1. I lived in the same house for the first 17 1/2 years of my life.
2. I have two sisters (26 and 24 years old) and a brother who is 12 years old (I am the oldest at 28).
3. I taught myself to like coffee by beginning with Quik Trip cappuccinos with friends in college.
4. I attended a Christian school from Kindergarten through 9th grade.
5. I was my 8th grade class valedictorian and made a big speech at the ceremony.
6. I was a spelling bee queen growing up - I won multiple area-wide spelling bees for our Christian school association. My family traveled to Indianapolis twice so I could compete in regional spelling bees. (Wow, that sounds like the ultimate in geekiness as I type it out.)
7. I was 15 the first time I flew on an airplane (when Pastor Jim took us on a missions trip to Tijuana, Mexico).
8. My mom and I entered a Mother/Daughter Look-a-Like Contest at the IA State Fair (probably in 1995 or 1996) and finished in 6th place.
9. I graduated from high school a year early and was 17 when I went to college.
10. My mother was an in-home child care provider for a number of my growing up years.
11. My parents seriously contemplated moving to Colorado when I was in elementary school.
12. My parents have 4 siblings between them, and every one of them lives in Des Moines.
13. My sisters and I all graduated from college in Springfield, MO.
14. I lived on-campus for the first two years of college and off-campus for the last two.
15. I traveled with a drama ministry team for all 4 years of my college career.
16. I took high school courses when I was in 8th grade (which, in part, allowed me to graduated from high school a year early). And I still had the highest GPA in my class, enabling me to be the valedictorian. I showed those suckers!
17. My favorite birthday dinner when I was growing up was "roast beef heaven" - a slice of bread with roast beef on top and mashed potatoes and gravy on that. I think it's called an open-faced roast beef sandwich, but I like "roast beef heaven" myself.
18. My mom made most of our clothes growing up; the plus was getting to "design" your own things, choose the color, fabric, etc. The negative was having homemade clothes all the time; I think it seems worse now than it did then. Until about 6th grade, anyway.
19. I never went to a single dance in high school - not even prom!
20. I competed in the regional Music With a Purpose one year in piano solo, so I had to have the piece memorized. I was on the last "page" in my head and I blanked and had to stop. One of my most embarrassing moments ever.
21. I worked at Long John Silver's for over 3 years and returned for Christmas and summer breaks after I went to college.
22. I was the fastest drive-thru worker and cashier ever - I always figured out the change in my head before the register even told me.
23. I spilled blazing hot mop water on my foot at LJS on the same day I bought my new Ford Probe GT.
24. I have read almost every Nancy Drew, Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, and Sweet Valley High book ever written through 1993.
25. I used to sneak a flashlight in my room to read after bedtime.
26. We used to have a bowl of cereal before bed most nights as kids.
27. I have never broken a bone or been hospitalized overnight.
28. I hated NASCAR all through high school.
29. I painted with my dad once to earn some money.
30. My parents have a garage that has never housed a running car.
31. I started Weight Watchers in September of 2003 and lost about 60 pounds in one year.
32. I CLEPped out of 12 hours in college course credit - practically a full semester!
33. I woke up every Christmas morning of my entire 28 years in my parent's house (the home in which I grew up) until last year.
34. My parents switched churches when I was 10 years old so that we could attend a strong youth group with a good youth pastor. (If they had not done so, I would not have met Jim and Sharon...would not have gone to the college I did...who knows from there what would have happened?)
35. I led worship at the Assemblies of God Headquarters chapel service twice. (About 700 people attended each week, including department heads and the Board of Administration; talk about intimidating!)
36. I took two conducting courses in college and have the knowledge and ability to conduct a choir (which I love doing, by the way).
37. I chose my major at Central Bible College (Administration of Christian Education) at least 50% because it was one of the few majors that did not require Homiletics II (writing sermons and preaching in front of the class and professor for a grade).
38. I am left-handed.
39. The extent of my sports career was one year of volleyball in 7th grade.
40. My father was my first and only piano teacher (other than the one semester of lessons I took as a college freshman - that pretty much ended when she told me I had to keep my nails really short).
41. I once took an unofficial IQ test and scored a 132.
Is that it? I did it? Wow. Once you start thinking of stuff, it just flows I guess. Okay. I hope that was worth your time.
Oh, one more.
42. I know how to swing a hammer.
