Okay, let’s get the first round of those questions answered!

Debbie asked: “When are the Starlite sweatshirts going on sale for the bloggy world?”

She’s referring to the sweatshirts that sometimes appear in our pictures of my college girls (as seen in this post among many other posts).

We’re actually getting ready to do a re-order of these; if you’d like to purchase one, email us at info@starliteministries.org and we’ll send you the info.

Ronnica asked: “You’ve mentioned several times before that you’ve started going to the pool to swim laps, which is also my exercise of choice. When did you start doing this, and what’s your favorite (and least favorite) things about it?”

I was actually on a swim team as a child and, since then, have loved ANYTHING to do with swimming. I occasionally swam laps while I was in college, but just started getting serious about it in the last 3 months. My least favorite part about it is having to actually appear in public whilst wearing a bathing suit; my favorite part is playing my pretend game of “What if there was a dolphin in the pool with me?” And yes, I play it every single time I’m in the pool.

bessie.viola asked: “I’d like to know if you ever have intentions of Starlite going national… because I have a year-old baby girl who I would LOVE to have this support system when she’s old enough.”

Could I imagine what we do through Starlite working on a national level? Absolutely. Do I have any idea how that would ever actually happen? Um, no. It’s hard for me, the girl who has no real guarantee of a continued salary during a recession like our nation is in, to imagine having even more paid staff. We reach a LOT of girls, but we’re still a baby ministry in many aspects. We’re actually getting ready to enter into a major time of transition that will really shake various things up, none of which I can actually write about on the blog quite yet. So, um, stay tuned.

Tami asks: “You mention periodically on your blog that there are so many NORMAL foods that you have never tried. What did your family dinners consist of as a child growing up?”

This is a hilarious question, because no one ever believes my answer. I was raised in a single-parent household with my mom always working two or more jobs. We had a babysitter that typically fixed chicken nuggets and tater tots for dinner; peanut butter sandwiches for lunch the next day. I am, to this day, an extremely picky eater but I’m trying to work on it. This past Thanksgiving was my first holiday-meet-the-parents-of-someone-I-was-dating type of thing and you better believe I tried every dish on that table without one bit of hesitation. In one meal, I tried seven new foods including sweet potato casserole, dressing and this thing that had fruit and something white in it (I can’t remember what it was called). I liked the fruit thing-y.

Katherine asked: “I have two questions, both related to turn of the century pop music: 1. N*Sync or the Backstreet Boys? and 2. Which WoW CD do you think is the best?”

That’s easy: the Backstreet Boys, simply due to the poetic genius found in the song “Quit Playing Games With My Heart.” As far as the WoW CD’s, I’m going to have to go with the one from 1997 mainly cause it has some ska music on it. Which the boy I was in love with at the time loved. He loved the ska music, not me. AND YET, I AM A SURVIVOR.

Tamara asked: “What one hair product, accessory or appliance has changed your life?”

Oh, Tamara, you do not know how long I had to think about this question. The choices, my goodness, the choices. In the end, I’m going to choose the ponytail holder because it has saved me from actually fixing my hair on multiple days. Including yesterday. As well as today. And, um, probably tomorrow, too.

More questions and answers to come! Oh and just so you know, we launch a new semester of Sparkle today at three local middle schools simultaneously (Twinkle begins next Monday at the elementary schools and Glow begins next Tuesday at the high schools). In other words, yes, YES YOU MAY PRAY FOR US.

But only if you insist.