Re-reading some of my writing on apricotpie.com, I realized that I posted this bio below more than three years ago. Since life has changed a lot for me since then, I thought I would write a short update in here. It's hard to believe how quickly time goes by and how much can change in two years. But enough of the cliches: what about me now? I'm a junior at Grove City College in western PA: definitely a far cry from the desert of the UAE. Dorm life, classes, field experience, cafeteria food, hall bathrooms, winter snow and cold, small town, cornfields, working in the dishroom, America--a lot has changed. Most of the changes have been good--challenging, but good. Freshman year I survived (and immensely enjoyed) living in a 16x17 square foot room with three other girls--lots of stuff, lots of messes, lots of talking, lots of late nights, lots of craziness, lots of fun... Sophomore year I enjoyed delving into more and more English classes, picking my favorite professors, taking trips (to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Calvin College's Festival of Faith and Writing, Flagstaff, Dubai, and probably other places), as well as deepening friendships and juggling the myriad of duties and activities involved in college life. As I write it is summer of 2006 and I am working to make enough money to put me through junior year of school debt-free... With only two years left now, it seems strange that life has moved so quickly, and yet I'm looking forward to "afterwards" enough that I wouldn't mind if it moved along a bit faster sometimes.
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Writing autobiographical pieces has always presented me with that horrible hurdle—where and how to start. So instead of trying to create some interesting introduction, I think I’ll just plunge in and tell a little bit about myself.
I’m the eldest of five children, and my parents, brother, and three sisters make up my family, best friends, teachers, and schoolmates. We moved from Michigan to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (a small country bordering Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf) the year I turned six, and this summer of 2003 will mark our 11th year here. Living with the Bedouin tribes here, we dwell in tents most of the year and ride our camels for long journeys... Well, not really... We actually do live in a real house (with electricity), and although the family down the street keeps a cow and goats, and a few local chickens have the run of the neighborhood, no one keeps camels in their garages.
Instead of packing us off to school at five or six, I am continually grateful to my mom and dad for their decision to homeschool my siblings and me. Also, I thank God for giving me strong, Christian parents who have raised all of us with godly principles. Their encouragement and teaching have spurred me on to a closer relationship with the Lord. Spending all sorts of time with my family has taught me a lot about myself—sometimes more than I’d like to know—but I’m so glad that I’ve been able to forge good friendships with my brother, sisters, and parents. It’s been so much fun for me to have my brother and sister—Andrew and Elisabeth—the two just younger than me, as real peers and friends. The two youngest girls keep life interesting and lively here. Sometimes I enjoy a quiet afternoon when they’re gone, but I don’t think I could stand the silence for more than a day or two.
In no particular order, these are a few of my favorite things: mornings (usually), sunrises, blue shirts, unicycling with my sister, rain, volleyball (as long as it’s not too competitive), chirping crickets, reading the Chronicles of Narnia to my two youngest sisters, playing the piano, wind in the trees, writing, the gospel of John, walks on the beach at high tide, reading, the word “zephyr,” long talks with my mom, baking with my siblings, schoolwork (yes, I’m one of those odd homeschoolers who actually thrives on studying—to some extent), cool nights when I can use blankets, music, Advent, morning glories, spending a week at Lorien with my extended family, night in the desert with no moon, literature classes, scrapbooking, letters, Paul’s epistle to the Philippians, being silly with my siblings, Fiddler on the Roof, lilacs, C.S. Lewis’ books, Dutch Blitz, spending time with Elisabeth (my sister), discussing stuff with my dad, large families, drawing, the book of Hebrews, Passover, Easter, old houses, peaches… and the list could go on and on…
I couldn’t come up with as many for this list, but these are a some of the things I like the least: jellyfish, wasps, alarm clocks, staying up all night, most movies, airplane rides, physics tests, bad dreams, extreme heat, sandstorms, tomatoes, mosquitoes, salt water in my eyes and mouth, headaches, dirty dishes… this, too, could probably go on, but I can’t think of more right now.
My goal in my writing and in my life is to glorify God. As I draw nearer to Him with each baby step, I realize more and more my unworthiness and need for Him. Writing somehow helps arouse my longing for Him and His truth. Above all else, I want to know Him more. I love Paul’s words in Philippians 3—some of my favorite verses: But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lose all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead...Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
______________________________________________________________________
Writing autobiographical pieces has always presented me with that horrible hurdle—where and how to start. So instead of trying to create some interesting introduction, I think I’ll just plunge in and tell a little bit about myself.
I’m the eldest of five children, and my parents, brother, and three sisters make up my family, best friends, teachers, and schoolmates. We moved from Michigan to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (a small country bordering Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf) the year I turned six, and this summer of 2003 will mark our 11th year here. Living with the Bedouin tribes here, we dwell in tents most of the year and ride our camels for long journeys... Well, not really... We actually do live in a real house (with electricity), and although the family down the street keeps a cow and goats, and a few local chickens have the run of the neighborhood, no one keeps camels in their garages.
Instead of packing us off to school at five or six, I am continually grateful to my mom and dad for their decision to homeschool my siblings and me. Also, I thank God for giving me strong, Christian parents who have raised all of us with godly principles. Their encouragement and teaching have spurred me on to a closer relationship with the Lord. Spending all sorts of time with my family has taught me a lot about myself—sometimes more than I’d like to know—but I’m so glad that I’ve been able to forge good friendships with my brother, sisters, and parents. It’s been so much fun for me to have my brother and sister—Andrew and Elisabeth—the two just younger than me, as real peers and friends. The two youngest girls keep life interesting and lively here. Sometimes I enjoy a quiet afternoon when they’re gone, but I don’t think I could stand the silence for more than a day or two.
In no particular order, these are a few of my favorite things: mornings (usually), sunrises, blue shirts, unicycling with my sister, rain, volleyball (as long as it’s not too competitive), chirping crickets, reading the Chronicles of Narnia to my two youngest sisters, playing the piano, wind in the trees, writing, the gospel of John, walks on the beach at high tide, reading, the word “zephyr,” long talks with my mom, baking with my siblings, schoolwork (yes, I’m one of those odd homeschoolers who actually thrives on studying—to some extent), cool nights when I can use blankets, music, Advent, morning glories, spending a week at Lorien with my extended family, night in the desert with no moon, literature classes, scrapbooking, letters, Paul’s epistle to the Philippians, being silly with my siblings, Fiddler on the Roof, lilacs, C.S. Lewis’ books, Dutch Blitz, spending time with Elisabeth (my sister), discussing stuff with my dad, large families, drawing, the book of Hebrews, Passover, Easter, old houses, peaches… and the list could go on and on…
I couldn’t come up with as many for this list, but these are a some of the things I like the least: jellyfish, wasps, alarm clocks, staying up all night, most movies, airplane rides, physics tests, bad dreams, extreme heat, sandstorms, tomatoes, mosquitoes, salt water in my eyes and mouth, headaches, dirty dishes… this, too, could probably go on, but I can’t think of more right now.
My goal in my writing and in my life is to glorify God. As I draw nearer to Him with each baby step, I realize more and more my unworthiness and need for Him. Writing somehow helps arouse my longing for Him and His truth. Above all else, I want to know Him more. I love Paul’s words in Philippians 3—some of my favorite verses: But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lose all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead...Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
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