A Story by Amber

My name is Amber. I was just a baby when my mom and dad got divorced. Since then, I have been through a lot. My mom had a great job and brought home lots of money every time she got paid. She got married when I was five and my brother was about eight. My mom and step dad fought alot. My brother and I didn't know what to do sometimes because there was always screaming and the sound of things hitting the walls and floors. My mom's job kept her out of town for most of my life. Because of that, she got lots of money for doing it. She always got my brother and I everything. It was like she was trying to buy our love. Later on we found out that you can't buy love.

A few years ago, we moved from our home town and into a house down the street from my Aunt and Uncle and cousins. I had to change schools. I liked the school I had to go to. I had trouble with people in it and my school work, but I still tried to have fun and got attached. Not long after, she started having friends over and they would party all night. It didn't bother me because I knew they weren't going to leave the house and they were safe. But then things started to get bad.

Somewhere in between the time I met one of my moms friends and the time all the fun ended, I grew close to that person. Her name was Angie. I thought I could talk to her about anything, but I was wrong. She turned out to be a bad friend. That same year, my mom ran away. I waited for Angie to come so I could see her because I thought she cared, I guess I was wrong. I laid on a table outside until after dark and she never came. My grandma had finally got in touch with my mom and went to pick her up by then. I called Angie when my mom got home and talked to her for a while. The last time I talked to Angie was last year, right before or after school started. I haven't seen her since. I now know why.

Last year was my second year at that school. I was in seventh grade and had great teachers and a great year. I was an honor student in all subjects, including band. I still had problems, phsycilogically. I had thoughts of suicide the summer before and finally got the courage to talk to my math teacher about it. She gave me her phone number and told me to call if I needed to talk over our long weekend. It started on a thursday and ended on a Tuesday. I showed up that Tuesday and she was really happy to see me. I talked to my councilor several times for the rest of the year. Things started to slow down. I had been going to church for years and thought I knew God. But, when I started thinking about my past, I found out that I hadn't been living like I was suppose to.

I started going to a youth class at the church that my cousins were going to AWANAs (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) at. I went to AWANAs the year before but grew out of it. Anyway, I started trying to live my life right after that. After a while, our teacher brought the Passion Of The Christ for us to watch so we could understand what Jesus did for our sins. Then I got saved. I have tried hard to live my life for Jesus. I have sinned and I admit that. I had to move back to my home town this year because of money problems. My birthday came up in July. I was still not registered for school yet. My birthday is on the 24th, the same day that band students had to sign up. I was suppose to be in a big marching band until I moved, even though I am only in eighth grade this year. My other cousin went to sign up for band that day.

I was sitting on the couch daydreaming on my birthday when I got a call. It was the new band director for Great Falls Middle and High school. He asked me to be in the marching band and I said yes. I started band camp four days later. I was concerned about how it would affected my church time. I was going to have to miss church on Wednsday for two weeks but the band director let any church members off for the first Wednsday and everyone off the second. The only other two things it affected was a concert I was going to the week of state and our fall festival on the day of state. The concert was on the day of an unscheduled practice day. I filled out an absence form and missed that day because my ticket had already been purchased. And the fall festival ended at 9:00pm on the day of state and we were suppose to be home by about 8:00pm. I got lucky. I got at least an hour at the festival and I was happy with that.

Now, I am living a pretty happy life. I didn't get much for Christmas, but it was the best one because I got all I wanted including time with my mom. And I spent New Years with my church so I wouldn't be around alot of drinking and fireworks, I don't really like fireworks anyway. We prayed over the New Year and had a great time with each other. I was also happy to get home for sleep, too. That is my story. I couldn't have told it better.

A story by Amber