Family 

is the  

Heartbeat 

of the 

Heart
Family is the Heartbeat of the Heart 

Hannah Kamps 

2
 Introduction:

Hello, my name is Hannah Kamps, and I am currently a senior at Covenant Christian

High School, and I am a member at Hope Protestant Reformed Christian Church. I believe that

Christ is my Saviour, and it is all of Christ in which He shares the blessings of Salvation with His

elect. Therefore, I praise and thank His for everything He has done and given to me. Also, in my

memoir, I will be informing you about myself, and throughout the entirety of the memoir I will

focus on the importance of family as my theme. I will start by reminiscing on a very exciting day

that occurred not too long ago, which was my sister's wedding day. This day wasn’t just special

for her, but it was a fun and great time of fellowship with my family as well as her fiance's

family. It showed me a new side of my brothers I hadn’t seen as much and the whole day was so

special to us all. After, I will go into my adventure with my broken and how much I needed my

family especially my parents during that time. I became very homesicks, and I very much relied

on my parents and siblings to help me. Finally, I will discuss my relationship with my sister and

the memories as well as challenges we went through in our lives. Especially focusing on the fact

that she moved to Canada, and how hard it is to lose someone so close to you to another country.

Psalm 61:1-2 states, “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the

earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than

I.” I picked this verse because it shows how when I am in need or overwhelmed I can go to God

in prayer. He is my rock and salvation, what greater comfort than this. Thanks be to God for this

great gift.

3
 My Purple Leg

Because we use our legs every day, we take them for granted each day. When I broke my

leg, not being able to use my leg changed my world completely. It went from walking on my

own to needing support everywhere I went. Going to the bathroom or taking a shower became a

difficult task. Doing normal activities became difficult and a challenge I had to prepare for each

day.

When I first rolled down the hill, falling on my leg and crushing it, I didn’t know the ride

I was about to be in. There was intense excruciating pain that shot up my right leg. My head

became dizzy and my stomach did flips making me want to vomit. My leg throbbed, but to make

it all worse, I didn’t have my parents around to help and care for me because they were gone

hosting a young people’s convention.

I was rushed to the hospital because my leg was screaming in pain, and we knew

something was wrong. The dark room with big machines encircled my leg, and it scanned it

many different times to find the problem. The pictures clearly showed the lightning bolt crack

down my bone. Off to the room my leg rolled ready to be wrapped up like a mummy.

After many x-rays, my leg was stuck in a splint for a good amount of time. The whole

time the aches in my heart told me how much I miss my parents, so a phone call was made, and

my mom rushed home. After my leg was secure, I was sent home, meeting my parents when they

arrived.

However, the pain continued to throb my leg even after many pills. My mother, once

being a nurse, knew this wasn’t right, so my leg was taken back to the hospital. They unwrapped

it, and immediately there was relief. Turns out my leg was splinted wrong; the heel of my foot

4
was fire red where it was wrapped incorrectly. Once they resplinted it, it was time to wait until I

could get a cast for it.

Eventually, it was time to cast my leg. As a small fourth grader I chose a pretty purple

cast to cover my leg. It came all the way up to my waist, therefore, making it extremely hard to

do things. My purple casted leg became the new normal for me. Not only did my leg get

suffocated in a cast up to my waist, but it also had to endure the intense itching of poison ivy

which appeared under my cast. Due to me walking across a forest like path on our way to the

roller skating hill. After getting settled down from the high intensity of the night, it was clear to

me how weak and frail I really am.

This is when I understand how important my parents are. My mom would help with

everything; looking back, I feel back because she did everything for me. She was an amazing

caretaker. With the well treatment of my mother and about six weeks of hobbling around on my

good leg.Then, I was given a shorter cast. Finally my leg could breathe. It was like a breath of

fresh air.

After a few more long weeks; my leg would finally be free. Soon after, the cast was

removed and it felt naked. Now it was time to strengthen my healing leg with some therapy. It

went through different activities and massages, which were amazing, for about another month.

During this long three month journey; it was clear to me how much I love and need my

family. Being homesick for my mom when it just happened, helping me go to the bathroom and

showering, my dad wheeling me around Chicago city when we went on a trip, and literally

getting me everything because it was a lot of work to get up. It is an experience that made me

look at life differently.

5
 A Built-in Best Friend

Many of us have a few friends. Some we get along with great, and others we don’t as

much. This was the case with me and my older sister Lydia. We butted heads for years when we

were younger. From the cat fights about clothes, to the getting on each others’ nerves for

everything. Many times we were sent to our room to figure things out. Believe it or not, we did.

Lydia was my built-in best friend. You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your

family so you might as well love them and treat them as your friends. Family is extremely

important to me. If I ever go away for even a short period of time, I end up finding myself

getting homesick.

However, it wasn’t like we still didn’t get into little cat fights, but the number decreased

immensely. Now it’s the endless jeep rides with me making a fool of myself and jamming out to

music to the times we would just go into each other's rooms and act deranged. She was always

there for me when I was having a bad day and needed someone to talk to. Especially in the last

few months during Covid 19 outbreak, we had grown closer as friends.

I feel so close to her because we were always together. Therefore, we knew everything

about each other. I could tell when she was happy, sad, annoyed, and when she wants to do

something crazy. If I needed a friend anytime whether it be because all my friends were busy, or

I wanted to do something adventurous, or I just needed someone to talk to she was always there.

This all came to a close when she was going to get married and everything changed. Now

we live five hours apart with a border separating us from each other and no way to cross at the

time being. Although she is with her best friend, Lord willing, for life, I have not moved on as

she might have moved on. Even if she doesn’t realize it, I miss her every day.

6
 She is creating a new life up in Canada. New home, new life, new Church, and new

friends. While down here, I still see her as my best friend, although I wish their new life could

begin down here. It is hard to put into words how I feel. It feels like there is a separation between

us that I feel ten times greater than she probably does. She chose to be with her husband and best

friend and move away, while I didn’t choose for my best friend to leave.

However, I know this is God’s plan and I am so thankful that God has given Evan, her

husband, to her. Also, I am so thankful that God has given me a loving, caring, and Godly sister

to create many memories with. Hopefully, in a few months the border will open, and that bond of

friendship can continue to grow between us. I am thankful that God has blessed me richly with

the blessing of family and friends.

7
 Love is in the Air: Sister's Wedding

The day had finally arrived. The first wedding of our family, and I was my sister's maid

of honor. I was my sister's maid of honor! I was the chosen one to give a public speech in front

of hundred or so people to show how much she meant to me and my family.

We started out the day by getting ready at our house. The atmosphere was so fun; it felt

as though we were getting ready in a fairytale story, and my sisters and I went from room to

room looking at who was getting their hair and makeup done. My sister, Lydia the bride, looked

stunning, and the final details were getting done. The boys began to arrive at the house. Meaning

that the great first look was drawing nigh. To lighten the mood for my dad, we decided to have

my brother, Horse, put on a fake wedding dress and do the first look. It was humorous and my

dad said, “go get some man clothes on.”

At this point in the day we had to go take pictures. Shortly after, we headed for the

church to finish up family pictures. I loved how Horse, my brother, and Mia, his girlfriend,

would haul me everywhere, and we would have great talks, jammed to music, and just had a

good time. It was important to me to spend time with them in a different way than normal.

Finally, it was time to walk down the aisle. There were so many emotions I was feeling.

My little sister and I started walking down the aisle, and halfway down I lost it and the tears

flowed; we gave Evan a hug. He was now going to be our brother, and one of us crazy Kamps.

When I looked up, I saw my mom with tears in her eyes, and that made it worse because if she

cries, I most likely will. Not to mention my dad coming down the aisle go give my sister away. It

broke my heart to see the hurt in his eyes.

One of my favorite parts was singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” while Lydia and Evan

signed the papers. After when we were getting ready to walk back down the aisle, I told myself I

8
would smile and keep it together, but as soon as I stepped down and saw my sister walking out it

was like Niagara Falls opened up. It was a really special moment after walking out and giving

Evan and Lydia hugs, but hugging my brother was also special because I never see him cry and it

just softened my heart to see that. We really needed each other in that moment to comfort each

other. Lydia had been dear to us, and now she was moving away to Canada.

We decided to get out of there because all we were doing was crying, so we headed for

Post Family Farms. This whole time Horse and Mia have been pumping me up for my speech.

My nerves were high and I had no appetite, and now the time had come. With the inspiration

from Horse and Mia, who told me I would rock it out of the park, “which after they told me they

were a little nervous I would cry and how I would do,” I was given the microphone. I told myself

this was my last chance to tell my sister how much I loved her, and give her a proper good-bye

speech.

The speech was a success until the end when I couldn’t hold it together. However, the

amount of people who told me it was amazing made me so happy and relieved all my nerves.

When I sat down my sister and Evan gave me a hug, and Horse and Mia gave me knuckles with

tears in their eyes, which was so special for me. Not only that, but my other brother left because

he said, “he couldn’t listen to my speech otherwise he would have cried.”

Especially the way my brother stepped up and comforted me in this hard time, really

made that day special for me, and showed me the importance of my family. I love my family and

looking back it was one of my favorite days. Although my sister was moving out, and it was

extremely hard for me, I gained a brother, and I still have my other family member to support

me. Hopefully when the border opens up we can go visit my sister, and we can continue that

bond.

9
10
 Looking back through the many years of my life there is one thing I can rest assured in.

God has blessed me greatly in sending His Son to die for my sins, and then blessing me with

endless gifts. One of those gifts being family. They have played a huge role in my life, and I love

them. I thank God for them, and pray that He be with us in years to come. In the years to come, I

plan on going to school for teaching, Lord willing. My family has encouraged me in this

direction, and it sounds very fun and exciting to teach children. I pray for guidance when making

this decision to move on in my life. I know there will be many obstacles in my life, but I pray for

strength that God will lead me through them, and I may glorify His name.

11
 Hannah Kamps currently lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is a senior at Covenant

Christian High School. She enjoys playing basketball, babysitting, reading, hanging out with

friends, and enjoying the outdoors. Her family just welcomed a new member to the family, and

the puppy’s name is Lincoln. He keeps Gabe, our other dog who is fourteen years old, company.

They are greatly loved and spoiled each day. She is currently thinking about going for teaching,

but that could change because four years sounds like a long time. She also attends Hope

Protestant Reformed Christian Church where she is happy to belong to.

12
13