About Me and King Street Church

To me, King Street Church provides a perfect balance. It has all the charm and family relationships found in many small, rural churches. However, the exciting music and outreach programs are more in line with those found in larger churches.

The main thing that has impressed me about this amazing congregation, though, is their overwhelming acceptance of anyone who walks through the door.

As with many other members of the congregation, we like to stay involved in the wide variety of church activities:

• I sing in the choir, serve on the Ministry Council, and am currently the congregation's moderator.
   
• My husband, Scott, is a co-leader of the junior youth group and helps with Habitat for Humanity projects.
   
• Our daughter, Leandra, 10, is active in junior handbells and the junior youth group. She even convinced her dad to learn the handbells by being “one of the kids” this year!
   

• Our son, Logan, 16, lends a hand serving at the Dorothy Day Hospitality House and at the monthly lasagna dinners.

More About Me

I was born and raised in Oklahoma, where my parents still live on the family cattle farm. As a child, I rode a bus 17 miles to the nearest public school. Although it served five small farming towns, the school's enrollment numbered about 200 students in grades K-12. My graduating class had 12 students, and our class roll never varied by more than one or two over the 13 years.

After graduating from high school, I started college and married Scott two years later. Since he was in the Marine Corps, I moved to North Carolina to join him at Camp Lejeune. I continued my studies and completed my bachelor’s degree in chemistry right before our son, Logan, was born. When Logan was just four months old, I started graduate school at North Carolina State University and Scott began commuting on the weekends from the Marine base. (Talk about commitment -- or just the fortitude of youth!) I finished with a master's degree in analytical chemistry and soon joined the working world.

In 2005 Logan spent two weeks in Australia as a People to People Student Ambassador. Here he visits the Sydney Opera House.

The next several years went by like a blur. Our daughter, Leandra, was born; Scott retired from the Marines; and we were busy parents in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Leandra is in fifth grade at King Street Intermediate School. She is involved in cheerleading, Girl Scouts, and soccer -- and she loves to sing. As the number one animal lover in our family, she has a soft heart for any furry thing that comes along.

Every summer, both kids travel to Oklahoma for a month to get their “grandparent time.” Although we live so far from all of our extended family, we never feel alone with the support and love of our King Street UCC family.