Interviewed by my momma

Okay, so I agree to my mother's game last week of letting her interview me.

I was expecting much more difficult questions from her.

So here we go:

1. Tell me who outside of your parents has had the greatest influence on who you are today.

Wow, that is kind of a tough one now that I have to think about it. There have been lots of great influences in my life. Lucky me. The greatest would have to be Pastor Ray and Trudy (the pastor and his wife from the church we grew up in). Ms. Trudy always made sure that I felt loved, even when I didn't think I was loved at home. She always knew when I was having a case of "fifth child" syndrome (which was probably most of the time) and would do something small to remind me that I was loved!When I was 18 and struggling to find my way in life 3000 miles away from my parents, Pastor Ray and Trudy took me in. Gave me a place to live and lots of gentle, loving guidance. They are truly amazing saints who never wavered in demonstrating God's love by being loving, gracious, generous and caring to me. I have two small gifts that Ms. Trudy gave me years ago, that to this day I count as my most precious possessions.

2. What was your aha moment when you understood the Truth of the Salvation message?

I can't say that I've ever had an 'AHA' moment. I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was 9. Ms. Trudy had invited me over to their house for a sleepover. It was near my birthday time, and I remember that she had a couple of gifts for me and a cake that we got to eat in the living room! It was just she, Pastor Ray and I. Ohhh, how I loved those sleepovers! It was such a special treat for me to go to their house and be an only child for that time. Well, that particular evening after cake and presents she and Pastor Ray explained the gospel to me and asked if I wanted to pray and ask Jesus into my heart. And I did.

There have been many a time since then that I have strayed from the Lord and tried to do things on my own only to discover it was the wrong way, but I do count that night when I was nine as the moment that I accepted Christ.

3. What is your favorite childhood memory?

I had a good childhood! A few things that come to mind are:

*Going to the bakery on school mornings with Dad. We would have hot cocoa and a donut while we wrote silly notes on napkins about why I was late for school.

*Bible Club House and Potlucks at Burn Road Bible Church.

*Floating down the Jordan River on inner tubes in the heat of August.

*Building leprechaun traps in Grampas raspberry patch. We never did catch a leprechaun. They always sprung the traps and would leave us candy under them.

*Going to Grandma Margaret's apartment complex that she managed and she would open the pop machine and let us get one for free! I always picked Mr. Pibb.

4. Would you rather read the book or see the movie?

Without a doubt, I would rather read the book. I love to read and I believe my imagination to be WAY better than Hollywood's. I have instilled the rule at our house that if you want to see a movie that is made from a book, then you MUST read the book first.

I did recently break that rule by seeing Marley and Me, but I now have the book in my possession to read.

5. What is your love story, how did you and your husband meet?

Well, I moved to Portland to go to college at Multnomah Bible College. I had decided that I wasn't going to 'date' for my entire first semester. I had just come out of a very bad relationship a few months before and just needed time. About 3 weeks after moving to Portland I got involved in working with a middle school youth group and on my first night there I met Dave. He was so funny and had me cracking up the whole time. I also noticed how he interacted with the middle school kids! That night I went back to my dorm and told my friend Meagan "don't laugh, but I think I met the guy I'm going to marry." She laughed.

I was not going to ask Dave out for two reasons: I wasn't dating that semester and I found out he was 9 years older than me! So we spent the nest five months working together with our middles school kids, hanging out with mutual friends and getting to know each other. In June of that year some good friends of ours (Bruce and Tom) cornered Dave at the same time their wives (Vicky and Shawn) had me cornered and started asking us why we weren't dating. Apparently it was obvious that we liked each other! Shortly after that Dave asked me out. Our first date was dinner at the Olive Garden and the movie Dave. Three months later we were engaged and 10 months after that we were married. This summer we celebrate our 15th anniversary!

This last one is not really a question, but more like a command from my mother.

In this post, I made a confession that she would like to know more about.

So I'll humor her:

(my sister confessed to the same infraction in a post recently too. Funny thing is we were not together when we did it and neither of us had knowledge that the other had partaken in such heinous behavior!)

Trish and Gina, I am still curious about that skinny dipping you both confessed to on a meme. My question is who, where, when, why?

Me, three other girls, four boys.

Lakeside Bible Camp, Whidbey Island

Summer 1989

Because we were 16 year old Christian kids who wanted to break the rules in a bad way.

Now I would love to interview you and you and you. So here is what you do. Come on now, don't be shy. I will be nice I promise. It is a great way to get to know you.

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

So come on, let the good times roll!!