My Profile

Welcome to my blog, the original, “Connectingthadots”,  I’m so glad you’re here!

My name is Mary Perry. I’m a Grandmother for six grand boys and one little grand girl. Four of the grandkids live near us and three live in South East Asia. Since our son was married, we have expanded into Thailand.

I have three children, two daughters and a son whom I’ve already written about. I’ve been married to my husband, Jon for over 40 years.

When I first began blogging, I thought of the “Dots” I was connecting as representing thoughts in my mind,  movement in my soul, and feelings in my heart, after many years of “being” in this world.

I’ve just recently been reading Henri Nouwen’s book, “Lifesigns”, and I feel like it saved me from the despair and anguish that I’ve felt as I’ve watched myself and my family growing old around me. It also confirmed much of what I’ve been thinking and writing about in my blog, about change, faith, and good and evil. Lot’s to talk about.

We’ve been celebrating my husband’s 75th birthday this past week and greetings have poured in from all around the world. We have been enriched by travel and friendships that span the globe.

Much of our lives we’ve worked in various Universities, Jon as a chaplain, and me as a volunteer.  Our work has been with The Navigators.  We  spent 14 years of  our lives  in South East Asia, which really taught me a lot about connection, humility and our place in the world.

I’ve also worked as an ESL Family Liaison for International Students at a public high school in a university town where I learned so much from my colleagues. During this time we became sponsor coordinators for almost 60 Burmese/Karen refugees.

I’ve loved God since I was in my twenties and really depend on Him. I find lots of strength and guidance by reading the Bible and I pray a lot about how to pattern my life after Jesus.

On this blog, I’ll be examining my long-held beliefs and looking at life from others’ viewpoints.

I really want to apply what Jesus says in the Bible, and resist assumptions that are just traditions without solid foundations, such as, racism.

With this blog, I will be developing my writing which is one of my life long passions. I also love to influence people and hope that these writings and links will encourage people to re-think their assumptions about faith, cultures, people, and politics, my four favorite topics. I want to honor God in all of this.

Last year we moved to the Civil War Battleground area of Virginia, essentially changing cultures.  I hope to be challenging my views on The South, as well.

It’s 2016 and we moved again last year to a rural, African American neighborhood. This is our dream fulfilled, and will possibly be our last move as a couple. We get to integrate our neighborhood! It’s been wonderful, so far.