About Me

 

Most importantly, I love Jesus- He has totally rocked my life the last 24 years. I live in Costa Rica where I am a special ed teacher. I love eating…all the time…especially ice cream. I quite possibly have the coolest family in the world. I also might have the most amazing friends in the world. I love to meet new people, try new things, see new cultures, sing at the top of my lungs (don’t have a good voice), and sports (basketball, baseball, and football top the list). I love learning Spanish and having funny language error stories, dancing, making videos, going to the beach, working with people with special needs, reading and making people laugh. I love being challenged and I love seeing God work in our lives. I don’t love freezing cold weather or people that don’t like singing Christmas music. I also don’t like sitting still for very long, when my roommate makes lentils, Michigan sports, or diets. lol but that’s about it.  The coolest place I’ve ever been was Israel, my favorite author is Elisabeth Elliott, and my life goal is to work with orphans and women rescued from human sex trafficking…here is the whole story:

I was born in Cincinnati, OH and that’s still where I consider “home.” I traveled around a lot when I was little and lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a while as well. Life was great and fairly easy all through my childhood and teenage years. I graduated and went to college at Cedarville University (near Dayton, OH) where I majored in Special Education and Early Education, and minored in Bible. My world pretty much got turned upside down the day I moved my stuff in the dorm. The Lord must have decided that He was sick of me being a complacent Christian that thought she was saint and didn’t have to trust Him. Those four years of my life were absolutely crazy. God took me through some really difficult times and brought me through some serious tests. I made great friends and I had so many opportunities to grow and minister, benefitted from counseling, etc….but to be honest, I enjoyed a sigh of relief the day I walked across the stage at graduation…

Funny how I thought that with graduation, life would be a little more peaceful. Why I thought that is beyond me considering I moved to a new country after graduation. I wouldn’t say I was fleeing the country, but I was really ready to be used by God and completely break those chains that held me in bondage and complacency. I had made all of these plans in college and God stripped pretty much every single one away from me…so I decided to really give up making plans. The minute I did that, God started to rock my world. I got job offers from around the world and I had to wait and wait for the Lord to reveal to me what it was He wanted me to do. It turned out being a kindergarten and special ed teacher and basketball coach in San Jose, Costa Rica, which is where I have called “home” the last two years. Apparently, life never gets any easier-God just keeps teaching us to respond and praise Him no matter what. Learning a new language, a new culture, a new job, and pretty much new everything has been the most humbling, challenging, and amazing experience. Even though it was so hard to say good-bye to my family and friends in the U.S., God has been so faithful to provide a “family” here in Costa Rica. I have been stretched in ways I would have never imagined. And just as I started breathing a sigh of relief in Costa Rica (I finally speak the language, understand better the people, love the food, know how to do my job, etc. etc.)….I’m sure you can guess….God changed it up on me again.

Once again, it was interesting how I thought life would be a little more peaceful after living in CR for a couple of years. Why I ever thought life would be normal again is beyond me. God brought the World Race into my life and confirmed to me in so many ways that this is what He has for me  next year. Okay…the first month of culture shock in a new country is ridiculous, I remember from moving to CR. Now I’m going to have to experience first month culture shock 11 times in one year in Nepal, India, Kenya, Uganda, Cambodia, Thailand, Romania, Ukraine and 3 other random countries. Ohhh I’m SO excited. I love when God challenges me and makes me depend on Him. Yah, sometimes its been hard to not have 5 and 10 year plans like many other sane friends I have, but the adventure I am on has been more than I could ever dreamed or imagined. Everyday I’m falling more and more in love with Jesus Christ and learning what it is to sacrifice our desires for His will. Augustine said that “Christ is not valued at all unless He is valued above all” and that has become my life saying. I want Christ to be valued above all, whether that means living in some jungle, the ghetto of San Jose, or with my family in Ohio. My favorite verse is in 2 Chronicles 16:9 which says, “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those hearts that are fully committed to Him.” Oh how I want to be one of those committed hearts whom His eyes stop on as He looks over the earth. How cool is that?