By Mary Pannabecker Steiner

You graduated from Bluffton High School in...

1993

Share some of your memories from growing up in Bluffton...school, teachers, friends, silly stories, serious stories, music, sports, etc.

Well, early on I have a lot of memories of living close to the elementary school. I remember watching my siblings going to and from school, then walking there myself when I started kindergarten, and eating lunch at home.

One thing I remember with clarity is when my best friend, Carrie Snyder, moved to Nicaragua in third grade. Throughout elementary school, I remember playing with a lot of neighborhood kids as well as friends from other parts of town.

We'd play in or around the creek, walk out to the nature preserve and the college cabin, playing at my Grossmama's house, or at other friends' houses. In middle school, I remember spending a couple years at Beaverdam, and then our class moved to the new high school in 8th grade. When I think back to going to Beaverdam it seems a little crazy.

I remember parts of the building where the ceiling was falling in or it was just in horrible shape. In high school, a lot of my memories are wrapped up in the extracurriculars I did like Lima Area Youth Orchestra, band, marching band, cross country and track. Like a lot of high school kids, I was so busy, but still had time for fun with friends. I remember painting the street our senior year (we had to do it secretly in the dark of night back then, which was exciting).

A lot of my memories involve trips, like the marching band going to Indianapolis, youth group trips, camp in the summer, a canoe trip in middle school, and of course family vacations.

Did you go to Bethel? How did you make your college decision? What was the most important thing you learned in college? Is that where you met Mark? What was your major?

Yes, I went to Bethel College in Kansas. A few things influenced my decision. My brother Ben and sister Jen were both there, Bethel offered me a couple scholarships, I was excited about the trumpet professor there, and when I visited, I found it to be a wholesome social experience and an academically challenging school.

The most important thing?

Hmmm. Maybe that everything I do should have purpose and meaning. Yes, I met Mark at Bethel. One of his best friends on the soccer team was Aaron, who is married to my sister Jen. It was at their suggestion that we noticed each other.

I had two majors: music performance and social work. You come from a very musically-inclined family, but of course, I can't remember which instrument(s) you played.

Tell me what it's like to be part of a family that performs together. Do you still play an instrument and/or sing? Do the kids?

Coming from a family that plays music together can be a wonderful thing. There were times when it was hard to play together, but mostly I have happy memories of those times. It is also wonderful to know that it's always something we can do together, a way to connect.

I play guitar and sing mostly now, since my work has been concentrated on early childhood and music therapy and those are the most versatile. I have been trying to learn the mandolin for the last few years, and I still play piano sometimes for fun. The instruments I grew up playing were viola, piano, and trumpet.

My kids like to sing a lot, and my oldest is getting to a point where I think she's ready to take private lessons in either piano or harp.

Fill me in a bit on what has happened in your life since graduating from college? I think I remember Mark teaching here for awhile, then you moved.

We lived here for a few months between graduating and getting married. After getting married, we moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, where I went to graduate school in music therapy. We were there for three years, and then moved to Ann Arbor.

We wanted to be closer to family, we knew we loved Ann Arbor, and I was starting an internship in Detroit Public Schools as a music therapist. We spent five years in Ann Arbor, during which time I completed my internship and worked as a music therapist and taught early childhood music, and we had our first two kids. Mark worked as a middle school teacher and outdoor educator, and then decided to go to chiropractic school, so we moved to Marietta, Georgia.

We've been here for three years while Mark has been making it through an incredibly intense program and I have been full-time at home and working on an online PhD. We have also added another kid to the mix while living here.

How did you end up in Georgia? When did Mark decide to go to chiropractic school? How much longer does he have?

We came to Georgia just for school, and we have always planned to moved back to Ann Arbor when he finishes. He has four more months of course work, and then a six-month internship, which he will do in Michigan.

For a long time, Mark had an interest in working in a health profession, but didn't find the right fit until he started exploring the idea of chiropractic, in 2005.

Any possibility of moving back to this area?

We don't plan to live in Bluffton, but we definitely want to be close enough to visit often. We plan to go back to Ann Arbor as soon as we can, which is in four months.

Do you enjoy living in the city or are you not really "in" the city? Are there any similarities between the Atlanta area and Bluffton?

We are actually in the suburbs, and I think we find that even less of a fit for us than being in the city would be. We are not city people. Mark grew up in a town similar to Bluffton, and we enjoy the sense of community and the walkability of a smaller town or smaller city. The suburbs are not for us. We like to know our neighbors and we like to be able to walk and bike most places we need to get to.

You have three children. What are their names and ages? Describe their personalities.

Amalia (we call her Mali) is 7. She is a peacemaker, and is highly influenced by the right side of her brain. She's creative and loves the arts. She is also very intuitive and sensitive.

Greta is 4. She is excitable and passionate, and loves to design things. She pays close attention to details, and will memorize stories and movies to the point that she quotes them, and we cannot figure out where in the world she ever heard it.

Quinn is 1, and we are still getting to know who he is. He seems to be a pretty relaxed baby. He adores his sisters and wants to be doing whatever they are doing all the time.

Tell me about your Etsy site. When did you start your sewing/craft projects? What made you decide to sell them? What kinds of things do you make?

I have been crafting for a long time. I have loved knitting especially, and have dabbled in some sewing every once in awhile. Along the way, there have been a few things that I have made that several people have suggested I sell.

For a long time I thought nothing of it. I got to know about Etsy through some blogs that I like to read, written by other crafters. I decided one day to just give it a try, to see if I liked doing it. I have found that the purpose for my Etsy shop has nothing to do with profitability.

It is not at all profitable for me, and that's fine, because I realized the value in it for me is the dose of motivation I get from it. I am able to finish projects much quicker when I think about putting them on the Etsy site. Also, for years I have had a stash of crafting remains from a variety of projects.

Etsy is helping me to use up that stash and make it into things. As far as what I make, I focus mostly on baby and kid stuff: clothes and accessories. I make a few home deco things sometimes too. I like felting, and I have done it by knitting a project first, by felting sweaters from the thrift store, and by needle felting.

I have done some elementary sewing, and quite a bit of knitting. I know you like to reuse/remake things and materials. Where do you get your ideas? I get some ideas from blogs or other online sources. Actually, I get a lot of ideas from being fans of certain groups on Facebook, like Living Crafts magazine.

What is the meaning of Red Clay Wings?

Red Clay Wings is what I named our family blog when we moved to Georgia. The phrase was taken from a song by Gillian Welch called "Red Clay Halo." I liked the name for our blog because one defining characteristic of Georgia is the red clay. It's a part of our daily life there.

Our blog was started in Georgia, and I decided to use it as a shop name to match the blog. With both blogging about our Georgia life and starting my Etsy shop, they were new endeavors, and felt like we were growing wings to take flight on a new adventure.

Everyone has his own reason for blogging. What's yours?

I am the only one who has any time to write on the blog. We started it in an effort to keep in touch with family and friends while we were living far away in Georgia. Another reason for it has emerged since then, and that is to keep a record of our family's life for our kids to see someday. It's like a public scrapbook.

Where do you think you might be in 10 years from now?

In 10 years, I imagine we will be living in Ann Arbor. Mark will have established his chiropractic practice, and I will be working as some kind of music consultant/researcher for early childhood facilities. We have a dream of building an environmentally sustainable home someday, so maybe by then that will be in the works.