Getting to Know This Wife {Days 4 & 5}

Since I now have readers (plural! mom + one) and you may not know much about me, I'm taking part in a series called 10 Things. Nothing too exciting here, but maybe we have something in common? It is a chance to learn my wild, unconventional ways-- I am your typical stay-at-home-mom/human being trying to figure things out!

1. I have never had a successful experience at a four-way-stop. I cannot tell who got there first. If someone gestures me to go ahead, I wave at them to go first... but then I start going. Sometimes I am dead set it is not my turn and the other person should go on and drive already so I sit in my car until they go. And they stare at me like I'm an idiot because I was clearly sitting at the stop before they pulled up. Other times I'm in a hurry and I don't have the mental capacity to wrangle my thoughts into making such a monumental decision and I just breeze through. I feel a slight burst of anxiety every time I see one of these! 

2. I adore my husband. I still get butterflies in my stomach when I see his name show up on my caller ID. We dated long distance off-and-on for 7 years (we met my senior year of high school) and when we got engaged, we married 3 months later. We hadn't lived in the same place nor ever had a consistent dating relationship. So I tell him all the time it is a miracle we are so great together--- because we had no clue! Marrying him was a risky move because he is CRAZY but so am I. We have very little in common, we are not a couple who shares hobbies and it seems like we are opposite about almost everything. But our deepest values and passions are similar. We are both laid back and love each other so lots of concessions are made, on both ends. My favorite thing about our marriage has been having kids together, he is the best dad! I gush!  

This is us in France (I loved it, he hated it!) on a mission trip when I was pregnant with Lou

3. I've been legally blind since I was 11. Without my glasses, I can't see a thing. I don't know how contacts work but thank God for them. My little number on my prescription says -11.0 for each eye! What does that mean? I have no clue but it is bad! 

4. My favorite Christmas gift from my husband was a pair of brown, Carhartt overallls. I was pregnant at the time and wore them every day that winter. I went around saying, "Isn't this so great?! I don't even have to wear a coat these things are so warm!" I'd wear them with my leopard print Danskos to the grocery store and looked like a fool.

5. More than any other character on TV, I identify with the mom Frankie on "The Middle."

6. I was on staff with an awesome college ministry called Campus Outreach for 3 years. These were some of my favorite times in my life. My first year on staff, we pioneered planting this ministry at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State, and Duke University. I got to live with my best friends for another 3 years after college and watch them each fall in love and get married. I got to share the Gospel with some of the smartest kids in the country and see their lives radically change when they understood the realities of Jesus. Loved these years, I miss it every day! 

7. I've worked at Disney World's Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios in the summer during college and my years on staff with Campus Outreach. I also was a maid at a Marriott one summer, I can clean a bathroom super fast-- but rarely clean my own! My first job in high school was working at a tanning bed. During the school year, I always nannied, and most of the families had four kids-- I thrive in chaos and hope we can have four of our own someday! 

8. Being a stay-at-home mom never crossed my mind. Never, ever. So I was so surprised when we had kids and that's what was best for us. It has taken me 2.5 years to find a rhythm and routine I love. Reading Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts helped me immensely in this area of my life. 

9. Growing up I went to Asthma Camp. Did you know such a wonderful place existed? It did and it was awesome! Because of my asthma I never would have survived regular camp (literally!) At Camp Superkids our cabins had air conditioning, they drove us around in insulated golf carts (so we wouldn't get wheezy from walking on the dusty roads), and we had nurses that rounded us up at night to make sure we took our meds. I never thought this was weird until I mentioned it to someone at college! 

10. I love living in Iowa. When I was little and even past high school, I dreamed of living downtown Chicago (I am from Naperville, a suburb west of the city). But once I went to college in Charleston, South Carolina I thought my home would be in the South. The warm weather, ocean, and culture drew me in, and I never wanted to leave. I am a bit of a hippy at heart so when we lived in Raleigh, NC, there was a community I could see myself in wearing dreadlocks and drinking french pressed coffee every morning from the beans I grew in my backyard. AFTER (not before, but AFTER) we got married, Mike told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life in Iowa. Hello, add that to your list of things to talk about before you got married, good thing he hadn't told me that during premarital counseling, it might've been a deal-breaker! God teaches me to love the places and stages of life I am in (always with a long-learning curve) and thankfully after 5 years of living in Iowa I am content here. When I am away, I want to come home. Kind and genuine people abound, there is great local food, and I love the simplicity of the pace of life compared to the Chicago area. The scenery has its moments as well! 

And by "scenery" I mean super cool barns-- because, what else?
Photo Credit the fabulous Haverlee Coyler 

That's it for today-- No blogging tomorrow, back at it Monday!