Getting to know me...

A friend sent me this via e-mail a couple weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to answering her e-mail. I thought I'd post my answers so you all could get in on it. Feel free to be "tagged" if you want to do it!

Welcome to the 2007 edition of getting to know your Friends.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00am
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Pirates II
4. What is your favorite TV show? Anything Jerry Bruckheimer produces (with some discretion, of course), NUMB3RS,
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? a Nutrisystem "entree" (granola bars, usually) and light yogurt
6. What is your middle name? Beth
7. What food do you dislike? anything too spicy, pepperoni,
8. What is your favorite CD? Anything Pettit Team (or former members of the Pettit Team)
9. What kind of car do you drive? 2007 Chrysler Sebring - inferno red! (there's a story behind that!)
10. Favorite sandwich? Turkey Club on sourdough bread
11. What characteristic do you despise? dishonesty
12. Favorite item of clothing? Jeans and t-shirt, but I usually wear skirts or skorts these days
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Hawaii, then New Zealand/Australia... how do you choose... there's so many cool places in the world!
14. Favorite brand of clothing? Whatever fits and doesn't cost too much
15. Where would you retire to? I don't know... somewhere WARM
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? I haven't really had many memorable birthdays... I mostly am gone on vacation or am moving around my birthday, so they generally come and go without fanfare... but I'm turning 30 this year, so who knows!?!?
17. Favorite saying? "Some people's kids!"
18. When is your birthday? August 18
19. Are you a morning person or a night person? Definitely a night owl
20. What is your shoe size? 8.5 - 9.5 depending on the brand and style
21. Pets? Nope - not a pet person AT ALL!
22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? My hubby planned a trip for our anniversary this year, and I am so excited to find out what it is!
23. What did you want to be when you were little? A nurse
24. How are you today? Fantabulous... it's almost 90 degrees and sunny outside!
25. What is your favorite candy? Reese's PB cups, anything with chocolate and PB
26. What is your favorite flower? I like a lot of flowers, but I think my favorite is the Gerbera Daisy
27. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? July 21st--Leaving for my surprise anniversary trip with my hubby!
28. What church do you attend? Shawnee Baptist
29. What is your full name? Heather Beth Mitchell
30. What are you listening to right now? The AC running
31. What was the last thing you ate? Peaches and cottage cheese
32. Do you wish on stars? no - but I pray to the God who created those stars all the time
33. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Purple
34. How is the weather right now? Hot and Sunny... 90 degrees
35. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My hubby
36. Favorite soft drink? DR. PEPPER "23" (there's a story behind that, too!)
37. Favorite restaurant? Probably Olive Garden and Fazoli's
38. Hair color? brown
39. Siblings? 1 sister, 3 Brothers
40. Favorite day of the year? Christmas
41. What was your favorite toy as a child? A 3 ft. tall Raggedy Ann doll my mom made for me, and the teddy bear that I have slept with since I was 8 years old!
42. Summer or winter ? Summer - I don't like cold weather AT ALL!
43. Hugs or kisses? BOTH!!
44. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
45. When was the last time you cried? Wednesday night when I found out a friend's husband left her
46. What is under your bed? carpet, dust, and a US States quarter board
47. Who is the friend you have had the longest? probably Jodi Grewe
48. What did you do last night? Went to church, came home, spent time with my hubby
49. Favorite smell? the air after a storm, freshly mowed grass, wood burning
50. What are you afraid of? I can't really pinpoint one major thing all the time... I guess losing my husband
51. Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn? Lightly buttered and lightly salted
52. How many keys on your key ring? 4
53. How many years at your current job? technically about 1&1/2 for the same company, but in 2 different locations
54. Favorite day of the week? Saturday (when I don't have to work), and Thursdays when my hubby is off.
55. How many towns have you lived in? Oh, man, I don't know if I can even remember them all... I've moved over 20 times in my lifetime...
56. Do you make friends easily? I'd have to say yes... you don't survive moving that many timeswithout being able to make friends easily

Misc. Cards - April 2007

Here are some of the cards I made this month. I think I somehow deleted the pictures of the three FAVORITE cards I made... which I was very disappointed about. Anyway, there are patriotic ones, Mother's Day, anniversary, birthdays, etc. I apologize once again for the quality of some of the pics... I was told that you're not supposed to use flash when photographing cards, but the light in my house is so yellow that it turns out like this! I generally use flash, and then edit the pic to decrease the amount of exposure in order to make it look more like it does in real life. I'll have to make those 3 cards again... I LOVED them! (Go figure... it would be my FAVORITE cards that I delete pics of!!! Hope you like 'em!

I am so excited!!

So let me tell you why...

The other day my hubby called me while I was at work. (Although I am always excited to talk to him, he regularly calls me several times a day ~for which I am thankful~ so that wasn't the big excitement.) The excitement came when he told me to not check our "junk mail" e-mail account, and not to check purchases on our credit card account until he tells me it is OK. Now, you may think this a little weird, but it is not weird to me. I check our e-mail daily, much more than he does... then I just tell him when he needs to read something. As for our CC account, I also frequently check that as well, just to make sure nothing is on there that shouldn't be on there, or I check it when I am paying bills, etc.

You may be asking, "Why in the world would he tell you not to check those things?" Well, let me tell you what ELSE he told me... He told me that I needed to make sure that I have off work on July 23 and even possibly the 24th as we will be arriving home VERY LATE on the 23rd. So, what is the big event, you ask? July 22 is our anniversary ~ 7 years!~ and Chris is planning a surprise trip for me! The not checking things is so that it will continue to be a surprise. Now, luckily for him, I LOVE surprises, and so I don't check things on the sly. Why take the fun out of it for someone else?

Now, let me give you a little history about how we've celebrated our anniversaries:
1st - "window" shopping at outlet malls in Appleton/OshKosh, WI, then a round of mini-golf (in which I got a hole-in-one... funny story!) I think we went to a nice Italian restaurant, too.
2nd - Attending a TimberRattlers baseball game. (It was SO hot that day that the ushers were walking around spraying people with squirt bottles.)
3rd - Chris surprised me at work with a dozen roses since I was working a 16 hour shift that night. I was so concerned with getting my hours in that week before we left on vacation, that I didn't realized that I had scheduled myself to work on our anniversary until the week before, and I couldn't change it! We "celebrated" by going on vacation the end of that week to my bro's wedding in MI (from FL), then to Family Camp at Northland.
4th - a trip to Pensacola/Ft. Walton Beach, FL, for his sis' grad, then a long weekend at a 4-star hotel, dinner one of those nights with friends, and a trip to the Gulfarium, where I got to touch a dolphin! :-)
5th - dinner at TGIFriday's
6th - dinner at TGIFriday's and a delayed trip to Hershey Park (a gift from a friend)
7th... to be discovered in a couple of months!!!

As you can see, our anniversaries have been incredibly romantic! :-) Actually, I have enjoyed them all, and have great memories of them, but at the same time, it is nice to actually be able to do something nice for our anniversary. To Chris' defense... most of those years we either were not able to get time off (working at camp) or we didn't have the money to do anything super special. We were just thankful to have the time together.

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, and overwelmed at the ways he has shown his love for me the past few weeks. I almost cried when he told me he was planning something for us... because I was so surprised and excited. I'm not even that concerned what it is, but the fact that he is planning it 3 months in advance is a HUGE deal to me! I love him so much!

Thunder Over Louisville 04-21-07

OK - forgive me for my stupidity, but I never realized what a big deal the Kentucky Derby is! I mean, I know it's the biggest horse race in the world, and it's an international event, but...

Well, now that we LIVE here, and all eyes are on Louisville at this time of the year, I am starting to realize just what a major event this is. All of the festivities actually start a little over 2 weeks before the KY Derby with the KY Derby Festival. They start with a huge ball where the Queen of the Festival is elected. The real festivities start with Thunder Over Louisville. This includes an air show, then the "THUNDER." Below are some pictures that I took of the day.

Chris was not able to go with me right away due to work, so I went over with a group from our church/college. Chris met up with us after work. The air show lasts for about 5&1/2 hours, with a certain group of aircraft every 15-20 minutes or so. It's pretty cool, but nothing like the Blue Angels! Apparently, the Blue Angels are involved with the Thunder Air Show some years, but this year was not one of them.

The Thunder Fireworks are (according to Louisville) the largest display in North America. Of course, people that are associated with the Derby and horse racing on that scale have a lot of money to spend! :-) They are choreographed to music, but we were far enough away on the other side of the bridge that we didn't hear that part. The little bit that we did hear was not really the type of music we would listen to, so maybe that was a good thing. :-) You know a fireworks show is going to be good when the starting fireworks look like a Grand Finale anywhere else! At the end of the show, they shoot off a bunch of fireworks that make a HUGE noise, shaking the ground... hence the name "Thunder."

We had a great time, in spite of dealing with little girls screaming in our ears behind us during the fireworks, and having to breathe in other people's second hand smoke. We walked a TON, and I was sore the next day. It was well worth it, though. Enjoy the show! :-)

Babies Galore...

We were THRILLED to hear the news this week of two of our friends having babies. First of all, a little one by the name of Chad was born on Tuesday night to our friends Pete and Amy. Secondly, our friends, Jeff and Jean, have been in the adoption process for 3 years, and their baby girl, Kathryn, was born on March 27th, and they were just able to bring her home. We are rejoicing with our friends in their adventures of parenthood and God's provision of a baby to our friends. :-) We are so excited for them!

Also, we had a good surprise the other day when a family member that we hadn't seen in about a year and 1/2 called to tell us they would be in the area this weekend. We met that person for dinner and had a wonderful visit. I am so thankful for family!

Making Progress

OK - this might be considered very boastful and proud, but I just HAVE to post this. I've posted before about my weight loss program, so I have to share some results with you. I have lost 13.5 pounds so far, and finally had the chance to have my hubby measure me again. (I usually lose inches a lot more quickly than I lose pounds, so measuring is a better indicator for me.) I measure chest, waist, stomach, hips, right thigh, and right arm. So, my total loss of inches so far is....

drumroll, please...

12 INCHES TOTAL!!!

I am so excited about this! I mean, I KNOW all of this stuff happens when you eat right and exercise, but I never thought that I would lose this much in just 5 weeks! I told Chris that I feel like I am just shrinking away to nothing... although "nothing" is still a long way off! :-) LOL I did run into a little snag this week, though, because I was having so much back pain last Friday. I went to the chiropractor, and he said no exercise this week until my back gets stabilized. For the first time EVER, I'm sure, I have actually been anxious to get back to exercising! (Shhh.... don't tell my husband... he'll never let me forget that!) :-)

So - here are two pictures for comparison (I don't really have a "before" picture):

Christmas 2006 Easter 2007

My New Car!

My new car!

Monday, April 9th, my husband surprised me by bringing home my new car! Let me tell you the story...

Chris had promised me that after we sold our house we would start looking for a car to replace mine. When we bought my old car in 2002, it already had 41,ooo miles on it. In the 4&1/2 years that we have had it, we have put on an additional 84,ooo miles. The car still ran alright, but it was getting to the point where it was going to start costing us more money in repairs, and it was starting to make funny noises. A couple of weekends ago, Chris brought home a bright blue 2007 Chrysler Sebring for us to test drive. It was hard for me to get used to driving a new car as opposed to my old car. Chris was asking me if I liked it, if there were things that I did or didn't like about it, etc. I told him that I didn't know... I've never driven a brand new car before, nor have I ever had a list of things that I preferred to have in a vehicle. Up to this point, I've just wanted the best car that would fit in our budget, which didn't leave me many options. :-) I'm sure many of you are there!

After driving the Sebring around a bit, it really started to "grow" on me. However, I wanted to look at the 300's, just because I think they look cool. (What I REALLY like are the Dodge Chargers, but I've been told by several people that they have a very small field of vision in relation to the size of the car.) Anyway, the Thursday before we left for FL, I went over to the dealership and drove a 300 Touring model. It had upgrades like leather seats, etc, but there were a lot more options in the Sebring that I had driven, and I didn't feel like I really needed the extra space in the 300. So - I told Chris that I really liked the Sebring better, but I didn't want the blue... I wanted a car that was "Dr. Pepper Red." (Yes, Hindto, I am a Dr. Pepper addict, too!)

The night that I got my car, my bro, Greg, and his family were spending the night at my house on the way home (to the UP of MI from FL). Chris ended up beating them home, and called me and asked me to come outside because he needed my help with something. When I walked up to him, he tossed me the key to my "inferno red" 2007 Chrysler Sebring, and said, "I need you to transfer your stuff from your old car to your new car." Of course, my jaw almost hit the ground because I had NO idea that he would get me a new car so soon. He then continued by telling me that the reason he got me the car was that it was his way of saying "thank you" for all the years that I have worked hard to keep our family financially afloat when he couldn't do it by himself.

I am so thankful for such a grateful and sweet husband. Not only because I now have a new car, but also for the MULTITUDE of kind and wonderful things he does for me on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis. Of course, I LOVE my new car, and am enjoying that evidence of his love and gratitude for me immensely! :-)

A couple of other side notes... that morning I got a speeding ticket on the way to work (Long story... I won't bore you with ALL of those details), and Chris told me that he didn't know if he should give me the car after I had just received the ticket. Also, I am thankful for my God who cares about the little things, and this is why: Where I work, the only parking spaces available for me to park in are ALL directly beneath some type of power/phone lines (Can you see where this is going?!?!?!?) I really didn't want to have the paint on my new car ruined right away by having bird droppings all over it, so I prayed and asked the Lord to not allow the birds to poop on my car. All was fine for a week, until Saturday, when it was storming and raining all day. I guess I just didn't think to ask the Lord about that matter that particular day, because I didn't think the birds would be sitting on the wire there in the rain. However, apparently a few of them did, because when I got out to my car after work, I had 8 spots of bird droppings to clean off. Thankfully, since it was raining, they were easily cleaned away. Since then I have remembered every day, and only had one spot yesterday, but it was on the windshield. Thank you, Lord, for caring about the stupid little things in my life! :-)

*** By the way, in case you were wondering, since Chris works at the Chrysler/Jeep dealership, we got a GREAT deal on the car which allowed us to get it! "It's not WHAT you know, but WHO you know!" :-) ***

Easter Weekend part 3

*** I'll try to sum this up, rather than giving all the details!***

Saturday morning, we all slept in a little. We ended up all getting together for lunch, and then celebrated Mom's 60th birthday. She was thrilled with her digital camera that all of us kids got together and bought for her. I hope she learns how to use it well, and likes it a lot! She is not so technologically saavy, but she is willing to learn, so that helps! After Mom's birthday party, Mom brought out presents for all of us. We kind of celebrated Christmas in April.

The rest of the day we just chilled out. We were planning time at the beach, but the temperature was only in the 50-60's and it was a little chilly for the beach. I was kind of bummed about that, but I would have been freezing had we gone, so I'm thankful, too. Most of us were tired, so several people took naps here and there, did some shopping, etc. We also spent some time at the church gym with the boys playing basketball and the girls playing beachball volleyball over tables as a net.

Sunday Steve's church had an Easter drama presentation. They did a tremendous job. Kathryn did some of the make-up for the actors, sang in the choir, and sang a solo in one of the songs. She did a great job. Steve was a Roman centurion and got to be the mean soldier. The people in the church kept making comments about how they just couldn't believe that he could be that mean. I just kept thinking, "Obviously, YOU didn't grow up with him!" :-) Of course, he's not at all like he was when we were growing up...

We ate wild boar for Sunday dinner... Greg actually shot it on Tuesday before we got there. It was really good. We all got a laugh out of the fact that Steve told a man on visitation that we were having pork for Easter dinner, to which the man replied, "Well, we aren't eating PORK, we're having ham!" Uhhh... OK... here's your sign!

Chris and I flew out Sunday afternoon and missed the Easter egg hunt. We got home late Sunday night, and were glad to be sleeping in our own bed! We had a wonderful weekend, though, and were very thankful for the opportunity to go and spend time with my family.

Chromy Family Easter Pictures

Sorry, I didn't get a good picture of Nathan and Caroline together. Caroline's sister was in town, so Caroline was splitting her time between her family and ours. I'll get some good ones of them to post on June 30th... their wedding day. :-) I'm so excited... I get to see my whole family together twice within 3 months! :-)

Easter Pictures 1

Easter Pictures 2 - the candy fight

Easter Pictures 3 -Mom's 60th Birthday

Easter Weekend part 2

One of the nice things about our weekend is that Chris and I actually got to spend some time together! I really enjoyed the time spent with him.

When we arrived in Jax, my sister-in-law Kathryn, came to pick us up. Steve & Kathryn were busy during the weekend with an Easter Drama that they did both on Friday night, then on Easter morning at their church. (more on that later.) Anyway, Kathryn was able to squeeze in some time to pick us up before she had to do the makeup on "Jesus" for the drama. We were able to visit Steve as he was doing the 3pm-6pm afternoon radio show on the radio station that is run by their church. Steve showed us how he does the programing for the it, which is really cool.

After Kathryn left for her duties as make-up artist, Chris and I "chilled out" at their house until Steve rushed in at 6:15pm. He had to be back at the church at 6:30pm for the drama. That left us with nothing pressing to do for the rest of the evening until they came home. Between Kathryn leaving and Steve coming home, Chris and I were able to spend time together, and ended up falling asleep on Steve & Kathryn's HUGE recliner chair. It was so comfortable, and 2 people can fit in it easily! As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that there were two people sitting in that chair all weekend! (Different people rotating in and out of the chair, I mean!) After Steve left, Chris and I took a walk down to Sonic for supper. It is about a mile down the road, but I needed to get my 4th day of exercise in for the week! We enjoyed the walk, though it seemed a lot longer than a mile to get there. It was almost like a date night for us, which we both appreciated! Right next door to the Sonic was a SportClips men's hair cutting place. Chris had some free coupons for hair cuts there, and was going to get a haircut before we left but didn't have time, so he went there and got his hair cut.

On the walk back to the house, we stopped at Walmart to buy some new sandals for me. The ones that I was wearing had the cover of the inner sole wearing out, and they were hurting my feet (especially after walking for over a mile!) We also bought some Peeps - Chris loves them - pure sugar! I usually try to buy Chris Easter candy every year because some of his types of favorite candy are: Peeps, Jelly Belly jellybeans, and Cadbury creme eggs. These I can usually only find at Easter time.

When we finally got back to the house, we ended up watching National Treasure. Steve & Kathryn got home a little after 10pm, but had to go clean the house nearby where some of us were staying. Nathan and Caroline arrived from Pensacola around 11:15pm, and Greg, Rachael, Aksana, and Mom came in around 1am. After that, we all went to bed. I think Heidi and her family got there around 2:30-3:00am, but we weren't waiting up for that! :-)

Easter Weekend part 1 - the plane rides

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! We flew down to Jacksonville, Florida, and met up with ALL of my family at my brother Steve's house. It was SO fun to see everyone together again... it's been almost 2 years since that has happened. I'm going to split up telling about parts of our trip, just because there is so much that I want to say, and pictures to show you as well.

The first thing I'd like to share is our plane trip down there. It was very uneventful as far as the actual plane trip goes, but there were some really neat things that happened. We flew from Louisville to Charlotte, NC, then to Jax. On our flight from Louisville to Charlotte, we were entertained by a flight attendant with a GREAT personality. As I boarded the plane, the flight attendant (Patrick), gasped as if I was a long lost friend that he hadn't seen in forever, and then said, "Welcome Aboard!" That started it... Chris and I sat in the second row, so we were able to clearly see and hear everything that Patrick did. As more passengers were boarding, one man came onto the plane and said, "I want some of whatever he's (Patrick) is on!" Of course, all of us who heard that comment started laughing, and the man said, "Did I really say it that loud?"

Then it came time for the usually boring safety announcements. Patrick picked up the phone to do the announcements and said this, "Welcome aboard US Airways flight 7757 (or whatever the number was... I can't remember) with service to... Cancun... oh, I'm sorry, we don't have enough gas to get us to Cancun, so we will be going to Charlotte today." As he continued going through the safety speech, he added so much personality that we were all listening! He talked about how to buckle and tighten the seat belt, then said, "Let me demonstrate" in a long drawn out voice. He then proceeded to "demonstrate" in slow motion. We were laughing so hard!

As we were taxiing down the runway, he picked up his little phone and told us this, "Due to the rising fuel costs and the increase in travel for this holiday weekend, we are driving part way to Charlotte today. This is the driving part, but if you'll wait just a few minutes, we'll be taking off shortly."

There are many other things that he did that were incredibly funny, but typing the story just doesn't seem to do it justice. I'll just let it suffice to say that it made that part of our flight a lot faster, and we got our dose of laughter for the day!

One our second flight from Charlotte to Jax, we had two Air Force soldiers on board that were returning to the States from service in Afghanistan. We had a conversation with the man, and he ended up being assigned to the seat right behind me. After everyone had boarded the plane and the flight attendants were getting ready for takeoff, one of the flight attendants came back to the soldier and told him that they were upgrading him to first class. He said, "Are you sure? You don't have to do that." To which the flight attendant responded, "Yes, we do... we take care of our military!" Both of the soldiers were moved up to first class. I thought that was really cool!

When we arrived at the airport in Jax, the USO there had a bunch of people ready with a reception for those soldiers. We were not able to stay to see them come off the plane and the reception there, but we did get some pics of the banners and such. Here they are:

HE IS ALIVE!

He is ALIVE! Praise the Lord we serve a RISEN Savior! The God that I know and believe is not buried somewhere in some cold, dark tomb, but is in Heaven at the right hand of the Father, waiting to welcome me home! Hallelujah!

I LOVE EASTER! I don't think it has ever meant as much to me as it has this year, for some reason. Maybe it is because I sing in choir now and thinking so much more about the words I'm singing makes it come more alive in my mind. Anyway, on Sunday night we sang a song in choir called "It Was For Me." The words and message of that song are moving enough, but then our pastor got up and asked our choir director to have us sing another song. Pastor had heard us rehearsing it right before church with the orchestra to sing NEXT Sunday, and wanted us to sing it that night. So, we sang it (which I was thankful for because I love the song, and I'm not going to be in our church on Sunday to sing it!) The title is, "He is Alive." I don't remember all of the words to the verses, but I just couldn't help smiling while singing through the chorus. This song was one of those that sends tingles and makes me get goosebumps. Here are the words:

He is alive... No grave could hold my Lord
He is alive... new life He gives
He is alive... He rose upon that Easter morn
He is alive... my Savior lives!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend, and celebrate a GLORIOUS RESURRECTION DAY! HE IS ALIVE!

Jehovah-Jireh

Wow - what a week this has been! I just have to share our excitement at the way the Lord has provided for us!

First of all, CHRIS DID IT!! He not only made salesman of the month again in March, but he also sold 18&1/2 cars. Because he sold so many cars, he also earned the "Eagle Award" for top sales... which entitles him to an EXTRA $5,000 bonus this month! God has really had his hand upon Chris in this job, and we give ALL the glory and praise to the Lord our Provider!

Secondly, the sale of our house provided a great stress relief financially, as you can well imagine. We were able to completely pay off one of 3 credit cards with the money we got from the sale of the house (the one with the highest interest rate and the highest balance,) as well as being able to pay off 3/4 of the second highest balance and second highest interest rate. That was exciting in and of itself, but today, between both Chris and I getting paid, we were able to COMPLETELY pay off the SECOND credit card! 2 down, 1 to go! Most of what is left on the remaining credit card is money that we have spent in the last week, so it's not like a huge amount looming over us, and it should be paid off by the 20th of this month, again, between my paychecks and Chris' paychecks! Not only all of that, but ALL of our bills are paid for April! I just can't hardly grasp the magnitude of this financial turnaround that the Lord has allowed us to have! God is SO GOOD!

Tomorrow we fly down to Florida for my family's get-together. I am so excited to see everyone together again! We picked a good weekend to go... it is only 39 degrees here today, and I saw some snow flurries. It was 82 degrees 2 days ago!!! What is going on here?!?!?

All that to say, we are rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord! Jehovah - Jireh, God Provides!

My Testimony

Donette had a link on her blog about posting our salvation testimonies today. So, here is mine:

I was very blessed to have been raised in a Christian home. My dad graduated from seminary shortly after I was born, and was a youth pastor until I was 13, when he became a pastor at a small church in Minnesota. As many children growing up in strong Christian families, I had a "testimony" of getting saved at a very early age of 3 or 4 years old. However, I remember getting saved at the age of 8.

I went to camp at Camp Castle Rock in Gallatin, Montana. This was my first year being able to go to camp. On Friday night, the evangelist Mark Elridge was preaching on hell, and I knew I didn't want to go there. It was that night that I placed my trust in Jesus' finished work on the cross for my salvation and entrance into eternal life in Heaven.

Though I grew up in a Christian home, I felt that I never really grew as a Christian. I was not encouraged to read my Bible and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I went through most of my growing up years continuing to be the selfish, self-centered child I had always been.

In my teenage years, my dad took a pastorate in Northern Minnesota. It was then that I truly began to rebel. First of all, I started going to a public school, which didn't help matters. Secondly, my dad spent most of his time doing Bible studies and such with other families, and not spending so much time with mine. (Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming him for anything!) At one point, another girl in my church started calling my dad, "Dad," which pretty much sent me over the edge. Thank the Lord I did not get involved with drinking, drugs, smoking or sex, though every boy I "dated" (I wasn't allowed to date, either) during that time was involved either then or later in each of these things. All during this time, though, there was never a doubt in my mind that I was a born-again, blood-bought Christian. I was always riddled with guilt for my actions, but I didn't care what anyone thought, I was going to do what I wanted.

My senior year in high school, a lady that my dad had led to the Lord and done a Bible study with became a dear friend to me. She loved me in spite of my rebellious shell, and was a huge challenge to me. One of the things that challenged me most was her knowledge of the word of God. Here she had been saved MAYBE a couple of years, but she knew more about the Bible than I did. It was during this time that I really made the decision that I didn't like the path my life was headed down, and I really did want to live like a Christian. However, I decided to wait to start changing until I went to college.

During my college years, I still rebelled some, but nothing like high school. I simply wanted to do things my own way... is that so bad? :-) (Don't we all struggle with this on a daily basis?) It wasn't until I graduated from college and went to work at Northland Camp for the summer that I finally decided to let the Lord have CONTROL of my life!

I could add so much more to this story, and like every other Christian I know, there is still much work to be done in my life to make me more like Christ. However, I am thankful for the fact that God saved me not only from my own foolishness throughout my life, but more importantly from eternal death in hell.

Something worth watching...

Here is something that the media reported on that is actually WORTH watching: Click Here

Then Click Here to read about a friend of mine who experienced this homecoming. This made me cry!!