So, I’m supposed to write about me? (Seth speaking, April’s “About Me” is below) Okay, first thing about me, I generally don’t enjoy talking about myself. Generally, I don’t like being in the limelight. Interestingly, God keeps pushing me to step out and take a more active leadership role in just about anything I do. God has a great sense of humor.
I love to write, read, practice my guitar, and play video games. I wish that that order was also how I prioritized those things time-wise, but I usually play video games more than I should. Though I don’t really look the part, I am a great big geek and I’m really into the fantasy genre of books and video games.
I have a sister who is five-and-a-half years younger than me and a brother who is eleven-and-a-half years younger. We’re all probably too smart for our own good. When we were all growing up together, I was the one who slacked off, my sister was the ambitious one, and my brother was the energetic/competitive one. We kind of mirrored Mike, Carol, and Ben from Growing Pains, if you remember that old T.V. show.
I was raised in a Christian home, but one that had many struggles. My parents had me when they were very young and were still trying to figure out life while being parents. Growing up I moved around a lot and never really felt that I had roots. Those two things combined set me up with low self-esteem going into my teenage years, which set me up for a turbulent time through high school and college. There were times when I was ignoring God. There were times when I was running from God. But through it all, I never doubted that He was there and that He loved me.
When God brought April and I together it was really the turning point of my life, and the healing from what I’d been through as a teenager really began in earnest.
Through college, I majored in Philosophy, then switched to Psychology, then switched to English. (That should give you an idea of things that interest me intellectually.) I graduated from LSU in Baton Rouge with my English degree in December 2007, then earned my Practitioner Teacher’s License a year and a half later.
I’ve been teaching a private Christian school for less than a year, but I have learned so much about God, about leadership, and about my love for working with teenagers (which, it seems, is a rare gift; most people can barely tolerate them). I have had a strong ministerial call on my life for long time that I am just starting to figure out.
So I think that’s all I’ve got. The rest of the more interesting bits that I would say about life after marriage April has in her “About Me” stuff below.
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So, about me, April. Well, my name is April Blackburn, and I was born in April. Clever, huh. I am 24 years old, a graduate student at Louisiana State University, and married. I will graduate with my Masters of Social Work in May (yay!), the day before training camp.
I am the youngest of two children – I have one older sister, Michelle, who fought with me a lot till we grew up and realized that being nice to your sibling isn’t half bad.
Me and Michelle
Michelle has one daughter, Sherry. Sherry is the best little kid you could possibly hope to meet. She rocks my world. She’s really more like a little sister than a niece. Sherry is nine and does competitive gymnastics, and always beats me at Monopoly! My mom is Babs, and is also totally awesome. She’s in grad school too! For her Masters of Library and Information Science. Go mom! My dad is Russ, and he really really loves the LSU Tigers, especially football. You haven’t really seen crazy football fans till you’ve tailgated at Death Valley. He’s also into acting.
Sherry and my dad before a meet. Seth, my mom, dad, and Sherry
I was born in Bossier City, Louisiana, which is in the northwest part of the state. It’s close to Texas, so we didn’t get Mardi Gras off for school like everybody else in Louisiana. 🙁 But I survived. I was saved and baptized at seven, at Broadmoor Baptist Church. I had a bit of a rough spot in my early teen years (who doesn’t?), and started going to church with my then and now best friend, Kristin. I really was able to grow a lot in Christ as a teen, since her parents were the youth pastors at her church and I spent hundreds of hours at her house. I really loved high school, and was in about a hundred organizations, including a backpacking/camping club called Venture Crew. Thanks to VC, I already have a backpack! I also took dance classes most days after school. I like to stay busy.
College is where I met my husband. The long version of how we met is really cool, I think, but the short version is that he went to a different college, and met my friends from high school, who introduced us when we all went home to Bossier for a weekend. We started dating in February of 2004, and, well, I think it turned out pretty good! We got married in June 2006.
Wedding!
College was lots of fun, probably too much fun. It was really a time of backsliding for me. I wasn’t going to church or plugged in with believers for my sophomore and junior years. Senior year, I got more involved with Chi Alpha, a college fellowship organization. As a result of that, Seth and I had the opportunity to go to China to smuggle Bibles! It was a really excellent trip, and God showed up in so many amazing ways! If you wanna know some of the stories, ask me at training camp!
Seth and I at Mount Victoria in Hong Kong.
I also learned a lot about how amazing it is to live in a country where we have so many freedoms. There aren’t many other countries like that. After China, Seth and I moved around a bit working odd jobs until I started grad school in August of 2008. So now, Seth and I live in Baton Rouge, and we are excited to be going on the race!
Random facts about me:
I am part Japanese (my grandmother is full blooded Okinawan)
I live in Louisiana, and have Asian heritage, and I don’t like seafood.
I am in constant motion – dancing, swaying, fidgeting, whatever
My dream job is working in a Christian adoption agency. Or something else with kids.
I love love love So You Think You Can Dance, and dislike Dancing With the Stars
I desperately want to go to Israel (I’m really hoping they’ll announce this as a country at training camp!)
I took four years of French and hardly remember any of it.
I can talk about Sherry for hours.
