In the Beginning...

     I am actually, literally, physically rolling up my sleeves to start this post.  What's been running around in my brain is where to start the voyage of memory from when I first began considering Plain living,  to here, where I waffle about it daily.  There seem to be many fits and starts and revelations to the path looking at it now, but I hope that as I write, maybe it will be a straighter road looking backwards.


     A few years ago I ran into an old acquaintance and when she asked me about the number of children we had told me that she was surprised that I had so many because I didn't "seem the type."  When I told my oldest friend about the incident, she replied that the other woman didn't ever know me very well.  If she had known me she would have known that I had a long standing obsession with pregnancy and birthing and had always had in the back of my scattered brain the idea to become a mid-wife.  As a young teen I started reading about midwifery and this led me to a book whose title I don't even remember.  In it, the  midwife went  to attend the birth of a New Order Amish woman.  That single story out of a book that I can't even name began my contemplation.  


     At that time, my interest was much more about wanting a change from where I was (as many young teens do) than making a complete submission to God.  However, even then the possibility of living a simpler, more Laura life was very appealing to me.  My splotchy  commitment started around this time with a confession of faith at church camp.  The previously mentioned oldest friend and I went forward at the same time and were baptized there.  I still do not know if that confession was true or if it was some self inflicted peer pressure decision.  I did have many great experiences at camp and even some life altering times of seeing God clearly.


     That summer began a 5 year long cycle of going to camp and deciding to seek the Lord, then going back to school and getting involved with a new non-Christian boyfriend for those nine months.  It is strange to think back on but having a family with no interest in spiritual things, it probably makes more human sense than becoming a Mennonite!  Through out those lost years of turmoil inside and out, God was working on me.  He was protecting me from real harm and even from the big major regrets that so many have to carry.


   Then Darrin came.  We had known each other previously but were involved with other people until the summer before my senior year.  Following the cycle, he was not a Christian, and mentioned to me the first night we spent talking as only new love interests can do, that he was agnostic.  But I was already thinking he IT.  So I decided to ignore what I had been taught in youth group and proceeded into a relationship.  


     This is the part of the story I always hesitate to tell young people.  Our story is NOT typical.  It is another example of God's unbelievable mercy and touch.  Darrin and I dated, were intimate, got married young and one year after, on our anniversary, Darrin accepted Jesus and was baptized.  See why I don't care too much to share that!?  Such a bad example,  but a good place to close the first chapter.