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So, you want to know about me? Well, the first thing you will notice is that I'm very "wordy"! LOL! I have written quite abit (below), yet it is just a scratch on the surface of who I am. What I've written here is a very basic outline of the events of my life which have shaped me into the person I am today. If you want to be or already are my true friend, you'll read on, if not, don't bother; no problem. I thank you for taking the time to check me out.The most important thing(s) you should know about me: 1- I am Saved by the Grace of God. 2- I'm EXTREMELY Happily married to the Love of My Life, Jeffery Sapp for over 11 years now. (We were joined in Holy Matrimony on March 12, 1998, after only knowing each other for less than 6 months. Most everyone frowned heavily on our marital haste, yet, we both knew without a shadow of a doubt that our Lord had brought us together, and we followed His lead. We were SO blessed to do so, because, we were married with My Beloved, Precious Mom truly present. She was succumbing to cancer and, even a week later, she was too far gone to have been able to have been "present" at our Wedding. She was an Amazing cake decorator, and, ours was the last cake she ever made. We were married in the home of my Parents and with the blessing of both of them as well as my close friends and family. Thank You Lord Jesus!)On the subject of Our Wedding (which I/we LOVE!), it was real small and intimate, yet the best wedding EVER! It was said by more than one of the only 25 attendees that, ours was "the best wedding they had ever attended". Why? because, the DEEP and AMAZING God-Given Love between Jeff and I was so evident to all who witnessed our union! We do regret that we could not have a large wedding to share our amazing love with everyone, yet, it was all, "meant-to-be". And, I was the happiest, most relaxed bride I've ever heard of to this day! PS: on this subject; the ONLY regret we have ever had about our marriage is, that we did not get married sooner!Okay! I need to stop! I could go on and on and on and on and on and.... about our Love and our Wedding and our Honeymoon and our Amazing life we share daily for the past 11+ years, however, I know that you are probably puking right now (LOL!!!), so, I'll quit on my favorite subject, and go on to tell you about ME (since this is the "About ME Section!!!" LOL!I've been told oh so many times, that I need to write a book about my life. Still not convinced on that; like, write a book for who? People who are already super depressed? People who want to play the "my life sucks worse than yours" game? Just kidding! I do have an amazing sense of humor! If you are in the mood for a not so happy story (but with a very happy ending!), read on; if not, go back to your last web search. :)Here is my super brief biography: I am a female, born 1971 and I am kind, generous, upbeat, competitive, high IQ but not quite Mensa high like my husband(I came shy a couple points!!!). Raised in an EXTREME religious home, which pretty much was like a cult. I was never allowed to wear pants, jewelry, make-up or any sort of "worldly" apparel. I was not allowed to have short hair. My home had no TV, or radio, and I was not allowed to listen to ANY music. Was not allowed to ever even think of going to a movie. In fact, the very first movie theater I ever set foot in was when I was 21. Obviously, I was never allowed to go to any sort of concert! Also, I was not permitted to take part in ANY sort of extra-curricular activity at all! No sports, band, choir, etc....I really wonder; had I been allowed to pursue "normal" school activites, where would I be now? I mean, I have a high IQ! Would I now be the doctor I envisioned? Just why was I held back from my true dreams and real success because my parents chose some weird beliefs? They told me I was going to grow up, marry and bear children! Well, I followed their plan, till God changed it all and CHEMO STOLE my chance to ever bear a child! So, what if my parents had not interfered with GOD'S PLAN for me, and I now could be a very important and contributing member to society!!!I do wonder a LOT, if my father (Mom's in Heaven, and, she had nothing to do with what my father ordered) has any regrets about how restricted he made my life. And, even MORE importantly to me, does my father ever care or wonder about had he not been so strictly religious, where would his sons be? I KNOW for CERTAIN that, had my father not been involved in this religious cult, my beloved brother Paul would be alive and well! and, my Amazing and Beloved brother Tim, would be in a whole different life! and, my other Amazing, Beloved and Precious "little" brother Dave, would be in a whole different place too! Now, don't get me wrong! Tim and Dave and doing SO good! the best they can for the terrible upbringing they had! They both have the most successful thing anyone can ever hope for in this life; they have beautiful, loving and amazing wives, and, beautiful, Amazing Children!!!I digress! again! Now, back to my story:For my religious family, school was a necessary evil. Until, some other members of the same religious affiliation discovered Home Schooling. That came about when I was about to enter high school. My parents bought into this hype and educational abuse, and voila, I was yanked out of public school, along with my two younger siblings. I ended up with basically an 8th grade education. I'm lucky! I personally know of other girls who have no higher than a 4th grade education. Why? you ask? Well, our religious system, seemed to believe that females were only here on earth to marry, bear children and make a good home for some male. So, education for a female was a waste!About my family: I have 4 siblings; older brothers Tim and Paul, (I'm in the middle), one younger bro, Dave and one sister, Susie. Paul left this earth at the age of 22 when he took his own life. I was not allowed to go to college due to the religious beliefs of my parents (apparently, as a female, I was only destined to get married, produce as many babies as possible, cook, clean and be a "door-mat" to my husband. I rebelled and went to my local community college anyway to become a Paramedic. Got my EMT-B certification! (never dreamed that I could make way more as a receptionist than I could as an EMT!) So, took some time to determine whether I valued being poor and honorable more, or having my material goods and not saving lives. Material goods won out. I've worked several jobs in Chiropractic clinics and also Physical Therapy. Over the years, I worked from receptionist to Office Manager. In 1995, I took a break from this type of work and moved to Sunriver/Bend, Oregon and worked at Sunriver Resort. Loved it so very much! Won Employee of the Month Award (out of 700+ employees) was respected, valued, and loved by all and was on my 3rd promotion when I found out I had Leukemia. Age 25. Single. Sucked! Moved back to parents house June 1996 for a Bone Marrow Transplant at OHSU. My brother Tim was my donor and a perfect match. I flew thru the actual transplant and broke two records; 1- fastest patient out to date (21 days!) and 2- first patient to never get a fever. I hope to God that someone else has broken my records!!! Went home to recuperate. Mom was my saving Angel. She took the absolute best care of me! 4 weeks after transplant, both femoral heads(hip bones)died and collapsed. "Medically impossible" my doctors said. "No one developes Avascular Necrosis (dead bone) unless they've been on high dose Prednisone for at least a year" they said. Well, sorry docs, I was on it for only 4 weeks and my hip bones were dead and gone. Couldn't walk, bend, sit up, put socks on, shower alone, shave my legs, get dressed, etc... Kind of humiliating, especially when you are only 25!So, I spent a full year and four months in bed. In that time, I had both of my hips replaced. The Leukemia to this day has not returned. Transplant successful! However, physical life to this day sucks! I went into Menopause at age 25. Can't have kids. (A VERY SORE and SAD subject with me the older I get! and the more everyone around me has kids! My husband is SO supportive; yet he too longs for a child of our own!) Hot flashes are the story of my daily life. They SUCK!September 1997, I got a full time job (against medical advice) then one month later, moved into my own apartment. Left the religious "cult". Met the love and SoulMate of my life; Jeff (he had to train me at my new job). We were engaged within weeks and married March 12, 1998. To this day, we are real, true Soulmates, Best Friends, and more in love every single day and, now past our 11 year anniversary! Yeah!!! (like the country song says, "they thought we'd never make it!" and, so many people never thought we would! What they did not know was, it was our Lord, our Heavenly Father who brought us together, so, we have a pretty great chance!) Yet, in case anyone is still reading this (LOL!), we both want everyone to know that, although we have a phenomenal marriage, it is not always a "walk in the park". We do have tiffs; and, what we know for sure is, EVERY marriage WILL have it's "tiffs"; the secret of Happy Success is NOT "if you fight", it's "how you two react and make up after the fight." THAT my friends, is THE key to a successful marital union! If you want to know more, please feel free to write me. I have a TON more to say on the subject! And, since I've been blissfully happily married for 11+ years, I feel I now have a right to tell other couples about just why it is that Jeff and I are still SO VERY Happy! ;)Okay, back to my story now: Unfortunately, Mom got Lymphoma right after I moved out of my parents home. She left this world and went Home to Heaven end of July 1998. She never got to see her other daughter and son marry, and never got to meet even one grandchild. (which is tragic considering how beautiful and amazing all of her grandkids are!!!) I know for sure she sees us all now, and I know we are all going to be reunited one day. Yeah! :)Two months after she passed, Jeff and I moved to Astoria to manage a motel. Went crazy with boredom and quit after six months. Lived in Seaside for six months (in our "mansion on the hill"). Prices in Seaside are so much lower than Portland! Six months later, I finally got hired to work as a 911 dispatcher (after years of dreaming for this job). So, we moved to Milwaukie, Oregon. Six weeks later, I quit. Had no idea how much it would change who I was. I am way too nice, caring and personable to qualify as a 911 dispatcher (found out way too late, you have to be an uncaring, dispassionate bitch to work for 911). At Jeff's prompting, I took 4 months off from working. Couldn't take it (the boredom), so got hired as an Office Manager at the last company I worked at. During this time I fulfilled one of my life goals, and started breeding Himilayan/Persians. This was a very fun (and at times heartbreaking) adventure. I worked at the new job for six years. During this time, my health had been going down the toilet faster than I could ever imagine. Had to be hospitalized a couple times. Once for a parotid gland infection. That was a full two weeks in the hospital including intensive care and near death. Then a month after that, on Thanksgiving night, my left lung just collapsed. Back in the hospital. Chest cavity was so full of blood and pus it forced the lung to collapse. To this day, no one has ever figured out why. Had to have surgery to insert chest tube to drain the gunk. Simple surgery. Turned out, not so simple. Almost died. And, I woke up during the operation! I was fully conscious, but could not even flutter my eye or twitch my toe. Just had to lay there and feel everything and hear everything. At the time I first woke up , they were having so much trouble getting me intubated, that they were going to do a Tracheotomy. Fortunately, they got the tube in. What was supposed to be a "routine" surgery, was not. Woke up in ICU on a breathing machine. My poor husband! No young husband should ever have to go into ICU and see his Sweetie unconcious and on life support. Eventually recovered from this and went back to work. I've never been the same. Long story short, I quit my job in Feb. of 2006 because I could no longer perform, and have been at home in bed or on the couch ever since. My boss was way too kind; he should have fired me in 2003. And that, brings you up to date (the super short version!)

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Joanna Quits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bXHPqj3NcI

You have NO idea how amazing it was when Jennifer Aniston finally agree to play me; "Joanna" in "Office Space"; the most AMAZING comedy ever!

Kool & The Gang - Joanna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snzafal2nAw

What is there to say? This song says it all! :) Listen and think of Me! The one and only, Joanna!

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