Okay, 50 more (Shannon made me)

Since Shannon called me a wuss for having a short list, here goes.

50 More Random Things About Me

(I have to start over at 1 because this stupid thing won't autoformat if I start at 51.)

1. I can raise my left eyebrow by itself. (But I can't raise my right one.)
2. I can bend my left thumb backward at a right angle. I'm not sure if this officially qualifies as a double joint, but that's what I told people when I was younger.
3. When I was a kid, I couldn't drink diet pop because NutraSweet gave me migraines.
4. I used to have a one-eyed cat named T.J. (But it wasn't short for anything)
5. I don't have any full siblings, but I have three half-brothers and a half-sister. Two of the brothers I grew up with, the sister came when I was in college, and the other brother I used to see sporadically but lost touch with over the years.
6. My mom walked me down the aisle.
7. I thrive on habit and routine.
8. Our cat Obie was named after a radio DJ.
9. None of my mom's kids have names with more than 5 letters. She said she felt bad for the "Jennifer"s and "Christopher"s who had a harder time in kindergarten learning to write their names. She wanted to make it easier on us.
10. I love coffee, and I'm very picky about it.
11. I drink it quickly, because once it starts to get cold I can't stand it.
12. I have to drink it with cream and sugar. Not milk, but cream. It doesn't matter whether the cream is powdered or liquid, just as long as it's not milk.
13. I don't like it when they give me an unsolicited "refill" at restaurants, because it screws up my cream:sugar:coffee ratio.
14. I bring my own coffee to work, even though it's available there (free!), because I hate Maxwell House.
15. I keep powdered creamer in my drawer at work. This is because our office only has refrigerated half-and-half packages, and on the rare occassion that I should get a cup of work coffee, the cold creamer cools off the coffee too fast. I used to try to warm the creamer package under hot running water, but the powdered creamer is more efficient. (The sealed packages of half-and-half don't even require refrigeration, so this whole thing seems ridiculously unnecessary to me, but I do what I have to do.)
16. At work, I drink my coffee in an extra-small mug. This is so I can finish it before it gets cold. (The closest microwave is down 2 floors and around the corner.)
17. My favorite drink is water. (For real! Libby makes fun of me, but I've come to terms with it.)
18. If I could set my own dress code, I would wear jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes to work every day.
19. I only wear heels when I absolutely have to. Pantyhose, even less frequently.
20. Dress clothes in general get in my nerves. Dressing for work is the very last thing I do before I leave in the morning, and changing my clothes is the first thing I do when I get home in the evening.
21. I don't like beer. I've tried to like it, but I'm not there yet.
22. One of my favorite snacks is a toasted English muffin with a slice of colby cheese. I ate it so much in college, Craig gave it a name: The Snack.
23. In my marriage, I'm the checkbook-balancer and Craig is the bill-payer. We both like it this way.
24. When I'm alone in the car, sometimes I like to sing really loud and pretend I'm at a karaoke bar.
25. I've only done actual karaoke three times.
26. Only one of those times was in a bar.
27. I love reality TV. Craig hates most of it, however, so I don't watch it much. (Not that I can't, but when he's home I'd usually rather spend time with him doing something we both enjoy.) We do, however, watch American Idol together.
28. Although I'm still a grammar nerd, I feel like my grammar intuition has gone dull since working for McGraw-Hill. (Isn't that ironic? Maybe it's just been since I started the TWE.)
29. When I was younger (5th-6th grade-ish), I took modeling classes.
30. I lived with my aunt and uncle in Michigan for a few months in the middle of 5th grade.
31. I had a spiral perm in 1990.
32. I went "stag" to my junior prom.
33. I got glasses in 3rd grade.
34. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 19, during the summer after my sophomore year in college.
35. My first driver's license was a Michigan license.
36. I had a paper route when I was in junior high.
37. When we were kids, we had a Fisher Price blue plastic elephant slide in our backyard.
38. We used to tip it upside-down and pretend it was a spaceship.
39. My Aunt Diane and I have birthdays that are three days apart. We used to have combined birthday parties when I was little.
40. I became a Christian when I was 14, during the summer after my freshman year in high school.
41. My whole life changed that summer.
42. I used to be a groupie for an old Christian band called The Waiting.
43. I met a lot of friends through that band, including one who ended up being our wedding photographer.
44. I think Microsoft Word's auto-correct has dumbed-down my spelling intuition.
45. When I was in high school, my little brother (who was 10 or 11 at the time) were in a play together at my school. We played brother and sister.
46. I was a 6th grade camp counselor three different times.
47. When I was student teaching, I quit in the middle because it was too hard.
48. I still wonder what might have happened if I would have stuck it out.
49. I wonder how many grammatical errors I've made in this post.
50. This time, it took me less than an hour to think of 50 things.

50 Random Things

I'm going to steal Shannon's idea. Although I don't think I can come up with 100 things, so here's my list.

50 Random Things About Me

1. I have a hard time sleeping if the room isn't pitch dark. I even cover up the numbers on my clock so the light doesn't bother me.
2. I have a hard time thinking randomly. I've already been sitting here for almost a full minute. My brain is very linear.
3. I have a Sara Groves song stuck in my head. It's one of my new favorites, but I don't even have the CD--I constantly listen to it on some random guy's iTunes list at work.
4. I don't consider myself to be materialistic, but I've been coveting an iPod for several months. I mean, I really really want one. It's kind of sad.
5. If my house were on fire and I could only grab one thing, it would probably be my journal (or maybe my box of old, filled-up journals). I feel like the answer should be "my Bible," but I figure I could always buy another one of those. Is that wrong?
6. When I was a senior in high school, I wanted to go to college and become an actuary. But then I took calculus in college and math was forever ruined for me. I guess I've always been an English nerd at heart, anyway.
7. As soon as I knew how to write, I started writing stories.
8. It's been a long time since I've written one, though.
9. I, too, loved my college roommates.
10. Well, 5 out of 7 of them, anyway. The other 2 were "randoms." One was a horrendous disaster, the other was okay. The rest were awesome.
11. I, too, am allergic to codeine.
12. I found out in college after having my wisdom teeth out. I took some Tylenol 3 and had to go to the emergency room because I couldn't breathe. It was the ghetto Wood County Hospital, though, and we sat in the (deserted) waiting room for over 2 hours. By the time I saw the doctor, I felt fine.
13. I still think I could have died in that waiting room.
14. I have had many "best" friends over the years, and have fallen out of (consistent) touch with all but the most recent one. One is teaching high school in England now.
15. We started growing apart before she moved away, though. Things changed, and I still feel sad when I think of her. I miss her friendship a lot.
16. She was my first non-random college roommate. She's the one who drove me to the emergency room after the codeine reaction.
17. It has taken me 20 minutes to think of these 17 things.
18. I grew up with brothers and always wanted a sister. I finally got my sister when I was 19. I feel more like her aunt than her sister, though.
19. My favorite ice cream is Breyers mint chocolate chip. Although peach is a close second (and is in my freezer right now!).
20. Growing up, I knew a lot of kids who had nieces and nephews because their siblings were much older than them. I was the oldest kid in my family and always wanted nieces and nephews.
21. I now have 2 nieces and 3 nephews by marriage. I like being 'Aunt Erin.' :)
22. I like salty snacks more than sweets. I'd take a cheeseburger over chocolate any day.
23. Like both of my parents, I was born in Ann Arbor and raised a Wolverine fan. I learned to sing "Hail to the Victors" as a small child. My grandma got U of M season tickets for years. My family bleeds maize and blue.
24. However, I was never interested in football until I met Craig and started watching it with him. As a Buckeyes fan, he watched OSU play every Saturday. It was in this context that I began to understand and love football.
25. I am now a Buckeyes fan. My brother calls me a traitor to my family. I like to call them and play "Fight the Team" on their answering machines every time Ohio State beats Michigan.
26. I'm home sick today with a horrible cold I caught from my husband. I've been sleeping all morning and thought this would be a good, non-boring activity to get my brain stimulated.
27. I took a personality test over the summer and learned that I am a literalist. Because of this, I often take things too seriously, don't "get" jokes, and see everything as black or white.
28. This often drives Craig crazy. He brings the shades of gray into our marriage and helps me lighten up.
29. We're good for each other.
30. I have never been stung by a bee.
31. I have never broken a bone. (Except for the time I fractured my pinky finger in 7th grade and had to wear a splint. But I feel like that doesn't really count.)
32. I've only driven (full-time) 4 cars in my life: a Ford Taurus station wagon, an 87 Honda Accord, a 96 Pontiac Bonneville, and a 2000 Honda Accord.
33. The 2000 Accord is the only one with an actual car payment. The other 3 were family gifts (Thanks Diane, Nani, and Liane!). We still have the 87 Honda, but the Taurus and the Bonneville bit the dust. Hondas last forever.
34. I was on the Quiz Bowl team in high school.
35. My favorite college classes were English Grammar and Linguistics.
36. I think it would be fun to be a linguist.
37. I have had many many pets in my lifetime, but currently only have two cats: Obie and Mika.
38. I married a cat lover. It was something we discussed on our first date. I'm glad we have that in common.
39. I also married a messy person. I am also glad that we have that in common.
40. I have split many verb phrases in this list. Thanks to Shannon, I no longer know whether or not that's wrong.
41. Other than dental procedures (wisdom teeth out, root canals, etc.), I have never had surgery.
42. I like to sew.
43. When I was a kid, I always wanted to be grown-up. People told me that when I was grown-up, I would wish I was a kid again. They were wrong.
44. I'm in a book club and I love it. Before book club, I read the same authors over and over. Book club has helped me branch out and discover other types of writing that I like.
45. I wish there was something similar with music instead of books. I love music, but feel like I get into ruts.
46. I used to love being online. It kind of drives me nuts now. I think it's because I sit in front of a computer all day at work.
47. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac.
48. According to Myers-Briggs, I'm an ISTJ (Introvert/Sensing/Thinking/Judging). According to the four temperaments, I'm a Melancholy/Phlegmatic.
49. I'm feeling bored and restless, but my body hurts too much to move. I hate being sick. (as a hypochondriac, I realize the irony.)
50. I started this list four days ago. (It says "posted 1/13 at 7:00 pm," but that's when I started it. It's actually 12:30 pm on 1/17)

looking back, looking ahead

Looking Back
So I've spent some time reflecting over the past year. It kind of happened by accident, not because it's a new year and the hip thing to do, or anything like that. What a year 2005 was! Not a lot of major events on the outside (other than the TWE), but I feel like a totally different person than I was a year ago. It really is amazing how God uses difficult times to change us. My relationship with him and many relationships with others have seen dramatic changes over the past year. It has been extremely sweet to experience God in some brand-new ways through hard times (esp. my recent struggles with anxiety) and scary steps of faith (soooo many amazing opportunities to share him with other people lately. It's really been incredible, and I'm so thankful). If I had to give the past year a theme, it would have to be God's faithfulness. The other day I was looking through my journal and found a bunch of verses that I've noted over the past year that have been encouraging to me during some dark moments. The word has been an anchor, and it was neat to go back and read through these passages. Here are some of them:

• “Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” – Isaiah 2:22
• “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” - Isaiah 64:4
• “Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said ‘My foot is slipping,’ your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.” - Psalm 94: 17-19
• "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."– Romans 15:13
• “O Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.” – 2 Samuel 7:28
• “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” – Ephesians 3:12
• “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” – 1 Cor 1:30
• “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory; You stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.” - 2 Samuel 22:33-37

And lastly, one of the sweetest ones to me, perhaps partly because it was written during an extremely dark time in Israel's history, and is tucked away in the middle of Lamentations, a book that is mostly so sad, expressing/lamenting devastating loss. In context, this passage expresses a stunning depth of faith in God's goodness in the midst of horrible circumstances:

• “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” – lamentations 3:21-23

Looking Ahead
I'm also looking forward to the future. With the big changes of '05 have come some uncertainties about what the future holds--more exciting ministry opportunities, good (though sometimes hard) things God is working out in my relationships with Craig and with my mom, and new project(s) at work (I've heard they might stick me with another TWE...or two, this time. Yikes!). It all makes me nervous sometimes, but I'm mostly excited to see what God is going to do. He is so faithful and has been so consistently faithful to me recently that I can't possibly doubt that the future will hold more of the same.

He’s Always Been Faithful, Sara Groves
Morning by morning I wake up to find
the power and comfort of God's hand in mine.
Season by season I watch him amazed,
in awe of the mystery of his perfect ways
All I have need of his hand will provide.
He's always been faithful to me.

I can't remember a trial or a pain
he did not recycle to bring me gain.
I can't remember one single regret
in serving God only and trusting his hand
All I have need of his hand will provide.
He's always been faithful to me.

This is my anthem, this is my song,
the theme of the stories I've heard for so long.
God has been faithful, he will be again.
His loving compassion, it knows no end.
All I have need of his hand will provide.
He's always been faithful to me.

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