Personal Childhood Web

In my family, I am number seven of 11 children born to Ezekiel and Esther Houston. My Dad was the oldest of his 13 siblings and learned to be a very hard worker. He married my mom at age 24, left all his family and friends; moved from the south to the north and settled down in Indiana. When he found work and a place to stay, he sent for my mother to join him. My dad was a great family man and disciplinary. He showed his love by going to work everyday to make sure we had everything we needed. As a child, I saw him take on tasks that were very challenging, yet he stuck with it and never quit. My dad's amater mata was, "I'll either fix it or tear it up trying." Rarely did he ever tear up anything. He would tell us, "If you want something in life, go after it."

My Mom was the oldest of her siblings. Her mother died when she was two years old; she was raised by her grandmother. Her grandmother taught her to be a good leader and she demonstrated those skills very well in our home. She married my dad at the age of 18, left her family and friends, moved north to be with her husband. Together for 31 years of marriage, they took on the task of raising a family and nurturing their children to be responsible, productive adults. My mom hated debt and would tell us, "Save your money, if you only have a dollar; save a nickel." Both my parents loved the Lord with all their heart and taught us to live by what we believe and let our deeds back up what we say. Today, because of them, I strive to live a life of excellence and integrity.

There is only one other person, I remember strongely, that had a great impact on my life and that was my Bible lesson teacher-Mrs. Nancy McDuffie. Mrs. McDuffie made learning the Bible fun. It was not so much of what she said, but what she demonstrated that taught me to be concerned for others. There was this one time when I was 7/8, I had three older sisters and they all had these pretty skirts. Well, I had pretty dresses but no skirt and that bothered me, I wanted a skirt. So in Bible class Mrs. McDuffie asked everyone what they wanted and I blurted out, "a skirt!" Well, the following Sunday, she handed my mom a package, surprisingly to me, there lay the prettiest blue skirt ever, and it happened to be-just my size. To this day, I look for opportunities to do something good for someone else.