With our membership growing all the time, we have added a feature to our Web site profiling families and single members so we can all get to know each other even better. The profiles will feature both new members and long-timers, and will include basic information, and a few unexpected and fun questions. Be on the lookout for a call or email ─ you may be next!

Our first profile features none other than the series author -- me! (The photo below features my husband, Charlie, and me.)

Name: Vanessa Winans

Birthday: April 27

Lives in: Denton

Birthplace: Amarillo

Family: I’m married to Charlie Myers. My mother is Ann Winans of Denton; my father is Don Winans of Fort Worth. My sister, Lisa, lives in South Carolina.

Pets: Dibble, an Affenpinscher (a small dog).

First Christian Church member since: January

I keep coming back to First Christian because: I feel very welcome here, and I like the people, and FCC’s message of tolerance.

Some ways I have served the church: I sing in the choir, and I now oversee the Web site.

Other church denominations I have attended include: United Church of Christ, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Church of Christ, and United Methodist. However, I have never been a member of any other denomination.

My favorite Bible verse/story: The story of Noah. A fictional version of it captured my imagination and made it very real to me.

My favorite hymn: I like plenty of them, but I keep coming back to a soulful, gospel version of “Amazing Grace.”

I grew up in: Raleigh, N.C., and Gaithersburg, Md.

Education: I attended high school near Washington, D.C., and graduated from Smith College, a women’s college in Massachusetts. Since then, I completed a 500-hour massage therapy training course, and trained as an emergency medical technician.

My profession: Newspaper journalist. I have also worked as a massage therapist.

My favorite ways to relax and play: Biking, swimming (albeit slowly), reading, visiting with friends, walking, traveling, singing, getting a massage, and soaking in a hot tub.

My hobbies and interests include: Music, genealogy and history, flying small aircraft, home decorating, cooking, reading, photography, and learning about other cultures and languages.

Five people, past or present, I’d like to have dinner with: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Jesus, Eleanor Roosevelt, and my late grandmother, Louise Sturhahn.

Something most people don’t know about me: I once quit my job to travel around the world.

Best place I ever visited: Hong Kong in 1993 and 1994. I loved the energy and mood of the city.

Worst place I ever visited: Jakarta, Indonesia. Maggots in the bathroom sink were the best thing about the hostel in which I stayed! Plus, the city itself was miserably hot, especially after London in January. I couldn’t wait to go someplace cooler.

What’s in my CD player right now: “The Joshua Tree,” by U2.

Best book I’ve read lately: I’m reading “The Worst Hard Time,” about the American dust bowl years. It’s fascinating to me, especially since both sides of my family lived in Texas at the time.

Favorite TV show ever: Probably “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Motto: “How hard can it be?” (Invariably, I find out nothing’s as easy as it looks!)

Favorite foods: It would be shorter to list the things I dislike. But my special favorites include a good steak, chocolate in any form, potatoes (except potato salad), and Italian food, especially spinach pie.

If I could have any skill or talent I don’t have: I’d be more of a natural athlete.

My proudest accomplishment: Planning and taking a six-month trip around the world.

One of the most unusual things I ever did: I went fire-walking for my 30^th birthday.

Something I’d still like to do: Visit Antarctica. I’ve been to the other six continents. 

Any regrets?: I wish I had finished my private pilot’s license before I moved here last summer. 

What I’d like people to say about me when I’m not around: She’s really interesting and funny and smart. You’d like her!