Since our initial post was so brief, I thought I’d take a minute to post a little more detail about how my faith played a role in my life to this point. Growing up, my Mom, older sister, and I went to church somewhat regularly. Mom sang in the choir (so she went more regularly), and I when I went, I typically sat in “big church” with my older sister. Daddy didn’t start going to church until I was in college, but that’s another story all together.

Religion didn’t play too much of a role in my life until about 6th grade. That’s when confirmation classes started for me. We were living in Oklahoma City and going to a church that Mom really liked (me, not so much). None of my friends from school went there, and I often felt like an outsider in Sunday school. Most of the other kids went to school together and were already friends. And we all know how kind the junior high years are to us…Still, I was an acolyte at the church and I finished confirmation class.

When we moved from Oklahoma City to Friendswood, TX, things were different. Friendswood UMC was smaller and several of my friends from school went there. I became more involved in the youth group and even volunteered in the nursery. However, I always enjoyed the fellowship and spending time with my friends more than I paid attention to the relgious aspects of it all.

After high school, I went to Texas Christian University, but ironically, that’s really where my church affiliation fell off. I went to church not much more than once or twice a semester, with occasional “spurts” of rekindling – particularly around finals time. I’d go pretty regularly with Mom any time I was home for a weekend or semester breaks, but religion pretty much took a back burner.

And that’s where I was when Bryan and I started dating. It was our second date when he told me he’s Jewish, and my response was, “Okay, is that an issue?” When he said no, the date went on as usual. However, knowing that difference in our background really opened up the door for us to have some GREAT discussions – we talked about our religious/spiritual feelings and really took the opportunity to learn more about the similarities and differences in our faiths. It’s made a world of difference, I think, in how relatively smooth it’s been for the two of us to plan for a life together, and to face the questions that come from well-meaning friends and family.

That’s probably more than you wanted or cared to know about me, but hopefully it will help give some good background for future posts we might have.