I’m a Jesus lover with a sweet tooth and a passion for children’s books!
Hi! I’m Rachael, an award-winning teacher turned homeschooling mama of one. You’ll usually find me in yoga pants, a t-shirt, and a messy bun. Keep reading to learn more about me, my writing career, and my inspiration for The Garden Scouts!
Photo by Brooke Waller Photography
An Ordinary Woman with an Extraordinary Calling
Rachael was born and raised in rural Southwest Missouri. The best memories from her childhood took place at an old farm on over 40 acres. It was a morel hunting, four-wheeling, pond skating, tadpole catching, grap vine swinging, walnut gathering, honeysuckle sipping, chicken raising kind of childhood. When her family moved into town, that love of being outdoors and exploring nature started to fade.
While in elementary school, she discovered her love of writing. She even won a few class and school writing competitions. However, she recieved her first writing rejection in sixth grade and her delicate 12 year-old ego was shattered. She didn’t write stories for the next 20 years. God had other plans for her, though! We’ll get to those in a minute.
Rachael was raised in the Christian church, but when you bounce back and forth between churches every weekend (divorced parents) it’s difficult to get a clear picture of Biblical history & stories. She calls this her swiss cheese Christian education.
As a teenager, Rachael struggled to find a church she felt comfortable in because she was embarrased about her lack of Biblical knowledge (this seems like a silly excuse to her now). This continued throughout college and the early years of her marriage. It wasn’t until she had her daughter that Rachael felt a strong pull towards church. Her little family found a church that instantly felt like home and everything snowballed from there.
Shortly after her baptism in 2021, God placed a family calling on their hearts to homeschool (she was already a SAHM) and to start a homestead. This homestead is to not only provide for their family, but for disadvantaged families in their local community (this is a work in progress).
Later that year, Rachael saw a gap in the books and resources available to young kids and their families. There were plenty of books out there to help kids memorize the fruit of the Spirit and provide scripture for each one (these are valuable resources), but she couldn’t find any to help her (with her swiss cheese background) teach her child what it might look like to live out the fruits.
Cue God calling her back to writing and putting the fruit of the Spirit at the center of it. Talk about feeling unequipped! But, as Rachael soon learned, God equips the called. His presense was felt throughout the entire writing and publishing process of Buzzing With Love.
Breakfast
First thing everyday
Ireland
dream vacation
My faith
most important
Heartland
Favorite Show
Her Inspiration…
Nowadays, Rachael has rediscovered her love of nature and sense of wonder in God’s creation. It’s all thanks to the precious gift God blessed her and her husband with in 2017. She could tell their daughter was connected to nature early on when she would only fall sleep to nature sounds.
Her daughter’s love for bugs (obsession might be a better word) helped her see God’s smaller creatures in a new light. Rachael went from being super creeped out and afraid of nearly all insects to seeing them through the curious lense of a child again.
She helped Rachael appreciate the importance of each insect and the beauty each mandible, wing, and pupa adds to our world (so long as they aren’t shoved in her face or put in her hair). Better still, her daughter opened her eyes to how amazingly creative our God is.
When Rachael started this project in January 2022, it was really important to her that she create a series that helps hightlight this same beauty, that she now sees in our world, for her readers.
Here’s to new adventures and doing them scared!
