I was born in the tropical paradise of Kailua, HI, coincidentally at the exact time that I was zero years old. Several major things have happened since then, including a dramatic increase in height. I have a lot of scattered memories of Oahu, where I spent most of the first eight years of my life. My parents (who have the same name, though spelled differently) are both music teachers, and during my first years I spent multitudinous hours in various rooms of musical rehearsal.

Honolulu is a far cry from Walla Walla, WA, where my family moved when I was 8 years old. Shortly thereafter, our family procured a black cat, which I named Licorice. (Cats, of course, are significantly superior pets to dogs. Ask me about my theory on this some time.) I attended Clara E. Rogers Elementary School in the shadow of Walla Walla College (actually, the shadow would have gone the other way, but I digress.), from third through eighth grades. I then attended Walla Walla Valley Academy, where I hold the record for number of credits accrued by a graduate (358).

 

I had the opportunity to go on three short-term mission trips while I was a student at WWVA. These experiences helped prepare me for the next significant step (which will happen in the next paragraph). My academic experience did not really help me clarify what I wanted to do with my life, but I enjoyed writing, geometry, music, and graphic design. When I enrolled in Walla Walla College in the summer of 1996, I chose to be a communications major.

 

Through two years of classes, I was planning to serve as a student missionary. When the time came, I ended up working as a taskforce dean at Gem State Academy in Caldwell, ID. This experience completely changed the trajectory of my life, as I began to consider the field of education for perhaps the first time in my life. I believed that my relationship with God was coming into focus in a way that I had not experienced before. Coming back to Walla Walla, I added a religion major, and graduated after three more years of classes.

 

Upon graduating, in 2002, I experienced the interesting decision whether to follow a job opportunity or stay in town because of a girl. I chose the latter, which was a good decision (see next paragraph), and worked in journalism as a copy editor for an entire year. Toward the middle of this year, I started to realize that journalism just wasn't "where it was at." I decided to explore the possibility of going back to Walla Walla College yet again to pursue a Master's of Arts in Teaching. I made the leap in the summer of 2003.

 

In October of that year, I was able to instantly upgrade from having a girlfriend to having a fiancee. In the space of two months in the summer of 2004, we graduated, got married, went on a honeymoon, and moved to Salem, OR, where we were employed to teach at Livingstone Adventist Academy. Over the course of five years at Livingstone, I taught Bible, English, journalism, orchestra, drama, yearbook, praise team, and computer applications, and helped out with a PE class. Oh, also I was the registrar for a couple of years.  These were good (if wet) years.

 

June 2009 brought a significant shift, though, in the form of my wife graduating from the University of Oregon, where she attended classes for a Master's in Music degree. We followed the Lord's leading to Indiana Academy, where I now teach computer applications, history, Bible and music, and work in the school library. Another major life change is brewing, as we expect our first child in February or March of 2011. We look forward to raising our little girl in the love of the Lord.

 

The future? Only God knows.