About Teresa

Well, I don't have many pictures of myself, so I will just give you a life story for now, ok?

I was born on April 3, 1969. I have an older brother David, who was born in 1966. I had a very happy life as the youngest child for 5 1/2 years, then my parents did the unthinkable! They had another child, my sister Heather! Actualy I was thrilled, and was never jealous of her. We get along wonderfully.

I had a very happy childhood, and wouldn't change anything. I was raised a Jehovah's Witness, and am still one today. I never felt that I was missing out on anything. In fact, I think we got more presents than most of the other kids I knew! They would get jealous because we got presents all the time, and they usually had to wait for a birthday or holiday.

I was a good student in school, and graduated with honors. I decided not to go on to college. While in high school, I worked part time as a file clerk at a bank, a job I really hated! After high school, I took a job as a file clerk at Depatie Fluid Power. I really enjoyed that job. The people were very friendly and treated me with respect.

I started dating my husband, Brian in 1986. I was 17 and he was 26. He was the brother of my friend Denise. He was also a Catholic. We went through many troublesome times. Neither family approved of our relationship at first. My parents were understandably concerned that I would leave my religion and Brian's parents were worried that he would leave his. Denise thought we may both become Jewish (she has a pretty good sense of humor about things!). Fortunately, both sets of parents were wrong. The difference of religions has made things more difficult, but we have learned to work things out. We were married on August 6, 1988. Here's a link to our wedding pictures.

About three months after Brian and I were married, I quit my job at Depatie, and started caring for our landlord's nine month old son. I really enjoyed this! When they no longer needed me, I got a job as a cashier at Big Wheel (a discount store, like Kmart)for about two months, but it seemed more like two years. Not my cup of tea! I was so miserable Brian told me to quit. I then answered a classified add for a lady looking for a nanny. We hit it off real well, and she hired me immediately. They were the most wonderful family! They had three children Jessica who was 6, Ben who was 4 and Becca who was 18 months. I watched them until Becca started school full time. (Little side note here, Jessica is now a DJ on a popular local radio station!)

About this time my mother decided to build a new house and open a daycare, so I worked part time for her for seven years. She decided to slow things down a bit though, so she no longer needs me.

In April 2003, I decided to join Weight Watcher's. Some of the women at Brian's store (he works at a grocery store) had joined, and inspired me. I have lost about 45 pounds, and became a lifetime member in October!! WOOHOO!!! I went from a size 16 down to a 4 or 6. One of my friends from our Kingdom Hall tells me that I look like a teenager again. I feel wonderful, and am pretty happy with myself! I found this before picture of myself, taken the summer of 2000. Arminda is about 2 years 3 months in this picture. I lost about 20 pounds on my own after this picture was taken, so my total loss from this picture is 62 pounds. That's an Arminda and a Lydia!

And this is me after. Lydia is 15 months here.

Brian and I have five childeren,Corey, Quinn, Gavin,, Arminda, and Lydia Rose. You can read about each of them by clicking on their names.

That's me on the left, with my sister, Heather. (This is before we lost the weight)

This is me at about three months. AWWW, aren't I cute!