Age: I just turned 21! Wow, that's old. My friends threw me a great surprise birthday party--they really shocked me. I went to Jamba Juice with my friend Amanda and everyone jumped out from behind the counter! I was not expecting that at all!

Family:Dad (Tim), Mom (Judy), 24 year old sister Anna, and 19 year old brother David. We used to have two iguanas, Kallie and T-Rex.  (T-Rex is the one in the picture.) But then T-Rex ran away last year and then we gave Kallie away to a very good home earlier this year. So we are petless again!

Hometown: I was born in Des Moines, IA, and we lived there until I was eight.  Then one day my dad came home and said, "Let's move  to Arizona, so we can take care of my mom!"  So he quit his job, we sold our house, and we moved here to take care of my Grandma.  It was an awesome leap of faith because my dad didn't have a job he was coming to here.  But my parents trusted God, and we quickly found a job and a house.  And I like Arizona a whole lot better than Iowa!

What's up with me: It's hard to believe how much my life has changed in the last year...one obvious yet superficial difference is that I chopped off my long hair so I could donate it to Locks of Love. As you can see, I love having short hair. :-) But I'm growing it out again. And I switched schools last fall--again! My dear friend Amanda finally convinced me to transfer to Mesa Community College. I am in my third year of college, and I have probably another four or five years left. I know that sounds pathetic...and it is pretty pathetic. But that's the way it is. I am taking college algebra right now, which is a very interesting class to take during the summer. 8 weeks, 2 hours a day, 4 days a week, with 3 hours of homework a day. I thought my professor was exaggerating when he said 3 hours of homework a day. He wasn't. 

Favorite things to do: E-mail, hang out with my friends (that's my sister Anna, my friends Sarah and Hannah Elliott, me, and my friend Amanda in the picture--we're at a Diamondbacks game :-), talk on my cell phone :-) watch movies, read (a rare pleasure these days!), play with Photoshop, design web pages, write (I especially love writing parables and analogies), play the violin and the piano (I play violin for the college group worship team at church; I have such a blast doing that! :-), and make up songs on the piano. 

Favorite foods: Mexican food from Don Pablos (my favorite is the chimichanga de guisa, and of course their sopapillas!), Chinese food, pizza...hey, I'm not too picky! I like a lot of things.

Current Favorite Bible Verses: Isaiah 40, Psalm 73:25-25 "Whom have I in Heaven but Thee?  And besides Thee I desire nothing on earth.  My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."  Isn't that just beautiful?

Favorite quote: "Nobody makes a greater mistake then he who does nothing because he can only do a little." Edmund Burke

Place I would love to go: My favorite place to go is to California to visit my "second family" in Upland.  But if I had to go somewhere else, I guess I'd settle for anyplace by the ocean (the tropics or Hawaii would be nice).  Or anyplace with great historical significance. 

Favorite color: It used to be blue. But lately I've discovered that I really like pretty much all the colors. Purple is really cool. But so is red. And yellow is so much fun! Green looks really good on me. I don't know what my favorite is!

Favorite books:

• The Sacred Romance, by Brent Curtis and John Eldridge. READ THIS BOOK! It changed my view of God and revolutionized my Christian walk. It is simply phenomenal.
• Anything by Francine Rivers! She's the BEST author!!! I especially love her Mark of The Lion series, and Leota's Garden...The Last Sin Eater was good, too, and so was Redeeming Love. I didn't really like The Scarlet Thread, though.
• Almost anything by John Grisham because I used to want to be a lawyer and his books always remind me of the reasons I changed my mind! My two favorites are The Street Lawyer and The Testament. The main character in The Street Lawyer, realizing that money is not as important as every says it is, gives up a stellar, lucrative career in order to help poor people.  Grisham's latest, The Testament, is simply awesome.  One of the main characters is a missionary who turns down an \$11 billion inheritance!  What a testimony!  The main character becomes a Christian and his life is dramatically changed.  This, coming from one of the most popular secular authors of our day!
• Jane Austen's books.  I love her characters, her old English, and especially her sarcastic sense of humor. Pride and Prejudice is definitely my favorite, although I loved Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey, too--Northanger Abbey is simply hysterical! 
• Anything by Bodie Thoene because I love history
• Knights of Evermore by Scott and Renee Pinzon

People to Whom I am Grateful: There are a lot of people I am grateful for, but one person I'd especially like to mention is my dear friend Mr. Walls.  1998 was a really tough year (see the letter I wrote about it in the Nov/Dec issue).  But every time I was really down, and life seemed pointless and I felt helpless, I would check e-mail and there would be a whole ton of funny e-mails from Mr. Walls.  I couldn't be depressed while I was laughing my head off, and so Mr. Walls helped me keep my sanity, my perspective, and my sense of humor through this difficult time.  Thank you, Comrade. :-)