101 things about Katie

A blogger friend of mine recently surpassed 101 posts. It is kind of a blogger tradition to put together a list of 101 things about yourself once you have reached your 101st post. I didn't really know how to count that since Niklas and I share this blog, but I figured it was high time anyway to do something like that. Plus, that kind of thing is FUN! Try it!

So, here are 101 things (for the most part) about me!

1. I was born on Flag Day in 1979.

2. My grandpa used to tell me that people hung out their flags in honor of my birthday.

3. I miss my grandparents.

4. I love being 27 since it has always been my favorite number!

5. I believe God is going to do great things in me and through me in this, my 27^th year!

6. I was born and raised in Virginia.

7. Up until two years ago when he retired, my dad was an elementary school principal.

8. He was my elementary school principal for 5 years.

9. I never got in trouble, though.

10. I was never the kind of kid to get into trouble.

11. My mom stayed at home with me until I was old enough for school.

12. I’m glad she did, but sometimes I wonder if it would have been good for me to have more social interaction at a younger age.

13. My mom is the most creative and unique person I know.

14. The thing she is best at is loving me unconditionally.

15. But, she has always wished I called her “mama” instead of “mom”.

16. My brother is the funniest person I know.

17. He is 5 years older than me.

18. The two of us look a lot alike.

19. We never fought when we were kids. Ever.

20. I wish we had more opportunities to just hang out and talk about nothing.

21. I can’t remember ever wanting a little brother or sister.

22. Which is weird, but I guess I was just content as a kid!

23. I loved baseball, softball and basketball when I was a kid and a teenager.

24. (All of the neighbor kids were boys.)

25. I also LOVED to read.

26. My dad always thought I should have become an author.

27. When I was little I thought I would become a paleontologist (yes, I could say that when I was 4) or a veterinarian.

28. We got two twin cats when I was six.

29. They lived until I was 25.

30. Sometimes I really miss those cats!

31. I did NOT like middle school.

32. After high school I got a full scholarship to study psychobiology at a private university in Indiana.

33. Indiana is a 10 hour’s drive from Virginia.

34. It is also a BEAUTIFUL drive, and sometimes I really miss it.

35. My life was totally and radically changed when I was 19.

36. It was because that was the first time I truly encountered Jesus Christ.

37. I will never be the same.

38. God set my life on a completely different track and I graduated early so that I could become a missionary in Europe.

39. I thought I would end up in Germany (since I knew German) but God had other plans and I ended up in Sweden, of all places.

40. I didn’t know ANYTHING about Sweden and, like most Americans, what I did think I knew about Sweden was really something I knew about Switzerland.

41. I stayed with a wonderful family in Sweden for three months when I was 21 and helped out in their church (non-denominational, newly-started church in a city where there had never, ever been a church).

42. I fell in love with the assistant pastor of that church…

43. …even though I didn’t want to and had prayed that I wouldn’t meet anyone while abroad.

44. He fell in love with me.

45. On May 26, 2001, on a park bench in Lund, Sweden, he asked me if he could hold my hand.

46. I said yes.

47. I had to go back to the States 2 days after that.

48. He came to visit a few weeks after that.

49. And met my parents.

50. Which was REALLY scary.

51. For him and me both.

52. For him because he wasn’t very good at English (yet).

53. For me because I knew my parents were intimidating interrogators.

54. He survived.

55. Miraculously.

56. We got married about a year after that, on an island on the west coast of Sweden.

57. The only people from the US who could come were my mom, dad, and brother.

58. So we had a huge reception in the US after the honeymoon for all my relatives and friends.

59. Wedding receptions are a great way to get money.

60. So we used that money to buy a condo here in Staffanstorp, Sweden.

61. Staffanstorp is a small town close to two larger cities.

62. One of the cities is a university town called Lund.

63. I am getting my Master’s degree in Biomedical Research there.

64. Besides being a pastor, my husband works with problem teenagers at a school for drop-outs.

65. He LOVES his job.

66. Both of them.

67. We try to go to the US at least once a year, usually twice.

68. I like to travel, but I don’t like layovers.

69. Or lost luggage.

70. Or delayed flights.

71. Or getting separated from my husband in the airport because of a problem with my passport so that I have to get on a plane that leaves 2 hours after his.

72. Or running AT TOP SPEED through Heathrow Airport with a heavy carry-on and pain in my lungs and BARELY making it in time for the flight.

73. But I do like getting to sit in first-class because of their mistake and REALLY living it up while sitting there!!!

74. I love my hometown in the US because it is close to the Blue Ridge Mountains and close to the beach and close to Washington, DC.

75. I don’t like the town I live in now all that much, but I love my church family.

76. One of the good things about living in Sweden: the chocolate!

77. Another good thing: the summer daylight hours (3:30 am to 11:30 pm!).

78. A downside of living in Sweden: hardly any restaurants or exciting food choices.

79. Another downside: the lack of any daylight at all in the winter.

80. My husband cooks dinner far more often than I do.

81. He is very good.

82. And VERY creative.

83. Lately he has been making us homemade ice cream.

84. It is SO yummy.

85. He wishes that I liked seafood.

86. He also wishes that I drank coffee.

87. I will never eat seafood.

88. And I will never drink coffee.

89. I translate anything and everything from Swedish to English.

90. That is a very good way to earn money.

91. Right now I am saving every single penny so that we can afford adoption.

92. WE ARE ADOPTING A BABY FROM SOUTH AFRICA!

93. More often than not, that is ALL I think about.

94. I am so excited about having a child.

95. I am so excited about starting a family through adoption.

96. I write to our future kiddo several times a week.

97. I wonder how old he/she should be before I give him/her my letters.

98. I wish more than anything that the adoption process was faster.

99. And cheaper.

100. But when the process is over, it will all be worth it.

101. I can’t wait to meet my baby.