One of my earliest accomplishments was probably when I won my first belt buckle. I remember winning my first belt buckle when I was five years old. It was during a playdate event, which means it was a bunch of little events like barrel racing and flags. The event was for little kids around five, but it was a good introduction to roping as a little kid. That feeling after winning my very first belt buckle, the feeling of a big achievement to be proud of. My dad teaching me how to rope, and doing that since I could hold a rope is what led to my passion for team roping and training horses. Ever since then I would go to events and go team roping and usually doing pretty well. I’ve won a lot of belt buckles and saddles. My sophomore year I had my very first job interview at an electrical helper place. I was a little bit nervous but the main thing on my mind was if I would get a job. I wanted to get this job so that I could finally buy myself a truck. I bought that truck when I was 19. I bought a 98 three quarter ton Dodge pick up. I wanted it since it was a four-wheel drive. Whenever I bought it I felt really accomplished. I got something I worked really hard for and it took so long to work up for. That truck was special as it was my very first truck that I bought by myself. It made me feel like I was finally on my own and that the world was in my hands now. Driving around all season long means a lot of mud, and I got stuck in the mud a lot. Since this truck was in four-wheel drive it makes it easier to get out of the mud. I had that truck for three years before I got a new truck, I got a 2002 Dodge dually.

I have lived in this little small town my whole life. As a kid growing up my parents were always traveling to new places all the time. I knew that I wanted to experience different people’s cultures, food, and get an overall look at how life is outside of my little hometown. Even though I wanted to travel the world I would always want to come home afterward, that’s where I find solace and reconnect to my roots until it is time to go on another adventure.

When I graduated from Grandview I went to school at UT in Austin and while I was there I traveled to Mexico to learn how to speak Spanish more fluently and to learn more about the culture there, it was pretty easy for me to speak Spanish and I enjoyed it very much as well. When I met the love of my life Alyssa I knew that I wanted to show her and our family the world. My wife and I traveled to China when we were pregnant with our first child Jackson. It was an amazing experience, definitely different from Grandview. When my second child was old enough I took my family to Canada and to Italy. They had an amazing time and I loved guiding them through learning more about the culture and again an overall look at how different one place can be from another. Showing them that there is a whole other world outside of small-town Grandview and I am just waiting for them to explore it.

My favorite place I have traveled would have to be Chile. I love the lakes district the most. It was covered in mountains, dormant volcanoes, and crystal clear lakes and rivers. There were never a whole lot of people there. I went hiking, white water rafting, and got lost on a dirt road crossing the Andes mountains into Argentina. We picked up some hitchhikers and met many new people in pubs and restaurants that would give us a little bit of their story and then head on down the road.

I have learned so many things from my travels and I have taken what I know and applied it to my life today. For instance, something that I may do or say is not respectful to others so I need to think before I act. I am very happy that I have taken what I know and passed it down to my children to expand their knowledge of the world and to teach them that being eager to learn can only help you. I can’t wait to see what they learn and share with their little hometown called Grandview.

One of the funniest moments I have ever had was when I was in high school playing baseball, I was pitching the baseball and there was a runner in first and a runner on third base. I tried to fake throw the baseball towards the third base and it slipped and bounced off the ground and hit the opposing team's coach in the face. The game had to stop for a few minutes for the coach to get checked out and to make sure he was ok to continue the games. Another funny moment I can think of was when I was on deck and my buddy was hitting and he released the gas and the umpire backed up and said, “ man coach what did you feed these kids.” These are one of the funniest moments that I can just think of and laugh all the time.

The thing that has happened in my life and changed my point of view was in college. I worked with a guy and he was positive for HIV/Aids and he was also homosexual. As a teenage kid living in rural America, seeing all the bad things he got from it, the things people would tell him from being homosexual and testing positive for HIV/Aids, and the hurt he got from his family has made me realize that he is human too. He also has feelings like everybody else. This changed my point of view by thinking to never judge a book by its cover.

The most memorable moment, other than getting married and having kids. It was the day that I graduated from college. This was one of the most memorable moments because my high school principal always said that I wouldn't be something one day. He would always say that I wasn't college material. I also didn’t have a lot of money at the time. So I was struggling but it was the most memorable moment because I proved everybody and my high school principal wrong and I graduated from college.

I have 4 kids: three sons and a daughter. My oldest Ryan who is 11 was my first and he is in 5th grade. My other two boys are Colton who is 5 and is in kindergarten and Ronin who is 2. Then there is Madison who is 15 who is a freshman and my bonus kid who I have gotten to be a parent to since she was 7. I got pregnant with Ryan when I was 17 years old. It was one of the hardest times of my life. My brother died while I was pregnant, but it was before I had told anyone because I was so young and scared out of my mind. I knew my kids would never meet their uncle and I hated that because he loved kids and would have been the best uncle. Also, I was with someone who was not ready to grow up and I did not have that choice. Being 17 and pregnant with no support from the dad of my unborn child did not make things much easier. The months passed until December of 2009, what would have been my senior year in high school. I had Ryan just a few short weeks after I turned 18. That day was one of the happiest days of my life. Luckily for me, I had a dad who although he was disappointed, was very supportive and helpful. Ryan had many health issues as a baby. I do not hide my age at having Ryan from my kids, although I do not want that for them, I do want them to see how hard it made everything. Having a kid so young was hard but it also made me who I am today, so I can not say I regret any of it. All the struggles and ups and downs were definitely worth it in the end.

Out of college, I went into the insurance business with my dad. I learned from him how to own a business and later on in life had the opportunity to own a business with my husband. When I was a flight attendant I flew private charter planes, I once spent a month flying Madonna around Europe. I’ve met a lot of sports and Hollywood celebrities, such as Kevin Spacey, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears, Troy Aikman, a lot of original cowboys, Nicolas Cage, George Bush, and his family, Colin Powell, political figures. I flew Barbara from the Bush Family with just her and me on the plane. We talked about her kids, grandkids, and her political image. Also the Rolling Stones but preferably, Mick Jagger. We flew a lot of professional athletes, once there was a man and he was the tallest man I had ever seen in my life, his name was Shawn Bradley. We flew him on a helicopter to check out the property. He was a player for the Dallas Mavericks, he was 7’6. We got tickets to all of the home games, on the floor. Once when we went to the game, we took my son and his friend. They brought signs to cheer on the guys. When Shawn went in, he wasn’t playing very well, and my son yelled out “You suck”. We had told him to be quiet in hopes that he didn’t hear it.

There was a day that I was working out in my yard, it was my birthday. I couldn’t hear anything because I had my earbuds in. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around and it was a police officer from the Grandview police department. At the moment I was so confused because I was just wondering how he was able to get through the gate at my house. I asked the officer if everything was okay and he looked at me and said, "Are you Mrs. Debbie MacDonald?”. I said, “Yes sir I am, why?”. He told me that he had a warrant for my arrest. I said, ”Um what did I do?”. He told me it was a speeding ticket from two weeks ago. He began to tell me that I needed to get in the back of the cop car because he was taking me to jail! I refused at first but then I finally got into the car. He told me that I needed to put these handcuffs on, by myself! I told him no and said that I knew the sheriff at the department. He called the sheriff and told him what was going on and he asked if I was already in the car. He said yes of course, and then went ahead and told him not to make me put the handcuffs on but still take me to the police department. Turns out right when we left, my husband and son came in through the gate to set up my surprise birthday party!

My favorite story is when I was in high school I played in the state semifinals football game, I was playing the number two team in the state. We had won the game 52-26 and I had scored two touchdowns, intercepted a ball, ran it back for a touchdown, and caught a touchdown pass. By the time I caught the pass it was the end of the third quarter, I had spiked the ball. It was a penalty and everybody always jokes with me about it. After the game, I went home and there was no one there. I saw my mom and dad at the game but when I got home it was pitch black and no one was to be seen. Until the boom! It was a surprise party for my mom. The thing is that she wasn’t there. Everyone was confused so right after all the lights were turned back on and everybody popped their toys or whatever my mom walked into the house right behind me. Everybody was laughing and my mom was as confused as I was. That night everybody got to drink and so did my parents as well. Since I was a senior and eighteen my parents let me drink. Well, that night didn’t turn out good because we had the cops called on us to report a noise complaint. The only person able enough to talk to the cops was my uncle. By the time my uncle had talked to the cops, everyone had left and there was only me, my dad, and my mom sitting on the couch. Both my mom and my dad were sleeping and I was also tired so I went to bed. The next morning when I woke up my dad was eating and my mom was cooking breakfast until they brought me to the table. The look on their faces had told me it was not good. The first thing they said was the cop and I already knew it had something to do with my uncle so they told me and he had been arrested for having crack on him. I thought my uncle was the type of guy to do that but I never thought he would actually follow upon it. To this day I will never forget that night.

The one thing I love the most is Jesus, I would not be where I am today without his love

and kindness. He changed my life for the good of my family and myself. It all started when I was living in the last house I owned for the past 30 years, I did not live alone but I always felt alone because my family was always separated. I had no sense of direction in my life, nowhere to go or turn to or nothing to do or say about anything! Money was never a problem, my job paid well and I had nothing to worry about financially, but it wasn't good enough. Lots of things had gone sideways so fast, my family got separated and I wasn't able to see my grandchildren for almost 10 years. My sister had passed away about 2 years ago at the time, and fear and anxiety slowly started to take control of my mind and I had nothing left. At that point, I really thought this is how I was going to spend the rest of my life, having fear and anxiety about how I wish I could have made things right. But one day I said, ¨ I wanna move to my Land," which is what my daughter Linda's kids called that big piece of land. So a year later I moved over to that land and built my own home, and I loved it. When my husband and I finally moved in, something happened that I never thought would happen, my daughter Linda came to see me with her kids. I cried so much that day, but Linda told me something that I knew I never would forget, it was Jesus. She talked to me about who Jesus was, what he did, what he came to earth to do, and how he changed her and her family's life. At first I was a little skeptical about it but the more she came and talked to me about it, it made me think that my daughter would have never come back to me if what she said about Jesus wasn't true.

She then told me how he forgives people for what they have done, that your pain and sorrow and worries can all be taken away if you trust in him. So once I surrendered my life to Jesus and truly trusted in him, my life changed forever. And now I have nothing to fear anymore, before I felt like I would never see my family again because of my mistakes or felt my anxiety constantly rising. But once I really started to understand what Jesus can do for you, all my worries began to fade away because I realized that even if I never see my daughters or grandchildren again, I know that Jesus will always be with me and I never have to fear anything. My daughter Linda later moved next door to me, and even though it was expensive it all worked out and now we talk about the Bible and any questions I may have about it. If I never would have found out about Jesus and what he does for people, I would have never felt peace with not only my family but myself. Jesus saves and he can save you from anything you may struggle with. Because he says, “ I will never leave you nor forsake you,” and I believe that.

Born in Cameron, Oklahoma I was an energetic, happy, and loving child that had a thing for riding 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, and playing on round bales with my younger sister. On the first day of school in the 3rd grade, I met my teacher that soon became my inspiration for my future job, which was teaching. But I didn't know what I wanted to teach until I got into high school and became a part of FFA. I already showed heifers with my sister at the time and I liked doing that a lot. So everything basically added up and I decided that I then wanted to become an Agricultural teacher. FFA was not the only thing I did in high school I also played softball and basketball for the school, I was a part of the student council, the yearbook committee, and I was an FFA officer too. After high school, I went to Oklahoma State University ( OSU ) for a teaching degree and went there for four years. Then at OSU on homecoming which was on October 19, 2019 lots of my family and friends came up for the game. Before the game, OSU has a tradition where frat houses and sororities get chicken wire and tissue paper and then run the paper through the chicken wire to create wording, pictures, ect. For OSU this was a big deal. almost half the city would be closed for it. I went with my boyfriend and my friends, but I mainly wanted to hang with my boyfriend the whole time, He was trying to do something but I had no clue what though. After I gave up trying to hang out with him my friends and I walked around. Then about an hour later we went back to where my family and boyfriend were at. When I was talking to my friend someone I knew walked up to me and asked to take a picture. After the picture, he left not even looking at it but when my boyfriend showed me the picture behind us is said, "will you marry me?" I turned around to look at it and when I looked back around he was down on one knee. I started crying and of course, I said yes. The next year we got married on June 26, 2020, then I moved to Texas and got a job in Grandview so that I'm not far away from his job and here I am today.

I was a manager at a restaurant in California. I always saw this man come inside and sit down with a couple of his work buddies. He was a police officer so he came in regularly for his lunch break. One day we were really busy so I had to wait at their table and he stayed after they left so he could pay. When I took his card and walked away he asked a different waitress if I was married because I had just got a divorce and I still wore my wedding ring. The waitress told him “no she is not” and he replied with "but she still has her wedding ring on” and she said “yes she just recently got out of a divorce” so he said “ok”. Then the other waitress came and told me that he had a question for me, so I went back to return his card and he simply asked me if he could have my phone number. I told him no and the reason for that was because I had 10 and 13-year-old daughters but he did not know this and I didn’t want to take my mind off of them because they were the only things keeping my head up at that moment. He came in regularly so he asked me two more times before I said yes but the third time I explained that I love my two daughters more than anything and I didn't want them getting hurt by anyone. He completely understood and assured me that he would never do anything to hurt them or put them in danger. So I told him yes, but I also warned him that if he ever does anything to my daughters that he will never be seeing me ever again. We dated for a while and always had a good time and the first time my youngest daughter met him she fell in love, she thought he was the funniest nicest person ever and I thought to myself if my daughter loves him he can stay. So we dated for a year and he proposed and I told him no because I was still wanting to make sure it was good for him to be with me and my daughters. He asked two more times and the third time he told me that this was the last time he was going to ask and if I wanted him to stay then I should say yes so I did and we got married and lived happily ever after.

I grew up living with my grandparents and one of my favorite things was waking up on Saturday mornings to go with my grandpa to Ol South Pancake House. I enjoyed listening to my grandpa and his friends talk about their childhood memories and drink coffee. Waking up Saturday mornings to go eat wasn't ever exciting, I just really enjoyed spending time with my grandpa and listening to his stories. I remember he used to give me a quarter every time we went so I could get a bouncy ball out of the claw machines, I used to throw them up in the air and try to catch them as they came down. When I didn't catch them I would chase them all around the pancake house hoping my grandpa wouldn't see. After we finished eating and talking my grandpa would take me down the backroads to the house and would show me all around. He told me stories about working when he was younger and how he met my grandma, “she's gonna be the love of my life,” he said. Then 13 years later they were married and had kids of their own. My grandpa is my favorite person to be around. When we got home he would sit on the couch and I would curl upon him and he would rock me until I fell asleep in his arms. My grandpa would always wake up first. When I woke up he would never be in the house, he was always outside either messing with the cows, horses or in his shop working on something. I would always go in there to see what he was doing and to see if I could help with anything. I admired my grandfather a lot when I was younger, he always gave me great advice and made me feel so special. I could tell my grandpa anything without feeling judged or embarrassed. He always made me feel warm, comfortable, and special. I hope everyone has someone to call their “lean on” as I did.