As any MK (Missionary Kid) can attest, the hardest question to answer is, “Where are you from?” I was born and reared in Nigeria, West Africa, where I attended a couple missionary boarding schools. At the age of 16, I moved to the USA, graduated from college with majors in speech and Bible, married, and raised three beautiful daughters. After living in 5 different states, we’ve settled in Tennessee to be near the grandkids.

It took me 50 years to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, but it was worth the wait. My official title is “Inner healing prayer minister,” but with a Master’s in Pastoral Counseling, it’s easier to just say “counselor” when people ask what I do. I’m the Executive Director of mkministry.org, and the editor of Simroots, a magazine for adult MKs from our mission.

25 Random Things about Me

1. I love any kind of pizza, even with anchovies.
2. Monkeys, kuka (baobab) trees, cizaki berries, cashew fruit, guavas, mangoes, and rain on a hot tin roof–yeah, I miss Africa . . . a lot.
3. My daughter thinks I’m nuts to enjoy data entry and organizing closets.
4. She also can’t imagine how jeans up to the waist can possibly be comfortable.
5. I journal every day. . . . My family will have a heyday when I die!
6. I offer blank apologies to all my former students.
7. I’m a task-oriented introvert.
8. My parents gave me a solid foundation for life. If I’m the walls to this house, does this make my kids the roof?
9. I’ve been editor of Simroots since 1995. Really?!
10. Give me a tree to climb, a good book, and a hazelnut Cadburys chocolate bar, and I’m set for the afternoon.
11. I’m terribly proud of my three girls . . . delighted to be their mom, and quite excited to be Grandma to five handsome boys.
12. I maintain a database of 2000 adult MKs from around the world. I take great delight in reconnecting, reconciling, and reuniting people.
13. A favorite memory: watching shooting stars from the back of a truck in the middle of the “bush” with my KA friends on the way to Jos.
14. I wish I had loved my husband then as much as I do now—and I loved him an awful lot then.
15. For Christmas? I always ask for the same things: a journal, a candle, some stationery, and a massage—expendable things. Or nothing at all because I’d rather send the $$ to charity—but no one listens to me.
16. Speaking of Christmas, I collect crèches. But please don’t give me any more . . . I’ve run out of room!! Same with my sock monkey collection.
17. Nine more to go . . . . Okay, I wear glasses. I tried contacts—didn’t work.
18. Thanks to my mother, I can’t stand bad grammar, typos, and misspelled words . . . but I’m forgiving . . . usually. . . because I slip up occasionally myself. Scrabble is my game.
19. If you visit us for a meal or overnight, you’re required to sign our guestbook. How else would I have known that Debra W. came to my house for lunch on June 13, 1985? For real!
20. We used to put a jar of pickles in each of our girls’ stockings. Kept them from fighting over them. Moms have to get creative sometimes. Anyone need the recipe for play dough?
21. If given the option, fingers before forks.
22. Ever heard of Marmite? It’s my comfort food.
23. Cats only please. But only if they behave themselves. Zaki Malaika was the most polite cat we ever owned, but Babe was hands down the family favorite.
24. Wish I had a personal trainer who would force me to exercise regularly.
25. I’m a finisher, a completer of lists, a goal-setter. It’s the only reason I stayed up till midnight . . . because I started this list . . . had to finish it.