Hello Families! My name is Sarah. I am 22 years old and am looking to learn about ways of life outside my small town. I come from a family of 7, so I am used to chaos. I love kids & always have. If you have pets, bring 'em on! Growing up, we lived on a hobby farm, so I'm used to anything from dogs, cats, caged birds, chickens, goats, cows, pigs, llamas, ducks, horses, snakes, hamsters, fish.. you name it! I love people & animals and believe each one is a blessing.

Though this is my first year being an official nanny, I do have loads of experience working with kids. When I was about 10 i started as a Mother's Helper & babysat while the mom was at home. That later turned into many babysitting, tutoring, and nannying jobs. When I was 15, I helped my mom start a home based business teaching Agriculture Education for home-schoolers in grades K-8. Those were some of the best years of my life to date.

It was an awesome season of partnering with my mom. I learned so much from her and about myself & what it takes to start & run a business. I learned how to be really creative on a budget, how to balance different learning stages, how to time manage, lesson plan, deal with many ages of children, know general First Aid & how to adapt that to being on a farm, how to encourage & challenge (and knowing the difference) and really just how to be a role model. I learned how to give all that I had into my work. Some days it was really fun & meant giving hugs hello & decorating homework with stickers & encouraging comments. Others days, it meant practically teaching life lessons about doing what is right, even when it is hard and it was not all "rainbows and sunshine". I believe we are all learning everyday. Kids get the chance to learn even more then we do because the world is so fresh and new to them. So why not help them coast along life, by being good examples?

Fun silly stuff about me: I love food. I love to cook & bake. I like to try new recipes by making them up as i go. I like to think about how flavors and textures blend and complement & try to create healthy meals around that. To go to culinary school is a dream of mine. Food is a completely amazing way to be artistic & be a blessing to others. When life gets stressful, I bake. It is a great stress reliever & the result makes people happy. When I can, I enjoy finding recipes to make for my local fire department, friends, and my many "Grandparents". There are so many sweet elderly women in my church that love to bless me, so I like to surprise them with baked goods in return.

I love to be outside, playing, reading, swimming, or just soaking up the sunshine. My home is backed up to 450 acres of land. So I had lots of space to make forts in the woods, play in the stream, and play games in the meadows. Growing up my family had a strict rule about how much TV we were allowed to watch each week, and we were not allowed to have Xboxes or Playstations, and as a result, I am a HUGE fan of using my imagination. When playing with kiddos, I really try to encourage this. Looking back, i don't remember all the movies I watched, but I do remember all the mud pies & cakes I made, or the long hours of SPUD, Red Rover, Capture the Flag, House, Dress Ups, Kick the Can or any of those wonderful games.

Right now, I enjoy running, playing volleyball (this is new for me this year), bowling, geocaching, hanging with friends, cooking, and baking, & photography. If you don't know what geocaching is, you must look it up. It is basically modern day treasure hunting. It makes any "I'm board" moment or long road trip instantly fun. I guess an easy way to sum me up is this: I am an easily please girl that loves to find the silver linings in life. My greatest joys most often come from the simplest or resources. Memories last forever, so i try to make so really good ones.

To be honest, I'm not sure If this is what a "get to know me" section is supposed to look like. I was not certain if I was to write out a resume, a character sketch of me, or my life story. So I just gave you a mix of everything. In my stage of life, I am really open to moving to a new place to meet new people and experience a different way of life. I'd love to uproot myself & become apart of your family & and learn how y'all work and live. Thanks for reading all this.. I know it was long. -Sarah