As a teenager, I volunteered at Loaves and Fishes, a program my mother started. We1meals to anyone who showed up, and most of them were people in Minneapolis. When I spoke to them, they didn't look at me in the eye, and they were rarely2. I wanted to, "Hey, we're doing a(n)3thing here. You shout, at least thank us!"

After l stopped volunteering at Loaves and Fishes, I took control of my own destiny (命运). Over the next ten years, I had a(n)4life: a college degree, a college degree, a teaching career, a wonderful husband and then our first child，Derian.

5soon, we were told that Derian had a serious illness and needed to be6hospital. I soon discovered I was not in control.

Thirteen months after Derian was born, a healthy body. With two sons to7, I had to leave from teaching. Even though Robb, my husband, 8his best, we were short of money soon. In the spring of 2015, we decided to ask 9help.

I had heard about a program that 10money to mothers and children, and I put my pride aside and made an appointment (预约).

On the morning of my appointment, I took my two sons to the program. When I was standing in the waiting area, suddenly, l realized life was full of the 11. I felt sorry for looking down on the poor. Now it was my12to be poor. I wanted to leave with my children13. But looking into their bright eyes, I knew 14I had to stay.

For the first time in my life, I 15why the people I once served at Loaves and Fishes were not thankful. Who wants to be poor? I'll never forget those lessons: we should respect and understand the poor instead of giving them money and food only.

It's not easy growing up. Growing up can be a real "pain" for some of us. We are always doing things that someone else makes us do and aren't allowed to do all the things we like. Sometimes we feel sad, sometimes we are afraid, and sometimes we just don't understand why we can't stay young forever. But we should take a look back on all the hard periods of life with a positive attitude and learn from them. We should realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains!

Throughout our lives we are going to face many challenges and pains, but we should never let these obstacles keep us from following our dreams. We must overcome every obstacle one small step at a time.

As a young girl, my parents forced me to do so many things that I didn't like. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time, I hated music and I also hated them. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched my life in so many ways. I now realize that my parents and teachers wanted me to have a better life than they did themselves.

We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just part of our life. Think about how we would feel if we had no challenges and lived a life like that. Life would be really boring and meaningless. The future is ours! A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone! If we realize that these pains are just small bumps on our road to success, we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains!