better late than never!

The 2010 Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 Minutes for Moms started while I was still restin' and relaxin' with my man. At the time, I considered taking the time to join in on this party; but, thankfully, I had a brief moment of sanity and I opted to simply enjoy the time away and join in on the party later.

Well, here we are... five days into the 2010 Blog Party from 5 Minutes for Moms... and I'm finally joining the party, better late than never... here's my introduction, though not necessarily in any order...

@}~ My name is Heidi and I've spent the greater part of 41 years hating my name, mostly because I can remember numerous occasions when someone would meet me and say "oh, we had a schnauzer (or poodle or dachshund or German shepherd or...) named 'Heidi'!" Honestly, what do you say to that sort of introduction?!?

@}~ First and foremost, I am a daughter of the King of Kings! I love my Jesus and am thrilled that I have this life to live for Him. I fail at this daily and yet, His gift of grace showers me with forgiveness day after day after day. How could I not be madly in love with Him?

@}~ Contrary to how I introduced this post, I hate to be late! I think it's because I was raised by a man who, if he wasn't 15 minutes early to something, considered himself late. However, God has a great sense of humor and in His infinite wisdom allowed me to marry someone who really doesn't enjoy being early to anything. Isn't it amazing how opposites attract?

@}~ Nineteen years ago I met my soul mate. We will celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary in a few weeks. The longer I live with this man, the more crazy I am for him. If I could do one thing over in life, it would be to redo our first 13 years together. I wish I would have taken the time to really get to know the man I married. Instead, I wasted a good many years trying to change him. It took a life-threatening diagnosis for me to wake up and see how blessed I am. For the record, my man, Chad, is an RN in our local ER.

@}~ together we homeschool our 3 Es. Chad is the math/science/final authority and I fill in the other gaps. Each year our homeschool changes and evolves a little more as we continue to strive to provide our kids with life lessons. This spring we will finish our 8th year of homeschool. We think our kids are pretty incredible people and both of us are so thankful for the opportunity God has given us to spend each day with them. I wouldn't trade this season of life for anything. However, I hope I never give the impression that our homeschool is perfect... unfortunately, it is run by imperfect people teaching imperfect children.... I told my niece last week that we have been known to have some pretty ugly school days around here.

@}~ Eric, 13, is all teen. I'm not sure when this happened but I was reminded, again, tonight of the teenager in my midst. He's an incredible kid and I love having a front row seat to watch him grow and develop into a godly young man. Eric is also an incredible student. He enjoys studying and learning and being stretched intellectually.

@}~ Emily, 10, loves Jesus! Her love of God's Word has convicted me and inspired me to keep on keeping on in my own personal quiet time and study of my Bible. Emme is also a great friend. She has so many friends, and to her, each one of them is her BFF. However, I think her cousin, Leslie, is her soul mate.

@}~Ellen, 6, loves life! After several years of being "too little" for the activities the others were involved in, she is more than making up for it now. In her mind, there is nothing her siblings can do that she can not do, including tooling around our 3 acre yard on the 4 wheeler!

@}~ When I am not being wife or mother or teacher, I am a writer. Sometimes I am a writer before I am those other things. I write for more reasons that I can articulate. I've written a lot of things, including children's Bible studies. I'm currently working on a women's Bible study.

@}~ I love blogging. I can't believe how much I have learned from others. I love discovering new blogs and getting to know other bloggers. So, better late than never in joining in on the 2010 Blog Party!

And, incidentally, I never win when I enter contests... so, having said that, I will say that if I were to win... I would love any one of the amazing prizes offered!