Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in the same town as her whole (very large) extended family.  She was a great dreamer and dreamed of one day leaving her town far behind her to have grand adventures in exotic lands.  She grew quickly and wildly and became a young woman who had more than dreams: she had plans.  She traveled far and wide, to England, to Portland, to Costa Rica, to Chicago, far and wide and on her own.  She was fearless and free!  She even planned to move far from her family and the town where everyone knew her name, to a small town called Walsingham where she could settle and have a beautiful life.  But our hero had a small problem.  She had finally realized how important living with the people she’d known all her life, people who had become her family, was to her.  She had a job she loved, even though it was only part-time, guiding the growth of faith in young people she’d babysat when they were children.  Then, she had an interview for her dream job, the job that (when she was a child herself) had made her want to be a teacher.  It was a long shot, but it was a dream come true.  And then, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, she got that dream job.  She knew then and there she couldn’t leave her hometown.  But what about her adventures?  What about her journey?  Would she give it all up?

I know you’ll be shocked (SHOCKED, I tell you!) to discover that I am that girl.  That I wanted adventures and an incredible journey.  That I am, of course, going to stay in my hometown til I’m old and grey and they have to drag me from my lab (I teach Science Lab) kicking and screaming.  But what you may not be shocked to discover (because you are wiser than I) is that this is not the end of my journey.  This is just the beginning!  My journey will be different than I could ever have imagined.  More exciting, more challenging, and more beautiful than I ever could have dreamt.  And I am going to love every moment.

I’ve started this site as a way to celebrate it, to document it, and to keep it.  It wasn’t my idea, though.  I owe this stroke of brilliance (ha!) to a wonderful woman I met near the beginning of this new part of my journey named Candice.  She told me that, when she had free time to herself during her first year of school, she started a blog to fill her time.  At first, I thought, “Who wants to hear from me?!” but then I realized…  Who cares who wants to hear from me?  I want to remember this time.  And this is a good way to do it and to share it with anyone who (for some inexplicable reason) does want to hear from me.

Oh, and if you were wondering about the “Fox” bit of the site name…  My family name is Fox, passed from my great grandmother to my grandmother, to my mother and aunt, to my cousins and I.  We are the Fox women!