A whole lot of me.

1.I was born in Nashville, Tn, while my parents were going to Bible College. My Dad was from the mountains of North Carolina, my Mom grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia, and they met at Goshen FreeWill Baptist Church in Belmont, NC where they had each moved to find jobs. I provided them with endless embarrassment because every time they took me to church I would scream and fuss til my Mom would have to sit with me in the car. But my mother had me memorizing scripture from the cradle and I was saying John 3:16 from the time I could talk. I have many memories of my Mother singing songs and telling Bible stories… I somehow learned the tunes in spite of the fact that my mother was partially deaf and could not sing on tune. My dad would kneel down and pray in our living room every night with us.

2. I love the South and Southerners… the most open and friendly people in the world. Except for being born there—and living there for 13 months when I was in the 3rd grade, I have only visited. I grew up in Oregon and lived there for 24 years- (that is minus the year I was born and the year I was in the 3rd grade). I have lived in the Seattle area for 28 years. I still love the South the best!!

3. I struggled with deep depression all during adolescence and had two nervous breakdowns before I was 26 years old. I was assigned to a counselor in high school who sat and cussed at her “damn boots” the entire session and thus I never returned… I believed that someone stupid enough to cuss at her boots was more messed up than me… (Teenagers know everything, remember?) I struggled with panic attacks and Agoraphobia until just a few years ago.

4. When I was in High School, I had a life changing encounter with Jesus Christ and while my problems didn’t magically disappear, He was there with and I was totally changed inside. I had a button I wore on my crocheted hippie handbag that said Jesus Changed My Life… Nothing has touched my soul with more truth than that button. (Many things have touched my soul with as much truth, but that was the first—deep into my soul--- bear witness with my Spirit, experience.

5. I went to Ecola Hall Bible School for a year. I still have a few friends I keep in touch with from there. I worked as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home and a couple of hospitals and to this day I would love to become a Registered Nurse. I love to care for hurting people and I have way with women who have Alzheimer’s.

6. I met my husband at a College Aged Bible Study group while he was stationed in the Navy in my hometown. We have been married for almost 34 years. He is a Norwegian from a North Dakota farm. I experienced culture shock the first time we visited his parent’s farm and met his relatives. But I have since adopted much of that rich culture and have tried to instill US Scandinavian heritage into my children.

7. We moved to Seattle in the fall of 1980 for my husband to go to Seattle Pacific University. He went to school fulltime and worked semi full time, but it was I who pulled the all nighters… typing and editing his papers… And he was and is a procrastinator… AND we also had 2 very small children at this time!

8. I have a list of things I want to do before I die: Learn a foreign Language. Visit Europe. But most of all have a neat and tidy home..

9. I like clutter… I really do… But I have become a hoarder and it is now out of control. I try to get rid of stuff every day… But don’t always succeed. I feel most loved when someone gives me a gift… And somewhere in my life, I began giving myself gifts and now have a shopping addiction… I am going to blog about this sometime, because as I have analyzed this it is rather interesting. I went on a shopping fast this summer and that has really helped.

10. I have sleep apnea. I am a NIGHT person I hate to go to bed before 2. I hated to get up before 9. I love to blog. Those things aren’t related, but it filled a line. Oh I like to read blogs too. I also like the non word ain’t and use it frequently.

11. One of my hobbies is selling stainless flatware and books and china and stoneware among other things on eBay. I am haphazard about this.

12. I have the 5 best kids in the whole wide world. They have their own relationships with the Lord and have overcome difficulties and hardships that some people never recover from! They have been scattered over the world at times. This past year, I have gone from 4 at home to 1. It is quite an adjustment! I homeschooled them all…Seeing them “catch” a concept is its own reward.

13. Among my many and diverse abilities are crocheting, embroidering, calligraphy, sewing, cooking, baking…. But I would rather scrub toilets than cook… My favorite foods are whatever someone else fixes…I love word games, SCRAMBLE, Scrabble, WordTwist, WordScraper. I recently purchased a DSLR camera and am teaching myself photography.

14. I have read thousands of books. I know this because I have read hundreds of books out loud to my kids. I began reading out loud when the first two were tiny and it is the one thing I would make it a point to do every day. One day I asked my oldest son (then 5) what he like about books (he couldn’t read at the time) and he said that they take you someplace far away and you become a different person in a different place! I read the Little House books out loud 4 times. If a child was going to grandma’s house, I would read into a tape recorder (while reading to the other children) and send it to them. When my Dad was sick and on chemo, I read a book or two that I knew he would like onto a tape and sent to him. The day my youngest child took the book I was reading out loud to her and said she couldn’t wait to see what happened next, and finished it herself, was a sad day for me. I actually grieved about this and prayed that God would give me kids to read out loud to!! I still have thousands of books… and sometimes I will pass a book in a Thrift store and it will be like meeting an old friend, and I will want to pick it up and buy it, even if I already have a copy.

15. I am way to frank and honest. I don’t hide my faults, problems or beliefs. I don’t have hidden agendas, I am way to open and vulnerable. I try to keep silent but really would just as soon stay home as to attend a Bible Study or any kind of discussion group because I almost always come home and beat myself up for saying too much. I am opinionated. I have a hard time being around people that I think are stupid… I have thought a lot about this lately and I had Southern relatives who would say “I can’t abide a liar” or “I can’t abide a drunk” Well I sometimes think that I can’t abide stupid people. I love to research and will learn both sides of something before I form an opinion. I will argue both sides of an issue. I don’t understand why people don’t think for themselves and find out things for themselves. I have a hard time with college educated people who tell me they know all about everything because they listen to NPR, CNN and/or PBS.

16. And finally, While this is true, I have great compassion and mercy on both the people who have been wronged and the people who do the wrongs. I don’t believe in shooting wounded people. (just stupid ones ;o) not!) I love to laugh and I love to pray… I talk to God all the time. I have a long way to go in being the person I should be, but so far He has been with me all the way… I pray hard, I pray earnestly, and I am also praying when I am griping under my breath about someone… I know He hears anyway and I figure I may as well just say it to Him… He knows my name. He loves me as I am but am grateful that His Hand is on me and He leads and changes me. I want to be more like Him… More of Him and less of Me… But I have a ways to go… He ain’t finished with me yet… And I must like talking about myself because this is crazy long.