About Me
Pull up a chair, grab a hot chai (my favorite), and let’s get acquainted! I’m sure that you don’t want to know any more about what I do—you can find that kind of stuff all over this web site. If you’re taking the time out of your busy schedule to learn more about who I am—which likely means you are stuck in an airport somewhere and have eight hours to kill—read on.
Friends. I have a lot of casual friends, but I only have enough time to really hang out with a few loyal friends. All my friends (casual or not) know that I don’t do a great job at “level one” conversations—hi, how are you, the weather’s great today, huh?! How’s Bob’s new truck running? Yes, I’m fine too…we’re all fine—you get the idea. So usually in the first couple minutes of conversation, you and I will likely be discussing what we’re living for, how we want to impact this world, why God allows suffering, etc…
My friends (and family too) are priceless to me. They are the ones who really challenge my faith, don’t just tell me what I want to hear, pray for and with me, risk embarrassment by doing crazy things with me, understand the concept of give and take, and make me laugh. I can be real with these friends when I’m grumpy or sad, and they don’t take it personally. I rest confidently in knowing they will accept and love me on good days and bad, and they will forgive me when I am a jerk, because I usually am sooner or later. I often tell people that my two biggest problems in life are what goes into and what comes out of my mouth. The rest is small stuff by comparison.
Personality. I am a gentle truth-teller (I say “gentle” because I know many abrasive truth-tellers who are annoying and I am not like that), but even so I sometimes offend people close to me by being honest about what I see. I am honest because I LOVE my friends and family, and I don’t want to see them cause damage to themselves and others. I don’t want to see them fall prey to the lies that destroy dreams, lives, futures.
Shortcomings. I was not born with the gift of mercy (characteristic of many truth-tellers) so unless you are bleeding to death in front of me (hopefully not on my carpet), I will likely tell you to suck it up and go get yourself a Band-Aid. Okay, I’m not really that cold and uncaring and I have certainly learned many new levels of mercy in the last decade of my life from desperately needing it myself. I am very compassionate when I sense true hurt in someone, whether emotional or physical. And I am very drawn to people with the gift of mercy—they are like a cool drink of water on a hot summer day! I should think about that.
Challenges. One thing I’m really working on is ridding my life of hypocrisy (which my kids are great at pointing out to me). This is a tricky job because, unless you have kids who are willing to help out, it’s one of the most difficult things to see your own blind spots. In fact, if you want to be able to identify hypocrisy in your life, ask your kids for help. But be ready!
Questions. It’s so hard for me to understand people who don’t want more light and truth in their lives. I guess I don’t understand it because the more I come into the light, the more free and joyful I become. I absolutely love people who can admit when they are wrong (especially husbands—haha), own up to their mistakes, and say they are sorry. Of course, this doesn’t include myself. :)
Hates. I hate cleaning house, grocery shopping, loose SPIDERS in my house, talking on the phone (unless it’s about latest Bible treasure finds with my Bible study friends), errands, being misunderstood, injustice, procrastination, the smell of wet dogs, lima beans, liver, smothering darkness, the thought of living in a big city, and being cold (like anything winter).
Passions. I have so many passions and interests, that I can’t fit them all into my schedule. I think I will need forever to take in all the things I want to do and learn. My most favorite passion has become orphans as well as inspiring parents to raise their kids for the mission (which you can read about in my latest book), One Million Arrows, as well as giving a voice to the voiceless, I have been to India three times and Haiti once, and I have great hopes of working on behalf of children in many more places in this world. To round out my abilities for the mission field, I am contemplating going to nursing school the fall of 2011. But we’ll see what is “in the plan.”
I love Bible study, more Bible study, beaching, snorkeling, reading, writing late into the night (it’s 2:10 a.m. as I write this), naps (they allow me to write late into the night), great music, sports (all kinds), camping, cats, dogs that don’t bite, collecting interesting rocks and seashells, lifting weights, playing board games and card games, watching frisky horses show off, eating out, amazing Wyoming sunsets, wildflowers, hot baths on cold winter nights, hiking in the mountains, the smell of yummy candles, and watching educational movies. When the Kingdom comes to earth in the next age, I intend to take up freestyle snowboarding (doing jumps and flips), jumping off cliffs in a flying suit, surfing the big wave pipes with white sharks, and skydiving. Notice I said in the next phase of the Kingdom—after I have been transformed in immortality.
My love for Goodwill shopping deserves a paragraph all its own. I can replace my entire wardrobe at certain known Goodwills for under $100 with high quality clothing. Who could shop at malls after that? I haven’t bought full price clothes in years. I also love finding household treasures at garage sales.
Oh yeah, my husband and I really hope to get on the Amazing Race in the next year. That is such a cool show!
I love watching animal planet and discovery channel when they do nature shows. God’s creation is so fascinating to me and I love learning about creatures I never knew existed.
My all time favorite passage is out of 1 Corinthians 15 (22-23):
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order…”
I absolutely love being with family, even though I don’t have a very big one anymore (too complicated to explain). You can read more about my beautiful immediate family under my family link. They are a blast and I love them with all my heart!
I come from a long line of micro-managers (see my article “How Did I Ever Survive Without You”), so I love to manage all the little details in people’s lives who are closest to me, much to their great frustration. But I’m getting better—really. They are all allowed to tease me whenever they catch me trying to nit-pick stupid details.
We are running out of time, but the most important and most obvious thing about me is my faith. It isn’t a part of who I am, it IS who I am. I can’t really have a conversation without bringing my First Love into it somehow. HE IS MY LIFE and He is who I want to talk about and be more like. So now you know just a very little bit more about me…