Hello!
This is my first foray into the world of blogging and I wasn't quite sure how to get started. I've actually been trying to think of a "good" first blog post for weeks now and just couldn't decide what to write about. Then, like a bolt out of the (very obvious) blue, it hit me. I really should probably introduce myself. That'd probably be a great place to start, huh? (Hey, I said it was obvious. I've never claimed to be the most logical person on the planet.)
Where to begin, where to begin...The beginning would probably be best, eh?
I was born in January 1979 in podunkville Upper Sandusky, OH. No, not Sandusky (home of the awesomest amusement park in the world, Cedar Point)...UPPER Sandusky. Very important distinction right there. About 3 hours further south & not nearly as happenin'. Upper Sandusky (or just "Upper" if you're a local.) is a tiny farming community in north-central Ohio. My family has lived in the area, quite literally, for 100's of years. The majority of them being farmers. In fact, my mother's parents still live on the farm that she grew up on and I have many fond memories from my childhood of swimming in the pond or picking pieces of wheat from the fields that edged their yard (Sorry Grandpa, I know we weren't supposed to do that, but I did...frequently. :-S).
My parents were high school sweethearts and were married (on said farm) before they hit the ripe ol' age of 20. They were mavericks of sorts & headed out on their own, the first of their siblings(and, in fact, most of their bloodlines) to leave the state of OH.
My dad came to know Christ at the age of 15 and was called to be a preacher shortly thereafter, but to do that, he needed educating so after high school he headed off to a small bible college in SC in 1974. My parents were married in June 1975 & because of some wacky rule that bible college had about being married before a certain age, my dad was unable to return to that same college for his sophomore year of college, so he enrolled in another bible college in FL instead. To make a long story short, he graduated, they lived in various places around the country(FL, TX, OH), my older sister was born(SC), they moved back to Upper and then I came along. Within that same year, my dad accepted the pastorate of a teeny-tiny church in the equally teeny-tiny town of Vernon, MI.
Vernon, MI is located in Shiawassee (pron. Shy-uh-WAH-see. Obviously, a good German name. ;-)) County, MI, situated approximately 1/2 way between Lansing & Flint. At the time we lived there, it was a farming community with a population of about 800. It had grown to 847 by the 2000 census, which is quite the boom, I'd say. We lived on Main Street, which was indeed the main street that ran right smack-dab through the middle of town, broken up by a stop sign at one end & a blinking red light at the other. We had one police officer named Jim LaPaige. He worked an 8 hour shift everyday. I'm really not sure what happened when he was off-duty. For that matter, I'm not sure much of anything happened when he was ON duty! There was one restaurant, one bar, one post office, one convenience store, one library & 3 churches. I loved that small town. It was a great place to spend my early childhood. It was a simple place that afforded all of the amenities that small-town America has to offer. I have fond memories of parades going right past my house, family bike rides, long summer walks, wading and playing in the Shiawassee river and just generally being able to be a kid without all the paranoia that comes with living in a larger city. I was devastated when, at the age of 9, my parents announced that we would be moving.
