I’m linking up with Joyce for the Wednesday Hodgepodge!
1. Next Sunday is Grandparent’s Day. Share a favorite memory, photo, recipe, or something you learned from a grandparent.
I wasn’t always very close with my grandparents, because we only saw them once every four years. I loved spending time with them when we did see them, but it wasn’t very much. Some of my favorite memories of my grandparents are when they came to visit us in Africa. I remember the absolute thrill and excitement of picking them up from the airport, and I remember all the gifts and things that they brought with them! I remember trying to be very polite when my Grandma brought me a Barbie school set- but unfortunately it didn’t have any Barbies with it! The photo on the front showed a Barbie, so my grandma assumed that it was included in the toy, but it wasn’t. Only problem was….you couldn’t buy Barbie’s in Niger. So I ended up with an epic Barbie schoolroom….and no Barbie’s. Lol.
Some of my most cherished memories of my Grandparents has been when I went to their memorial services. It is powerful to sit in the life celebration service of someone and learn more about them than I ever know, and to see how many lives they touched and how deeply their life choices impacted so many around them. I am so blessed to have had four Grandparents who loved the Lord deeply, loved each other, and deeply impacted the communities around them. I have one Grandpa who passed in 2010, one in 2018, one in 2024, and one in 2025, so these thoughts and memories are very fresh in my mind.
2. What’s a quote from a book (besides The Bible) that has stayed with you?
I just finished reading this book – My Dear Hemlock– and I felt like I could have underlined pages and pages of it. I don’t typically remember direct quotes from books or movies, but this book truly spoke directly to my heart and soul and I cannot stop thinking about it (and recommending it!)
3. What’s your number one food pet peeve?
I have a huge fear of food poisoning, so I like my meat cooked well done, crisp – even with some black on it is good with me. I am a people pleaser through and through, so I rarely ever complain when we are out to eat- but if my meat comes out with any pink on it, I will be asking for it to be cooked all the way through.
4. What’s one thing about you that is still the same as it was when you were young?
I’ve always loved to teach kids. I was lining up stuffed animals and teaching them Sunday school lessons when I was very young. I was helping my Mom lead Bible Club even though half the kids were older than me. I served in Sunday school and kids camps as soon as I was old enough. I did a little bit of babysitting, but I’ve always loved teaching. And now…I teach first grade! It’s something that I’ve always known I loved and that God gifted me with the ability to teach! Now, my class this year may be knocking me off my high horse and giving me a run for my money, but every experienced teacher knows that there is always some years that are a bit tougher than others!
5. September is National Preparedness Month…does your family have an emergency plan? Do you have some sort of preparedness kit you keep on hand? If so, tell us one thing that’s kept there.
Our friends joke that if the apocalypse happens, they know they are coming to our house! Haha! Honestly, though, we aren’t hardcore preppers. We just tend to live a little more naturally “off the land”. We raise our own meat and eggs, we heat with wood in the winter and Theo has the basics for medical response needs (like a tourniquet).
I think my most practical tip for “prepping” is to only buy what you normally eat. I don’t stock up on Ramen and BBQ sauce because we don’t typically eat those things anyways!
6. Insert your own random thought here.
We had a wonderful weekend in Wisconsin with my brother and his family! If you ever have the chance to spend Labor Day weekend in a Northern state, I highly recommend it! It’s the golden hour of summer up there and the weather could not have been more perfect!
