There are so many meaningful, valuable and beautiful lessons to be learned from living in French West Africa.

Every day provides a lesson of some kind, a new way of looking at things and a different approach to a certain situation or event.

I remember one of our first days in French West Africa. We’d been using rental cars while we waited for our truck to arrive and the rental cars repeatedly broke down or needed something fixed or fell apart while we were driving them.

That day, we were driving on a narrow, sandy path to get to our house and our bumper literally fell off in front of us. Jeremy hit the breaks and was getting out of the car when a man ran out from the little shop next to us and waved his hand as if to say, “Just wait! I’m coming!”

He proceeded to cross the road, dig into the trash on the side of the road, find a length of rope and walk back to where Jeremy was watching from the front of our car.

The man spoke with Jeremy and I watched as they worked together to get the bumper back on the car and then, tied the bumper in place with the rope.

Continue reading Meaningful Lessons I’m Learning in French West Africa at Our Goodwin Journey.

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It’s never fun when life knocks you down. It is definitely not fun when you’re knocked down again.

and again.

Sometimes it’s something big. Something life changing.

Other times it’s the smallest brush of wind that pushes you down.

When life knocks you down, you feel the fall and with it comes the faint sense of failure that you’ve fallen once again.

Then, the questions fill your mind.

Why am I falling again?

What caused this to happen?

Why can’t I be strong enough not to let this push me over?

When will I stand regardless of the push?

For me, the past 10 years have been full of falling.

I handed over a ministry that I had a part in creating. I laid down growing this blog as we started the journey of missions. I got sick with MS symptoms. I walked away from our home to move to places unknown. I realized I don’t learn languages as quickly as I imagined. I felt bubbles burst one after another as the realities of missionary life became clear.

Continue reading When Life Knocks You Down Again at Our Goodwin Journey.

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You’re wondering how to become a writer.

Or, you feel like everyone is talking about becoming a writer.

You have heard people talk about sharing your story, writing a book, starting a blog, and becoming a writer.

You’re asking yourself, “How on earth do I do that? Do I even want to do that?”

I’m often asking myself that question too.

Even after 12 years of writing and blogging and sharing, I still wonder why or ask how to become a writer.

A good writer. A writer that courageously shares real stories, real faith and real help to anyone on this journey of missions, travel, family, faith, marriage, homeschooling, parenting or overseas life.

I want to write with purpose in a way that resources and encourages anyone who is reading.

Thankfully, in a world full of ways to express yourself through writing whether in a short phrase like twitter or long form on a blog, anyone really can be a writer.

In fact, I just claimed my author page on goodreads. If you’re there, come follow and say hello!

Continue reading Why You Should Know How to Become a Writer at Our Goodwin Journey.

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There is something about being the healthiest you, the healthiest version of yourself that has captivated our attention over the last few months.

After waking up this morning and thinking about how quickly I can make coffee, I contemplated the journey I’ve been on to find that place of health.

A place of learning to be a person of health and growth in many areas of my life.

We all know that in the busy, crazy of life, in a world full of chaos, finding health can be a struggle.

Being surrounded by unhealthy people or unhealthy situations or constant stress and transition can make it extremely difficult to find your healthiest you. Not only to find that place, but to stay there.

I sipped my coffee and thought, “Staying there is the hardest part.”

It’s so easy to slip back into unhealthy patterns when life gets crazy, things change or challenges come our way.

In talking about this together, Jeremy and I have made a decision to be healthy, to be the health in the crazy situations around us. We want to model health for our girls and to represent health even when unhealthy people react in unhealthy ways.

Continue reading 10 Simple Ways to be a Person of Growth and Health at Our Goodwin Journey.

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Being a boarding school mom is not something I talk a lot about online.

Honestly, in part because I haven’t quite wrapped my brain around it yet.

In part because in the year 2019, who tells other moms that this is the chosen educational route for your kids?

What kind of family chooses this as a schooling option?

Especially a family who loves homeschooling, unschooling, world schooling and adventuring together?

I get asked a lot of questions about boarding school.

I get asked how I’m doing, how are the girls doing, how did we make this decision, what impact has it had on our family.

I also get comments and thoughts and opinions, said and unsaid, about boarding school, having our girls away from home and our journey raising third culture kids.

For us, this decision did not come easy.

It wasn’t something we planned for or happily chose.

In fact, it was something I said I would NEVER do.

We’d visited a missionary family in the Congo many years ago before Abby was even born.

Continue reading Things I Would Not Say to a Boarding School Mom at Our Goodwin Journey.

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