About Me

Hi there!  I’m so glad you stopped by.  Come on in and I’ll introduce myself.

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I’m Rita Joy.  Although I sign my name like that on this blog (and it is, in fact my name), really, I’m just “Rita”.

I’m also a hugger.  So, brace yourself ~ if you show up at my door (and look remotely friendly?), I warn you ~ I’m gonna hug your neck!

In honor of the fact that I’m of a –shall we say? – SHORT stature, I thought we’d keep this little intro short and sweet with simple little bullet points.  Here we go:

The Growing Up Years…

  • I grew up on the prairies of Montana.  The big blue sky and prairie sunsets still melt the cockles of my heart.
  • As the youngest of 5, my siblings got very creative in order to get me to go down to the (very scary) basement of our old farmhouse to retrieve  ice cream from the freezer.
  • My little hometown had a very active school athletic program.  I, however, had absolutely no athletic abilities at all.  So, my favourite extra curricular activity was making ice cream cones at the Tastee Hut.
  • In my cedar chest in the basement, I still have my blue and gold High School cheerleading outfit ~ complete with fringe bloomers and long knee socks that say “Longhorns” on them.  Every now and then I pull it out and marvel that I ever fit in it!

The College Years…

  • I got my Bachelors Degree in Religious Education from Prairie Bible College.  I thought perhaps I would someday go on to be a teacher.  But, really, my biggest dream of all was to be a wife and mom.
  • I met my husband in a college touring choir. And, no, I didn’t see lightening bolts nor did I just KNOW I’d marry him the minute we made eye contact…  But, boy, am I ever glad I did.  This year we’ll celebrate our 25th anniversary.

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The Exhausted Mom years…

  • After carefully choosing 3 beautiful girls’ names (all starting with the letter “A”), God chose to give us 3 boys.  And, mercy, I’m so glad He did.  I can’t imagine anything different.
  • By the time I was expecting the third, people constantly asked if I was hoping for a girl.  Initially, I was.  But, from the depths of my heart, I really wanted another boy.
  • It seems like just yesterday I was spending sleepless nights with crying babies and  busy days chasing lightening speed toddlers… but my little boys have grown up!
  • Our “baby” is in Grade 10 and in a few years, our nest will be empty! {Gasp!}

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{For more details than you probably ever wanted to know, I just started a blog about our family and ministry here.}

For the past 24 years, we have been blessed to live and work at a Christian camp on an island in beautiful British Columbia.

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{The house in the corner of that picture is where we call home…}

The Blogging Years…

  • I started this blog 3 years ago at the encouragement of a good friend.  Honestly, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing! I discovered very quickly that I loved it.  I didn’t spend much time analyzing or planning, but, rather just sat down and wrote as if I was visiting with a friend over a cup of coffee.  The range of topics varied slightly, but more often than not, they centered around fixing up our precious old house.  That’s what I really love to do. Here are some of the readers’ favorite before & after rooms in our house:

coastal cottage bedroom         budget kitchen reno         small bathroom redo

  • When I’m not repainting an entire room or turning the Dining Room into an office, I also like to do small, quick craft and DIY projects.  Here’s a few:

painted pillows        blue bird sign         projects gallery small

  • Every now and then I put my brave on and do video tutorials like these.  They usually make me giggle a lot, so watch at your own risk!;)  If you want to see the whole hilarious collection, you can find it at my YouTube channel here.

My prayer for this little blog is that it will somehow encourage, inspire, and bless your heart.  Life is full of sadness and hard things and I’d like this to be a pretty little cheerful corner in your world.

Many blessings to you today, my friend.  I hope you stop by for a visit again!

Rita Joy

**All family picture credits belong to the amazing Amanda O’Brennan Photography.

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One Comment

  1. I don’t know why it is when I see that somebody has lived in MT I feel a kinship of some kind, duh. We lived on southern side of Canyon Ferry Lake south of Helena from May, 92 to May 99. Was the dumbest thing we ever did moving away. I miss it yet. We had moved to western KY after MT which was mistake as the climate didn’t like me at all. So after 5 yrs. we moved to western CO (we live about 18 miles (est.) west of Grand Junction, CO. It’s ok but it’s not MT.
    We have two youngest kids here, oldest two live back in San Diego again.
    We had 20 acres and we’d moved there from San Diego area in 92 so believe me it was quite a shock in many but very good ways. What part of MT were you from? We’ve been all over MT, one side to other and top to bottom.
    We’ve been thru parts of BC several times when we lived in MT as hubs was truck driver. I’d go with him whenever and as long as I could. Think I might have a bit of gypsy in me, love to travel, see places and spend time with hubs. Think every truckers wife should so they can learn how hard it is on their hubs. You sure have some handsome boys, we have two boys 16 months apart in middle, youngest and oldest are girls. I had 3 kids when hubs and I married and we had girl little later after he came back from Nam.
    After having had 2 of each, I’ll take boys. Girls are alot about drama and not listening, lol. We have 6 grandkids, 4 here and 2 in KY.
    Enjoy your blog, I’ve visited your blog before and if I asked where in MT you were from, excuse me for repeating myself.
    Hope you have a wonderful week, Happy New Year.

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