Danielle's Questionnaire

Background Information

Describe your personality, strengths, and weaknesses: 

I would describe my personality as caring, nurturing, cheerful and optimistic. I try everyday to make the lives of those around me a little bit better.

Sometimes that means I need to share a funny quote or joke I've heard to help someone smile. Other times I find myself writing a note or making a phone call to let people know I'm thinking of them. I'm not afraid to step outside of my "comfort zone" to make someone new or alone feel welcomed or noticed. I also try my best to give people the benefit of the doubt. No one is perfect and thinking of others in a positive way helps me keep things in perspective. I think one of my biggest strengths is my faith. The trials I have experienced in this life have led me to trust that God truly knows what is best for me. I know that even if I don't understand why I am asked to experience a particular trial, God can help me get through it. 

I think some of my other strengths are compassion, empathy and integrity. I know who I have the potential to become and I know that others possess those same divine attributes. We each have times when we need a good friend or confidant and I feel like I have been blessed to know when I can be that kind of help to those around me. 

As far as my weaknesses, I know that patience is something that I am constantly working on. Through the loving help and endless patience of my husband, I feel like I have already come a long way. I have come to realize that things don't have to run smoothly or look perfect, to still have a happy life. These realizations are making room for me to continue to improve and focus on the things that really matter--like a happy family and service to others. 

Describe your hopes, goals, and aspirations: 

I hope to be a mom someday who raises her kids in a happy and laughter-filled home. I've always wanted to be a mom. I can't tell you how many times I pretended to be pregnant and have babies when I played house as a little girl. I loved each of my baby dolls and thought of them as my very own. I hope one day to be able to feel that love for real with our own real children. :) 

A personal goal of mine is to finish my schooling. I have been blessed with great jobs that have allowed me to support my husband while he has been in school, but I would really love to complete my degrees someday. There are two fields I would like to pursue, both of which I already have some schooling completed. When I can, I'd like to go back to beauty school to complete my training and get my license so I can really expand my skills and clientele. I'm

blessed to be able to cut, color and style hair on the side, but my goal is to one day run a full-service salon out of my home. I'd also like to become a music therapist someday. I studied music therapy my senior year of high school and took a few semesters of music major courses in college. This is something I'd like to pursue once my children are grown and I can dedicate myself to the program full-time. Music is such a powerful healing tool and I'd love to share my love of it with those who are in need.

Describe your spouse's personality, strengths, and weaknesses: 

Clinton is a real character! He has a wonderful ability to make any situation a happy one. There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't have me laughing.

He promised me when we were engaged that he would make me laugh everyday, and he has held true to that promise! I love how happy he is and I love his sense of humor! 

Clinton's strengths are many. I would definitely include his happy personality as one of his strengths. It has provided comfort during stressful times and relief from hurt or sadness. Another of Clinton's strengths is his ability to argue from both sides. He is very good at listening to and understanding both sides of an argument or situation. I'll often times turn to him for help in understanding someone because I know he'll be able to help me see/understand what I couldn't before.

This leads me into another strength--Clinton is accepting of all people in all types of situations. He is not afraid to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, sit beside someone who is alone or offer a hand of help. I love that about him! He does not judge others but sees them as another person probably just trying their best to do what they believe is right. 

If I must list a weakness for my husband, I guess I could say his ability to be logical at times could be considered a weakness. Sometimes I just want him to listen to me and validate my feelings but he sees it as an opportunity to solve my problems. I know he means well, but sometimes a girl just needs to let it all out and be told that everything will be ok. We've discussed this together and I know it is something he is working on.

Clinton's Questionnaire

Background Information

Describe your personality, strengths, and weaknesses: 

I might be one of the few people in the world that actually likes my personality. Prior to my mission for the LDS church, I was somewhat introverted, I didn't really like opening up and talking to people that I didn't really know. On my mission, however, we were required to do at least 20 hours of door-knocking a week. By doing this, I was able to adapt better to talking to people whom I had just met. Now, I feel like I'm much more outgoing and I like talking to people about pretty much anything.

Secondly, I love to make people laugh. I have frequently been told that I should forget medicine and go into comedy. Even when I was a kid telling my totally lame jokes to friends on the playground, I remember that I felt happy when people around me could laugh along with me. Even today when I'm interviewing patients at the clinic, I always feel like if I can make them laugh just a little, then maybe they'll see that we're both regular people and that they can feel safe trusting in me.

I feel like my greatest strength is my ability to put myself in other people's shoes. Growing up with some fairly emotional older sisters, I often saw that their battles with friends or teachers were always based on some sort of silly misunderstanding. I also see that so much political and religious debate is based on little misunderstandings between people. I feel like the best way to avoid those misunderstandings is to try to relate to the other person's perspective, and try to argue in their favor instead of trying to argue against them. I've always felt that if you can't understand your enemy's perspective, then you are likely the one who needs to apologize.

My greatest weakness is probably related to what I've listed as my strength. There have been times when Danielle has come to me with problems she's having at work or when someone has said something hurtful or insensitive and instead of being the support I should be, I instead try to argue for what the other person was likely intending. As you might imagine, this doesn't always make Danielle very happy. As we've gone on in our marriage, I've been trying more and more to see that when people come to me with their frustrations, they're not always looking for solutions-- they may just want someone to listen. But, I am trying to overcome that inclination.

Describe your hopes, goals, and aspirations: One of my first goals relates to my career. I remember when I was in a biology class in high school, we had a government-issued exam that every high school student is required to do. Our teacher also took the exam every year so that he could make sure he was teaching us everything that we needed to know to do well on the exam. About a week following that exam, he announced that I did very well and then came down from his desk to personally shake my hand in front of the entire class. I remember how special he made me feel by doing that. I asked him later if he thought I should pursue medicine, to which he replied, "I think you could do anything you wanted!" From that point on, I decided that I wanted to become a doctor and to help people with something so basic as their health.

Another goal I have is to have a family. Now being 30 years old (which is so surprising to me-- I still feel like I just turned 20), Danielle and I have watched many of our friends start having children and changing their lives to accommodate those children. Although I had never set a time in my life to start having kids, I couldn't imagine being in my 40s and 50s and never experiencing the joy of having kids in my life. Although I hate using the term "biological clock", I think that I have noticed lately that our family feels like it is missing a few people.

Two more goals I've had are: 1) to get my pilot's license-- I've always dreamed of flying, and 2) to teach high school physics-- I don't know why, but I love teaching, especially something as cool as physics!

Describe your spouse's personality, strengths, and weaknesses:

Danielle is the type of girl who is basically unwavering. She is the type of person who wants to help other people regardless of who they are or how well she knows them. One example of this was on a flight we were on from Milwaukee to Minneapolis last summer. There was a woman who was covered in tattoos with two kids, one a toddler and the other a small baby. As we boarded the plane, the woman was struggling to get her children in their seats. She was holding up the line of people trying to board the plane, and you could start to hear people moan and groan behind her as they began to complain that she was delaying everyone. Instead of adding to the complaints or just ignoring the situation, Danielle gave me her carry-on bags and immediately went to help the woman with her children. She helped put the baby's diaper bag in the overhead bin and then held the baby as the woman tended to her toddler. I don't think anyone else on the plane really cared about what Danielle had done, but I was impressed. To me, Christ's entire message could quickly be summarized in two words: "Be nice." On that day, she didn't just join with everyone else in complaining about the minor inconvenience that this lady presented, instead she became part of the solution and helped the woman no matter who she was or whether or not she was invited to help.

So, in short, I think that Danielle's greatest strength is charity. Ever since we've been married, Danielle has longed to have children. In the early years of our marriage, I was fairly hesitant to have children. I instead desired more to start my career and get well-established in life before bringing kids into the mix, but she knew better.

Danielle's greatest weakness was probably her fear of confrontation. When Danielle would visit her sibling's homes who were already married, she sometimes would hear them disagree and it would lead her to think that something was wrong with their relationship. Since being married, though, Danielle and I have both learned that it is perfectly normal for couples to disagree and that some of the tiniest disagreements can turn into some of the most ridiculous arguments. Luckily, we learned early in our marriage that being married does not imply that everything will be perfect, but rather that marriage is all about compromise and trying to do what is best for both of you rather than always getting your way.