I remember once being told by my brother that I seem to just live life how I want regardless of what anybody else thinks.  He said this as a compliment.  He admired that aspect of my personality.  The funny thing is that I never felt like I was going against the flow, making weird choices, or being out of the ordinary.  It has always been a part of who I am just to do what I felt God had for me at the time.  I care very deeply what others think, just not in the way to live my life to impress them.  It is my life I’m living and I choose to have it lead by God and not the normal human expectations of what to do at each life stage.

I was born as a normal baby, well, with a head full of hair that David says looked like a hippie.

As a small child, I grew up fairly normal.  Well, as normally as I could with 3 older brothers.  (Pictured with my great grandmother)

I had the measles, chicken pox, and mono throughout my childhood, but was usually fairly healthy.  I do remember once lying about being sick the night before leaving on a camping trip.  I remember my brother – I think it was Jason (far right, red hair)- who snuck me some pepto after everyone was in bed.  When we were getting ready to go, my mom called everyone in to ask who had been sick and left the bathroom with throw-up on the toilet rim.  We all knew, but took the 5th…  What can I say?  We wanted to go camping!

I went to school, made good grades, played the flute, danced on the drill team, etc.  So, I experienced what I wanted to experience.  I suppose homeschooling was the first “road less taken” for me.  Then, falling in love with David, getting engaged, and graduating high school at 16y/o.

Yes, when I turned 16, I got engaged to David.  We loved each other deeply and prayed that God would show us if we were right for one another.  We approached our parents.  My parents were, well, let’s just say less than happy to think of letting their daughter get married at 16!  But, I told my mom to pray about it.  I knew if it was meant to be that God would work on her heart.

After a few weeks and several parent dinners between my parents and the Johnsons, they agreed with a few stipulations.  I’m not sure exactly what all of the requirements were, but I know at least the most important ones.  We had to agree to wait until I had finished my high school credits (David was already in college) to get married, to not have children prior to finishing college, and to live with David’s parents until we could afford to move out on our own.  Our parents had spelled out the details on a list and asked us to sign.  We looked around for a writing instrument to find only a crayon which we were happy to use to sign our names to the document.

Poor David.  I have one cousin who is older than me and a boy.  Between him and my 3 older brothers, David was warned within an inch of his life that he had better not hurt me in any way!  Nevertheless, God had changed my parent’s hearts, and I agreed to marry David.  On that rainy day at the lake overlook, I accepted an engagement ring in response to our marriage agreement.  Looking back, I can’t believe what a glorious blessing this was!  God is awesome and mighty!