I was born the yougest of four children in Monticello, New York in 1967. I have three older brothers who are now a professional musician, a lawyer, and a fire captain. My parents divorced when I was 3, and I moved to Tucson when I was 4. I grew up in the area of 29th and Columbus, essentially in a Mexican Barrio (I have no hispanic blood, but to fit in, I used to say I was half Mexican!), and I attended Roberts Elementary, Naylor Jr. High, and I graduated from Rincon High in '85. (Dave graduated in '82 as the class valedictorian - no shock there.) I was raised in a non-religious home, except that at Christmas we'd sing and play all the traditional Christmas carols and my mom used to set up a nativity set. We occasionally attended a Unitarian Universalist "church", and as I child I never understood why no cross was on display. I went on a religious journey at the age of 16, looking to find out whether or not Jesus Christ was just a "superstar" from the musical or much more than that. I pursued the truth in a logical, intellectual fashion. I never knew that I even had a spirit until my first encounter with the true and living God - in a yellow Volkswagon Rabbit, driving west on Broadway. When Jesus gave me many amazing indescribable moments that summer of 1983, I finally decided to follow after him with everything in me. I will never forget, though I did initiate a quest for truth, that He loved me first, even in the pathetic state I was in - an insecure teenaged girl with some hidden struggles and shame. And yes, my now beloved Dave, 19 at the time, walked with me through much of this process, but I assure you, Dave had zero effect on the miracle that took place in my heart. Nothing and no one can create a new and living spirit from a the blob of blind, selfish flesh and blood that I was--unless there be a God, and that He personally, powerfully, and lovingly take away all my failures and start all over!

If you don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I challenge you to spend some time staring at a crucifix and let me know what happens to you.  That's where it all started with me.

JOHN 1:10-14 (NLT)
He came into the world he created, but the world didn't recognize him...But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn--not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.