Wendy Willard

Today I want to link to a post by Angie Smith about avocados, grocery carts, and opportunities to minister to others. (Don’t worry, it’ll make sense when you get there.) But before that, I want to tell you a little about how I got here, because Angie plays a part in this story.

The “here” I’m referring to is this blog. My first web site was located at willardesigns.com. I thought it was clever to combine the d and the end of my last name with the design at the beginning of design, but most folks just got confused and couldn’t find me. Nevertheless, I used that domain for showcasing my professional work for quite a few years.

Eventually I started doing more writing, although most of it was technical in nature. (i.e., I write books for tech geeks or those aspiring to be tech geeks. Glamorous, I know.) The willardesigns.com mantra just didn’t fit. Plus, I’d always had a problem with passing myself off to be some huge company where really it’s just little-ol-me.

So I let go of that domain and registered wendywillard.com.

At first this site was just a copy of my old Willardesigns site. But eventually I switched to using a WordPress blog so I could easily update the readers of my books about new web technologies. Indeed, if you signed on to this site a few years ago, it was all Photoshop and HTML talk around here.

Gradually, I started writing about more personal, less technical topics. As I did, the category list on the left side grew to mirror the varied aspects of my life, including topics like Foster Care, Cooking, Nicaragua, Life with Kids, and Faith.

Once, I received an email from a woman who had read one of my HTML books. She was fascinated with how I had integrated my personal life with my professional web site. She asked if I was worried I might lose some potential clients because of the personal views expressed on my site. She did have a good point, but I guess I had finally come to the point in my life and my career where I didn’t care. If someone doesn’t want to hire me because my kids aren’t perfect, I take mission trips to Nicaragua, or I like the music of Laura Story, that’s OK. It probably wouldn’t be a good fit anyway.

When I look around the web at some of the other women whose blogs I frequent, I see a few things in common. First, they all are real women who post in an honest way about the stuff life throws at them. But also, each of them challenges me, whether it’s in how I cook for my family, how I spend my money or my free time, where I focus my professional efforts, who I hang out with, or just what I’m pondering.

Angie Smith is one of those women. In fact, reading her blog helped encourage me to write more honestly and more frequently here, if for no other reason than to provide an outlet for the stuff I’m thinking about. Recently she posted about an experience she had in the grocery store. It was one of those moments where God used a series of seemingly unrelated events and a perfect stranger to make her realize something important.

Her story challenged me. Her story inspired me. Her story encouraged me.

I hope I can – at some point – do something like that for you.