Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Little Known Facts

25 facts about me in no particular order
1.       Faith in God is my foundation, the solid rock I stand on. Without God I am nothing. He is my all in all and when it comes down to it, nothing else matters. If you know me and you don’t know this about me then I have failed Him. It wouldn’t be the first time or the only way that I have failed Him, but I strive to avoid it.
2.       I walked through the catacombs under Paris, stood at the top if the Eifel Tower, toured Notre Dame, saw Leonardo Divinci’s Mona Lisa, and explored Marie Antonette’s bedchamber in Versailles. I wish I could travel more. I love going interesting places.
3.       My first kiss was on stage in the play “Into the Woods”. I played the Baker’s Wife. I was 18 years old.
4.       My husband is the only boyfriend I ever had. We will celebrate our 12th anniversary in August. I was 19 when we got married.
5.       I went swimming with wild stingrays in the Cayman Islands.
6.       I’m a writer. I have worked as a staff reporter for two news papers.  The large majority of my published writing can be found on the pages of the Winthrop News, but my true passion is creative writing. I’ve written several novels and someday I hope to get them published. I finished my first novel when I was 15 years old.
7.       The Bible is my favorite book. It has something for everyone.
8.       I took belly dancing classes. I loved every minute of it!
9.       I’m creative. I love creating beautiful things. My many hobbies reflect this: Writing, sewing, cooking/baking, gardening, acting/directing, cake decorating, interior design, graphic design, arts/crafts …
10.   I have absolutely no natural ability in the area of organization. If I seem organized at any given moment it is either a well practiced front or the result of painstakingly concerted effort.
11.   I’m very bad at math. I can barely add. My mind shuts off at the first mention of numbers.
12.   I’m a terrible housekeeper. It drives my husband crazy. I try, but I always seem to run around in circles without getting anything finished.
13.   I met my husband on a blind date. My roommate in college set us up. He’s her cousin so now we are related.
14.   I have three wonderful, beautiful daughters. I adore them. I fear the coming years because I know I will not be able to protect them from everything. If they turn out to be just like my sister, I will be a very blessed mama.
15.   My oldest daughter and my sister are closer in age than my sister and me.
16.   I have many idiosyncrasies. I hate having anything touch between my toes. It grosses me out to be touched by pruny fingers or toes or to touch anything when my hands are pruny. When I get in the shower I have to wash my hair right away, because if I wait until my fingers get pruny I can’t stand to touch it.
17.   When I was a child the feathers from my feather pillow somehow pierced my ear. To this day, I still occasionally have fragments of the feathers work their way out of the scar on the back of my left ear.  
18.   I have moved more than 24 times in my 31 years.
19.   I acted in 16 plays and played a leading role in five of them. I also directed 5 plays and participated in drama troupes. One of my drama troupes performed puppet shows and skits in the public schools of Paris. We were the first Christian group ever allowed in the public schools in France.
20.   I have worked as a model. I hated it.
21.   I love to sing but I don’t like listening to music.
22.   Coffee. Enough said. Also, Cheesecake, chocolate and peanut butter together, chicken marsala, and spinach dip with Hawaiian sweet bread. Yum. 
23.   I hate city traffic. It freaks me out, especially when my truck driver husband is driving.
24.   I once few a small plane.
25.   I started college when I was 17 years old. I went full time Post-Secondary as a senior in High School to Crown College. Ten years, one marriage, three kids, one change of my major, and seven moves later, I graduated with my degree – a double major in Communications and Christian Studies.
Wow! This list makes my life sound more interesting that I feel like it is. :) I'll go to bed counting my blessings tonight!
I’d like to challenge my readers to come up with a few little know facts about yourselves and post them in the comments. I’d love to get to know you all a little better!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Spring Break and Exciting News

After a few crazy weeks in a row I'm looking forward to the return of relative normalcy! The last week of March I was hard at work preparing entries for the Fraiser and Touched By Love writing contests. Immediately following my submissions, we had a fun-filled spring break with a houseful of company.


Between our family of five and the seven Hutchcrafts, we had 12 people in our three bedroom apartment (8 children 10 years and under) all last week! We had a blast, but I feel genuinely sorry for the family that lives in the apartment below ours!


We celebrated my youngest daughter's sixth birthday at the local indoor water park while our friends were here.


I got to have some fun decorating her cake-one of my favorite hobbies! She insisted on a Tangled theme. She wanted Rapunzel with her feet in a pond and her hair all over the cake. (Where do they come up with this stuff?)


The oldest six kids loved rock climbing at the local YMCA. It was so great to share fun times and make memories!

The last two days since the Hutchcrafts left, we have been playing catch up with school work (I home school my three daughters) and housework (no fun). So a phone call I received yesterday was a much needed boost of encouragement.

About a month ago I entered the Genesis contest. The ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) Genesis contest is a national competition for unpublished novelists. I just learned that my entry - the first 15 pages of one of my novels (contest rules say I can't reveal the title publicly) - has been advanced to the semi-final round! This means my entry scored in the top 20%! What a surprise!

These three contests are the first competitions I have ever joined, but I hear that it is a great way to get the feedback of professionals from the publishing industry. It's my goal to use the feedback to edit my book.

Praise God for small victories that confirm His direction! Thank you Lord for this encouragement!