This month we have the great honor of sharing the story of a remarkably strong woman named Genesis Cooper!
Read below to see what she has to share.
Where should I start? Let’s start with the basics my name is Genesis. Life has been anything but easy but one thing is for sure, everything happens for a reason.
I was a teen mom and by the age of 18 I had two under two. I had my son Isaac at 16 he is now 14. I then gave birth 18 months later to my daughter Delilah who is now 13. Crazy to think I was having babies when I was a baby myself.
Of course, one of the things I knew I had to take care of was making sure I graduated high school. I graduated a year early but didn’t have a chance to go to my graduation since I was in the hospital having my baby girl. Graduating was a huge accomplishment for me since most teen moms drop out. My parents made sure they supported me thru it all.
Just when I thought I had my hands full. I found out my son at 3 years old was diagnosed with Autism. At the time I was devastated I was scared, and I didn’t know what our future would look like. I educated myself as much as I could I remember asking doctors so many questions. I
remember going to the library and reading all I could about how parents dealt with this. One thing I learned thru my son’s autism journey is never give up. I had Isaac in occupational therapy and speech therapy. Many hours weekly were spent in waiting rooms while I attempted to help my son thru this.
I became his advocate his voice I encouraged other parents to not give up. We did many Autism walks and raised money for autism speaks a foundation that helps parents with funding for therapies and research. I didn’t have much support it was me and Isaac against the world. Every small accomplishment was huge for us, and I always made Isaac know I was so proud of him, even when he couldn’t speak. At 5 years old Isaac started talking something I thought would never happen. As years went by and countless ARD meetings Isaac only improved more and more. Teachers always told me how all the support at home was helping him so much.
At the age of 11 when Isaac was reevaluated Isaac was no longer in the autism spectrum. His progress had been amazing. I remember that day like it was yesterday. It had been hard, but all the therapies had worked. Isaac is now 14. He is an honor roll student and such caring and
loving teen (which you don’t see in teens that often). He makes me proud daily. He will be off to high school next year and if you would have asked me 11 years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to answer if Isaac was going to be able to talk, let alone accomplish all he has accomplished.
By the age of 22 I was divorced starting from scratch. I had become a single mom and was on my own. I felt like a total failure you never get married thinking you will be getting divorced. To be honest during the hardest time of my life it made me realize how strong I truly was. I truly believe God does things for a reason. I was shortly promoted allowing me to afford my own place with my kids. I look back and honestly have no idea how I made it all work, one thing is for sure God always provides. I wanted to make sure my daughter knew you can do anything you put your mind to. I wanted her to see me accomplish so much on my own so she could always remember if I did it, she can too!
After my divorce the last thing I wanted was to meet anyone. I kept thinking no one would actually want a single mom with two kids I was very wrong at 24 love found me and it was the kind of love you only hear about in movies. This wasn’t a movie this was my life. I would question if he really was interested, I just couldn’t believe such handsome single man would truly accept me and my children I remember my washer breaking and as a single mom I didn’t have the extra money to fix it or buy a new one. You know what my boyfriend did? When I got home,
he had bought me a brand-new washer. He told me “I don’t want you struggling washing the kids’ clothes at the washateria.” That’s when I knew he was the one for me. The little things he did for us, he loved my children and never treated them different. He proposed to me August 2018, I said yes, and we married January 2019.
I love him more each day that goes by. I thank God for him daily. This is what true love is and I pray every woman gets to have this sweet love. We have accomplished so much together, and I pray God continues to bless us with many more accomplishments.
I always wanted Delilah to know she could accomplish so much that’s when I decided to have her join Girl Scouts. A few months in they asked me to join as the Co Leader for Troop 132006.
I knew that would be an opportunity to spend more girl time with my daughter so I accepted it not knowing not only would I be getting closer to my daughter, but I was becoming closer to all the other girls in our troop. We have traveled to other countries have done many things some girls wouldn’t have the opportunity to do if it wasn’t for girl scouts. My girls work hard selling cookies, they set goals and reach them. Makes me proud to be their leader and watching them accomplish anything they set their mind to. My goal is to continue to be their leader till they all graduate. It is hard to believe it’s been 7 years already of watching them grow from 5 years old to 13,14,15 years old girls!
I always knew I came from a family of very strong woman and April 2021 confirmed that. My mom had just had her 55-birthday party. The week before she had a routine mammogram and we thought nothing could be wrong. After her biopsy we found out she had Stage 3 breast cancer.
My life Changed forever, I was in complete shock I remember getting the call and hearing my mom’s voice choked up and telling me she had breast cancer and that she didn’t have any more information. The next weeks as we waited to get more information seemed to be the longest weeks of my life.
I remember another daughter of a woman with breast cancer telling me the best advice I can give you is to not over think. Honestly that’s the best advice I was given. Seeing my mom go thru chemo and lose her hair was probably the hardest thing I have had to go thru. This cancer journey couldn’t be made possible without the support of family and friends which I’m so blessed to have. She will soon have her surgery and I pray she will be cancer free soon. I have learned to appreciate life more I no longer worry about the small things.
Life is too precious and health is the biggest blessing you can have. Always get your annual checkups. That has truly saved my mom’s life- catching the cancer on time.
Things won’t always be easy but never give up. Keep moving forward and remember God does everything for reason. God’s plan is better than ours.
Final Thoughts
I’ve had the honor of seeing Genesis grow into the fierce woman she is today and it only made sense to feature her as our Woman of the Month! We are so thankful she shared her journey with us.
For this month’s freebie, Genesis shares 2 book recommendations. Check them out below:
