Anyone need a compass?

About 10 days ago, I received an email from Annette Gendler of Memoir, Writing & Life - her email was just another reminder that my blog might need a compass of some sort.  I've included some excerpts from her email...I believe she has a valid point.

Hi Anjuli,

......I’ve rummaged around your blog a bit ....and was wondering how you came to travel so much and why your family members are still in Africa. I couldn’t really find an answer in the March 2008 posts, those seemed more like a travelogue to me. So I’m wondering whether you might want to add a bit more in your intro about all that so your readers can connect..... (these are clips taken from her email)

I'll get around to updating my intro, but in the meantime, I think I need to establish some navigational markers. First of all, it is probably important to note my name is not Anjuli...but rather Connie. 

I love the name "Anjuli" (taken from The Far Pavilions) and wish it could be my name...but alas, my name is simply .. Connie..not Constance or any other such fanciful name...it reads on my birth certificate:  Connie Lynn Seaward.  Due to being married in Singapore (where spouses need not change their surnames) and traveling quite a bit, I never got around to legally changing my surname to "Ong".  Most people know me as Connie Seaward Ong...unless they are my banker and then they know me as Connie L. Seaward....ah yes, the whole thing with names ...
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

As far as the over all compass for this blog: it began as a recording of my overland drive from India to England in 1985 in a 1958 Morris Minor. I decided I was getting older, and my brain didn't seem to retain as many details as it did when I was younger (sigh). I started out using this as a private blog to record the journey and then later opened it up for public viewing...it seemed wise to continue with other memories so I would one day have a record of where I have been...and so the journey continued.

As far as why I have traveled so much....I was born and raised in Singapore to Missionary parents - I went to school in Penang, Malaysia and then flew to the States for university. Later I went to live in India and I married a Malaysian Chinese man who I met in India. We were missionaries for over 20 years- We traveled to many different countries but lived for seven years in Japan and more than 10 years in Accra, Ghana. 

In 2008, we officially made Washington State our home. But I think, along with those who travel a lot, home is wherever I happen to be at the time..I love God...I love my family...I love people...These are the things that are important to me- so I tend to write alot about them.

So, now that you are holding the compass in your hand and still feeling totally confused as to where this blog has been and where it is going....welcome to my world :)