I’m already getting a little behind with my blogging challenge! Oh well. Today, the topic is my parents. I have pretty awesome parents.

My mom Karla grew up in the small town of Baytown, TX and went to Texas A&M where she majored in education and became a kindergarten teacher. During my first 7 years of life, we lived in Houston near her family, and made lots of memories together. Around grade school, she became a full-time mom and was always there when we needed her – whether to drive us to school, sports practice, or piano lessons, or to cook us a homemade meal. I have always been close to my mom. I think part of this is because we have very similar personalities- which often drive others in our family crazy. Some of the ways I am similar to her are: we both love to exercise (most of the time), we love to shop, we love to talk, we love to be busy/active.  There is never a dull moment around my mom.

My dad Eric grew up in Cincinnati, OH and moved to Houston, TX  – where he met my mom- for college at Rice University. He was one of the rare ones who knew what he wanted to major in from the beginning  – computer programming, and he has stuck with that profession ever since. He has always been really talented with technology, and because of that he has been my personal computer repair guy from birth. Unfortunately, none of his kids have followed in his footsteps with programming, although we still laugh about how he tried to teach me to program at the age of 5! Just like my mom, I have always known that my dad loves me unconditionally and that he has my best interests at heart.

I consider both of my parents close friends. I love hanging out with them, talking with them, doing stuff with them, and getting their advice about life. Now that I am an adult and out of the house, I realize all the things that they taught me and all the things that they provided for me. I am thankful that they taught me to love Jesus Christ at an early age, and taught me that following Him is the most important thing in life.

One thing I really admire about my parents is their parenting skills. I think they did a great job with balancing discipline, love, and instruction. I also admire that they adopted three kids while I was in college to start parenting all over again!

So, as if I wasn’t already lucky enough for having these two in my life, I ALSO have great in-laws! Randy and Ruth Baareman are the new parents I inherited by marrying Jason.

Randy is a retired Air Force pilot and because of that, they are experts at moving and getting to know people in tons of new places. They have lived all over the country! They even provided packing boxes for Jason and I when we moved to Augusta! Although I met the Baareman’s when they lived in Valdosta, GA, they now live in Starkville, MS. They live so close to Mississippi State University that you can see the stadium from their backyard!

Another cool fact about Randy and Ruth is that they are expert ballroom dancers. They even helped us choreograph our waltz for our wedding. I am super grateful to have such great in-laws who I also consider close friends. I know that we can look up to their marriage and Godly advice and that they will always be there for us.