How well do you know your fellow congregants? Do you feel like RUMC is your family? Sometimes we can get so caught up in our own lives, that we miss an opportunity to be a part of a community. For the next year or so we will be introducing you to each other through Member Spotlight! And we want to hear from you! Who do you want to learn more about! Send us your nominations and we’ll have you all knowing everyone in RUMC by next year! 

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The Sharp Family

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HOW DID YOU MEET?

Steve and I have been married for almost 27 years. Steve and I met right after college when Steve, visiting my roommate with another friend, recognized me from elementary school days.  He said, “I know you.  You’re Joy.  The only Joy I have ever met.  Your father came into kindergarten and sang and played “Little Bunny Foo Foo on the guitar.”  Long story short, even though I had moved to Baltimore City and lived there through school, I ended up marrying the boy next door, so to speak.  My father, Bill Boyer, was a United Methodist minister and sometimes Steve’s family attended our church, Sandymount UMC.  Steve grew up in a house down the road from the parsonage where I lived.  Steve’s mother even remembered me in diapers!  
We currently live in Derwood, Maryland and recently transferred our membership to Rockville UMC from Mill Creek UMC.  
We both grew up in Carroll County Maryland, near Westminster.  Steve works for IBM helping the U.S. government through using technology.  He graduated from Towson University and earned an M.B.A. from Loyola.  Joy works for FDA, currently a policy analyst in the Office of Food Policy and Response, located within the Commissioner’s Office.  She graduated from the Johns Hopkins University and from the University of Maryland Law School.

I completed a B.S. in nursing at the University of Maryland and a master of nursing education at Emory University. I was able to teach nursing at several institutions. I had a variety of nursing positions over the 50 plus years of working. I admit that my passion is actually patient education and was able to become a certified diabetes educator (CDE) for about 20 years. I earned another credential for faith based nursing late in my career and was able to apply much of what I learned when volunteering at RUMC. 

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TELL US ABOUT THE FAMILY

Will (20 years old on February 3) is a sophomore at College Park where he is majoring in computer science.  He also has an internship with the University of Maryland’s athletics department’s marketing group, working women and men’s sports events.  Will enjoys watching sports and listening to classic 70s-to-present pop and rock music.  When he visits home, he plays ping-pong with his brother with whom he is pretty evenly matched.   
Charlie (16 years old) is a junior at Magruder High School.  Currently, Charlie is working on getting his driver’s license, attending a two-week course which meets every week night from 6:15-9-30 PM.  Charlie enjoys reading and playing ping-pong.  If anybody is interested in playing ping-pong, let him know!  Charlie also enjoys chess, video games, D&D, board games, and origami.  
Will and Charlie attended St. Patrick Catholic School until Will finished 8th grade, at which point we transferred them both to public school.  

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HOW DO YOU HOPE TO SERVE THE CHURCH?

I would like to serve the church by playing the piano for events, anthems, etc.  Steve recently signed up to read the liturgy.  The boys are still members at our previous church, Mill Creek UMC, which used to have a super youth group.  
    

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WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WINTER?

Steve loves his John Deere tractor, and the plow for it, in particular.  He waits for snow!  He and the boys enjoy playing in the snow, and I enjoy playing the piano and watching them play in the snow through the window.

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ANY FUN HOBBIES?

 Steve reads a great deal and now also enjoys audio books during commutes.  His biggest past-time is working in our yard (his beloved tractor, again) and around the house.  We have a large (around 2 acres) yard which he manicures.  I play the piano a lot.  I also play for the nursing home, Alfred House, every other Saturday in the facility known as “Symphony house.”  I am looking for an efficient way to find and print lyric sheets for songs from the older musicals which they have requested, such as ”My Fair Lady,” “The King and I,” “Carousel,” “Oklahoma,” et al.

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ANYTHING FUN YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH THE CHURCH?

Steve suggested I submit this one:  State clearly that “Our household is run by Steve and only Steve, if you want to speak with anyone in the family it must go through him.  Otherwise the boys and I are subject to a minor beating with oranges in a sock”.

Another Fun Tidbit: We lived in Arkansas for a brief time, many years ago now, when the boys were pretty young (about 4 and 7 years old).  Wal-Mart hired Joy as an in-house lawyer and relocated the family to Bentonville.  It is a beautiful area of the country (and a great company, too!) where people are super friendly and where we joined a wonderful church, Rogers United Methodist, in the neighboring town of Rogers, Arkansas.   

BE SURE TO CONGRATULATE THE SHARPS ON BECOMING NEW MEMBERS OF RUMC!