A Random Jumble

So my Who Am I? page wasn’t enough information?  Alrighty, then here’s a jumbled set of random facts about ME.  (I feel so egotistical at this moment).

Jobs I’ve had:

1. Cashier for a Cafe

2. Business Owner (started a business for my parents which has now evolved into this.)

3. Door-to-Door house siding sales woman.

4. Summer missionary.

5. Baby Sitter.

6. Fast Food Manager

7. Retail Clerk and Trainer

8. Ice-cream store shift leader.

9. Day Care Teacher

10. Buser/Hostess

11. Tutor

12. And most recently I’ve been starting up a new business, selling jewelry on-line!

Interests:

1. My hubby 😉

2. Friends and Family

3. People, people are very interesting!

4. BOOKS!!!  I own way more than some might think is healthy.

5. Making Jewelry.

6. Writing.

7. Cooking – although I should qualify this by saying that doesn’t mean I’m a good cook – yet.

8. Sci-fi.

9. Fantasy.

10. Languages!

11. Teaching.

12. Psychology (seriously though about majoring in it.)

13. Culture.

14. Learning.  I simply love to learn new things.  Call my crazy, but I’m the type who wants to get my degree, and never stop learning!

Speaking of learning…

School Info:

I’ve wandered a long path to get to where I am now.  If you want the story, ask me, otherwise, I’m not going to include it all here!  Suffice it to say I’ve walked an interesting road.  I’ve attended:

Clark College in Vancouver

Calvary Chapel Bible College, Crossroads Community Church Extension Campus (no longer open)

Mount Hood Community College in Gresham

Clark College a second time where I finally obtained my AA with an accompanying International Studies Certificate.

Central Washington University.  This is where my husband and I are currently studying.  He’s a Computer Science Major with a Math Minor.  I’m a Spanish Education Major with a TESL Minor and a Latin American Studies Minor.  We plan to graduate in Spring, 2010.  Why that far away?  Another long story…

Books I love:

Ok, first let me qualify, this list is by no means exhaustive because it would take a LONG time for me to include all the books I love, and you would get bored, seriously.

1. Anything by C.S. Lewis – I grew up on the Chronicles of Narnia, I own many of his other books, and I’m currently (slowly) working my way through the Narnia books in Spanish!

2. Anne of Green Gables. “If you only knew all the things I wanted to say and didn’t.”

3. Anything by Anne McCafferey.

4. Anything by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaimen, Terry Brooks, or Charles De Lint.

5. Lori Wick

6. Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America by Mike Yankoski

7. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

8. My Oxford Spanish Dictionary (told you I like language :P)

And the list goes on, and on, and on…

What I believe:

I am a Christian.  A follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I don’t have a particular denomination that I “belong” in, but I will probably always be the most comfortable in a Calvary Chapel Church.  Having said that, back home I attend an Evangelical Free Church with my husbands family, and here at school we attend a Baptist Church.  I don’t think that the denomination is anywhere near as important as what you believe, and that your belief is Bible based.  All of the in-fighting among church drives me crazy because, come on people, sure there are things we can quibble over, but as long as we all agree on the basics, why can’t we just get along?

I believe in a relationship and not religion.

I believe that reaching out to those around you with God’s love is one of the most important things you can do.

I believe that God has given use each different talents and gifts and that He delights in seeing us use those.

I honestly don’t talk about my faith a lot.  I’d rather live my life, let that show who I am, and share my faith when the time seems most appropriate.  I think I’ve had too many different experiences where I’ve seen other shove their faith down people’s throats.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than willing to talk about it, but I don’t want people to be afraid of me because of what I believe, I don’t want people to be threatened.  And so, I don’t always talk about it in a blatant way, but it’s there, always, it’s who I am.

The Random Jumble of Facts:

1. For most of my life, even though I’d been on crutches numerous times, the only bone I had ever broken was my cousins finger.

2. I have broken my wrist.

3. I’ve ridden in an ambulance 3 different times.

4. I could tell you medical stories that would curl your hair, or straighten it if it was curly.

5. I have two brothers, by blood at least, and I treasure them dearly!

6. I have numerous brothers and sisters of the heart and I treasure them dearly as well.

7. My Mom is and always will be one of my best friends.

8. My Great-Grandmother is my hero and I miss her.

9. My mother-in-law and I have the same first name, last name, and middle initial.

10. My husband is a little weird.

11. Which is ok because I’m a LOT weird!

12. I’ve been to Canada, Hawai’i, WA, OR, Nevada, Arizona, Cali, Minnesota, and Mexico.

13. If I could travel anywhere in the world I’d go first to Cuba, and then visit England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

14. My Grandfather immigrated from Cuba in his late 20’s.

15. No, he was not one of the boat people.

16. My middle brother is a constant source of encouragement.  He has a lot of health problems and thus spends a lot of time at home, on the computer.  I also spend a lot of time on the computer due to school, writing, and other interests, so we spend hours talking.

17. My youngest brother is a overseas working as a missionary.  I can’t really give more info than that in an open forum.

18. My Dad’s a redneck.

19. My Mom’s a city girl.

20. I’m the weird result you get when you mix a red-neck and city girl.  I can fit in either world.

21. Actually, I’m pretty adaptable and I’ve managed to fit into many different worlds…

22. I love coffee!

23. And yet I also drink tea on a regular basis.  Yes, I told you I’m weird, remember?

24. It would be a dream come true if I could spend the rest of my life studying languages.  As of right now I’m a Spanish major who’s signed up for French this fall 🙂

25. Also on my list to learn are Latin, German, Italian, and maybe one of the oriental languages.

26. I know how to say “Hi, how are you?” in Laotian.

27. I’d also love to learn Gaelic but I don’t know where I’d ever get the opportunity.

28. My super-hero power is the ability to find new and entertaining ways to hurt myself.

29. To illustrate my super-power…one of the reasons my husband and I started dating has to do with a story about me hurting myself…

30. To clarify, I don’t hurt myself on purpose, it just happens!

31. I’m a klutz you see…

32. I’m also very good at getting distracted and not noticing little things, like walls.

33. Shiney!

34. I’ve always wanted to ride an elephant.

35. I want to go sky-diving some day.

36. I love to dance.  Right now, it’s not really a part of my life because I’ve been dealing with some major health issues, but I love to dance!

37. My favorite form of dance is swing, and I’m at least familiar with about 8 different variations to that.

38. I’ve taken one ballroom class and I’d love to take more!

39. I’d really love to learn how to salsa dance.  I know the basics, but I mean how to really DANCE it.

40. There are few feelings as beautiful as dancing to a song and having everything flow right, like you and your partner are one with the song, and your free as a bird soaring through the air.

41. The reason I don’t dance right now is that I have severe asthma problems, and they’ve gotten a lot worse over the last 8 months or so.

42. In fact, at the point of writing this, I’ve spent my entire married life so far battling to get my lungs working right again.  It sucks to be a sick newly-wed, but God has used it to draw Mo and I ever closer together.

43. I have a really long list of nicknames people call me or have called me over the years.

44. I’ve been known to dance in really random places, like on the side of the freeway or the middle of the grocery store at 2 am.

45. I’m a former night owl that lately wakes up around 6am.  I can’t figure it out.

46. I like octopus.

47. The beach is one of my favorite places in the world.  It doesn’t have to be a sunny beach like in Mexico, I love the Oregon coast just as much!  Even though it’s COLD.

48. I’ve been inside 3 prisons (not as an inmate, don’t worry!) and all of them were in Mexico.

49. I love a good thunderstorm when I can curl up in a comfy chair with a good book and some hot chocolate.

50. Conversely, I hate the rain, if I have to go outside that is.

Ok, I’m sure I could come up with many more random facts about myself, and maybe I’ll add to the list at some point.  Any random information you want to know, send me a message and I’ll add it!