Hi my name is Kaylee Ridgel and I am here to share my story with everyone.

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It may seem like a cliche but my story really does start at the way beginning, before I even came into the world. I am what many will call a miracle child. The doctors told my mother I would not live to see the sun and if I did I would only be alive three days or so. I was to be born with Trisomy 18, or Edwards Syndrome, a rare and serious genetic condition where a baby has three copies of chromosome 18 instead of two. A tell tale sign is webbed fingers. At my mothers last ultrasound I finally opened my hand and the doctors, in complete awe saw my hand open and tiny little me waved. 

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My mom was still a high risk pregnancy so an emergency c section was on the table. I came out a healthy baby with no more signs of Tri 18. When it was time to go home as we were leaving my mom turned and looked in my car seat and my face turned blue I was not breathing, she screamed with terror as the nurses and doctors swept me away to clean the fluid from my lungs. 

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Things still were not smooth from there.

I had it rough as a kid. I have been abused in many ways, one of which landed me in foster care at the mere age of three. I was in and out of  homes until I was eight years old when I was fortunate and blessed to be adopted.

My new adoptive family and I struggled to find a groove and a balance. Even though we loved each other we would fight a lot of the time. Although there were good times too, the bad outweighed the good. I was stressed and over whelmed so I learned a new found passion of painting. Painting would be my escape for years. Id paint on canvases, walls, shirts, and even pants. Id paint until I couldn't paint anymore.

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By the age of thirteen shortly after a friend died of suicide I myself struggled. 13 would by my first attempt to take my life and certainly not my last. I have struggled ever since, ending up in the ICU several times and each time still living to tell the tale. God had a plan for me then and he still does. by the age of 20 I had already been in 20 plus phsyciatric hospitals from attempts of suicide and intent to do so.

At 14 I would start to go to friends houses and drink and surround myself with unhealthy "friends". I got the taste of alcohol young, the taste of tabacco, sex, and getting into trouble. Around the time of 17 I dropped out of high school and went to go live with my biological mom. We struggled too, even more so actually. It was then I was introduced to drugs, Even more alcohol and even more sex. All of which I grew addicted to.

I had struggled with depression, bipolar disorder and a few other diagnosis all my life as well and I hid behind these drugs thinking they would make everything better. Almost four months go by, if that and we are thrown out of our apartment. All the time we stayed in our apartment we were smoking and getting high with our roommates and I was looking to every man who came my way to fill a hole.

We left for a motel room and I was forced to leave in the summer time. Not finding anywhere to go I lived in a homeless shelter for a couple months until I was kicked out of there as well. I ended up  living in a tent in the woods still getting high, drunk, and still finding any man who would look my way, especially if they would get me high, offer me a shower, a drink, food and a bed for the night I would keep going back to them.

My mom and I eventually made our way back to each other under bad circumstances but we decided to have our own apartment which she saved up for. In that apartment I would chase even harder drugs and even more alcohol. I began chasing a high that could never truly get me high enough. I became obsessed with finding ways to get higher and higher.  I would become a pathological liar taking advantage of anybody and everyone. If they gave me money for food I would use it for drugs instead.

The apartment had no AC so I would spend most of my time in the local park down the street, they would give out food to the homeless and anyone who was hungry. One day at the park I met someone fantastic, a real godsend. She became my role model. A mom, the mom I needed in that time of my life and who I still have in my life as a third mom now. She was someone I knew was not going to let me down, I had always been let down by everyone close to me. She was my lost hope, she showed me God and God saved me. I was baptized by this amazing woman herself in February of 2024.

When I met her she gave me a card with her name and number which she normally did not do, I later found this out. Because she gave me her number, when I needed help I was able to call on her. She eventually took me in for about four months at the end of November 2023, and I became a part of her family, gaining a bonus dad and three beautiful younger sisters. 

I relapsed a few times after leaving the safety of her home but I believe God  made it a necessary means to get me on my feet. I relapsed yes, but I was still saved.

In all of this time I had not painted in several years except for a couple paintings done high. I was in a sort of painters block but I was taken to this prophetic arts class. I prayed over my paint, my brush, and my paper, asking God to guide my hand.

And he did.

I was led out of my block and painted a beautiful Phoenix. Everyday I am reminded that salvation and redemption is possible. I rose up from my ashes and continue to do so on a daily basis. (and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor, Isaiah 61:3)

It isn't a once and done feat, every day I strive to live for God and with my paintings I can do that in other peoples lives too. I can help them see who God is and that they are not alone. YOU are not alone.

The devil has tried to take me so many times but I am still here fight because of Gods love and mercy which I will spend the rest of my life trying to be worthy of.

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Because God saved me I was able to make amends with the people I had hurt and those who had hurt me. I was able to go to school, get my GED, meet my husband and have an amazing little boy My life has only just begun. God gave me this gift so I may bless others the way he has blessed me. GOD HAS A PLAN