I tried to write the “About Me” Section, and wrote enough for at least four different posts . I hope you will take this “About Me” section as an invitation to follow the trip with me, and get to know me, my team, and God better as I travel and write. I have a coworker who knows how much I love to talk, and he tells me to speak in sentences of ten words or less when we’re in meetings together. So, for him, and all those like him, the short version:
“I love Jesus and I want to show his love”
I’ve worked in healthcare and mental healthcare since graduating in 2011. I currently split my time between Springfield, Missouri and Olathe, Kansas, working at a psychiatric residential treatment facility for children who have experienced significant trauma. I love my job, and I love those kids, even on the days when they drive me bonkers. My coworkers are amazing and I am very blessed that many of them are my brothers and sisters in Christ. They love on me and help me grow. Working with “my kids” helps me to put my relationship with God into perspective, and I love watching The Healer go to work in them.
God is so good to me it’s insane. I have a great family, and I have the blessing of a longstanding Christian heritage. My parents are wonderfully supportive, kind, and loving people, and to everyone, not just me. My little brother Jonathan (14) is ridiculously talented and has such a good heart; He has tons of potential and I can’t wait to see what God does with that boy. My older brother James (27) and I didn’t get along for a long time growing up, but we have grown closer the older I get and there are times that he amazes me with the depth of thought and emotion that come out of his brain. He is married to my brilliant, delightful sister-in-law Jessica, who is without question one of the smartest people I have ever met. My extended family is incredible, and there is so much love and wisdom dispersed through the interwoven generations of our family.
I myself am a bizarre hodge-podge of all kinds of things (as all people are.) The kids are “third-culture” in my family; we’re neither American nor Canadian but a little of both from having spent our formative years leap-frogging the 49th parallel. I am a citizen of both countries, which I think gets the lion’s share of why I tend to be a bit of a globally minded person; borders are just lines on the map around people. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have someone from Red Deer, Alberta, on this squad. (I literally cheered. I have friends in Red Deer.)
I have a Bachelor’s in Anthropology. I am an analytic, and I love data. Lots and lots of data! I love science fiction T.V. shows, nature documentaries, and books (More on this later. Books get their own post.) Especially, though, I love people: Their culture, their art (Pretty much anything from any of the First Nations of B.C. makes me giddy), their history, their languages (I speak French and Spanish, working on German), and their food (Haven’t eaten any bugs yet, but I’m looking forward to Thailand!) I listen to all kinds of crazy music, and when I feel inspired, I occasionally break out my oil pastels or my markers and fiddle about being artsy. I regularly go on mini-adventures with Jonathan in my little Ford Escape. After fourteen years, he’s learned to not ask questions when I yell “to the Batmobile!” He just gets his shoes on and races to the car . We have lots of fun together (until I pretend to swerve off the road, and then it’s just me having fun.)
Above everything though, is Jesus. I still can’t figure out what it is that God likes so much about me, but I am so grateful for his love, grace, and faithfulness throughout all the wonkiness of life. I‘m so appreciative of the apostle Peter. He gets a lot right, but when he gets it wrong, oh MY does he get it wrong. Then there’s Thomas, who doubts everything so much he talks about not believing until he touches the scars. Then Jesus shows up, entrusts Peter with feeding his sheep, and insists on Thomas touching the scars (The nerd in me is compelled clarify that those things didn’t occur in the same interaction). It never ceases to amaze me that no matter how many times I stumble, fall, or just plain run away, Jesus is always there for me. As I told a friend once “I’m a mess, but I’m going to be the best mess I can be.” How wonderful that Jesus loves messes!
And so of course I want to tell people about him! That’s the whole point, isn’t it? Receive that love and salvation, then get busy being conduits of love and telling people the good news? There’s so many broken people in this world, and God just loves putting us back together. I am excited for this World Race because I will be able to go out into places I’ve always wanted to go and work among populations towards whom I have always felt an affinity. I can’t wait to see what God will do in us this coming year!
I like quotes, and I will probably pepper the liberally into future posts. I have one I came across some years back that I’ve held onto, which I think it appropriate to put in as a sort of closing. It’s kind of thematic for how I look at life.
“I am only one, But still I am one. I cannot do everything, But still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”
– Edward Everett Hale
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to going on this journey with you! I appreciate all the love, prayers, and support that people have already shown me.
