1. I am a believer, follower, and lover of Jesus Christ. I am definitely not very good at acting like His friend a lot and I definitely have had my ups and downs in my effort in this relationship, but I cannot let go of it. He has placed in my heart a most definite knowledge that He is my Lord and Savior and I can freely have his love and grace at no cost of my own. It's a beautiful thing that is so easy to take for granted sometimes.
2. I love my family. I truly never knew such love in my heart until this stage in my life as a wife and mother. I can very honestly say it is probably the hardest jobs I have had and every will have, but I think that's because I am so emotionally invested in these people, these precious babies and husband. My desire for them is to have nothing but the absolute best in life and I think that's what is so hard. The world is not like that, first, nothing is ever always good and perfect, and as much as I try and want to be the best wife and mom, I am also very imperfect, but oh, do I love my Jon, Emerson, and Braeden, more than you will ever know. I thank God for them every day.
3. I love my friends. I have been given, for some reason, a wonderful group of people to call my friends. It's great! We see each other every day or every other day and share our lives with each other. We do mundane things together and that's what makes our friendships so genuine. Our kids love each other, too. I know that they love, pray, are honest with me and would do most anything for me and my family. I wouldn't trade these people for anything in the world. It really breaks my heart to think we won't be living near them someday soon.
4. A little bit back to the mother thing - I completely, whole heartedly, and passionately am pro family. I know, I know, sounds a little... oh... I don't know... yeah, whatever, we know, it's a good thing, blah blah blah... But since having kids, I've tried to get my hands on every book and article about raising kids that I can find and it just makes sense. Healthy families create sound, responsible, successful people (depending on what your idea of success is, mine may be a little different). There are so many studies out there that will show you that time spent with your family- good quality time- "feeds" your kids in ways that daycare, t.v., internet, never can emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. (Now, I know I might get a little flack for the first one -daycare. I realize that is the only option for most families today. Our world has made it almost impossible for a parents to be the primary care-givers for their children, but this can be a topic for another day.) There have been major studies on this, the child/parent relationship. Kids just need to be nurtured, loved, held, talked to, played with and I believe prayed for by their moms and dads. Children were designed to link emotionally with a mother and a father and to develop securely within the protection of their arms. And putting aside all the research, I just know these things in my heart. I believe God put it there.
And parents need each other, too. A healthy marriage paves the way for the whole family to be healthy and happy. Matter of fact, if I could ever go back to school (which is likely impossible now) or go back in time knowing what I know now, I'd get some sort of degree in social work or some sort of family counseling. I've really loved reading about this stuff. I truly think if we could mend some of our increasingly growing broken families, we could avoid so much pain, suffering, and grief in our lives.
Whew, that was a long one...
5. Finally, and on a little less serious note (I'm sure you're relieved!) a few small quirks about me:
- I LOVE to sing. Really, I love music in general. But when I'm by myself I belt it out like I'm Mariah Carey or Christina Aguilerra. I think somewhere deep inside I have always desired to be a rock star.
- I, if you haven't noticed, take pride in my job as a mother. I take any comments about my mothering ability very seriously and very personally - probably to a fault. I'm very passionate about my kids!
- I get immense personal satisfaction from my house being clean.
- I secretly enjoy sucking boogers from my kids' noses with those little kid booger sucking things (I know, it's sick).
- If there was one thing I could afford to buy a million of and would never gain weight from, it would be swiss cake rolls. And flavor doesn't matter. I'd eat both chocolate and strawberry. I'm not prejudice.
