A Little about us...

Back in the states! New Home 2007 

We are the Strickland Family. I am LaKasha, married to Jeremy and we have been married 9 yrs in January. We were married in Okinawa Japan,2004. My husband was then in the US Air force. We decided that we would take an international adoption course there because adoption was in both our hearts, but soon after we found out that we were pregnant. So we knew it wasn't the time. We had our son there almost 2 yrs later and lived there for five yrs. Jeremy was medically retired in 2007 for chronic headaches. 

We moved back to our home town in Northern Louisiana where we both were raised and settled into a safe semi-country neighborhood in a great school district. Peyton is our only child, he is seven and in the second grade this year. He is all heart. 

When we moved back in 2007 Jeremy quickly took the first available job, being out of town, and after almost 2 yrs of that horrible experience we chose our married before money. He found a new job and so did I. We both worked all the time, I felt like a hardly even has enough time to be a mom and God was convicting me. I knew that I was wasting the time I had but I just couldn’t quit work. Jeremy even encouraged me to think about it because I was going so hard. He was afraid I would burn out but I couldn’t’ stop, we just would not make it if I did. That’s what I thought! November 12^th 2009 I had been battling a stomach ulcer for over a year after my gastric bypass. I was working at my second job that day and long story short, I was admitted into the hospital where later my stomach ruptured. 21 hours later they figured out what happened and rushed me to surgery. I was critical for 12 days and spent 28 days in the hospital recovering. My life changed in a 180 turn! I went from one thousand miles per hour to Zero. At the time I didn’t know if I would ever be back to normal again much less me again. And the world kept going. No one stopped or altered their lives, even my husband had to continue to go to work and pay bills. There was only me and the Lord. I mourned the time lost with my son at the time; he was only 4 years old and didn’t have a mommy anymore. I asked the Lord”what am I to do now”. He hasn’t taken me so there had to be something important that I was to do that no one else could? I knew that day I had to live my life different and not waste a minute. I remember getting to come home and Peyton came up and kissed me on the cheek. Ahhh….tears rolled down my face because it was like the very first time I ever really felt his kiss. Everything was slowed down and I made a promise that I’d never go back to that way of life. I’ve been on this road every since, three years to the day.

Lord thank you for the impossible things you carry me through to get to where you need me to be when you need me to be there.