Who am I?

How do you share with a complete stranger who you are as a person? This is a daunting task, but I’ll give it my best effort and not just tell you about me, but show you who I am.

My name is Mandy.  Although around here I refer to myself as “Mandy the Trench Mommy”.  I’m very pleased to meet you!

I am in my late 20′s with the “30″ mark looming ahead of me. Part of me is sad to see this decade of my life come to a close. While growing up I dreamed of being in my 20′s. That awe-inducing era will soon be over.

But, who am I?

Most importantly I am a child of God.

What I mean is that I have a personal relationship with God, the Creator of the universe. He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die cruelly on a wooden cross in order to pay the price of my sin and your sin – death. But it didn’t end there! After three days in a tomb, through the power of God, Jesus Christ arose from the dead and defeated the grip of death so that He might have an ongoing relationship with you and I.  Because I have accepted God’s gift of eternal life and an ongoing relationship with Him, my life is His and my purpose is to glorify Him.

Because of all that, next on the list of who I am is: a wife – my husband’s “First Lady”. I look forward to each day with the love of my life, Justin. We were married in 2002 and we are more in love today than we were then. I’m not ashamed to say that we have an awesome marriage due to the 1st cord in our 3-cord marriage – Jesus Christ.

My wonderful husband is an assistant Pastor in our church who’s main ministry focus is the youth of our church.  Along with being passionate about the lives of people, he is passionate about hunting, and likes it as much as I like reading.

Third on my list is being a mommy. God has blessed our family with 3 children. Abby, Emmy, & Micah. All of which are blue-eyed, blonde-haired miniatures of us. 

Abby, born in 2003, is the spittin’ image of myself as a child, personality and all.  She loves God in such a simple and yet passionate way…she truly is a joy to us.

 Micah, born in 2007, is a good mix of both of us in his features, but his personality is his father’s through and through.  As the youngest of 3, and the only boy, too, he lights up our life with his antics, drama, and boyish playfulness.

And Emmy, born in 2005, well…she’s the child that keeps our family lively. She, too, bears prominent features of the two of us, but her personality is unique to her!  She is the definition of life as she does everything with 200% energy and zest.  She keeps us on our knees in prayer and also keeps the laughter close to our lips!

Continuing on, I am a family member – daughter, sister, granddaughter, cousin, and niece…and to each of those I can add “in-law” as well.  I have wonderful parents who raised me in a sound Christian home along with my 2 brothers. I am blessed to have 2 sets of living grandparents and many other extended family members along with all the family I gained through marriage.  And that was a lot of family!

As you read above, I’m also a pastor’s wife. I enjoy serving others and I pray that those in my direct line of care can see my heart and the love I have in my heart for them. Also, I am honored to have a large handful of teen girls for whom I am small group leader.

And then…I am just me.  Mandy.  I am usually quite serious and many people think I’m “a stick in the mud”.  But I am also very shy. (Unless I’ve lived with you.)  It’s very hard – like blood pressure raising & heart racing hard – for me to strike up a conversation with someone I don’t know very well. However, if you ask those closest to me, I really do enjoy having fun and being silly.

You will never see me test out my car to see just how high the speedometer will go, or ride in a hot air balloon, or go rock climbing, or white water rafting. What I am not is adventurous, brave, daring, spontaneous, and reckless. I’ve left all those things for my brothers to handle! 

I am caring, steadfast, organized, loyal, friendly (once I break through the coating of shyness!), and understanding. I enjoy things like talking, writing, scrapbooking, reading, talking about deep things, studying, blogging, designing, decorating, organizing, cooking, shopping, baking, and even cleaning. I am a neat freak…with the exception of my desk. That’s just one area that I can’t seem to ever organize to my satisfaction and so it’s the area that just “is”.

I enjoy playing games like Taboo, Scategories, Uno; and I can play a mean game of Spoons.  I am very competitive!

I like to watch Nascar and sappy girly movies like Anne Of Green Gables.

My favorite place in the world is central Pennsylvania, even though I have traveled to beautiful places like France, Prince Edward Island, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, Chicago, New York City, Colorado Springs, and other places, as well.

I enjoy blogging and am a member of the BlogFrog Community Leaders and the BlogStar Community, too.

Even though I am “all girl” as they say, I also enjoy a new hobby of turkey hunting with my husband as well as shooting clays with my brothers or brother-in-laws.

And when I am not doing everything else I am involved in my local church…and not just because I’m one of the pastor’s wives, but because I believe that is part of my reasonable act of service.

And lastly, but far from the least, I am simply a sinful wretch redeemed by God’s grace.

 Thanks to everyone following our Mom-Stuff Blog Tour. Visit Mandy the Trench Mommy.   Make comments, make tweets, join her community, invite friends, and tell your friends about how much fun we are having. Mom-Stuff is giving gifts to the moms who make the most comments so join in the fun.

Mom-Stuff has posted our St. Patrick’s Day ideas.

Visit us tomorrow for some more great information from the mom-stuff team. We believe in moms helping moms. Life is a circle around here. Come and join us.

Dianne-from Mom-Stuff