10 Things You May (or May Not) Find Interesting Photo Credit: Roxanne O'Reilly
1. I grew up in California and was a hard core perfectionist from as early as I can remember. I'm still in recovery (from perfectionism, not from being a Californian).
2. At the age of 18, I became a Christian and it changed my life. Four months later, I was diagnosed with cancer (a tumor growing from the underside of my brain and into my sinus). That also changed my life. 3. I've had close to 30 surgeries. I lost count somewhere around surgery 20-something. The most recent one was in 2015. 4. I'm blind in one eye and I deal with chronic pain daily. 5. I went through a spiritual wilderness, a Dark Night of the Soul. It was perhaps the hardest thing I've gone through. After many, many months of struggling to find God, I had a dream that restored my hope and confirmed that God had been present all along. Sometimes I think it seems like darkness because God is so close to us that we are blinded by Her light. God was and still is closer to me than my breath. 6. God is much more complex than I ever gave Him credit for. A finite mind cannot understand an infinite God, but boy did/do I try. Trust and surrender are things I continue to work on. 7. For years I've struggled with image issues from having so many surgeries on my face. (My dear friend Roxanne O'Reilly did an AMAZING job with these photos--with the lighting and positioning you can hardly see the deformity. I'm so grateful for her talents). God is doing some major work with me and my image (see the blog for posts on this). 8. I'm an oncology nurse and a contemplative. 9. I'm single and live near Baltimore, Maryland. I don't have any kiddos, but I do have the most adorable nieces and nephew. 10. I graduated from the University of California at Davis with a BS in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. I have a BS and MS in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and I am a board certified Clinical Nurse Specialist. |
10 Things I LoveI was recently asked for a list of 10 things I love. Keeping it to 10 was challenging. Is it cheating to use "and"? If yes, then it's more like "15 Things I Love."
In no particular order (except for the first one): 1. Presence (of God and friends/kindred spirits) 2. Paradox (actually it's more of a love/hate relationship with this one) 3. Nature--clouds, trees, sunrises/sunsets, mountains, open spaces 4. Kavanna House and all the people inside 5. Stillness and simplicity 6. Curling up in front of a fireplace 7. Anything equestrian related--horses, barns, saddles, hay 8. Writing--pausing to notice and wonder 9. Books 10. Laughter and being whimsical/silly/playful (and wiggling) |