About Me

 

Here’s me in 2017 on vacation to a place cold enough that I got to wear a scarf.

This year as I follow a plan to read through the Bible, I sometimes see things in the Scripture I hadn’t noticed before.  This blog is the place that I record those new insights.

I’m not a seminary-trained scholar.  I never did finish that degree in English I was pursuing years ago.  But I do read and study the Bible, a lot, and have for many years.  And at times, when the Holy Spirit nudges me or pulls something into the forefront, I like to dig into God’s Word and see if I can find something I missed the first time I read it.

I hesitated at first to write much about myself on this blog, since I wanted it to be about the Bible, not me.  But then I realized, as I poked around the blogs of others, that I find it frustrating to read what someone says and not know who they are.  So I’ll give it a go:

I am first a disciple of Christ.  Have been since the age of 5, or 8, or 10, depending on which experience counts as a turning point in my spiritual life.  I tend to think it was a journey, since everything else in life is that way, and that you can’t necessarily define conversion in an experience.  But then we’d be getting up on one of my soapboxes so I’ll leave it at that.

I am a wife and mother.  Here I am with my family the last time we tried to take a group photo, around 2006:

My seriously well-behaved and good Christian brood.

Well, perhaps that doesn’t put us in the best light.  Let me try another photo.

Having misplaced the younger two, we attempt a shot with the older two, only to have the oldest send over his friend to stand in for him because he doesn’t feel like having a photo taken.

Well, perhaps a family photo should involve all the members.  I’ll give it one more shot:

There. Oh, wait. Look again, just over my left shoulder. That would be my brother-in-law.

Disclaimer: These photos are over seven years old.  I haven’t tried to get a family photo since then, because, well, for obvious reasons.

Well, okay, I did manage to guilt the part of the fam who still lives with me into this selfie (although I would argue that since it’s not just of myself, we should call this a… wait for it… Familie!)

I would call the daughter with the blue hair “Mini Me” but she’s taller than me.

Here is the missing eldest son, who has moved out of state, which works just fine for me because then I have an excuse to travel:

I am a homeschooler.

This is what I like to think our homeschooling looks like each day.

This, however, is unfortunately closer to the truth…

My oldest three kids have graduated from high school, so I am now down to one student, except that the neighbors have figured out what I’m doing and are now sending their kids to me for tutoring.

I am a piano and guitar teacher.  Here’s a link to what I have to say about that.

For the past five years I have been an English teacher/tutor, something to which I never aspired but that I enjoyed way more than I thought I would.  I have temporarily retired from that position, however, in order to be a caregiver for my elderly mother and take online classes to finish up my English degree.

I am a writer. My published works at this point center on homeschooling, but I’m working on a book.  Because, you know, if you tell people you are working on a book, that makes you legit. And it gives me something to say to my Facebook friends who keep demanding one from me.

Being a writer, I’m told, means that I must have two blogs.  This one is the serious one; I also have a not-so-serious one, although if you dig through the archives there, you can find some more serious posts on that one too.  I don’t do so well with the borders.  As you may have gathered from my attempt to write a formal and serious “About Me” page here.

I am a singer/songwriter.  Recorded some songs a few years ago, which you can find on my Reverbnation page.

I am a worship leader, playing keyboards and providing backup vocals in the band at church.  For a while there, my husband and I led worship in the Children’s Ministry at our church; nothing compares to seeing a roomful of 5-11 year olds sincerely worshiping God.  Talk about singing around a lump in your throat.  We now do our leading mostly at our church’s Church On The Beach service. Let’s just say it is at times hard to compete with dolphins.

I am a transplanted Brit, whisked away from the Mother Country at the tender age of 5, toughened by four years in the wilds of Ontario, Canada, and thoroughly confused after being planted in the multi-cultural melting pot of Los Angeles, California.  I sound American when I speak, as long as no one with a strong accent is speaking near me, in which case I tend to pick up on it.  This has placed me in some seriously embarrassing situations.

I am 4′ 11.5″, and would sing along with Evie Tournquist’s “Four Foot Eleven But I’m Goin’ To Heaven”, but I haven’t come up with anything to rhyme with “half” other than “gaffe,” “laugh,” and “decaf,” none of which scan well.  Besides, like the Tardis, I am bigger on the inside.

And in my spare time, I like to think deep thoughts.  This blog is an attempt to record some of them in the hopes that where I find inspiration and encouragement, perhaps some others will too.