This Is Me, a Recent Biography

Most of you know from one point in my life or another. In the past 20 years or more I have been through many phases. Met my husband the first week of highschool, after 3 years of heavy flirting, we finally started dating, and after a 7 year courtship, we finally got married.

In that time I also graduated from Surry Central High, earned my AA from Surry Community College, and my BS in Elementary Education by 2000. I started with a short term job teaching 2nd grade at Nancy Reynolds in Stokes County. I started the next school year teaching 5th grade at my own elementary alma mater Copeland. The next year I was the Title I reading specialist.

Finally by that summer Brian and I decided it was way past time for us to get married. He was living in Boone at the time, so I just joined him up there. To my surprise, the town house he had picked out for us was 1/5 mile from Samaritan's Purse. It had been a long time goal of mine to some day to not only volunteer, as I had many times before, but to work for Samaritan's Purse and work with any Graham ministry I could. I saw this as fate and it just so happened they were hiring summer and fall help to get the Christmas season rolling. I loved it there so much, instead of leaving at the beginning of the school year as I had intended, I ended up staying there for over a year and a half.

At that time, Brian was working as a manager of Ruby Tuesdays of Boone. They were starting to develop more stores in Wilkesboro and Mt. Airy. They offered Brian a management position in Wilkesboro with the promise that if he would go there and help get the store on its feet he cold move to Mount Airy in 6 months and run the store here, finally bringing us home!

Well, that obviously didn't work out as they said, so he eventually did what most people in Wilkesboro do and took a job working for Lowes Hardware Corporate Offices. I then took a job teaching 4th grade at Moravian Falls School. He stayed there while I went looking for greener pastures after 2 years in Caldwell County.  I had finally hit the jackpot! On a whim I decided to just walk in to a school that I had seen but never knew much about. When I walked in they were overjoyed to see me.  They had just had a teacher quit and it was 2 weeks before school started. It was love at first sight. They hired me right then and there and it was by far the best career decision I ever made. I taught basically the same group of kids for 3 years starting with 1st grade through 3rd. At the end of my 3rd year I was pregnant with our 2nd child and was put on bedrest in March. At that very same time Brian lost his job.

With 2 children, Brian lacking a significant job, and the rising cost of child care, we decided to move home. The house next to my parents was available, so it was silly to stay there with little income and a high mortgage. Besides, with 2 children, having grandparents around was a plus.

I loved our house and I loved our life there, but here we are. Home always feels good, but we are waiting to see what God has in store for us here. Any ideas?