Welcome to Take Time to be Still!

Hi! I am Julia and I blog here at Take Time to be Still. I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself, so you can learn a little more about what I envision for this blog.

About Me

I am a wife, mother, and part-time online English instructor at a local community college. I love my job because I get to help students find their voices through writing, plus I get to work from home, so I respond to students and grade papers during nap time, and get to spend the rest of the time at home with my boys! As one of my professors once said, “it doesn’t pay well, but it’s better than working!” When you love what you do, it doesn’t feel so much like work (except for the last three weeks or so of the semester. Then it feels like work. Definitely work).

About Take Time to be Still

I believe God has gifted me in a few different areas, though when I compare myself to others and their talents for writing or photography or baking and cooking I sometimes feel very inadequate in these areas! In those moments I stop and remember that it is God who gave me these specific abilities, and it’s not my job to compare them to everyone else; it’s my job to use them for His glory, and that is ultimately what this blog is about. I want to use my own talents and abilities for God’s glory, and I want to inspire others to do the same.

In this blog, I hope to help you take time to be still during the week and find inspiration from the Word, enjoy time with your family as I share our own family adventures, and give you ideas about how to stay on top of that seemingly endless, sometimes monotonous list of things to get done.

Remember, the ideas I share here are things that have worked for me and for our family, but they are not the only way to do things or the only perspective on these issues. I am simply adding my own voice to the conversation, and hoping you will do the same and use my stories to help you find what works best for you and your own family.

A few other fun facts and tidbits about me:

• When I was in fourth grade I wanted to be an Equine Perinatologist (a baby horse doctor). I remember getting funny looks from my Sunday School teachers when they asked what I wanted to be when I grew up!
• I was homeschooled from kindergarten through high school, and I played on a homeschool basketball team in high school (we played local Christian school teams).
• I was originally an art education major in college.
• I love the Impressionist painters like Monet and Renoir, and the Post-Impressionists. My favorite painter of all time is Vincent van Gogh.
• I grew up near the south side of Chicago, and now live in the western suburbs.
• I am creative but definitely NOT crafty. When it comes to crafts, I tend to start projects with grand dreams and then never finish them because they become too tedious or they just don’t come together the way I envision them. While I envy all those craft bloggers who make crafting look so easy and chic, give me a paint brush and canvas or a camera over a craft project any day!
• One of my favorite books (and one that I’ve ready many, many times) is JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
• I have a B.A. in English-Literature, and an M.A. in English, with a focus on composition and rhetoric.
• I spent a summer studying in Spain, and I also travelled to Portugal and Morocco.
• I am married and have two lovely little boys, ages 5 and 2.
• I started running regularly last year, using a couch to 5K program, and I hope to do an official 5K this year.
• One day I would like to write a book.

Well, that’s a little about me! To get updates from Take Time to be Still, be sure to join the e-mail list, follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. To get in touch with me directly, go to the Contact Page. Thank you so much for stopping by!