100 Things...the first half

I've been tagged by Mash to give 100 Factual Things about myself...Here we go...
1. I'm ever so thankful that I was born a girl---had I been male, my Father was going to name me Hank.
2. I have one sister, Dana, who is 17 months older than me...I am about to gain 3 other siblings on June 21st...Brittany, 18, Ashley, 16, and Billy, 9.
3. My favorite toy as a child was a rubber Incredible Hulk. I slept with him every night. Due to the incredible amount of love I had for the little green guy, my father was forced to operate several times... I believe all appendages, including the head, fell off of his body at some point in time and had to be melted back together.
4. My sister and I were very violent to one another. She stuck a thumbtack in my neck and I stuck an ink pen in her wrist.
5. As we grew older, we decided it was time to call a truce. We started making "Best Sister Awards" for each other by late elementary.
6. I still have one of my awards! It's a little piece of a post that my sister said was a totem pole...she wood-burned Best Sister on it.
7. By Junior High, we didn't like each other again!
8. Now that we're both adults, we like each other and actually plan to keep it that way!
9. I was very sick in elementary school. I kept strep throat all the time, at one point I was a border-line diabetic, and then I was diagnosed with Histoplasmosis in 6th grade...they had to do emergency eye surgery that day (hence the blindness in my right eye). I am very blessed because all the spots on my lungs are calcified.
10. I fell in love for the first time when I was 13. He was red-headed and named Ken ( so glad my name's not Barbie!)
11. He was a junior at the time and I was in eighth grade...we were together a wopping 6 months and I still have the love notes he wrote me somewhere...I'm saving them in case Rachael gets heartbroken one day...in hopes that she will believe her life will go on as did mine!
12. I finally got over Ken when I was a junior.
13. Then, we had a short-lived resurgence again when I was in college ( i can't let go of people, can you tell?)
14. I started asking questions about being saved when I was 6.
15. When I was 8 I got baptized, but always had doubts about whether or not I was really saved.
15. Because of #14 I claim my salvation date as March 24th, 1993, when I was 15, because then I knew, that I knew, that I knew I was the Lord's child.
16. Life got harder after I got saved, contrary to popular belief.
17. Even though it got harder, it has been so much better! Following Christ is the best decision I ever made.
18. One of the desires of my heart is to stand beside the person who sexually abused me as a child and for both of us to share our testimony of what God has done in our lives...for every child that has been abused, there's an abuser out there who is equally loved by God.
19. Choosing to forgive my abuser was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
20. Every time I've done a Beth Moore Bible study, my life has been altered permanently ( for the better!)
21. I was forced to have my nipple pierced...yes, it's true...at the dentist's office while having a cavity filled, he accidentally hooked me with that big curved loop he uses to scrape stuff off your teeth...it left a big hole and bled a lot.
22. When I was in Junior high and High School, I had a list of women written in my journal which I referred to as my "Awesome Category". When people asked me who I wanted to be like, the person who came to mind was a big conglomeration of the best qualities from each of these women. For those of you who may know some of these folks, here are a few from the list: Jackie Earnest, Winni Carlisle, Margaret Smith, Celeste Tilley, and Lisa Green...oddly enough 5 for 5 of those ladies were my teachers!
23. The ladies named in #22 will always hold a special place in my heart, and my life has been modeled greatly after their example.
24. I used to have collection of houseshoes in High School. I had Bulldogs ( mascot of our school), a pair of cows that mooed if you touched the ear, and my favorite, bananas! I actually wore each of these to school at least a few times during my teen years. I even wore the bananas to my class' Baccalaureate service...the school colors were green, white and gold...yellow can be considered gold, right?! :)
25. Another of my great decisions in life was going to Judson College! I chose it for the fabulous alma mater..."Mother Judson, Alma Mater, We have seen thy glorious light1 Like a beacon on a hilltop burning brightly through the night! La da da da da da da d a....water...mel...on....Mother Judson...water melon...water, water....melon!"...ha, ha, ha! :)
26. I don't like sleeping in my own bed when napping...the big green couch is the only way to go!
27. My hubby and I shared our first kiss on our wedding day.
28. The new Iced Frappe things from Sonic are my new favorite sinful treat.
29. I teach pottery and LOVE it!
30. I think part of the reason I love it is because when I first started I thought I would never be able to learn how! (It took me somewhere around nine straight hours to make my first pot!)
31. The good thing about having such a hard time with it is I can pretty much assure them if I can make a pot, I KNOW you can too!
32. I've learned way more about God than pottery while teaching it!
33. Since becoming a mother, I have successfully mastered the skill of taking a nap with two 45-pound children bouncing on top of me.
34. I'm seriously thinking about becoming a real estate agent.
35. I have a hard time picking a career field because the thing I am most passionate about is people...and you work with them in any field!
36. When answering the phone, my voice apparently mutates according to who is at the other end of the line...I've been told this several times by the husband and a few close friends.
37. My nose swells at night...Claire says I have more physical oddities than anyone else she knows...I also have 5 baby teeth that have no permanent teeth underneath (maybe that should have gotten its own number!
38. My friends are all so different it would be completely awkward to have more than 2 or3 of them together at once.
39. I love meeting and getting to know weird people...they are so much fun! And far less likely to be judgemental than people who tend to "fit in".
40. I used to be able to sing "Camptown Races" in burp...one of my lesser known talents!
41. Almost all of my best friends I met at Judson. (Ashley, Claire, Myra...thanks for loving me!)
42. After Judson I was going to go to the 10/40 window as a missionary, but my eye disease came back and after much prayer and deliberation, I stayed here.
43. I went through somewhat of a depression after that, but then God gave me a mission field in my own backyard working with mentally retarded adults.
44. I grew to love the Lord in a whole new way while working there and also learned that maybe they're normal and the rest of us aren't! After all, God doesn't make mistakes...we just assume there's something wrong with people who have different physical and mental capabilities than we do.
45. I changed my first adult diaper while working there. I'm so thankful God allowed me to grow up there...it's been a real honor and joy to help take care of other family members who needed that kind of help since then.
46. The "Princess Diaries" will always be one of my very favorite movies.
47. Number 46 is something my husband will never truly be able to comprehend!
48. For all the good, and in spite of, all the bad and the ugly things we have shared, I still fall more in love with my husband everyday. He is the love of my life and has my heart completely.
49. Our pet name for each other is "you weirdo!"...ahh, true love is a mystery! :)
50. Why are you surprised? I told you I like weird people?! (Not sure what this says about you, Myra, Ashley, and Claire!)

OKAY---I know this is not the full one hundred, but I am posting the first 50 tonite with promise of more to come!