I don't know whether I will have enough space to write about me. It is my observation that the longer one lives, the longer one's history becomes. Well, if you really want to know my history, you must order my memoir (A Voice Beyond Weeping), which will tell you more than you want to know about my three mothers.

I am an Okie by birth. We moved to Alexandria, Virginia when I was eleven so I also have Virginia roots. My dad was legislative assistant to the "Uncrowned King of the Senate," Senator Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma (class of 1948 included Lyndon Johnson). During my teen years, we lived in the D.C. area and I became a capitol guide to all the folks from the midwest who visited Washington. It was an education. We were members of Del Ray Baptist Church where I ran with a gang of girls my dad named "The Dirty Dozen." There were only a half dozen of us so we renamed ourselves "The Sexy Six." We were not....even less so now. I have maintained friendships with those women--pretty amazing considering it's been almost 60 years. Well, all that is ancient history.

My husband, Bill, and I were Southern Baptist missionaries to Brazil for almost 20 years. When we returned to the States, Bill went to work for Texas Baptists in cooperation with the (then) Foreign Mission Board. While he did that, I went back to Southwestern Theological Baptist Seminary (where Robert Dilday's dad was president) and finished a Master's degree and did a doctorate. I LOVED academic work. I found that at the advanced age of 45, my brain had not atrophied--what a delightful discovery! We moved to Richmond in the early '80s. While Bill went to work at the Foreign Mission Board, I opened a private practice with an office at Second Baptist Church. I got involved with Virginia Baptist life and met Dr. Flamming at a committee meeting. He asked me if I were "Christian education." I told him I was "psycology and counseling." He asked if I might like to be on staff at FBC as a counselor and I told him I would think about it. I did--for five minutes and then said, "YES." I loved being on staff. I "retired" in 2000. I still counsel a couple of days a week at FBC and I put in about 15 hours a week counseling staff at the IMB. I can't imagine sitting down and not doing anything.

I still do a lot of public speaking. I have written two books in retirement. I sing in the choir, teach a Sunday morning Bible study to older singles, serve as a deacon, serve on the worship committee and this summer I will go back to Slovakia for the 5th time on a mission trip. I am a board member of an organization called Ministering to Ministers which helps clergy across denominational lines who have suffered forced termination. I run women's seminars, assist in Divorce Recovery, and run grief groups.

I love the people on our church staff. I can't WAIT until our new pastor gets here. He is my kind of guy. We read the same authors--Barbara Brown Taylor, Anne Lamott, Garrison Keilor, Frederick Beuchner. My favorite contemporary author is my friend, Ferrol Sams. If you don't know him, check him out and begin with Run with the Horsemen. I love literature from A to Z. In college and a year of graduate study at the U. of Maryland, I studied British and American lit thinking that I might teach....maybe in another life.....OK...that's ENOUGH!!!