Big Sister, Little Sister, and a Brother in Between

By Tanya Wells

When I look back on my life, I realize its not what I have in life but who I have in my life that matters. There
will always be people that matter the most to me. And those people are my family. How lucky am I to have people
that love and support me, people that are and have made amazing memories with me. Its the people in my life who
want me in theirs, the ones who accept me for who I am, the ones who do not judge, and the ones who loved me
then, love me still, love me now, and always will. They are the ones who would do anything for me just to see me
smile and who love me no matter what. Having somewhere to go is home. Having someone to love is family. Having
both is a blessing. God truly blessed me with a loving mother and father and eight siblings, which became my chosen
family. We were founded by faith, joined by love, kept by God together forever. Blessed is the family who hears the
Word of the Lord and obeys it (Luke 11:28).
Familywhere life begins and love never ends. Where prayer is powerful and secrets are shared. Where parents
believe too much love never spoils a child. Where there are no friendships better than that of sisters and brothers.
In this book, Big Sister, Little Sister, and A brother In Between, two sisters and one brother face an awesomely
unique and difficult challenge of moving from the city to a country dairy farm. Not knowing what to expect and all
the effects of the big move put the siblings at odds with one another. The standards and rules their parents created
will make you believe in second chances, blessings, and love. It is how they learn to live as a family where truth never
loses, where love is unconditional, and where two parents see imperfect people perfectly.
Family are the people who make you hungry for life, touch your heart, and nourish your soul (unknown).
Wings are to show you what you can become. Roots are to remind you where youre from (unknown).
The family is the center of life and it is the key to eternal happiness (L. Tom Perry).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514419052

Tanya Wells

Tanya Lynn Walker is the author of a wonderfully magical and delightful children’s book entitled Big Sister, Little Sister, and a Brother In Between. It is the first in a series of three charming books that she has written to help children of all ages discover deep, long-lasting, and loving bonds of sibling relationships. The first in the series of these children’s books are vivid life events that connects shared upbringing, shared genes, shared secrets, and a bond that will never be broken. Although some sibling relationships may vary from household to household, it is Tanya’s own celebration and life experiences with her eight sisters and brothers that provide the adorable interpretation of the warmth and closeness of this story’s three young siblings’ love and care for one another. Big Sister, Little Sister, and a Brother In Between is a book that will bring happiness to any family, large or small. “Sometimes the smallest things can take up the most room in your heart” (A. A. Milne). Tanya Lynn Walker is the sixth of nine siblings born to the parentage of the late reverend Victor Walker Sr. and the late Frances LaVerne Mitchell Walker in the small country town of Brenham, Texas. It was her relationship with her brothers and sisters that reminded her that truth, beauty, and goodness does exist. She was stronger when she had to be, smarter because of the mistakes, and happier and wiser because God put it all together. Tanya is not only a powerful and eloquent author but an inspiring lyrical poet. Tanya has written a collection of poetry in two previous published books, entitled All That I Am with Thoughts and Dreams (2010) and Breakthrough (2014). She is currently working on an autobiographical memoir, entitled 1001 Independence Street. With this new memoir, she is also exploring all possibilities of writing her very first untitled novel with forthcoming release dates for both. During her spare time, Tanya enjoys traveling, writing, reading, and participating in spoken-word poetry. She was the second runner-up in the Michael and Mantreece Guinn’s Creative Writing and Performance Poetry Slam contest in January 2014. She is a faithful member of the Antioch Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, where she sings soprano voice with the Women of Worship and Voices of Praise choirs. Tanya has three children—Natasha, Marcus, and Candice—and four grandchildren. She now resides in Dallas, Texas.

Book preview

BIG SISTER, LITTLE SISTER, AND A BROTHER IN BETWEEN

TANYA WELLS

Copyright © 2015 by Tanya Wells.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2015917404

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5144-1907-6

                Softcover        978-1-5144-1906-9

                eBook              978-1-5144-1905-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/24/2015

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

727000

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: A NEW LIFE

CHAPTER 2: A VISIT TO THE FARM

CHAPTER 3: LIVING ON THE FARM

CHAPTER 4: SUMMERTIME ON THE FARM

CHAPTER 5: BRIANNA AND JEFFREY'S MOVING DAY

CHAPTER 6: INDEPENDENCE DAY 4TH OF JULY

CHAPTER 7: BACK TO SCHOOL

CHAPTER 8: HALLOWEEN THE PUMPKIN PATCH

CHAPTER 9: A LESSON IN SHARING

CHAPTER 10: GOOD NEWS!

CHAPTER 11: HAPPY THANKSGIVING

CHAPTER 12: CHRISTMAS ON THE BAKER FARM

CHAPTER 13: CHRISTMAS

CHAPTER 14: JINGLE BELLS

CHAPTER 15: CHRISTMAS EVE

CHAPTER 16: CHRISTMAS DAY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T his book could not have been written to its fullest without thanking my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for all His mercy and grace and for blessing me much more than I deserve. For His love for me is complete and encompasses me completely. Though I am imperfect, He loves me perfectly. Because He bends down to listen, I will always pray and give Him honor and g lory.

I would also like to thank my children; Natasha, Marcus, and Candice, who inspired me to write this Children's Book. Thank you all for your love, advice, comments, remarks, and all the wonderful childhood memories we shared together.

I would like to thank the Xlibris Publishing Company for their hard work and diligence and for their assistance and dedication in the publishing of my third book. Thanks to all the consultants, editors, designers, and author representatives for your support and encouragement.

INTRODUCTION

G rowing up in the small country town of Brenham, Texas, I remember how my mother and father built a strong foundation of love which developed into an integral part of our Christian family structure. Just because my father was a Baptist minister by trade, didn't mean we as siblings, always acted in a Christian way. We were an ordinary family that transformed into an extraordinary one. Everything we did within the structure of our family, we did in love. You see, love was the healing power that led to our unending happiness and joy.

Living in that wonderful house with my eight sisters and brothers, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for my parents to be parents. I can only imagine the many sleepless nights they must have spent worrying about the challenges and concerns of the world we had to face growing up. I can only imagine how two people took on the great responsibility of dealing with nine children with nine different personalities, attitudes, and quirks. But, it was those personalities, attitudes, and quirks that made our relationships so unique. It was our individual behaviors that prepared each one of us for all the real and lasting family dynamics and the roles we created as sisters and brothers.

Every family has a story to tell and ours weren't so different from any other family. We felt loved. We felt the security and strength of that love. We learned to love God first and family second. It wasn't taught only on Sundays during church service. We saw it in its simplest form. We saw my mother and father love each other in the deepest sense of the word. In his duty as a disciple of God, my father became the divine disciplinarian. His decision to minister and preach the word of God, was in his mind, a way to raise and discipline nine godly children. Perhaps, if we, as sisters and brothers, had exercised being a little tolerant of each other we would have been more authentic disciples. But, we had a father that took it upon himself to teach us to be accountable for our actions, whether they were wrong or right, in the eyes of God. For him, it must have been an incredible task to take on. My mother, on the other hand, was the glue that held the family together. She was a cultivator. It was her power and influence that supplied the seed for our spiritual and sustaining growth. She was a nurturer of prayer, patience, differences, commonalities, and inspirations. She was our counselor, consoler, nurse, doctor, teacher, companion, and sometimes our referee. As a child I thought that was what all parents did in their families. Simple things like going to church together, eating together, talking with each other, taking care of each other, and yes, on many occasions, getting angry with each other, were the things that made us feel happy to be alive and part of a large family. But, like all sisters and brothers, we created our own bond on a much larger scale.

"Sibling relationships outlast marriages, survive the death

of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship.

They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth,

loyalty, and distrust."....Erica Goode

From the first born child to the middle child, from the middle child to the youngest, we were taught the importance of our birth order at a very early age. Growing up in such a loving, caring, and stable family environment, I quickly learned my role as the youngest girl, the baby girl, daddy's girl, and being in the middle of four sisters and four brothers. I was extremely attentive to my four older sisters' attitudes and behaviors. I saw the grown up attention they received from my parents and I wanted that attention focused more on me. I wished a thousand times that I could have been as crazy, fun-loving, and laid back as my older sisters. I admired their strength, their hard work, and ambitions to succeed. It didn't hurt to be the youngest and inherit all the cool stuff and most of the hand-me-down clothes, even though I wanted my own. My sisters were more than just family. They were my friends. My brothers were a bit more controlling, annoying, clueless, sarcastic, and confusing. Being closer to them in age, I allowed myself to be more of a free spirit than I would have been with my sisters. Maybe that would have explained the reasons why I got in more trouble with my brothers than my sisters. I've thought about it over the years and I realize now that I could never have been a carbon copy of any one of my sisters or brothers. We were all wired differently and built differently. It was my mother and father who took the moral responsibility to show us how and why God made us biologically different but loving in His own image.

Parenting is the hardest thing in the world to do but when someone else's happiness is your happiness, that's love. Every child deserves to have the best understanding of the power of connection to be the best they can be. Children are braver, stronger, and smarter. The examples I set for my children were so important to their well-being. The most important work I ever did was within