Meaningful Mondays

So I'm going to start having theme days :) YAY!!!!

So Meaningful Mondays are going to be when I share something meaningful that happened that day or share something that I think is important <3

This is sooo exciting...

One thing that I find meaningful is...

 MY FAMILY!

...but specifically, my only brother...

 RONNIE!

A few of Ronnie's quotes:

"My name is Ronnie Hicks. I'm a nerd, and I like StarWars, LEGO's and awesome things.... I play WoW(World of Warcraft) ummm yeah that's about all there is to know about me......"

"My Grandpa, he's the best guy I know!!!!"

Ronnie is such a great brother, although sometimes...

 He doesn't like to show it ;D

One thing I love about Ronnie is how much fun we can have together. We have so much in common:

Our taste in music, our jokes, and even the need to defend our family :)))

One thing he would never admit is his awesome love for cats <3

I thought I would throw that in there since that's another similarity :D

I love this picture :)

He was someone I could share all my secrets with and when I did, he never made me feel like I was being judged.

He has been through so much  (well, we all have), but it seemed to all come down just a little bit harder on Ronnie.

He was always expected to be the perfect child and somehow it seemed that he was never good enough to meet my parents' standards.

So if I could tell Ronnie's story, it would go something like this:

I remember the day Ronnie finally turned from God. It was what I considered to be "just an average day" and then Ronnie stormed in the house screaming (something along the lines of) "I hate God, I hate you, I hate everything."

Dad was at work and my mom, sister and I were sitting in the living room.

All of us were confused at why he was saying such things.

Some little thing had happened that was as you could say "the frosting on the cake"...but in this case it wasn't good.

All the bad things seemed to outnumber the good and Ronnie was losing his optimistic view. He didn't believe that there was any good left in the world.

The thought of hating God was out of the question.

Who could hate God?

I finally got my answer after weeks and months went by.

He hated going to church, stopped bring his Bible to church, and eventually made excuses to get out of services.

Ronnie would do just about anything to avoid anything related in someway to God...including his own family.

As it became more apparent that Ronnie was growing farther and farther away from God, it also became apparent that we were losing the close bond that we used to share.

Even though it was a gradual process, one day it hit me that our relationship would never be the same.

We could never talk in the same way again or have the same feelings of comfort around each other.

So as I'm telling Ronnie's story, it seems like a tragedy and so far it is; but I believe in miracles and I believe that as long as I keep loving my brother and praying for him; no matter what kind of person he has turned into, 

THINGS CAN CHANGE :)))

"I'm here to re-write this tragedy.
One line at a time.
Hold on, I'm changing all the scenery.
It's okay we'll be fine.
Cause we know how this ends.
We know there's a better story."

Ronnie is the best brother anyone could ever ask for and sometimes it is really hard not to have him living here at home, but it makes it all the more special when he comes by for a visit. :)

I love my brother. One day he'll come around, you wait and see <3

Optimistically, Bethany Lea