Acknowledgements
Writing is a gift. Creativity is a gift. The joy I experience when I’m satisfied with my work, a gift. It’s all a gift from my Heavenly Father, who made me to be a relentless meaning-maker, and who gives meaning to everything. Thank you, God, for my significance in You, for weaving your sparkling thread of meaning through the tapestry of my life and work and helping me find it.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17
I wouldn’t be the writer I am today if it weren’t for the biggest loss we’ve experienced since arriving on the mission field: the loss of homeschooling my kids. Thanks to giving that up, plus the amazing school our kids do attend all day long, I actually have the opportunity to write. Daily, if I want to. And I’m getting there. I would also have to give credit to one Miss Charlotte Mason, my homeschool guru who emphasized the importance of Mother Culture - maintaining Mother’s interests and mental health through the reading of excellent books, spending time out-of-doors, and developing her own interests. Charlotte keeps me growing as a mom and a writer. I am always looking for ways to incorporate her principles into our school life, traditional though it is, as well as my mom life.
Mother must have time to herself. And we must not say 'I cannot.' Can any of us say till we have tried, not for one week, but for one whole year, day after day, that we 'cannot' get one half-hour out of the twenty-four for 'Mother Culture?'--one half-hour in which we can read, think, or 'remember.'
Charlotte Mason
So much inspiration lately has come from my diverse and unique experiences as an expat. For the experiences that have inspired many of my pieces on Taking Route, I have culture fatigue, residency issues, language fumbles, strange schedules and feeling out-of-place to thank.
My husband and two kids give me ample opportunity to practice the relational skills that I’m so passionate about sharing with others. Thank you to Chris, Susanna and Austin for living with me, sharpening me, and receiving my requests for forgiveness with grace. Thank you for practicing returning to joy together nearly every day.Â
I do have the writing community at Exhale Creativity and my writing team at Taking Route to keep me putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard as it were). So thank you, ladies. You've made this real.
Writers often acknowledge the editors, agents, devoted readers of each draft and rewrite, and supporters who always "believed there was a story there." For me, there is no editor, agent or devoted critical readers (that I know of). There isn't even a story, really, that I'm writing. But God is writing my story, and that's enough for me.
This post was written as part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to read the next post in this series, "Acknowledgments."
