TRUTH

Thanks, Mary, for the tag... I'll do my best to make it interesting! This one took a while!

The rules of the TRUTH post:
1. Tell 10 facts about yourself that are interesting or maybe just weird.
2. Tag 7 other bloggers that you think would have better stories than yours.
3. Tell the 7 others that you tagged them so they know in case they stopped reading your blog weeks ago because you have been forgetting to post.
4. Remember what is shared so you can use it in the future in large gatherings like weddings or kids' birthday parties.

Here we go!

1. I have seven siblings, one older biological brother, and 6 younger adopted siblings (2 sisters, 4 brothers). I love them all and miss them SO much! My big brother lives in Denver, my other siblings live in California... I don't get to see them anywhere NEAR often enough! (this photo was taken in 2006, and it's missing my oldest little sister, one of my younger brothers, and my older brother).


2. When pregnant with me, my mother's water broke at 26 weeks, her small-town doctor told her to go home and get in bed. I was born a week later weighing 2 lbs, 13oz. My mother had become quite ill. The doctors were expecting a still-born baby... when the doctors were discussing my mom's "case" she actually heard them say "clear the uterus, save the mother." Surprise! I was born alive, spent a couple of months in the hospital gaining weight, but had zero physical problems as a result of being born premature... and that was 30 years ago! God is amazing.

3. My family moved a LOT growing up...some moves were easy, some were not. In 5th grade, I moved from Anaheim, CA to Rochester, NY. The kids were not exactly "welcoming." They called my older brother and I "California Dream Barbie, and Ken"...except I WAS KEN, and my brother was Barbie!

4. I was born in Bakersfield, California on August 6th. My father-in-law was also born in Bakersfield, CA (although he's lived in Texas since he was a child). AND, my mother-in-law was born on August 6th.

5. One of my all-time favorite things is to go to bed before 10:00pm. I call it a "single digit bed-time" and I shoot for it as often as possible.

6. I am easily "spooked" to say the least. I cannot look out a window into the darkness from inside the house without imagining a creepy someone popping their head into view out of nowhere and scaring me to death. I am also completely freaked out by shower curtains that don't allow me to see out... for the same reason. When we were first married, my husband learned to very gingerly wake me from sleeping...if he didn't, I would wake up freaked out, unaware of where I was, who HE was...almost in a panic. I have no clue how this developed, it's not like I watch scary movies or anything... in fact, I HATE them.

7. I snore. As unattractive and un-lady-like as it is, I might as well admit it. Recently, my husband turned to me and said "I can't wait until you can sleep on your side again." I realized he was implying that my snoring was bad while I slept on my back post-surgery. He then pulls out his cell phone and plays a recording of someone snoring. I still cannot imagine that what I heard on that recording could have come from me... BUT, he assures me it did and told me he was afraid I was going to wake the baby sleeping at the foot of our bed. That is the truth people.

8. While I dated my husband, I was also working an extremely demanding job as a CPS caseworker. Because I chose to spend what little free time I had with Nathan, I grossly neglected the upkeep of my bedroom. To say it was a mess is a MAJOR under-statement. When Nathan came over, he knew he could never open my bedroom door for any reason. When he proposed, he arranged an elaborate candle-lit path throughout my apartment with little notes along the way... INCLUDING my bedroom. Once he proposed, and I said "yes" the very next question out of my mouth was "Who cleaned my room?!?"

9. When I first began dating my husband, long before we EVER talked about marriage, we were riding in the car one day carrying a load of inflated balloons to a party. The balloons were out of control, flying all over the car. Nathan reached back (while driving) and secured them so they were no longer a nuisance. I turned to him and said "And THAT's why I married you.".... busted! We both laughed hysterically and still joke about it today. (Here we are at the party... 60's theme...man, did we look young!).

10. My best friend Jenny Buhl and I met when we were 14 or 15. We went to high school together where we shared almost every class. I was editor of our high school newspaper; she was assistant editor. We also went to college together, and graduated together. After graduation, I went to work in a children's home in Granbury, she became a teacher in Frisco. I eventually moved to Frisco so that she and I could plan our move to the Northeast for grad-school. Little did I know that she would meet her future husband 2 weeks before I moved in with her and that I would also meet my future husband in Frisco. The grad school thing never happened. What's happened is even better... we are married to awesome Godly men, living a few miles from each other, raising our children side by side, just as we talked about waaay back in the day. A life-long friend is a rare and precious gift. (Here is Trevor with Jenny's boys Halloween '08)

Okay, so I now tag: Colleen, Corrie, Meredith, Lisa, Misty, Joy and Miranda.