100 Things about Me

1. I'm a registered nurse.
2. I am currently in grad school to become a family nurse practitioner.
3. I'd also really love a master's in public health.
4. I used to not like kids.
5. Now I really like kids.
6. I help teach the 1st-5th grade kids at church on Sunday mornings.
7. I am starting a one-on-one mentoring program called KidsHope in a few weeks.
8. I volunteer at the Salvation Army Medical Clinic when I can.
9. I love serving people in need.
10. I get the biggest kick out of meeting basic needs: food, water, shelter, love.
11. I want to move internationally in the semi-near future to do that.
12. I love learning about different cultures and languages.
13. If I was doing something other than nursing, I'd work for a Christian non-profit agency helping people in crisis.
14. Or I'd be a photographer/reporter for National Geographic on human rights issues.
15. I like being really cheap.
16. The reason I try to be cheap is so I can give more away.
17. I became a Christian when I was 13.
18. I was baptized by my top role model.
19. I was scared to talk to my role model/mentor until this last year.
20. I become more amazed by God all the time.
21. A lot of people say I look like Natalie Wood who played Maria in West Side Story.
22. I've been a little self-conscious of my weight since college.
23. It's pretty silly that I am considering I am a big 112 lbs.
24. I've never said I've felt that way in "public" before.
25. I would live outdoors all the time if it never got hot or cold.
26. I really like running. I think I am physically addicted to it, though I'm just a casual jogger now.
27. I ran a marathon my senior year in college.
28. I don't have the itch to do another one yet, but I'd like to do a half marathon in the spring.
29. I did an internship in Minnesota in 2005 and moved here in 2006.
30. It still strikes me funny that I live here.
31. I love the down-home cabin feel of the rural parts and the trendy-green loving feel of the cities.
32. My friends know me better than my family.
33. I miss my grandma who died last year.
34. I learned to knit last winter, but have only done a lot of scarfs and one hat.
35. I don't think I've ever seriously been in love.
36. Though there are people I admire greatly from afar.
37. I have a really bad sweet tooth.
38. I like doing creative arts and crafts things.
39. I make my own stationary.
40. I love singing.
41. One of the few things I miss from Harding is singing with other believers.
42. Just about the only other thing I miss is the people.
43. I guess I miss some of the activities too, though I have different things going on now.
44. I tend to sing alto when there is not instrumental music, and soprano when there is.
45. People ask me to giggle for them sometimes because apparrantly my giggle is pretty funny.
46. I used to have a variety of nicknames, but nobody here uses them.
47. I love to read.
48. I used to get in trouble when I was a kid for reading too much.
47. I also got in trouble for talking back.
48. I'm better about that now.
49. I always wanted to have red curly hair like my sister's.
50. As I get older it is getting curlier, but it is still just brown.
51. Fall is my favorite season.
52. I like it best because of sweatshirts, colors, and pumpkin flavored everything.
53. This last winter in MN wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
54. I tend to be an optimist and see something good about everything.
55. Patients ask me all the time if I am old enough to be a nurse.
56. I get asked if I am in high school on a regular basis.
57. My favorite color is green.
58. My birthday is on St. Patrick's Day.
59. That's not the reason my favorite color is green.
60. I have a bad habit of eating unidentified berries when on a hike.
61. I'm not scared of dying.
62. A big part of my heart is in Honduras.
63. I spend exclusive time with God every day.
64. My faith has changed in incredible ways since I started doing that.
65. I used to play piano, but I haven't seriously in years.
66. It makes me really sad when I think of how I let my talent go.
67. If I could play another instrument besides piano, it would be the fiddle.
68. I really do like a small portion of country music.
69. One of my weaknesses is jealosy.
70. I love change.
71. I love surprises.
72. I used to be pretty strict about my shoes to matching my outfit, but now I don't care.
73. I love to wear skirts and chacos, sometimes together.
74. I think it is sad there are such things as rich Christians in a world of need.
75. I have a dream of living in a house in a poor neighborhood with several others.
76. I want it to be a safe place where we could get to know people and become involved in their lives.
77. I want to share possessions and live simply so we'd have more resources for outreach.
78. I want to help struggling people in that neighborhood.
79. I want to become friends with the kids.
80. I want to learn from those people who have a better idea of what community is than I do.
81. If I could take 3 types of items out of this world, they would be drugs, alcohol, and guns.
82. I am addicted to chapstick.
83. I don't like tv.
84. I am extremely picky about movies I like.
85. I am dependent on the internet.
86. If I had a super-power, it would be that of instant transportation.
87. And anybody who was touching me could go with me.
88. I've picked up enough of the MN accent to sound funny to people in TN, but not enough to hide my Southerness here.
89. I'm glad I grew up on a farm.
90. When people ask me where I want to live when I leave Rochester, I have a hard time answering.
91. In a rural area of some yet-to-be-determined underdeveloped country?
92. But then you have to explain more.
93. It's easier to just say Seattle or Denver or some other cool city.
94. But I usually end up telling the whole story.
95. Because I want people to know me.
96. I went for a long time where nobody really knew me.
97. That was years ago. I'm done with that now.
98. And I really want to deeply know other people.
99. I hope this post strikes you as funny and thought-provoking and not too self-centered.
100. I truly am grateful for the life I have.

Return of the Camera

Well, my duct-taped ghetto camera finally meandered its way to Rochester from Honduras where I left it this summer. It was abandoned in my favorite place to lose things: in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me. I never used to be this forgetful.

Nevertheless, some pretty decent photos came back to me. The ones of buildings are part of the new children's home that opened just a few weeks ago. Amazing. God has prepared a place of paradise for these children who have been through hell. The rest are dear friends who live and serve full-time in Honduras.