FINAL PAPER

RUNNING HEAD: Autobiographic Study and Identification of Sarah “Ellie” Elizabeth Schafer 1
Autobiographic Study and Identification of Sarah “Ellie” Elizabeth Schafer
Sarah “Ellie” Schafer
May 1, 2015

Autobiographic Study and Identification of Sarah “Ellie” Elizabeth Schafer 2
Abstract
In this paper, the life of me, Sarah “Ellie” Elizabeth Schafer, is discussed and reflected
on. I have had a wonderful life that is crazy good in so many ways. Each and every one of us is
lucky to be here on earth because the fertilization of an egg only occurs in 3 in 10 chances
(Penny Hauser-Cram, J. Kevin Nugent, Kathleen M. Thies, and John F. Travers, 2014). In this
paper, I talk about my growth and development of prenatal development, birth, the newborn
stage, infancy, toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. These stages
really break down my life in a simple way yet they are broken down in a detailed way also. I
love the person I have become and continue to be.

“You are lucky to be here” (Hauser-Cram, 2014). We are all so lucky to be here.
According to Penny Hauser-Cram, J. Kevin Nugent, Kathleen M. Thies, and John F. Travers’s
book Development of Children and Adolescents, only an average of 3 out of 10 eggs develop to
maturity. We developed from one of those three eggs which is truly a miracle. We all start out as
an egg that was fertilized by sperm and turn into an embryo that turns into a fetus that is
eventually born and then we blossom into the person we are today. The cycle a life is really an
amazing thing. Every single person to ever live has a purpose for life and I have been
discovering different purposes of mine all of my life. Prenatal development, birth, the newborn
stage, infancy, toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence are the stages
that most clearly break down my life.
Prenatal Development
Prenatal development happens in multiple stages that are sometimes hard to understand.
There is a lot of information to grasp and understand. Development of Children and Adolescents
breaks it down nicely. Fertilization happens and then growth of an embryo starts. There is the
Germinal Period that occurs between zero and two weeks and is when fertilization is happening.
During this time the egg is being fertilized and an embryo is starting to be formed. The period
after the Germinal Period is the Embryo Period. This period occurs between three and eight
weeks. During this period the embryo is growing and developing. According to Penny Hauser-
Cram, J. Kevin Nugent, Kathleen M. Thies, and John F. Travers, “Growth refers to an increase in
size, whereas development refers to change in functional ability.” The Embryo Period is a time
that both of these are occurring. This stage ends and the Period of the Fetus begins. The Fetus
Period occurs from nine weeks until birth. These weeks can be broken down into more specific

details but as I was researching and asking my mom how her prenatal development went while
she was pregnant me she did not mention these stages.
I, obviously, do not remember being in my mom’s belly so I had to ask her what it was
like when she was pregnant with me. The first words that came out of her mouth were “It was
scary and exciting because you were our first child.” My mom was 27 years old and my dad was
25 years old when they were set up on a blind date and had dinner together at the Brown Bottle
for the first time. My mom says she knew, right as she left that date, that she was going to marry
my dad someday and she was right. They got married in October of 1993 and then got pregnant
with me in April of 1995. From April of 1995 to January of 1996, my mom was going through
the stage of prenatal development. As I was asking her questions, I do not think she could
remember what pregnancy she was talking about because she was confusing my prenatal
development with my two younger sisters. She did say that she had huge morning sickness the
first month or two of her pregnancy. It got better but then she started to eat a lot. I asked my dad
how my mom was when she was pregnant with me to get his perspective on the whole thing and
the first thing he said was “She liked food and ate a lot of it.” She craved Salted Nut Rolls and
Milky Ways, and gained 60 pounds during her pregnancy with me. She is not proud of the fact
that she gained this much weight and neither is my dad because he also gained that much weight.
(Personal interview, 2015). Both my parents claim that it was sympathy weight and so does
Shawn Bean who writes for parenting.com. He writes “Couvade syndrome is a condition where
the father-to-be experiences pregnancy symptoms like weight gain, nausea, insomnia, and mood
swings. It’s actually rather common. In fact, about 90 person of men experience at least one
pregnancy-like symptom…” My dad was a part of this 90 percent and I think it is interesting that
sympathy weight is an actual thing and that most men get it. According to my baby book, my

mom never bought one piece of maternity clothing but wore my dad’s clothes instead. My mom
also told me that she was putting up Christmas lights while she was pregnant with me and
somehow she got shocked by them. She freaked out and called the doctor to make sure that I was
going to be okay. The doctor said everything would be fine. I asked if anything else big
happened and both my parents said it was a really good pregnancy besides the fact of both of
them gaining so much weight. The excitement did not start until my mom’s water broke and the
birthing process began.
Birth and newborn
Births are such a beautiful thing that can be so scary. You always hear about births being
so painful for the mothers, umbilical cords getting wrapped around babies’ necks, or having to
do an emergency caesarian section. Thankfully, when my mom gave birth to me there were no
complications. Again, just like my mom being pregnant, she said that the birthing process was
exciting and scary. According to my baby book I was due January 24th, but when I was asking
my mom questions of the process she said that it started at about 11 o’clock P.M. on the 20th. She
said she went up to go to the bathroom, laid back down in bed and her water broke. She woke up
my dad and they hurried, packed a bag, and headed to the hospital. At that time, they were living
in Traer, Iowa and the hospital was in Waterloo, Iowa. They got checked in at about midnight
and waited hours for anything to happen (personal interview, 2015). At about 9 A.M. on the 21st,
my mom was given Pitocin which was supposed to help induce labor and then speed it up.
(Weiss, 2014). It took a long time to work so during that time my mom said that she just kept
walking up and down the hall ways. After quite some time, my mom said that she was giving an
epidural and started to push before it set it. Before she started pushing her doctor asked if it was
okay that some students, practicing medicine, could come in and out of the room and my mom

said yes. There were about five students going in and out of the room and my mom was a little
overwhelmed throughout the birthing process. Also, while my mom was getting ready to push,
my dad watching a Chicago Bulls’ basketball game on T.V. My mom had to call his name a
couple times to get his attention because he was so into the game.
She started to push and I wasn’t coming out. The doctors had to use a vacuum extraction
to help me out of the birth canal. I was born at 1:40 P.M. and entered the newborn stage of my
life. When I was born, according to my baby book, I peed on my doctor. After I was born, my
mom’s epidural set in and she went numb. Hearing that that happened, I feel bad that it did not
take any pain away but mom says that it all ended up being okay. While my mom is telling me
all of this information, I asked how she picked out my name. The name on my birth certificate is
Sarah Elizabeth Schafer but I am called Ellie. I have always been told that my mom wanted to
name me Elizabeth Laura because Elizabeth is Biblical and Laura is my great-grandma’s name
but my dad did not want to name me that. He thought that if I was named Elizabeth then people
would call me Liz, Lizzy, Libby, or Beth, and he did not want me to have a nickname. Instead of
naming me Elizabeth Laura, they named me Sarah Elizabeth because Sarah is my grandma’s
name and it is Biblical and if they named me Sarah Elizabeth, they could keep Elizabeth as part
of my name. They have called me Ellie since the time I was born though. When I asked my mom
again, she told me the same sorry so I guess she is telling the truth. What is so funny is they got
the name Ellie from Elizabeth. What is also funny is that they wanted to name me Sarah after my
grandma but my grandma is called Joan when her full name is Sarah Johann. Yes, our names are
confusing and sometimes it can be really frustrating but that is how it is.
I was 22 inches long and weight 8 pounds and 15 ounces when I was born. Since I had to
be born with an assisted delivery by the vacuum extraction that caused me to be little jaundice.

This is normal according to babycenter.com. The Baby Center Medical Advisory Board writes,
“A baby born with the help of a vacuum may have a raised bruise (called a cephalohemotoma)
on the top of his head. The bruise usually goes away within a few weeks, though it may take
longer. If your baby does get a bruise, he’s also more likely to become jaundiced.” According to
my mom, I was not jaundiced for long and was fine a week or so later. I stayed in the hospital for
two nights and my mom requested to have me stay in the room with her those two nights instead
of being taken to the nursery. She says that was a really bad decision because she hardly got any
sleep. If I was not in the room, she would have been able to get a little sleep while the nurses
took care of me. As we were leaving the hospital, a big snow storm was happening so the first
night I stayed outside of the hospital was at my grandparents’ house in Waterloo. My parents did
not want to drive 30 miles home because of the snow (Personal interview, 2015). As soon as I
was taken home, I was still a part of the newborn stage but also entered the first stage of Jean
Piaget’s development theory.
Newborn/Infancy
There is no real distinction of when a baby switches from the newborn stage to the
infancy stage. It happens somewhere in the first month after being born. In the newborn stage,
according to Penny Hauser-Cram, J. Kevin Nugent, Kathleen M. Thies, and John F. Travers, it is
really important to have the newborn be practicing reflexes and exploring, check if their eyes are
good or not, be talked to with direct speech, be touched by their caregivers, and be breastfed. I
was a majority of all these according to my mom. I developed and grew as I needed to. I
practiced reflexes, just like Jean Piaget claims happens in his theory. From birth to one month
old, newborns are going through Piaget’s first sub-stage of Reflexes (Ormrod, 2008). In this
stage, like I was going through when I was a newborn, I explored reflexes. According to my

baby book, I would automatically sucked on anything that was given to me. Also, according to
my baby book, my eyes were good when I was a newborn. I have also, to this day, had 20/20
vision. I was also talked to directly and had a lot of physical touch because my mom and dad
stayed home the week after I was born and took care of me. My dad eventually went back to
work but my mom continued to give me the love and care that I needed. I was also breastfed. I
find breastfeeding really important and I will someday breastfeed my own children. While,
asking my mom what I was fed when I was a newborn/infant, she told me that I was breastfed
until I was one year old but obviously was given other foods too. According to New York State
Department of Health, breastfeeding is so beneficial because it makes the child feel safe and
loved, the child has fewer doctor visits for illness and allergies, the child does better in school,
the child has a better chance for a healthy adult weight, and the child has a lower risk of cancer
and diabetes. Throughout the stage of infancy, there are also so many things that were beneficial
in my life.
The three major things that stick out to me about my stage in infancy is that fact that I
was breastfed, my mom was a stay-at-home mom, and I moved to Colorado when I was six
months old. These are the biggest things in my life just because they had an impacted on the way
that I acted. I have already explained why my mom breastfeeding me was such a beneficial
factor in my life but the fact that she stayed home was just as beneficial. John Bowlby’s theory
of attachment played a huge role at this point in my life. According to Saul McLeod, Bowlby’s
theory has 4 stages that all occur before one year of age. The first stage occurs from birth to three
months of age. During this time, newborns get attached to any humans (McLeod, 2009). In my
case, in my life, those humans would be my mom, my dad, and my grandparents. My mom has
always told me that she never let anyone hold me because I was her first baby and she did not

want me to get sick or hurt. Bowlby’s next stage occurs from four to seven months and in this
stage, infants learn to distinguish primary and secondary caregivers but accept care from anyone
(McLeod, 2009). For my life, this would still be my parents and my grandparents. My parents
would be the primary caregivers and my grandparents would be the secondary caregivers. The
third stage in Bowlby’s theory occurs between seven and nine months. During this time, infants
have a special preference for a single attachment figure. The infant shows special emotions
towards this person and will for separation anxiety when apart from them (McLeod, 2009). This
person would be my mom, no doubt. At six months old I moved to Colorado because my dad
was transferred there for his job. He was obviously at his job all day long so my mom stayed
home with me. I formed an attachment with my mom that was so strong that when it eventually
came time for me to go to school, I cried every day because of separation anxiety. I will get to
that but Bowlby’s attachment theory really connects to my life, especially when looking at his
last stage. The last stage occurs any time after nine months. During this time, the baby becomes
increasingly independent and forms multiple attachments (McLeod, 2009). This is true to my life
because as time moved on while living in Colorado and as I grew older, I learned that there was
more people in my life besides just my mom. I became closer to my dad and we met some good
family friends that would babysit me (Personal interview, 2015). I believe that Bowlby’s last
stage fits really well into Piaget’s other sub-stages of his sensorimotor stage as well.
Bowlby’s fourth stage really focuses on the baby becoming more independent. Piaget’s
sensorimotor stage does too. In Piaget’s sensorimotor stage, he has six sub-stages and I have
already covered one of them. The second sub-stage, Primary Circular Reactions, is more
involved in the infancy stage of life and occurs from one to four months of age. During this
stage, infants tend to repeat actions over and over again (Ormrod, 2008). This relates to my life

because during this time, I would continually pull my dog’s fur (baby book, 1996). I guess I just
wanted to see what was going to happen. Piaget’s third sub-stage of the sensorimotor stage is
secondary circular reactions that occur from four to eight months. During this time, infants begin
to explore behaviors around them and notice other people’s attitudes and reactions (Ormrod,
2008). When I was an infant, I would be happy around other happy people according to my
mom. The fourth sub-stage to Piaget’s sensorimotor stage is coordination of secondary circular
reactions, which occurs between eight and twelve months old. During this stage, infants would
start to set goals for themselves (Ormrod, 2008). Infants, at that age, do not understand the goals
they are trying to set but they know they want to reach a certain goal. One goal that I always had
was crawling (Personal interview, 2015). My mom told me that I always tried crawling and then
finally in September when I was eight months old, I crawled for the first time. The last two sub-
stages of Piaget’s sensorimotor stage occur between 12 and 24 months old which leads into the
toddlerhood stage of life.
Toddlerhood
I personally think that toddlerhood is one of the most fun and critically important stages
of someone’s life. You always hear fun stories or crazy quotes come out of children’s mouths
during that time of their life. After, talking with my mom and reading my baby book, it seems
like when I was a toddler, I had some exciting stuff happen. According to my baby book, I was
given some crayons for my first birthday that I ended up eating. This fits in well with Piaget’s
fifth sub-stage of tertiary circular reactions occurring from 12-18 months old. During this stage,
toddlers often experiment with objects that lead to new outcomes (Ormrod, 2008). In my case, I
was given crayons and did not know what their purpose was so I ate them. I probably did not like
the taste but that taught me to not eat crayons again. Also while I was 14 months old, according

to my parents and my baby book, I ran into the coffee table and knocked my front, right tooth
out. My parents checked everywhere to see if they could find it. They searched the whole area
where it could have been, checked the vacuum, and even checked a couple of my dirty diapers to
see if they could find it. They did not have any luck though and it has been missing forever.
Piaget’s last sub-stage in his sensorimotor stage is mental representation which occurs from 18-
24 months old. During this stage, toddlers like to think about objects as symbols (Ormrod, 2008).
At this time in my life, I did like exploring different things and I can personally remember going
to our neighbor’s house down the street and seeing seashells on the back of the toilet. I thought
this was the coolest thing and have remembered it since. My toddlerhood stage in life had some
exciting events but did not last that long. My early childhood years seem to have lasted a lot
longer.
Early Childhood
According to Penny Hauser-Cram, J. Kevin Nugent, Kathleen M. Thies, and John F.
Travers, early childhood occurs from approximately 18 months old to six years old. During this
time children are growing and developing more and more into the person they most likely will be
the rest of their lives. Jean Piaget also has a stage of his developmental theory that fits into this
category. His stage is the preoperational stage, and during this stage, children can mentally
represent events and objects and engage in symbolic play (McLeod, 2010). Also, children during
this stage really have egocentric thoughts and communications, meaning they are usually only
able to understand things from their point of view and cannot physically or mentally grasp what
other people are trying to say or do (McLeod, 2010). This stage is really shown in my life
because during this time of my life, my mom had two more babies. I was 23 months old when
my sister, Abbie, was born and I was almost four when my other sister, Lydia, was born. I only

liked to think about myself and could not understand why I was not getting the attention that I
used to get. Also, during this time, I was in just starting kindergarten and my only friend is
kindergarten was a girl that had autism. She did not know how to speak back to me and was
violet at times and I was totally oblivious, at that time, to the fact that she could not speak back
to me. I had very egocentric thoughts and only really cared that I was actually friends with
someone. Another really important thing that adds to my egocentric thoughts is I stayed at home
with my mom until I went to kindergarten. My family was blessed enough that my dad was able
to work full time and my mom was able to stay at home with the three girls. This is where
Bowlby’s attachment theory and Piaget’s development theory mix. I was selfish as a little girl in
early childhood because of the fact that my mom stayed at home and gave my sisters and me all
the attention and love that we needed.
During these years of my life, my family and I made the move back to Iowa from
Colorado. We loved Colorado. The people and friends we made there were great but my dad got
transferred back to work in Iowa again. I am thankful he did. We are now within 30 minutes of
both of my grandparents and live in in a small town where there is great community. We did
make wonderful friends in Colorado but our house was in a rough area of Aurora. My mom has
told me that our neighbors were drug dealers and that there used to be police chases in our
backyard. Despite this scary fact, I did have the first memory I can ever remember in Colorado. I
would say I was probably three years old, maybe, and I can remember exactly what my bedroom
and backyard looked like. My bedroom was connected to a bathroom which connected to my
mom and dad’s room. My crib was in the corner of the room and my dresser was in the middle of
another wall. All around my room, at the top of my walls were shelves. I don’t remember what
was on the shelves but hanging from the shelves, was my dad’s baseball cap collection. My

backyard was big and had a fence around it. There was a shed towards the back, left corner and a
swing set to the right of it. I do not exactly know if this memory means anything but I think there
is a possibility that it connects back to Piaget’s theory and egocentrism. One last thing that I
think is very important about my early childhood, leading into middle childhood, years, is that
my mom hardly ever took us anywhere and because of that I do not think my immune system
built up to fight germs. Because of this, in middle childhood years I was sick a lot. If I did go to
daycare there would have been a more likely of a chance that my immune system would have
been built up. According to M.D. Shari Nethersole, “Child care facilities that cater to multiple
babies and children can increase exposure to infections. Frequent colds are common and
rotavirus is particularly pervasive, especially in populations who are not yet potty-trained. Infants
and toddlers tend to put their hands in their mouths a lot and touch their eyes and noses. This
causes germs to spread faster.” This might sound scary and not safe but in reality when children
are exposed to germs their immune systems will strengthen. I did attend pre-school but only two
to three times a week for just a couple of hours. I was advanced and smart for my age, but also a
little quiet because I had never been exposed to so many other people at once. Early childhood,
even though I do not remember a lot of it, was a good time of my life. I believe I was raised by
my parents great and they continued to raise me in a wonderful way into my middle childhood
years.
Middle Childhood
Middle childhood was probably the toughest and roughest time of my life. I know that it
may have been the most simple for many people but lots of things happened to me in my middle
childhood years that made a definite impact on my life. Middle childhood occurs from around
the age of six to around the age of 11 or 12. This means that it was between the grades of

kindergarten to fifth grade. Even thinking about those years is scary. Going to kindergarten is
where I can see Bowlby’s attachment theory really settling in in my life. I had stayed with my
mom, never gone to daycare, and wasn’t exposed to many people from birth to age five. When I
entered kindergarten I missed my mom more than ever and really struggled the first few weeks.
In kindergarten I can remember being quiet and can also remember that I did not have a lot of
friends and was not “popular” by any means. “When children are anxious about social
interaction, they withdraw from contact or engage in contact with other children or adults only
after a very long warm-up period” (Gallagher, 2010). Richard Gallagher continues in his article
by saying, “This form of social anxiety is seen in about 1% of children and is usually noticed in
preschool or kindergarten.” I would say that I was probably a part of this one percent but my
parent or I did not realize it at that time. By the time I was 11 or 12 I had moved on from this
form of anxiety and I was okay. I think going to kindergarten was just a huge shock for me
because I had never been exposed to that many people before. Another important time in my
middle childhood years was third grade. Looking by to all 12 grade, third grade was the worst. I
was having a major growth spurt and in third grade I was diagnosed with irritable bowel
syndrome. According to the Mayo Clinic Staff irritable bowel syndrome is a common disorder
that effects the large intestine and causes cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea, and
constipation. I had the abdominal pain and constipation for quite some time before we figured
out what was wrong with me. I had to go to Iowa City to the children’s hospital multiple times to
be tested and when the doctors figured out what was wrong with me, they put me on MiraLAX. I
am so thankful that the doctors did that because if they didn’t I would have been in a lot of pain
for a long time. That is probably the biggest thing that happened to me in my middle childhood
years. I also had a short, bob, haircut that was not attractive. I still didn’t have that many friends

but I was really smart and still am. Middle childhood was not as terrible as I made it out to sound
but it was the armpit of life. I, however, by the end of middle childhood, can notice how Piaget’s
development theory fit into my life. According to Saul McLeod, children become less egocentric
during Piaget’s concrete operational stage. Children also begin to understand what is happening
and why things are happening in their life. Just like I recognized that my stomach hurting all the
time was not right and then made action to figure out what was wrong. Most people say that
adolescents and going through puberty was rough but I honestly don’t think it was that bad.
Adolescents
Lot of people hear the word “adolescent” and automatically think of puberty. Yes,
puberty is a part of adolescents but there is so much more to it than that. Adolescents occurs
from the age of 12 to 18 or 19. I would say that the adolescent stage of my life was the best. My
freshman year of high school was really the time where I knew who I wanted to become and
started to find out what I enjoyed. Even though that was the time where I really “bloomed” 5th
through 8th grade were years that were much needed in my life as well. I remember on the first
day of 5th grade, I took a shower in the morning and then I got to school I threw up. I don’t think
that I took another shower in the morning the rest of the year. I had a fear that the shower caused
me to throw up which is so silly but it actually can connect to Piaget’s last stage being the formal
operation stage. This stage occurs from the age of 11 to older and in this stage, children being to
manipulate ideas in their heads, without any dependence of concrete manipulation (McLeod,
2010). This is exactly what I did went I threw up on the first day of 5th grade. I, on my own,
thought that the shower was the reason I threw up so didn’t take another morning shower again.
The summer after 5th grade, or when I was 12, I got my period and started puberty. I got it on the
4th of July and didn’t even know what was happening because I had never experienced it before.

I had heard of it before but I was the oldest so no one could explain to me what was happening. I
didn’t want to ask my mom both because it was embarrassing, and I wanted to handle it myself,
just like what Piaget’s formal operational stage would suggest would happen. I eventually asked
my mom and she helped me through it. I was one of the first girls in my class to get it. I thought
that I got it at a really early age but according to the Office of Women’s Health, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, the average age girls get their periods is age 12. Going through
6th grade, was rough because I got cramps really bad. Also, my mom recently just told me that
while I was in 6th grade, my parents would have conferences with my teachers and my teacher
told me that my parents needed to buy me longer pants because my classmates were making fun
of me. 6th grade was the end of my elementary years and my junior high year, even though bad
for most people, were great.
I enjoyed junior high for multiple reasons. I was given the opportunity by my teachers
and the school to be more independent. I didn’t feel like I was being babysat by my teachers
anymore. I was also really smart in junior high and knew I was smart. I don’t mean to say this
boastfully, but being smart and knowing I was smart was a confidence builder for me which is
always good during junior high. I also enjoyed junior high because I started to make more
friends and built some really strong friendships. I found out what I was good at and started to
love talking. I could talk all day long about anything. I could talk all through junior high except
the two weeks when I got my tonsils out. I had gotten strep throat probably six times when I was
in eighth grade and it was time to put a stop to that. I got my tonsils out on December 23rd, two
days before Christmas. It was probably the worst experience of my whole life. I could not eat
any Christmas food, I was allergic to the medicine I was given, and I couldn’t talk at all because

my throat hurt so badly. Besides that junior high was awesome and I grew a lot as a person. In
high school I grew even more though.
High school was so great for me. I obviously went through trials and hardships but those just
grew and shaped me into the person that I am today. My freshmen year, I was best friends with a
girl named Sam. We did everything together and texted all the time. One day, I accidently sent
her a text message that was supposed to go to someone else. We decided that not being friends
was a good idea and we didn’t talk at all the summer after my freshman year and most of my
sophomore year. My sophomore year was great though. I was really good friends with a couple
other girls and spent all of my time with them. I also went to Rome, Italy when I was a
sophomore. My family has two really good friends that were working at an English speaking
school for two years and we were given the opportunity to go visit them for a week. That was
one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The plane ride was over 10 hours and I loved
every part of it. Exploring Rome and seeing a different culture was absolutely amazing. I am so
thankful and blessed that I was given this opportunity to do this. When I got back, my friend,
Sam, and I made up and there was six of us girls that always hung out together. My junior and
senior year I was glued to these girls. I became really attached and they were my best friends.
My senior year I was given another awesome opportunity to go to New York with my high
school’s band. We drove over night and so many memories were made that I will never forget.
Graduation was a great day. My class of 29 people said our goodbyes and summer started. I was
4th in my class and I was really proud of that but coming to college I can see how many things
didn’t matter in high school.
College has been absolutely great and I have really discovered who I am. I am a girl that
is loved by a great big God who wants me and loves me more than I could have ever imagined. I

have made a group of friends and we all have God centered relationships. I have grown so much
independently and have realized how worthless rumors and drama and gossiping was in high
school. I hope to continue to grow as a person and rely on God to give me strength throughout
my life.
Life is crazy amazing. We all started out as a fertilized egg and then go through so many
wonderful stages of life. I only talked about prenatal development to adolescents but there is so
much more to come. I am thankful for the life has been given and how I can reflect on it to see
how much I have grown and developed. We are all truly lucky to be here.

References
EPublications. (2014, December 23). Menstruation and the menstrual cycle fact sheet
Retrieved from http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-
sheet/menstruation.html
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2014, July 31). Irritable bowel syndrome.
Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/irritable-bowel-
syndrome/basics/definition/con-20024578
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