I'M BACK!

About a month ago, my computer crashed, horror of horrors! I have had occasional access to computers, either on Dean's work computer or the library, but the worst of it was that I couldn't digi-scrap AT ALL. This was very bad. Anyway, I finally have my computer working again. We had to get a new hard drive. Fortunately, all my pics and digi-stuff was on an external hard drive. WHEW! So, now I'm behind on my 'You in 52' challenge. I finally got to scrap again last night and caught up on a couple more questions. Here they are:

Question #3 - If I could change one thing about myself, what would it be?

Journaling: As a grown woman looking back, there are many things I would change. Most of them, however, are a result of choices I’ve made or things I could still fix if I really tried. So, I decided to go back to when I was young to answer this question, back to when I was more or less content with who I was. I WISH I COULD DANCE! In highschool, I was in an ensemble for two years. I loved to sing and dance with ‘Windsong’. Being in Windsong was the highlight of my highschool years. The problem is, you can teach me the choreography and I will get it right. Technically. I was a bit stiff and can’t dance at all without knowing the moves. I certainly wouldn’t look cool trying! That’s what I wish I could change. I wish I could just dance what feels good and look good doing it.

Question # 4 - What 7 decisions changed the course of your life?

Journaling:

1. My parents trained to be missionaries in Mexico. Mom was pregnant with me when they decided God was leading them in a different direction. I was almost born in Mexico!
2. We moved to Clearwater, FL when I was 4. Dad became pastor of Maranatha Chapel. I grew up there until I got married.
3. My parents gave me the choice to attend college or not. I chose not. It was perhaps not the wisest choice, but it put me where I am today.
4. Dean came to Roan Mt. when I was 19. My cousin Dan knew Dean liked me and they offered to pay for a plane ticket home so I could drive up with them to visit my cousin, Tami. At first, I wasn’t interested in Dean and thought it would be taking advantage if I accepted knowing what they were after. But they knew how I felt, so I said yes. I talked to mom the night before we left and asked for her advice. I rode with Dean and Dan to Connecticut. By the time we arrived 12 hours later, we were holding hands!
5. 2 weeks after Dean and I got together, I left for 4 months to YWAM in Scotland. While there, Dean and I wrote many letters but they were full of superficial “I love you’s”. One week we had a great speaker who spoke on ‘binding words’. I called Dean and told him I didn’t want us to say ‘I love you’ anymore. I tried to explain, but he thought I was being brainwashed! I sent him the cassettes so he could hear it for himself. He was only 18 but he listened to all 10 hours! Then he called me and agreed. From then on, our letters were full of content and we began to get to know each other for real. He even sent me a greeting card that said ‘I like you’! This made it so much more special when we were ready to say we loved each other for real.
6. We chose to get married pretty young. We were married right after Dean’s sophmore year of college.
7. We waited 6 years to have kids. When we had Alyssa, we decided that I would stay home with her. It was a real sacrifice to eliminate my income, but totally worth it!

Life in general has been kinda crazy lately. In addition to my computer problems, Dean's car died! It was a red, Mazda Protege. We've had this car since 1993. He has nursed it along and was determined to make it last as long as it could. It was a good little car. Dean affectionately called it 'Red'. Red lasted 220 thousand miles. So long, Red! Thanks for the memories!

I've also started working this past month as a substitute. I've taught kindergarten, 3rd grade, worked in the school office, was a cafeteria monitor, and I've worked in the cafeteria. Believe it or not, I like the cafeteria best. As soon as things settle down for us a bit, I may try to get a permanent job there. We've also been trying to fix up the house to sell, but have had very little time to do so. Right now we're working on painting the interior. So far, we've done one bathroom. *Sigh* MORE TIME PLEASE!

Another thing that has happened since I lost the use of my computer is that my nephew was born!!! But Oscar deserves a post of his own. So tune in next time for a little bit of this... and a little bit of that: