Maja Knighton:  

My father built the house in Altadena I was raised in. My mother gave piano lessons and sewed clothes. She made almost all my clothes until I left for college. Although I have a degree in Psychology, a teacher's credential and am a licensed realtor, I too enjoy sewing, from upholstering my furniture to designing dress patterns and quilts. I never intended to be a home-schooler, but when my children's needs were not met in the local schools I brought them home and used Calvert School materials. We all grew from the experience and it worked out well. Doug and I met when I was a teacher in Pasadena and he moved there to attend Fuller Seminary after leaving the Army as a Capt. I taught school, worked at Boys' Club in Hollywood, investigated product-related accidents for Consumer Product Safety Commission then moved to Afghanistan where I taught a year of 5th grade at a private English-speaking Christian school in Kabul. Doug came to Kabul to propose marriage and we married in Sept 1978. We lived in Altadena where our first 2 children were born. My mother died due to an accident before any of our children were born. Doug worked as a chaplain for Christian Medical Society in the Greater Los Angeles area until 1987 when we moved to a suburb of Chicago when Doug took the CMDS position of North Central Regional Director with a 6-state territory. Our third child was born our first year there. Doug began working fulltime for the Air Force Reserves in 1995 when my father turned 90 and moved in with us. I cared for him during his last 3 years of life. I made some cherished friendships with a group of neighborhood women who met through Moms In Touch, praying for our children. They pulled me through a terrible turn of depression in 2000 after my father died, I went through menopause, our daughter was being treated for neuro-developmental delay, our son left for college, and my husband's job still kept him away from home most of the time. They kept dragging me out of bed to join them for walks and other activies, re-modeled my kitchen and familyroom and helped me restore color and interest to my life. In 2002 the Air Force activated Doug and he was assigned to work with Gen. Gary Harrell who led joint forces (Army, Air Forc...Expand for more