Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger Series

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Nancy from A Joyful Cottage

February 28th

Happy Saturday and Happy End of the cold month of February.  So Happy March is almost here!!!!

This Saturday I have a very "joyful" blogger I would like to introduce you too.  Nancy has her blog called A Joyful Cottage.  Please sit back and read and get to know this most delightful blogger with a warm heart and a inviting and cheerful soul.  I guarantee you are going to love getting to know Nancy.  Enjoy!





Hi, I'm Nancy from A Joyful Cottage, and Kris is shining her spotlight on me today.

Can you believe it?  I feel like Miss America or something.

Here she is. . .Miss America. . .

But I digress.

Kris, thank you for inviting me today. It's an honor to be here at the charming and inspiring Junk Chic Cottage for Saturday Spotlight. And remember, you're the one who told me to "have fun" with this post, so if things get a little rowdy you have no one to blame but yourself.

Me hamming it up for my snowshoeing buddies in Colorado.

It's not too hard for me to have fun. I'm the youngest of three kids who believed her soul purpose in life growing up was to entertain family and friends.  And I still like to make people smile.

With my Ohio friends at Chipotle's Free Burrito Night.
(You're coveting my chic tin foil bow. Admit it.)

I also have a serious side, and through the years I've come to understand how important it is to be a person that puts people at ease and is willing to take the time to really listen to and encourage others. 

Life has thrown me a few curveballs.

My late husband Jim and me
with our first grandchild, Emma, 2001. 

At the tender age of 19 I married a wonderful guy in Illinois, where we were both born and raised.  A year later we moved to Southern California, and eight years after that our only child -- a son -- was born. We lived in California for 18 years, except for 10 months spent in Phoenix, Arizona.  Then we returned to Illinois to care for aging parents. Jim was diagnosed with a terminal heart disease in 1995 and left this world in 2007. He's with the good Lord now. (We were living in Ohio at the time of his death.) I lost my best friend, lover and cheerleader all wrapped up in one amazing man, and I never expected to meet another like him. Nor did I ever intend to remarry.

God had other plans. 

                       

Dennis and me the night he proposed - Christmas Eve 2009.

In October 2009 I met Dennis Reinke, a Colorado artist, through an online Christian dating service. (I know. . .I can't believe I dated online either! I'm as surprised as you are, believe me.)

All of our wonderful kids and grandkids joined us
for our wedding.  They came from four different states.

We were married Valentine's Day 2010 at the lovely Fawnbrook Inn in Allenspark, Colorado.  

The Fawnbrook Inn February 14, 2010

(Yup, we just celebrated our 5th anniversary.)  

The theme of our wedding and marriage is JOY.

After selling my house in Ohio we moved to Estes Park, Colorado, rented the apartment where Dennis had previously lived and began to look at real estate for purchase.

I loved the apartment's french doors that opened to green space and the frequent wildlife that visited.

During that time I discovered photography.  Oh, my!  I hadn't realized how much I would love capturing the world around me through the camera's lens.  We lived ten minutes from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park and spent a lot of time there. Dennis painted. . .

while I explored the park with my camera.

In 2011 we bought and renovated a 1926 cab-age (Dennis called it a cabin, I called it a cottage) just outside of town, and converted the property's 1880 log barn into an artist's studio for Dennis.

This gave me a whole new area of Estes to photograph.

Except for the bear, all these animals
were photographed on or adjacent to our property.

Although we loved our home and the environment, retiring in Estes Park was not an option. The cost of living was just too high for us. We both love the west and felt drawn to Oregon, where Dennis had lived for awhile. So, we sold our property in July 2013 and began the hunt for a home in Oregon. We traveled all over the state for four weeks -- from the eastern border to the coast and back.

We decided to settle in the mountainous area of Northeast Oregon.

A local ranch in the foothills.

Natural Lake Nearby

We bought a lot in a very, very small town.

The lot came with an existing workshop.
Can you tell Dennis is excited?

Now our 667 square foot cottage is being built, and I'm excited about sharing the whole process on my blog.

Artist rendering of our new cottage, by Dennis Reinke

I've been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil.  Back in the early days of the internet, before blogs were even thought of, I was part of an AOL online writing forum.  I started my first blog Coffee On The Deck in 2007, a few weeks before my late husband passed. I stopped blogging when he died and did all my writing in journals and letters to God, which really helped me through my grief. When I remarried and moved to Colorado, I wanted to journal my new life in the Rockies and hone my writing skills, so I started a new blog Joyful Altitude.  For awhile I had a second blog Mountain Manna Devotionals where I combined my photographs with inspirational writing.

It's taken me a fair amount of time to find my blogging voice, and I think it's finally happened with A Joyful Cottage.  It's my only blog now.  I take pleasure in combining my life long cottage love affair with my passion for writing. I have a weekly series called "Living Large In Small Spaces" where I feature cottages and small homes. Together we explore small home living through guest posts and home tours, and learn tips for small space and simple living. I often get the chance to feature the homes and lifestyles of other bloggers, which is something I really enjoy.

One of my dreams came true when I was contracted to write Christian devotionals for Wesleyan Publishings' devotional booklet Light From the Word, and another single devotional was published in Gary Chapman's Love Is A Verb - 365 Daily Inspirations to Bring Love Alive.

When I'm not writing/blogging and photographing, I like to quilt, craft, work on DIY projects, garden, cook. . .anything creative. A lot of times I share my projects on my blog.

A few things I shared at A Joyful Cottage in 2014.

On occasion I share the living-with-an-artist side of my life, too.

Right now we live in an apartment that is mostly
the resident artist's studio.

Okay, forgive me.  I just have to put a plug in here for my husband's art.  He is very talented, and beautifully expresses his God-given gift.

He's good, huh?  He has a website,
if you'd like to see more of his work:
www.dennisreinke.com

As I often like to say, Dennis and I may be retired from jobs but we're not retired from life. We're both adventurous and love to try new things. Most importantly, we never take for granted the blessings God has given us.

"This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad
 in it!"

I hope you'll come by and visit me  at A Joyful Cottage.
I LOVE seeing my old friends and making new ones, too!

Thank you, Kris, for shining your Saturday Spotlight on moi.

Nancy

Thank you Nancy for sharing your sweet life with all of us.  Please head over to Nancy's blog and say hello.
Have a great week end.
Kris
:)