I was born in Norfolk Nebraska to
two wonderful parents. We lived there in
Nebraska until I was about one year old,
when my father joined the United States
Army and we moved to Alabama. After
his basic training, the Army sent our
family to Germany. We lived in an
apartment off-base that was owned by
my “Oma and Opa.” They weren’t related
to us by blood, but they treated us just
like a part of their family. We stayed
with them for almost two years, until my
father was re-stationed in Alabama.
Our second stay in Alabama we lived
on Fort Rucker. It was then that I
started school as a kindergartner and
then graduated to first grade. My first
grade teacher was Mrs. Mancil, a very
kind woman who loved order and a good
book. I remember her reading the Care
Bear stories to us daily. Once, when “play
time” was over a boy in my class told me
that he could jump higher than I could.
I took that as a challenge and we began
jumping one after the other, trying to
determine who was the highest jumper,
until Mrs. Mancil saw us. When she put
our names on the board for disobeying,
I cried because I had never been in
trouble at school before. She saw that
I was so upset and took my name off
the board. I never forgot that act of
mercy!

We stayed in Fort Rucker, Alabama
until Dad got orders for Korea. He was
supposed to stay in Korea for a full year,
so he moved our family in with his
parents when I was about seven years old.
While he was in Korea we kept in touch
with him by the occasional phone call and
with lots of letters and care packages. I
was always amazed when I watched my
Mother write to Dad. Her handwriting
was so neat and the pages just kept
filling and filling with the pretty script.
I’ve always envied her perfect cursive.
Finally, when Dad came home, we
were stationed once more in Alabama.
We lived right down the street from
where we lived the last time we were
there! My brother and I went back to
the same school I had attended before.
It was while we were living in Alabama
this third time that my family became
friends with the Winkle’s. They lived in
Enterprise, a city near Fort Rucker and
we would visit with them often. They
were home schooled, which I thought was
strange, having never heard of it before.
I was delighted with the possibility of
being able to do schoolwork in my pajamas!
After some bigger boys harassed my little
brother, who was 7 at the time, because
he wore glasses, my mother decided to
take seriously our desire to learn at home.
We began home schooling when I was in
4th grade. My performance improved
dramatically with the one-on-one
attention my mother was able to give us,
so did my brothers’. Thus, Mom decided
that it was a viable method for educating us.

It was a good thing since Dad received
orders for Germany two years later.
The transition took place fairly easily
on account of our home schooling. We were
settled in Germany in the summer of 1992,
when I was 11. While we were there, our
history lessons were incredible. We went
to castles and learned about German history, we went to Dachau and learned about the Holocaust and we went to Berchtesgaden and learned about WWII while we climbed down into the bunker beneath our hotel. History wasn’t the only focus of our outings. Once, Mom and my Grandmother took me to Switzerland. There I insisted that we find out how Swiss cheese was made. We found a small factory and watched as we were guided through the aging process. When the tour was over we had worked up an appetite. What better to eat than some authentic Swiss cheese? We found the Black Bear Inn, which served various beers and cheeses in its little café and bought a block of Swiss cheese. When we opened it in the car, we found out that the major difference between the Swiss cheese in the deli and authentic Swiss cheese was the aroma!
Our grand tour of Germany lasted five
years, until Dad was re-stationed in Georgia.

We returned to the United States just
after my 16th birthday and came to live in
Stockbridge, Georgia. There I finished my
years of home schooling and at the end of
my junior year, I was enrolled in John
Quincy Adams Academy in 1998. My senior year was filled with visits to the Georgia capitol, and even a visit to Washington DC, where I received the honor of interviewing Chief Justice Scalia of the Supreme Court! I graduated in 1999, third in my class.

After a year of searching for the right college, I enrolled at Toccoa Falls College in northeast Georgia. At Toccoa Falls, I began a course of study towards a Bachelors Degree in Psychology. I did well in my classes and was hired as a tutor by the school. But I wanted more work so I applied for a job as receptionist and operator at WRAF. The school hired me in that position in October of 2000. I met Daniel Britt while I was working there over Christmas break. We started dating a year later and a year after that we were engaged. Daniel and I married on July 26, 2003, the happiest day of my life.

Almost a year later now, and I am looking forward to obtaining my B.S. in Counseling Psychology from Toccoa Falls College on May 8 of 2004! From there I hope to work while I obtain a Masters of Occupational Therapy.