't want to feel that kind of pain anymore, so in my selfish rage i took of my seat belt and before getting to the top of hill on the highway i decided i would switch lanes, into oncoming traffic. I closed my eyes and slammed the pedal down to the floor board, i opened my eyes to an empty highway at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, i decided to put my seat belt on and get back into my lane, in fear of being pulled over and having to explain to an officer what exactly i was doing. For the rest of the drive home i didn't see one car on the road, i was in Gods hands that night, and i always am. I went to my room after returning home to my confused self, i opened the bible and read Joshua 1:9. That verse has always spoke a special message to my life, i have felt that it has been a direct conversation from God to myself, it was his way of letting me know, wherever i am, whatever I'm doing, whatever i am faced with he'll be right there by my side, either walking with me, in front of me, behind me or like most of my trials he has carried me.
