Me, in a nutshell...

Several days ago, my friend Heidi, sent me 25 things about her, and wanted me to return the favor. I'm sorry it's taken me so long! Here goes:

1. I've been married now for 7 months to my soul mate, Cliff, whom I'm completely in love with!

2. I have at cat, Bassil, and a dog, Reggie.....they like to fight :)

3. I am a runner, though I haven't been at the level I want to be for some time now. Married life really fills up the ol' schedule. It's hard to find the time to run...

4. I've run two full marathons (26.2 miles) and several half marathons (13.1 miles). I would love to run more fulls, but I just haven't had the dedication required. I would LOVE it if I could get Cliff to run a full with me! He is a runner to, but doesn't think he wants to do anything more than a half....we'll see about that ;)

5. I grew up in a loving, Christian home, and gave my life to Christ in 1992 at the age of 12.

6. My parents divorced the summer after my high school graduation.

7. I was a member of the LaVergne High School Marching Band, and loved every minute of it! I played trumpet my first three years, and then became field commander my senior year. My husband was also field commander of his high school marching band :)

8. My husband and I met through a mutual friend and with a little help from Myspace :)

9. Meeting my husband has opened a multitude of doors for me! I now sing (in public) with him, leading worship for youth, adults, and children. I've also done some recording with him. Through Cliff, I've met some of the most wonderful, loving, Christian people who have added so much to my life! And I am truly thankful for them.

10. Since we've been married, we have experienced some major life crises: Cliff lost his job not long after we returned from our honeymoon; His best friend, Kevin, was killed in a motorcycle wreck in November; and now I've lost my job...

11. We have finally "plugged into" a great church, Rock Springs Church, where Cliff is the worship leader for the youth and we also lead worship for the kids on Sunday mornings. We're so excited to have a church home again, and to be a part of the family ministry at RSC!

12. I'm a knitter... I basically taught myself to knit by reading Knitting For Dummies. I also had some help from my friend, Rachel :) It's so amazing to be able to create something that you can actually use from just a ball of yarn! And it's so addicting! Right now, I'm working on my first pair of socks.

13. I LOVE to laugh! Cliff says my sense of humor is weird.... He never knows what is going to set me off. And I don't really know either for that matter. But, I love to get together with my friend, Shelly, or my mom and sister and just laugh. We all have the same sense of humor and its great!

14. I'm very reserved, especially around people I've just met or don't know very well. I'm afraid to be myself because I don't know how they will perceive me. I have to sort of feel the situation out first before I really open up. Sometimes this can take several weeks. But then, when I meet certain people, I can open up a lot sooner.

15. I seem very quiet to other people. I'm very observant. Most of the time, if I'm being quiet, I'm just observing the situation...taking it all in. I don't like to be in a big group of people sometimes because I can't take everything in. So a lot of times, I will sort of shut down in those situations. (This is something I wish I could change about myself)

16. I love to watch Animated Disney Classics! Some of my favorites include: Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, Cinderella, and Peter Pan. Two that I will never own are Bambi and Dumbo...too sad!

17. I LOVE musicals (much to my husband's chagrin)!!! There's just something about them. They make me happy :) I grew up watching them, so that's probably why I have such an appreciation for them. Plus, I love music!

18. I'm a scrapbooker.... I love looking at photos and being creative, so this is the perfect hobby for me :)

19. I have a degree in Biology, mainly because I wanted to get a degree in something, and that was the only thing that fascinated me enough to want to devote that much time to it.

20. I have a minor in Exercise Science (for pretty much the same reasons listed above).

21. One day, I hope my husband and I are in a position where we can have a family and I can stay home with them until they are older and in school.

22. I've never been career-minded or driven in that area. I've always just wanted to be a homemaker.

23. I have one other sibling. My sister, Andrea, is 4 years older than me. We have very different personalities, but we also have a lot of similarities (our sense of humor, discussed earlier). I wish we were closer than we are, but since we've gotten older we have grown a lot closer than we were when we were young.

24. I've lived here all of my life. I used to think (when I was little) that I wanted to move somewhere different, but I love it here now. I love the fact that my dad, my mom, and my sister and brother-in-law are all within 5-10 minutes of us.

25. My name is Valerie Suzanne (Harris) Moore; I'm 28 years old; and I'm just trying to live my life in a way that will bring glory to God.