I've been blessed to honor lifelong marriage vows to two husbands, who have gifted me with children, stepchildren, and grandchildren, all of whom I love to travel to visit. As the daughter of a minister, we moved a lot through the midwest of the USA, going to whichever church called my father, whose parents were immigrants to the USA from Denmark and lived in North Manchester through most of my childhood so that is the consistent "hometown" of my heart as happy holidays were spent there with my all my cousins. I got my love of music from both parents; my mother was often organist or pianist for the churches, directed a bell choir and led singing on Sundays, and she taught me the later two skills which I have done for my own church for decades, and taught to younger leaders as well.

I'm vegan since the last year of my first husband's life when he was struggling with end stage heart disease, and love both growing and cooking and eating great vegetarian meals. For a while after I "retired" from teaching in the public schools, my second husband and I taught a (vegetarian) Food Art class, to teach inner city kids about the wonderful colorful variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, that they could make beautiful compositions with on their plates and then eat their creations - it was quite a hit with the kids, and a good "grandma" fix for me.

I have traveled throughout the USA visiting relatives and various national parks with my first husband who was an earth science teacher, often we would spend nearly the whole summer on the road, and our family treasures those trips and both our children caught the traveling bug from those days. With my second husband I was able to complete a service mission assignments through Brethren Volunteer Services to in Montana, where I provided childcare in a daycare, and we visited Lybrook Missions in the Four Corners Area of the desert southwest. We also did several disaster relief trips, where my husband & I helped folks from our church clean up the mess from natural disasters like tornadoes or work on re-building homes. I also was privileged to do a mission trip to Nigeria in Africa.

I'm a non-smoker and good at pitching in with chores as you like, I can travel with my own bedding and food so as to not be a burden on hosts. I would appreciate the use of an electrical outlet wherever I sleep for my CPAP machine that helps keep me from snoring at night, and the use of a bathroom in the morning to clean it and me up. I love children and pets, and will do my best to make a positive contribution while guesting. I love learning about other people's experiences of the world.

My home was built by my first husband and also later retrofitted by him to be a passive solar home (see photo). I share my home with relatives already, but my parents taught me to be a gracious host and I've been known to have guests covering nearly all the floor space at family holiday gatherings.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I think maybe the best part of traveling is meeting new people living in the place that you are visiting. It is good that people are all so very different but can be brought together by a bond of giving and receiving hospitality. I hope to stay open to new experiences and new friends until the day I die. The best antidote to the paranoid fear of foreigners that is being touted by media and politicians is to meet strangers and make friends with them. God has been good to me and thus I practice reaching out in love, which casts out fear.

Interests

• singing
• vegetarian
• vegan
• reading
• organic gardening
• vegan cooking
• church of the brethren

Music, Movies, and Books

I read some of my Bible and devotions every day, but also love a wide variety of fiction that inspires me, too. I read Chronicles of Narnia to my kids before they were readers themselves, and my daughter now has a half century under her belt. I like many of the Amish romances, as they are similar to my own church background, and the "Pioneer" romance series by Jeannette Oakes. I have a good collection of children's literature and picture books from my school days, and my daughter added children's books in other languages during her travels and got her hosts to record them in the language phrase by phrase with english translations in between.
I've seen many of the science fiction and fantasy books that I've read when they came out as movies, including the Chronicles of Narnia, Dune, Hobbit & Lord of the Rings, and the Harry Potter series, but as a general rule books are better. I also like the TV series "Adrian Monk, the OCDetective", because it is very smart & humorous.
I love singing, whether Christian hymns or pop songs, and especially love blending voices together with others, such as singing rounds and in parts in choir - its great to make a joyful noise together. My memories of Christmas are of extended family gatherings where we would sing for hours in 4 part harmony, taking turns suggesting favorite songs from a hymnal.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

When I was in Nigeria, the local women invited me to help make the peanut oil they use for cooking and a favorite local dish made from the pressed peanut pulp. It was amazing to participate in taking the food from field to table, crushing and squeezing the oil out of the nuts, and frying up the remaining pulp into a delectable and nutritious treat called kuli-kuli. Of course this was very ordinary for them, but I was honored to participate and it is not something any of my peers have done, or that I ever thought I would do, but it inspired me to try doing it at home, though that didn't work out as well as I hoped.
Another unusual thing I've done is to work on my daughter's certified Passive house, which is where my profile photo was taken.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love sharing stories and songs with children and getting them to share things that they have learned back with me. We can happily entertain each other for hours. It is fun working with kids who speak other languages and teaching each other words in our respective languages. They have such fun laughing at an adult who talks funny and needs them to teach them words in the language they have known their whole lives.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I want to pitch in with whatever your family is doing, cooking or cleaning, doing homework, caring for pets or children. I'll join conversations, tell stories, sing songs, or sit quietly while watching TV together, or doing family prayers. I love reading aloud and playing school or church with children, or gardening, food processing, or cooking.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Nigeria

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States