Getting to Know You

My friend Carrie at Reading to Know is hosting a fun little post-Thanksgiving meme today and I’m jumping in. It’s been a while since I’ve written a post like this with a little background / get-to-know-you info on it or if I have it’s buried here somewhere! Without further ado…

1. Do you attend church and, if so, what denomination are you a part of?

Yes, we attend and go to a small non-denominational Bible church south of Nashville. My Dad has been the pastor of this church for almost 22 years and my husband leads music on Sunday mornings. It’s where I met T as well so a major part of our family’s life. : )

2. What social issue are you the most passionate about?

That is a tough question. From first glance, I would say that I’m not very passionate about a social issue. The back of my car isn’t covered in bumper stickers and most of the time, I forget my reusable grocery bags when I go to the store. (Those are the hallmarks of being passionate right?) : ) Some things I am passionate about, I think, could be classified as a social issue, but not in the eyes of most: being an active and present mama to my children and wife to my husband. Praying for, planning for, and, under the God and the leadership of my husband, glorifying God in how I am managing my family (Proverbs 31, Titus 2).

All that said, after having read Jen Hatmaker’s 7 (highly! recommend!), I am much more aware of areas that we could be involved personally and as a family with the responsibilities that God has given us to minister to those around us.

3. Do you home school/use the public system or enroll your kids in private school? Any particular reason why?

We do homeschool and have since the beginning. This is something that we feel is the right decision for our family and will continue this way for the foreseeable future, unless God points us in a different direction. We have been part of a couple of tutorials over the years, and this year we have been very pleased with how Classical Conversations has fit into our school plans. I could see us sticking with this program for the entire run of our school days.



4. How long have you been married? How many kids do you have, or want to have? Have you ever thought of adopting, or have you?

T and I celebrated ten years this past August, which amazes me because I still feel such a novice at this marriage thing. We have four munchkins, N1(9), N2(6), B(5), and the boy (2) and they keep us plenty busy. We have thought of adopting and are seriously praying about it (news to some, I’m sure!)

5. What is your greatest personality strength? Weakest?

Greatest strength is probably my organizational ability. Weakest is probably my lack of self-confidence (yes) and doubting myself a LOT.

6. What is your favorite Bible verse or passage? Why?

Longtime favorite has been Psalm 52:8-9:

But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.
I will give Thee thanks forever, because Thou hast done it,
And I will wait on Thy name, for it is good, in the presence of Thy godly one.

Once upon a time, my blog was named after this verse.

Lamentations 3:22-26 and Psalm 121 have also been of great comfort to me at different times in my life and are very special! As well as major parts of Philippians. (Do I have a limit?) : )

7. What is your real name? What does it mean? (Sometimes I don't know your real name. Just a screen name. Sometimes that's intentional and if so, that's perfectly fine! I totally get issues surrounding online security. But if it's just an oversight that I don't know your real name, would you mind telling me what it is?!)

My real name is the one I use on the blog (Stephanie) and if you dig hard enough, you’ll find my kids’ names scattered around here. I typically just refer to them by their initials now – it’s quicker!

Then there are random fun questions:

1. What do you like best about your family?

The personalities that make up the mixture of our little crew. I love looking at the kids and seeing what is like their Dad and what is like me and how they can be so similar in some areas and so very different in others! The amazing creativity of God just in the six people He has brought together to be our family!

I also love our Friday family movie night tradition. We have a long-standing routine of rotating who picks the movie; as of January the boy will get to graduate into the picking rotation – I fully expect to watch Cars every six weeks when it’s his turn. : ) We order pizza and if I’m on the ball we have something fun for dessert (or make popcorn). I love our Friday nights.

2. What's your favorite color? Why?

Favorite favorite would have to be deep dark brown – it’s such a warm and cozy color. Then as the mood (or season) strikes, I can pick other colors to go with it. I’ve been on a big orange kick lately (that happens to me every fall) and haven’t shaken it yet.

3. Are you a bold and trendy dresser, or are clothes "not your thing?"

I’m not trendy in the least. I would like to be but that takes time and money and those are things that when I have one, I usually don’t have the other. : ) I don’t think I want to be especially trendy because truthfully, most trends to me look very uncomfortable! I spend a lot of my days getting up and down off the floor with small people and making messes in the kitchen so my hopes for my wardrobe would be that it’s somewhat cute, highly comfortable, and relatively free from stains.

4. Are you a foodie? What makes you love food so?

I love reading recipes and planning menus so if that makes me a foodie, then yes. Sitting around the table catching up with people is one of my favorite things, whether it’s my own little crew or the rare night out with girlfriends and food (or at a minimum coffee!) is a huge part of that.

5. If you were to write a book, what genre would it be? (Let's throw in a book question!)

When I was a kid, I dreamed of writing a book someday, but now, I don’t know. Some of my favorite books to read are junior/young adult chapter books (i.e.., Mysterious Benedict Society, Tumtum & Nutmeg, Little Women) so that is what I would think I would steer towards. However, I am also highly encouraged by mothering books by an author such as Sally Clarkson but feel far to unqualified to right anything along those lines at this stage in my parenting! : )

6. What is your favorite thing about where you live (country, neighborhood, etc.)? Least?

We live in an area that is developed but if we drive five minutes were are in the midst of cow fields and hay bales. It made for a hard decision last year when we moved because we were very torn – live in town, near church/work/etc. or move out a ways and find a little land. Right now, we feel like we have the best of both worlds because we are in a wonderful neighborhood with a small creek and overgrown common area that runs right behind our property. The only downside is that I can’t have chickens. : )

7.  What is your idea of the perfect day?

Without it sounding terrible, because I do love life with my little people, a perfect day would be some time by myself, whether getting coffee and reading for a while, running errands quickly by myself, or just spending some time alone doing whatever! Lunch with T would be a must for that day. Then time with my kids doing something like playing at the park or going on a walk or maybe ending the day with popcorn and movie (at home in our jammies, of course).

When T and I celebrated our anniversary a few months ago, we had just such a weekend. We were able to finagle one night of childcare and spend the evening have dinner out (Greek is our go-to when it’s just us), run a few errands, and watch a movie (in our jammies, of course). : ) Then I spend Saturday morning drinking coffee, working on my Bible study, cleaning the school room until the munchkins arrived home around lunchtime. At that point, we loaded them all up and took them to the county fair for the afternoon/evening. A perfect mix of quiet time / husband time / family time. (Note: these perfect mixes do not happen often so I still look back on this weekend very fondly). : )

Thanks, Carrie, for hosting such a fun link-up. I’m looking forward to reading some of the linked-up posts later on today … for right now, it’s Monday and our Thanksgiving break is officially over. Time to get moving a get a little school done today. : )