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An Introduction to Bri

My Journey So Far

By Brianna WestoverPublished 5 years ago 7 min read
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This is my face.

Hey there strangers! Well, I probably know most of you because you probably opened up my Facebook link to this article, but I’m sure there are a few new readers in the crowd! Before I dive in, I just want to say thank you for taking time to read this, it means a lot! Okay, so let’s get on with it.

My name is Brianna, but my friends call me Bri, and I’d like to tell you what my life has been like. For me, growing up looked a lot different than your average kid. See, when I was around 4 or 5 (I don’t really remember how old I was tbh) I was taken away from my biological parents for a myriad of reasons. I vividly remember that day when child services came and removed my sister an me from our home. I had a plastic container of metal gear toys in my lap, I was buckled into the van and taken to my Nana’s house. I stay with her for a bit until she was diagnosed with breast cancer and the decision was made to put my sister and me into the foster care system. So little old me, in my floral dress with strawberry buttons arrived at the front door of our foster home. We were welcomed with open arms and so much love. While the stay was sweet it was also short. We only stayed with the foster family for a few months before returning to the care of my Nana, but after awhile, after paper work had been signed and rights given up, I went back to the same foster house to stay until further notice.

Tiny Terror

Here’s little me, rockin’ the bowl cut.

Now, I’d love to tell you that I was an angelic child (as seen above) who never did anything wrong, but I was honestly a tiny terror. See, when a child goes through something so traumatic as abuse and neglect there are different ways they react; I acted out. I broke things, I threw tantrums and I was stubborn beyond belief, but my foster parents preservered and did everything to help my sister and I to feel safe and cared for, even if that meant having to sit in time out (which I did A LOT.)

*Disclaimer* If you don’t want to read about religion, skip the next paragraph, but you’ll miss some of the best parts!

While I lived with this family, they gave me one of the best things anyone could ever give me, something I had never experienced before; an exposure to Christianity. They put me in Christian school and took me to church and just poured Jesus’ love into us, which I know on some days, must have been the hardest thing to do (remember, tiny terror.) But, this would be such a defining part of my journey, because of them I decided that I wanted to be like Jesus too, so at age 5 I made the decision to become a Christian. Now, we could get into faith related things here so easily, but I’ll save that for another post! That being said, there were still some tough choices ahead. As mentioned, my sister and I both lived with this family, plus they had a son of their own, so there was a lot happening in that house. My sister and I both struggled with behavioral issues the whole time we lived in our foster home, and while this wonderful family wanted nothing more than to adopt both of us, they made the decision that it would be best to separate the two of us. So it was with heavy hearts that they put me up for adoption. BUT SPOILER: there’s a happy ending!

The Start of Something New

ADOPTION DAYYYYYY

So just to help you understand how much time has passed, I am now 8 years old and in first grade (no I did NOT fail, I started late, thank you very much) and I struggled in school. Kindergarten was hard folks, and first grade was no joke either! The school I attended had a “sister campus” for lack of better words, and the time had come for teachers from my campus to go and evaluate the teachers at the other campus. So on April 1, 2004 a teacher went to Mrs. Westover’s class room to observe, and boy was she surprised! She didn’t know the evaluations were happening, but everything went well and at one point the other teacher mentioned a little girl that was up for adoption at her school. To this day, neither one can remember how the topic came up, but Mrs. Westover’s response was, “We’ll take her!” Fast-forward to May 6th and little Bri was moving in with the Westover’s! While it was a bitter sweet moment leaving my sister and my foster parents, who I now call Aunt Sue and Uncle Rich, it was also the moment that would change my life.

Moving into yet another home seemed a little hard at first, but something is meant to be, it works out. After moving in with the Westover’s, I changed drastically. I stopped throwing tantrums completely (minus 2 times), I didn’t break things anymore, and I started doing better in school. All of this can be attributed by being in the right environment, but also because of prayer. If you don’t believe in prayer, that’s your call, but I have just experienced too many things in life to ignore how real and powerful it is. Anyway, I started to thrive. I became a Westover in Feburary of 2005, and it was one of the best days of my life.

Currently in Our Area

First day of Senior year!

Since that day, almost 13 years ago, I have experienced the life that I was meant to live. I’ve grown up quite a bit, I graduate highschool salutatorian of my class, I’ve traveled some, I’ve had experiences I may never had had the opportunity to have if child services hadn’t come that day. And now, now I’m a senior in college and I’ll be graduating in the spring with a degree in athletic training (NOT to be confused with personal training; they are VERY different) with hopes of pursuing my master's degree next fall.

All that being said, here are my final thoughts for those who read all the way to the end of my short novel: coincidence shouldn’t be a word and always hold on to hope. “What do you mean coincidence shouldn’t be a word, Bri?” Wow, thanks for asking! Looking back on everything I’ve been through, some would say it was all by chance; all a coincidence, but that’s not what I say. I say it was divine intervention, and it came at the perfect time, not a moment too soon or a moment too late. If you don’t believe in the Big Man Upstairs that’s fine, but I can’t ignore His hand that has been on everyone moment of my life. Finally hope. Hope is so very powerful and it’s what gets us through the dark time, the hard times, the trials. I had hope through my life journey thus far, and let me tell ya, I couldn’t have made it this far without it. Cling to hope when you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom or you can’t go on one more step. Hope will be what gets you out of bed, what motivates you to continue to endure. And I promise you, if you hold on to hope, you will experience true and perfect joy. Life is hard guys, like I have to wake up and go to class tomorrow at 7:50am, the struggle is real! Yet, I will get up knowing that there are things set in place for me, all I have to do is have faith and hold on to hope.

Much love,

Bri

foster
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About the Creator

Brianna Westover

Hello! My name is Bri and I am currently a Senior in college. I love sports, binge watching Netflix and spending some quality, laughter filled time with friends. I love writing and I’m broke, so this seemed like a good fit for me!

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