"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters...."
Isa 55:1

Beth-Nimrah means "House of Sweet or Pure Water" (an alternative meaning is "House of Leopards"). It was one of the villages settled by the tribe of Gad after crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land. I hope you will find it a place of refreshing on your journey. Drop by often to take a cup of cool sweet water.

For the curious, a brief sketch. I am a native of the lovely Maritime province of Nova Scotia, Canada. I was born in the old Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasow, in Pictou County. As a young babe I was baptized in St George Anglican church (no. 6, bottom, middle).

In 1967 I graduated from Prince Andrew High School (Hello to all PA Alumni.) located in Dartmouth, NS which is now a part of Halifax Regional Municipality. I then moved on to a three year RN program at the Halifax Infirmary School of Nursing and graduated with the class of 1970. The Infirmary is now part of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre (QEII). Later I was also a student of Political Science - I took the first three years of an Honours BA in Political Science (with a special interest in International Relations) at Dalhousie University ('87-'90). Today I do some freelance work in website design and copywriting. I am also a freelance editor and author.

I am very blessed. God gifted me with three happy, healthy, wonderful children. It seems such a short time ago that they were babes and toddlers. Shannon, the oldest, is 27 and graduated May 2001 with a Double Major, Honours BA in Geography (in the area of Oceans and Coastal Management) and in Political Science at St. Mary's University in Halifax, NS which is noted for, among other things, The Burke-Gaffney Observatory. SMU (pronounced SM-YOU), as St. Mary's is affectionately called, is also the alma mater of Uncle Rory, a prof at The University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops, BC. Shannon's husband Damon hails from "down-under" from the state of Tasmania, Australia. Shannon and Damon got married on August 25th, 2001 at the Chapel at the Atlantic School of Theology. (They got engaged in Tasmania in January 2000 while on a visit to Damon's folks.) My second child, my daughter Bryna, is 24 and is the proud mother of our first grandchild Maggie May born on December 30th 2000. She has a remarkable talent for sketching and painting, loves ALL animals but especially her canine buddy "Bart" and has a special friend named Aran. My third child, my son Mark, is 20 and lives with his father in Halifax. He has been playing with the idea of enlisting in the Canadian Army some day.

I am also stepmother to two young men, my husband Richard's sons. Mark who is 22, has just finished his second year of studies in Computer Science at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC and is now in the Co-op Program. Michael, the younger son, is 20 and in a year off before entering university and lives with his mother near Vancouver, BC. Michael is most interesed in the Fine Arts but announced recently that he was interested in medicine. Hmmmm..... I am very proud of all five!

The love of my life, my best friend and partner is Richard a minister in the United Church of Canada. He was ordained by BC Conference in 1982 after graduating from the Vancouver School of Theology. He has served Pastoral Charges in Maritime Conference (New Bruswick, Nova Scotia) and in London Conference in Ontario before coming back to British Columbia where he serves as minister at St. Andrew's United in Golden.

In my spare time after practicing webministry on Kir-Shalom, I am a workshop leader in spirituality, journalling and prayer; and a writer, copywriter and website designer in a small local design team, Bits & Bytes Computing.

I'm a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and was professed at the Easter Vigil 2000. Words cannot express the deep joy that I have with this move. My collection of Catholic links can be viewed at One Holy Catholic And Apostolic.

A sense of my personality can be gleaned from two of my nicknames - 'The Irish Pirate' and 'The Bear.' This should give you a sense that I am tempestuous, dramatic, passionate, motherly, and deeply reflective. The Bear is the keeper of the dreamtime in native tradition. This June after attending a Myers-Briggs Workshop I discovered that I am an INTP - as is Richard!

My eclectic interests and passions include: rock-hounding, collecting bears and bells and paperweights, reading up on native traditions and spirituality and on celtic culture, music, Judaism and the Holocaust, international relations - political science, writing, cooking, public speaking, reading for pleasure and interest (I consume books), my Christan faith and spirituality and more....

My dislikes are: housework (a minimal return of investment and very boring but necessary), pessimists, caterpillars (I freak out), mosquitoes, extremists (of all stripes), parsnips, bullies, winter (my second child was born at the tail end of a long miserable winter - I've despised winter ever since) [This I have to amend sometime. Last year - 1997/98 - I spent my first winter in the Rockies and fell in love with winter all over again. There's something very different, very beautiful about winter here. The snow falls quietly, steadily straight down and softly begins to pile & heap up. Bushes and trees and fences take on awesome new personas wrapped in their snow blankets. I've seen majestic Father Frosts along the roadside through the Kicking Horse Pass; come across fairy palaces with every blade of grass, every limb of tree frosted with diamonds; and I've wanted to reach out and hug the adorable "snow" lambs that have curled amongst the low-lying juniper. I've walked on crunchy snow, crisp snow and snow so feather light it's like walking on air. Then there are the nights when the Northern Lights dance in the sky while stars shimmer their approval; the days when the sun reflects off the dazzling crystals so brightly it hurts. Winter has again become a magical time. I almost built a snowfort this year. I will build one next winter - and - I'll have a good old-fashioned snowball fight in my backyard.], grudge-holders, gossips, rationalization, rudeness and a few other things.

Since nursing school I have used this motto: "To love, to dissent, to reach upwards, to be one's self." It has served me well, reminding me of what I cherish: aspiration, freedom, inspiration and being everything I was blessed to be.