As a "new" Steemian, I am writing my first post and following the recommendation to make it introductory. While I first joined the SteemIt community back in August 2017, purely as an investment, I have since "warmed up" to the idea of participating more actively in this exciting, new "marketplace of ideas."
So, a few "highlights" ...
Personal
Both born in the United States of America, my beloved life mate and I are blessed to have been married for 41 years. And counting :). Hopefully, many more years to come ...
We are blessed to have several children, whom we consider as gifts of life. They are all now on their way in life. We also have 6 grandchildren, with one on the way later this year!
Ancestry
As typical Americans, we do not fully know our ancestry, as far as nationalities. We have, however, spent some time to try and research this. So far, what we have learned, is whatever an American is, "we are one" ... :)
We both have very similar ancestries, in that our most recent "immigrant ancestor" arrived in America in the mid-1850s. One from Germany. One from Prussia, as a military officer. All other branches of our family are known to go back into the colonial era of American history before 1800. And, in many of these cases, before 1700 ...
Spiritual
We are both disciples of Jesus Christ. We have learned to state this more precisely than the more common reference in America to being Christian, which we know from much personal experience means many different things to our countrymen.
As part of our national heritage, we fully respect the rights of others to believe as they wish, while preserving the right to graciously and civilly "compete in the marketplace of ideas" with them on the ultimate meaning of life and all that entails.
Political
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we have a Christian worldview. We believe our Lord is the Author of Life [Psalm 139:13-14] and that all the blessings we have in this world are from Him.
We are grateful to have been born in America, a country whose founding has much more of a philosophical basis, than the more typical national or even tribal basis of others.
We believe a man would be hard pressed to improve upon the essential principles of life found in America's Declaration of Independence. Or to improve upon, with their divine wisdom and a clear understanding of our human nature, our Founding Father's crafting of the U. S. Constitution as our governing document.
We believe in individual liberty under our sovereign God, the sacredness of life, our personal responsibility, the great benefit and value of private ownership of property, and the essential place of the rule of law to protect each of these vital aspects of our life from those who would seek to take them away.
Professional
By education, I am an engineer - a metallurgical engineer. Over a +40 year career, I have been successfully employed in 5 different industries. Currently I am employed by an electric service distribution cooperative, as a business systems analyst.
We are in the early stages of building the "smart gird" future of providing electric services to our members. With all the challenges of how best to incorporate the many diverse aspects of renewable energy into it, among other things ...
I hope to end my working life in this capacity.
Closing
That should be enough for now. As time permits, I have a lot of ideas, in a lot of different directions, about what to write about next.
Until then, all the best to you and yours!