CURRENT MISSION

Discovering and enjoying the wonder of every human being

ABOUT ME

I love to travel. I travel as much as is possible. I don't travel just to see things but to reach out and meet people. I find myself stretching and growing as I for example, meet a college student from China who tells me what it was like for her mother to keep a second child in her home country, when it is "not allowed". Wow. I can't get that conversation out of my mind. I find life and people fascinating and I think when you travel the less you spend the closer you are to the real people and real life. Staying in a Hilton does not give me joy. I do not like life to be sterile. I enjoy vitality, God, stories, good food, cooking together and showing people this truly amazing state of Maine that we are so fortunate to live in. Our college age kids are out of our house most of the year and now we fill our lives with other young adults through a volunteer work that we do at a Christian coffeehouse that we started. It is wild and wonderful. There are so many musicians that want to play for us that I find myself having to think about 2010 already. It is so much fun. We are all volunteers and we work like someone is looking over our shoulders....or maybe someone is...life is joyous, our world is so beautiful. I can't wait to see more of it. I am an interior designer also, but the recession is kicking my butt right now. My husband is a Christian pastor who works with undying energy for refugees, prisoners, single mothers and just plain highly educated and simple folk. He is fascinating. I think that man could talk to a wall. He is truly one of the most interesting, intelligent and spiritual people I have ever met. We have been married 30 years and we still have exciting and riveting conversations. We have a wonderful marriage, travel together and have a lot to offer to people who desire to learn all about how to love one another for life. We kayak, walk on the beach a lot with our Bernese Mountain dog and go to Italy as much as our budget allows-sometimes pulling together groups to share houses and such. Music is always playing in our house and our tastes are really diverse. One of our favorite things to do is hang out at the Brian Boru Irish Pub on a Sunday afternoon after church and listen to Celtic music while we enjoy a pint of Guinness as good as we had in Ireland. My husband is an awesome preacher, loves movies, has written a screen play and reads more books than anyone that I know. Me, I am artistic, love to offer hospitality and can bring all kinds of dreams into fruition. I am heading up a stained glass project right now. I took a class and then taught others and now we are making 8 mammoth stained glass windows for our church. The studio that taught us how to do it can barely believe our determination. We have completed 3 already. I love museums, love bargains, love finding good inexpensive wine, love dogs, love flowers-have them in my house all the time-really-everyday...love the beach, love, love, love Maine, love buying my clothes at Good Will, secretly...love Dancing with the Stars...love Indian food, Italian food, food, especially when my husband makes it for me, but first and foremost we as a couple are absolutely over the top in love with God and all that he has created.

PHILOSOPHY

I try to live my life in a way so that what is inside of me is noticed by those around me. I think of this quote, " Let your light so shine before people that they will see your good works and glorify the one who loves you and made you and cares for you each and every day from now until eternity." Lofty thoughts, I know, but this is who I am and is the one quote that motivates me most in life.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We intend to participate by hosting people at our house by the water. We also hope to maybe exchange houses with others. Having a drink or showing someone around our town sounds like fun too. We intend to answer all inquires with respect and attention. Finally we really hope to find housing for ourselves when we visit our son in San Fransisco and when we try to get away this summer.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We have exchanged houses with others many times. We have college students living with us and our doors have been opened for years for people to stay with us. Every month when we run our coffeehouse we have all the volunteers stay over. Everyone brings a sleeping bag and sleeps wherever!

Interests

Indian food, Italian food, wine, beer, more wine, more beer, music of all sorts, art, stained glass, walking on the beach, walking the dog on the beach, God, singing, liturgical dance, running the coffeehouse, meeting talented musicians, gardening, flowers, interior design, writing movie scripts, teaching Bible studies, watching movies, kayaking, reading at the beach, eating lobster, raising ducks. My husband's specific passions include riding his motorcycle, Cooking-with a capital C, racquetball, writing his screenplay, inventing things, visiting prisoners, praying (seriously!), fixing squeaky doors (seriously!)and bringing me a cup of coffee almost everyday of our lives since marrying 30 years ago.

• dogs
• arts
• writing
• books
• singing
• design
• interior design
• dancing
• dining
• italian food
• cooking
• wine
• indian food
• beer
• coffee
• running
• walking
• drinking
• pub crawls
• gardening
• clothing
• flowers
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• volunteer work
• socializing
• music
• kayaking
• racquetball
• volunteering
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

I like chick flicks, even bad ones. My husband loves all movies and lots of them. Books we are reading: Jim is reading all of these at the same time: "Plato and Platypus go into a Bar", "The Tipping Point", "Same Kind of Different as Me" "Gilead", I am also reading, "Same Kind of Different as Me"

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Living in Hawaii on the beach, living in Switzerland, taking travel novices to Italy. Starting the coffeehouse. Learning to do stained glass. Going to Rwanda, Africa right after the genocide, seeing heaps of corpses...and being there just days before the war broke out in the Congo. Seeing a Refugee mom who was separated from her 4 daughter reunited and parading into church with dignity and elegance. Seeing the mentally ill become whole through medication and a caring community who refuse to focus on the mental illness.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am interior designer and my secret goal in life is to make the world more beautiful one home at a time....I would like to be hired by someone to be the international ambassador of good taste....please laugh........please....