Odd name for a blog, but it actually does fit. Random. That word seems to fit. One of the dictionary.com's definition is odd and unpredictable in an amusing way. Well, I'm not sure how amusing it will be, but odd and unpredictable? Yep, it will likely be that.
Middler. I am, and always have been a middler. I was born the middle child in a family with seven siblings. I pondered on that for a while and decided to re-read the chapter entitled Middle Child:Born Too Late...and Too Soon in Kevin Leman's book The Birth Order Book. He says that middle children can be hard to peg, and that our personality cannot easily be predicted. He has a chart that shows typical behaviors, and I have to agree with him. It seems I've picked some from column A and some from column B!
loner, quiet, shy sociable, friendly, outgoing
impatient, easily frustrated takes life in stride, laid back
very competitive easygoing--not competitive
rebel, family goat peacemaker, mediator
aggressive, a scrapper avoids conflict
If you know me, I'm a mix of loner, shy, yet sociable and friendly. I can be both impatient and easily frustrated, yet usually takes things in stride. I'm not competitive at all, not much of a rebel, but have often been put into the peacemaker and mediator roles. I'm certainly not very aggressive, and yes, I avoid conflict pretty much as often as I can! Yep, I'm confused and confusing and I suspect my husband would second that!
Mom. I have four children, two step-sons, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, a step-daughter-in-law, a grandson and granddaughter. Within the next few weeks, we will be adding another grandson - the first child of my husband's youngest son. I'm not going to say what kind of mom I've been, maybe later I'll ask one of the kids to give their perspective on that one. All I will do is quote Mark 14:8 - "She has done what she could." I hope my children see that. I made a lot of mistakes, and will make a lot more, but I did what I could. They know that my priorities have always been: God first, husband second, kids, myself. Sometimes I got (and still get) those priorities out of order, but that's the goal at least. They know that they are very important in my life.
I am also a Christian. I didn't include that in the title, but it does define me, more than any of the other descriptions do. I consider myself to be much more than a cultural Christian. I suppose you would call me a Bible-thumping, fundy Baptist. And in some ways, I am. That's my culture growing up. My husband, who was not raised in a Christian home, says that I was raised in a Baptist convent, as contrasted with his Woodstock upbringing! I am constantly growing and maturing in Christ, I know I'm a work in progress. Some of my viewpoints have changed over the years, but the foundation that was laid when I was growing up is still there. The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. It is to be taken as a whole, not bits and pieces meant to justify my position. I believe in salvation by faith, but that salvation is expressed through my works. I know there are gray areas in Scripture, and it's in those gray areas that I've changed the most, and in which I'm sure I'll change even more. I'm willing to be taught, but I'm not willing to budge on certain items. Challenge me, yes, and I will do my best to defend my position. But please, don't resort to character assassination, and I'll try my best not to either! There is so much more to be said on that topic, and I'm sure that it will come out in the weeks and months ahead.
I have done a lot of things in the years I've been on this earth. Graduated high school in 1974, went into the Air Force in 1975, lived in the Azores, Portugal for a year, had 2 children, went to Cedarville University (when it was a college) for two years, moved to California, moved back to Ohio, worked and had two more children. I've alternately been a stay at home mom, working mom, part time working mom - I was in the Air Force and Air Force reserves for 23 years, retiring in 2000 - and homeschool mom. I've always volunteered at church, sung in the choir (support only - I'm a great support person!), been on various committees, and served wherever needed. You know those spiritual gift inventories that we seem to have to take from time to time? Mine almost always comes out with "gifts of service" as the highest, and (no surprise to my kids) "grace" as the lowest. Give me a background job that needs to be done, and I'll do it, and make things much easier for those in the spotlight to do their job. Not that I don't want recognition for my job, but I don't need to be in the spotlight. Hey, I was an admin tech/paralegal tech in the Air Force - we do the work, the lawyers get the credit, and that's ok with me because when things went wrong, they also got the blame!
I've always thought I wasn't very artistic, but have come to realize that creativity has expressed itself in other ways. I've enjoyed crafts, primarily cross stitch in the past, more recently scrapbooking and quilting. I used to sew all the girls clothes when they were younger, as well as a lot of mine. I love to cook (and eat!) and worked for a time in one of our old church's kitchen ministry. There I learned how to create meals for large groups and hold professional English quality High Teas. I still love to hold teas, but haven't done one for some time. Maybe this Christmas......
I'm about to start a new venture, which is part of the reason for this blog. I'm going back to school. After Dianna, my oldest daughter, was born, I went to college for two years. We moved to California after my now ex-husband got a job in Oxnard, and I went back to work. Even though I tried and had the opportunity to, I never felt the draw to go back to school. Instead, I stayed home with the kids. Now that the kids are all adults, I feel God is telling me that it's time to finish. I applied to and was accepted at Liberty University. I wasn't too surprised to find out that between Cedarville, the University of Maryland, and my Air Force training, I actually have 117 credits! That means I really am exactly one stupid math class away from a degree! But, alas, Liberty does have a requirement that I have to take 30 credits to get an interdisciplinary studies degree from them, so it will take me about 3, maybe 4 semesters to finally finish. I'm looking forward to it though. The cognate that I'll be focusing on the most is Religion, and I'll be choosing classes with a missions/intercultural emphasis. I already have my business cognate.
Part of the reason I want to finish and feel that it's time is because I really want to get my ESL certificate. I'm not going to go into the background of that right now, that can be another blog. Suffice it to say, it's what the Lord is very clearly telling me to pursue right now.
I could write on and on, but I think I'll stop for now. If anybody out there has read this, thanks! Otherwise, cyberspace - enjoy!
