I have put off writing this bio because I just don’t know what to say about myself. This is crazy. What I write here a lot of people will be able to read. I won’t lie I am a little nervous about all of this. So here it goes….
My Family: I have been blessed with two very amazing parents (Gary and Gail) and two incredibly smart and beautiful sisters (Kasi and Melissa) and I have a very adventurous Siberian husky named Hunter.
I was an Air Force brat growing up and so I moved around a lot (7 not so spectacular states but some really cool people). I was raised in a Christian family (the middle of two sisters) so I was always in church. My story of falling in love with my God began when I realized he was mine and that he loved me. I made a decision when I was 6 to follow Christ at a Bill Gather concert at my church. I was not baptized until I was a freshman in high school because I really wanted to understand its importance in my walk. I don’t think I still really understood what it meant to walk with him and live with him. I was not on my own journey to his heart but what I thought everyone around me was doing. Christ truly became real to me after my freshman year in college. It was nothing out of step with my life except that I was leaving for the summer to work at a high adventure camp in Colorado. Peak 3 is where I was truly broken and where I discovered what a lover of Jesus heart really looked like and felt like. I was taught to be a servant; a servant who loves, a servant who serves and a servant who sacrifices unconditionally. Christ was working in my heart before this adventure began but this adventure into dangerous proximity of his love is when Jesus became mine. Over the last few years, I believe my walk as well as my understanding of Christ has changed from a clean and domesticated faith to a more gritty and wild one. The church I grew up with in my mind was one where you sing songs and act nice. The faith that I believe Jesus has shown me is one that isn’t always neat and tidy, rather it is messy and chaotic as I try to grow. Most of this struggle has to do with my understanding that faith is messy because it is fleshed out in action and not sitting comfortably in a worship center. I believe like Erwin McManus that Jesus didn’t come to save us from pain and suffering, but from meaninglessness.
I graduated from Arizona State with a degree in therapeutic recreation and I went to work with special needs kids at a Phoenix school specifically geared to educate and enhance the life of developmentally disabled and challenged students. I am the aquatics director and that pretty much means that I get to spend all day in the pool teaching cool special kids how to swim.
There is much more to my life than my work though. I love the outdoors and adventure. I would love to rock climb more than I do as well as camp. I like motorcycles, especially Ducati’s. I’ve also had the chance to sail large (44 ft) boats over the last couple of years. I like to go to the coffee shop and people watch with my friends (preferred beverage… iced caramel machiato). I just finished a great book that everyone should read, The Long Way ‘Round by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. I like to be diverse and a little random. One of my greatest passions is Ultimate Frisbee. I play with several club teams and any pick up games that I can find. I even had the chance to play at the World Championships last year in Australia. We came in fourth… Yeah Red Fish Blue Fish!
Well, there is a little piece of me. I look forward to our exciting adventures ahead and how God is going to add to all our stories.
