You ask, I’ll answer. {with a link-up!}
I thought it would be fun to lighten the mood around here a little with a question-and-answer post. I saw one of these posts on another random blog and it reminded me of mine from a couple years ago.
It’ll work a little differently this time. I’ll respond to each individual question using the threaded reply feature. So come back to this post for my answers.
Go ahead, ask me anything. (Within reason. The requisite disclaimer: I reserve the right to not answer any question at my own discretion, if I deem it inappropriate, yada yada and etc.)
And just to make it more of a community thing, I’m adding a link-up. If you write your own question-and-answer post, you can come back and add your link (please link directly to the post, not to the front page of your blog).
Note: I don’t know how to make the links appear in the actual post instead of in the pop-up window. But if you click the Mister Linky button, you’ll see the linked posts.
Ask away, friends!
I totally didn’t know it was going to be in Orlando! Awesome! Maybe we can go. I haven’t been since 2008, the year I met A.J. there. My baby will be all grown up by then (well, about 15 months old). I would love to meet you!
Maybe the g-parents could babysit…
Which grandparents? Because I would rather be with you than go to Next!
I’m sure he meant us, but maybe both could happen!
Oooh, how fun! I just linked up my post.
Question: What are some ways you and your Husband have chosen to raise your family that differ from how you were raised? I don’t know how you were raised, or if there would even be much that differs, but I’m always intrigued to hear from my friends who were raised in solid Biblical homes who have decided to do something differently (and while sadly some do not choose to do so for the better, most do and it’s encouraging!).
And, for fun: Do you eat the crust on your bread?
No matter how hard I try, I can’t bring myself to eat it…
Good question! Being that we are just starting out, I guess we’ll see how a lot of that plays out. But we are from very different backgrounds. I’m from a Christian home and my husband isn’t. So I suppose in a lot of ways the way we raise our kids will look like the way I was raised. There are a lot of small things that might be different, because every family is different. I was homeschooled. We’re planning to homeschool. Will we homeschool all the way through? Possibly not. My sisters and I didn’t play sports, but A.J. and I want our kids to have that opportunity.
But honestly, it’s hard to think of many other differences. It’s much easier to think of similarities. I’ll let you know if I think of anymore.
I do eat my crust! I don’t really like the end pieces, though.
eating frosting from a can with a spatula! I knew I liked you 
As my husband would say, *guilty*! But my disclaimer is that I had already used *most* of the frosting in that can to frost a cake. I was just enjoying the leftovers. 
If you could choose to be any character in a favorite book of yours, who would you be?
Oooh… book questions are always so hard. I have to think about this. I’ll get back to you!
I would like to be Elsie from the Elsie Dinsmore series for a day.
I LOVE those books!!!! She’s always the person I pick for this question, too. And I almost put that series down as my favorite book in my Q&A.
How many kids do you want?
I’m just curious: I want four, and Derek wants two, so we’ll probably at least have three.
If you could pick one book that would be a must-read at some point in a person’s life, what would it be?
Favorite ice cream flavor?
I think we want at least 4. We’d also like to adopt at some point, Lord willing. I’d like to have at least 1 girl, but ideally at least 2 boys and 2 girls.
I would probably say Don’t Waste Your Life by Piper. So universally applicable and convicting. But again, I have such a hard time with book questions. There are soooo many that would be wonderful from all of history! So that’s just from my limited perspective.
Favorite ice cream flavor? Oh, Edy’s Girl Scouts Thin Mint. It is amazing. I rarely buy it, for good reason.
This sounds like so much fun. I might write up a post of my own soon!
I just found your blog through LeAnna so I don’t really know what to ask you. Hmmm…
Why did you start blogging??
Hi Stephanie! Nice to meet you!
My very first blog was on Blogspot. I started it in 2004 when I was a 17-year-old college freshman, to write updates for my family and friends at home. I switched to Xanga soon thereafter for the same reason, and also for the social aspect of it. I started Hope Road because I had fallen in love with blogging as an outlet for my writing, and I wanted an intentional and creative space.
Imagine yourself ten years ago…what would you tell little Anna about her future?
And…if God granted you superhuman powers for a day, what would you most wish for?
Oh, I would definitely tell myself about the wonderful man I was going to marry, so as not to worry about any guy’s opinion until then!
And to not worry about anything else either, because the Lord truly does never forsake His children! Wait, maybe I should just tell myself that now…
Ooh, superhuman powers. I would teleport or time travel. I can’t decide which. Could I be a teleporting time traveler?
Of course you could! That sounds great – good choices…
And I had never even thought of that reason to talk to your younger self…I love that! Imagine how much anxiety you’d be released from if you had that sort of information…but then again, how much less we would seek God’s will if we already knew the outcome…hm…I suppose there’s a reason we can’t be visited by our older, wiser selves.
Great answers Anna! This was fun.
I’m still trying to think of a good question to ask. I’m terrible at that!
Did you graduate from college? If so, what is your degree?
I graduated from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a degree in Educational Ministries and Bible, and a minor in English. Funny, Educational Ministries is now a defunct major. It’s pretty much not marketable. And no one knows what it is. So short answer? I was a Bible major.
I have another question! What was your first job? Did you like it? And…what do you like most about being a SAHM?
I did love my first job! It was working at a Christian bookstore during my high school years.
What I like most about being a SAHM is 1) being employed by the Lord and my husband instead of another random boss, and 2) getting to see my precious son’s face all day long.
And all night long… but I digress…
Ha! I saw your tweet. Hope you get a nap today! Hang in there, before we know it we’ll be the ones going in their rooms telling them it’s TIME TO GET UP!
We’re expecting our first baby in January…any advice on baby items you thought you needed but didn’t, or needed but didn’t think you did? (Eg., stroller, sling, etc.)
We didn’t start using our hand-me-down swing until Christian was about 3 months old, which was good because then he learned to nap without it, but it came in so handy when we finally started using it! I wish I had used it during those newborn days!
I still wish I had a Moby Wrap… my friend put Christian in hers the other day and he LOVED it.
I love my travel system. It’s so nice to be able to to pop the carseat into it everywhere we go. I might get a snap ‘n’ go if I had it to do over again, though.
I would love a jogging stroller.
And what was unnecessary? The diaper genie. We just use the trash can, but we’ll see how long that lasts.
Congratulations!!!
If you had to do something drastically different to your style, what would it be? (for example: get a super short hair cut, pierce something, etc…)
Well, I just got a short haircut, so I guess my answer would be getting my nose pierced. I’ve always wanted to do that.
[...] own Q & A Session, like what my good friend and blog mentor Anna is hosting over at her blog, Hope Road. Here is your opportunity to ask me any question that pops into your [...]
Fun! Some of these questions I could answer for you! But some of them I would have never thought to ask you… it’s kind of funny! This is really fun for me to read.
Anyways, I figured things out and did my own Q and A! Thanks Anna! Talk to you soon.
What is your favorite day of the week and why?
Either Saturday or Sunday. I love Saturday because it’s family day and Sunday because it’s church day!
Oh, this is fun! But I have so many questions, I don’t know where to start. Haha, here’s one.
The Next conference will be held in Orlando next year. Would you and your husband consider going as “ninjas”(“ninjas” are the young married couples who volunteer to help out at the conference)? Then I could actually meet you in real life and ask all my questions.