Hello everyone! I’m happy to be here as a new permablogger. Some of you have probably seen me hanging around the bloggernacle for a while now; I’ve been around since 2005, first lurking, then occasionally commenting on some blogs, then starting my own blog, then abandoning my blog, then guest posting. Now I’ve found a home here. It kind of feels like giving a talk at church – “for those of you who don’t know me…”

I grew up in Silicon Valley and joined the church as a Beehive. I have one sister, and I was raised to believe I could be anything I wanted to be. What I wanted to be was a scientist. However, there was this notion permeating the air, both in religious and scientific circles, that I couldn’t be both a believer and a scientist. I had to choose one. I decided to be a lawyer instead, so I studied political science and philosophy. I went to college at Santa Clara University, which was a remarkable experience. The university was dedicated to both excellent education and the glory of God. Many of my professors were Jesuits, and I wish I had met them before I changed my career path because they showed me that it’s possible to be both a scientist and a deeply dedicated follower of God. Philosophy is my second love, and I’m glad I took the time to study it, which I might not have done if I had gone the science route. But science, to this day, is still my first love.

After college, I served a mission in North Carolina. I joke that I said on my mission papers that I didn’t want to learn a foreign language, but they didn’t listen to me because I got sent somewhere where I had to learn to speak Southern. After my mission, I returned home to California and went to law school. I graduated into a terrible job market for lawyers, and eventually I had to leave. I moved to a large city in the southwest, and I’ve called it home for four years now. I can see the hand of God in guiding me to where I am, and I’m excited to see what’s in store next.

I’m kind of a mass of contradictions. Politically, I’m a libertarian (with a lowercase l), which I often say makes me too liberal for church and too conservative for the bloggernacle. In my career, I represent disability claimants before the Social Security Administration, which on its face seems like a strange job choice for a libertarian, but I still think it fits. Theologically, I believe in the central tenets of the LDS church, insofar as those tenets are compatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, if anything at church, either culturally or taught over the pulpit, is in contradiction to the gospel, I feel free to reject that particular teaching or practice. If the church and the gospel ever conflict, I will choose the gospel every time.

I’m single with no children. I hope one day to marry and have children, but I’ve made peace with the possibility that it might not be in my future. I look around at how many single women there are in the church and how many single men, and I know how to do math. My current ward is really wonderful about including single people, but I’ve been in some wards that have been very bad about it. It’s the church of Jesus Christ, not the church of Married People, and sometimes I think we forget that.

I’m looking forward to being a part of the community here. Thanks for having me!