Who am I?
Hi everyone! Thank you so much for taking the time to visit this site. Whether you're here to read my blog post, submit a prayer request and pray for someone or just read the latest experience I've had in the kitchen, I'm so glad you choose to take some time out of your day to spend here with me!
A little bit about me: I am a wife, mom, former special education teacher for students who are deaf/hard of hearing, lover of chocolate, sleeping in, staying warm at all costs, taking and editing photographs of nature, baking with the occasional cooking thrown in there and writing.
During my most recent season of teaching, I was invited to write about a research project I was doing. This invitation came as a result of me reaching out for support for the project. Unbeknownst to me, my request for help would actually be the first door to open for an invitation to write for others. "Collaboration Amidst the Changes: How Guidelines for Education Program Planning Serve as a Valuable Tool for Teachers of Students With Cochlear Implants" is the article that was published in Gallaudet University's 2018 annual magazine. (You can read the article and others from that publication here - https://www3.gallaudet.edu/clerc-center/our-resources/odyssey-magazine/odyssey-2018-issue.html).
Since that season, I have become a full time stay at home mom. Up until the pandemic began, my focus was fully on my family. I was also recovering a bit from teaching since, being an 9 on the Enneagram, I was pretty exhausted for the demands that I felt from it all.
My desire to write began to resurface when the pandemic hit. The desire grew stronger at the beginning of the 2020 Corona pandemic. My initial intention was to create a blog about how I was processing this life changing event. However, as I began to write on this site platform, I realized it could become a space for more than just that. Through the pressures of email marketing and following the tugs on my heart for other things like praying for people and baking (a strange mix, I know!), www.wordsbypaige.com was born! 😀
Additionally, after hearing the name for over a year, I decided to join an online writing group called hope*writers. I didn't join at first because, to do so, I felt like I had to be ready to call myself a writer and that seemed like too much of an official title to allow myself to have. Afterall, I didn't have a blog then and the only writing I was doing was personal. But after being in the pandemic for a couple of months I felt like my eyes were opened to the possibility and I decided to take a step of faith. Immediately I saw that, one, I was not alone with this feeling, and two, that there was so much support just waiting to be shared as I started this journey.
For the short amount of time that I have been a part of this group, I have seen how amazing it is to be able to be myself fully without feeling like I have to fit into any specific mold. This has been a very rare experience in my life! In fact, I can't remember the last time I have felt so comfortable to be a part of a group except when I was a child and didn't know anything else but to be myself. Being a part of this group has helped me to grow so much as a writer and at such a faster pace than I thought possible! I have learned that I am a writer who loves to help connect the dots of life's events and bring them together in a way that provides clarity, encouragement, inspiration and restoration. It brings tears to my eyes and joy to my soul!
I feel like this time of writing has come out to show me why I am writing - to pass on the truth and encouragment of hope and peace that I have received -
She knows who she is a daughter of the one true and loving Heavenly Father who has saved her, keeps her safe and accepts her. So her pace can be her pace, no more and no less.
Having said all that, I am so glad that you have chosen to spend some of your time today on this site! My hope and prayer is that it is a place where you find encouragement and refreshment. Until either social distancing is over and/or I get the honor to meet you in person, I am sending virtual hugs. Feel free to leave a note saying hi! I'd love to know who is stopping by these days!