khadeja sherrill

I was raised by a single mother and watching my mother raise my sister and I, gave me a strong example of what type of parent I wanted to be. My mother worked full time as a police officer and worked part time as a security officer. My sister and I usually stayed at our grandparent’s house so my mom was able to work and provide for us. When I had my daughter I also wanted to be able to provide and make sure she had everything she needed even if her dad and I were not together. I quickly realized that working a full-time job, being a full-time student and a full time mother was an extreme sport. During the pandemic I was able to work from home and actually spend quality time with my daughter. Prior to Covid I would work sometimes until 10:30pm. I felt like I never had time to spend with my daughter. She was always with my mother. Some days it was very hard and I honestly did not know how we would make it, sanely. During those times I gained a closer relationship with God and in December 2020 Michaela and I were baptized.

The pandemic has truly shown me how amazing my mother is. She lives around the corner from me and will almost always stop what she’s doing to help me. Michaela’s dad is also a Police Officer and it was hard for him to watch her due to the riots and having to work longer hours. His fiancé and her family really stepped up and helped when I needed to go into work occasionally. Since Covid abruptly changed everyone's plans I learned to adjust my life to go with the flow. Since Michaela is an only child I am happy that she had a few friends that would invite her over to play on their trampoline, or pool and it was always so nice to have people for her to play with. I can truly say that I have learned to appreciate that village that God gave me.