How's It Going?

     When someone asks you, “ How’s it going?”  

      My life has changed so much since my family moved to Frankfurt. I mean no cars, gelato on every corner, flea markets, the city; It has its ups and downs. But honestly, it has been an emotional and spiritual whirlwind. It feels like years ago that we stepped off the airplane to start a new adventure.  All you say is that its great. I don’t know about you but I honestly don’t know what else to say; or maybe its that I don’t know how to start. Here’s what my life is like or in other words, “how its going”.

     For a start: the gelato. I mean seriously! If I were you I’d come just for that. There are endless flavors and not just that, it is absolutely delicious. I mean, I am still eating it and its what like sixty degrees outside? Other than that there have definitely been many tears. At first this all felt like a dream, but than it became our reality. I don’t know when it hit me but I was like “whoa we are actually doing this”? Half of me thought we were lunatics but the other half was ready for the challenge. 

     It has been a mountain to face. We are living in a foreign country and that has brought many difficulties we have not been expecting. For example, I was supposed to start junior high this year. At my age, friendship matters a lot to me. What a great time to move! When I am completely emotional and trying to find my bearings in a foreign mystical land. Ok. I may have exaggerated a little bit, but still! I have a point. Sure there is social media, there is FaceTime and Skype. But from my view it is definitely not the same. I was looking forward to my first years of craziness (not that my life hasn’t been crazy enough) in the new and large land of anxious tweens. But I have discovered something worth losing that for. Something I couldn’t be more incredibly thankful for. I have grown as a person and my relationship with the Lord has grown in ways I would have never imagined.

Where it All Began

Where it all Began 

  Where it all began… you want to know how in the world my family ended up where we are at this very moment? Well that would be a long story, a story for some other time. But now I can tell you how very chaotic my life was just a few months ago. Yes, just earlier this summer I was a stressed, emotional, wreck. This was the week leading up to our move. A time where I was overwhelmed awaiting what was to come.

  We got back from vacation in California only a week before we were supposed to leave. Up to the very last goodbyes I could not believe we were actually moving to Germany. I could barely even believe it when we stepped off the plane. I felt like it was all a dream, like I was in a haze of overwhelming craziness. I was the girl who felt like her head is about to explode, like she will throw up her heart and leave it behind. I was the girl who exploded… or at least felt like it.

   My room was covered, so much that you could barely see the floor. There was everything from clothes to books laying around. Moving is very hard, especially moving overseas. We sold all of our furniture, packed our clothes and put things in storage . I never realized how much I love what we left behind until we actually left. 

   I miss my friends, our church, school and even my bunny. Starting over is hard. Saying goodbye is hard. Leaving people you love behind is heart-wrenching. But it is life. It is my life. And I wouldn’t be who I am today without it. A good challenge is always worth accepting. And I have accepted many.

The Girl Who Lived

Me. I am Tate. Nickname: Tatertot.

 

I am in seventh grade. I was born in California and have a winter birthday. I have lived in California, Colorado, Texas, and currently Germany. My family moves an average of every 2-3 years and consists of me, my dad, mom, and sister. So no, we are not the normal picture-perfect American family; But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love reading, writing, band, swimming, running, friends, family, unicorns, bunnies, food, cheeseburgers, sci-fi fantasy, etc. See normal, right?

   I am an all-out bookworm. Reading is one of my favorite past times (alongside writing/literature in general). My favorite series would have to be… Harry Potter! They are the best, am I right? I love those books. I can not put them down; so from my point of view if you haven’t read them, you are really missing out! I am the the type of girl that if you interrupt my reading I will usually get very angry :)

   I love my friends. If I have learned at least one thing from moving a lot, it would have to be the value of friendship. I value friends just as much as family. God has placed some very awesome people in my life. And look where it got me! Now I have BFFs all over the world!

   Another one of my other faves would have to include music. Yes, I was a band student in sixth grade. I am an oboist. I have just recently picked the oboe up again to play. I love music. Playing it, dancing to it,  even in the car, is one of my favorite things.

   If you know me well, you will know that I am a dork. You heard me all right, a dork. Me and my dad together. This is where the whole sci-fi thing comes in. I love Star Wars, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Doctor Who etc. You feel me? I may embarrass myself sometimes but I just laugh it off. I love learning, reading, writing, penmanship, even talking. Yes, I talk a.. lot! Especially when I have had caffeinated tea. ;) I enjoy a good laugh. Whether its at me with something I said, at my clumsiness, or either a good joke ( though I don’t usually catch it until like five minutes later) I love laughing. Lastly, I take after my dad. I am serious, intense, a perfectionist, and a strong leader. I am also sometimes very dramatic. Maybe scary to some people but, whatever, I was born that way. 

  Now you know my darkest secrets. Just kidding! Thats not all, but I couldn’t have like ten pages! That is me.The girl who lived. Get it? If you don’t just… never mind.