{"id":308480,"date":"2024-10-14T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T08:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/create-anyway-creativity-in-the-margins-of-motherhood-ashlee-gadd\/"},"modified":"2024-11-19T04:14:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T09:14:39","slug":"create-anyway-creativity-in-the-margins-of-motherhood-ashlee-gadd","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/create-anyway-creativity-in-the-margins-of-motherhood-ashlee-gadd\/","title":{"rendered":"Create Anyway: Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood: Ashlee Gadd"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many moms feel like there&#8217;s just no time for their creative passions. Ashlee Gadd\u2014author, photographer and founder of Coffee and Crumbs\u2014joins Dave and Ann Wilson to share how God led her to create in the margins of motherhood and offers hope for moms to thrive in seasons of change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many moms feel like there&#8217;s just no time for their creative passions. Ashlee Gadd shares how God led her to create in the margins &#038; hope for thriving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47000,"featured_media":309508,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"https:\/\/traffic.omny.fm\/d\/clips\/cbd16f10-ac60-4f09-b4df-b15400ce35aa\/33aaac7e-3581-4e21-a3df-b154011ba58c\/66819ea6-ae51-4ad9-8ace-b1fb00f4cd46\/audio.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:28:03","filesize":"25.73M","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"2024-10-14 04:18:30","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2838],"tags":[],"podcast_series":[10459],"cwp_profile":[3660],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-308480","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mothers","podcast_series-ashlee-gadd-create-anyway","cwp_profile-ashlee-gadd","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/10\/image_30232f.jpg?w=1024","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/308480\/create-anyway-creativity-in-the-margins-of-motherhood-ashlee-gadd","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/308480\/create-anyway-creativity-in-the-margins-of-motherhood-ashlee-gadd","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"cxsZVXowAy\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/create-anyway-creativity-in-the-margins-of-motherhood-ashlee-gadd\/\">Create Anyway: Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood: Ashlee Gadd<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/create-anyway-creativity-in-the-margins-of-motherhood-ashlee-gadd\/embed\/#?secret=cxsZVXowAy\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Create Anyway: Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood: Ashlee Gadd&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"cxsZVXowAy\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/10\/image_30232f.jpg",1024,1024,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Margaret","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/margaret-coylefamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Many moms feel like there's just no time for their creative passions. Ashlee Gadd shares how God led her to create in the margins & hope for thriving.","meta_box":{"show_notes":"\n<ul>\n<li>Connect with Ashlee and hear more of her thoughts at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ashleegadd.com\/\">ashleegadd.com<\/a> and on social media on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ashleegadd\/\">Insta<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Grab her book, \"<a href=\"http:\/\/shop.familylife.com\/product\/create-anyway-the-joy-of-pursuing-creativity-in-the-margins-of-motherhood-2\">Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood<\/a>,\" in our shop!<\/li>\n<li>Explore <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coffeeandcrumbs.net\/\">Coffee + Crumbs<\/a>, a platform and podcast that brings mothers together through storytelling.<\/li>\n<li>And check out the community the Coffee + Crumbs team created to inspire and equip mothers to create in the margins: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.exhalecreativity.com\/\">Exhale<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The book Ashlee mentioned, The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/the-artists-way-julia-cameron\/1141992530\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>\"Gospel in a Pumpkin\" Get your <a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/content_offer\/gospel-pumpkin\/\">free download<\/a> with activities, pumpkin-face stencil sheets, and a guided script to help your kids learn about what matters most while you carve your jack-o-lanterns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>Find resources from this podcast at <a href=\"https:\/\/shop.familylife.com\/product-category\/radio-resources\/\">shop.familylife.com<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/shop.familylife.com\/product-category\/past-radio-resources\/\">See resources from our past podcasts.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Find more content and resources on the <a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/app\/\">FamilyLife's app<\/a>!<\/li>\n<li>Help others find FamilyLife. Leave a review on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303\">Apple Podcast<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm?si=d6dfa8d2415f4750\">Spotify<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Check out all the FamilyLife podcasts on the <a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/familylife-podcast-network\/\">FamilyLife Podcast Network<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylife.com\/fl2024-10-14.pdf","transcript_content":"\nFamilyLife Today\u00ae with Dave and Ann Wilson - Web Version Transcript\r\n\r\nThis content has been generated by an artificial intelligence language model. While we strive for accuracy and quality, please note that the information provided will most likely not be entirely error-free or up-to-date. We recommend independently verifying the content with the originally-released audio. This transcript is provided for your personal use and general information purposes only. References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the use or interpretation of this content.\r\n\r\nCreate Anyway: Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood\r\n\r\nGuest:Ashlee Gadd\r\n\r\nFrom the series:Create Anway (Day 1 of 2)\r\n\r\nAir date:October 14, 2024\r\n\r\nAshlee: When we tend to the creative gifts and talents that God has planted in our hearts, and really created for His glory\u2014when we tend to that work\u2014it makes us better mothers.\r\n\r\nShelby: Welcome to FamilyLife Today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I'm Shelby Abbott, and your hosts are Dave and Ann Wilson. You can find us at FamilyLifeToday.com.\r\n\r\nDave:This is FamilyLife Today. \r\n\r\nDave: So we're talking about thriving today in motherhood. I know that you have said many, many times, when we had littles, you felt like your life was sort of over.\r\n\r\nAnn: I think I said to you, \u201cI've lost my life; I don't even know who I am,\u201d with three little boys [who] were five and under in the house. There was a part of me that felt like, \u201cI guess I need to take my gifts and just pack them away for a while\u201418 years\u2014\r\n\r\n20 years.\u201d Because, as a mom, you're overwhelmed. A lot of us are working; or we're homeschooling; or we're just stay-at-home moms\u2014and maybe we've had some dreams; I think that word even, \u201cdreaming\u201d or \u201cpassions\u201d\u2014and it doesn't feel like there's time for those.\r\n\r\nDave:Well, we've got a woman in here today, who's going to say something different. Ashlee Gadd is with us. She's smiling because I think you're thinking, \u201cThat's not true!\u201d; right?\r\n\r\nAshlee: Right! I'm thinking, \u201cThat's not true.\u201d And also I know what that feels like; that resonates.\r\n\r\nAnn: Ashlee, you've written a book called Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood. So just tell our listeners a little bit what you do, because I think this is a really interesting topic today.\r\n\r\nAshlee: Sure. So I'm a mother; I have three kids, ages twelve, nine, and five. And I'm also a writer, and a photographer, and just kind of a general creative. I'm really, really passionate about reminding mothers that becoming a mom does not need to be a death sentence for their creative dreams\u2014 \r\n\r\nAnn: There it is!\r\n\r\nAshlee: \u2014which that was my language, not your language\u2014but that's what I heard you saying. \r\n\r\nAnn: Did you feel that, though?\r\n\r\nAshlee: Maybe \u201cdeath sentence\u201d would be too strong for how I felt, but I think the word I would use is \u201ctension.\u201d That this was probably the first tension I felt, building up inside of me, when I became a mother. And I wanted to be a mom my whole life\u2014 \r\n\r\nAnn: Right; you love it. \r\n\r\nAshlee: \u2014my whole life!\r\n\r\nAnn: It's a gift; a blessing.\r\n\r\nAshlee: \u2014a gift; a blessing. I dreamed of having children and being a mom. And even so, when I became a mother, that first kind of tension rising up in me was: \u201cHow am I going to throw myself into motherhood the way that I want to and, also, tend to my creative spirit that God very much planted inside of me?\u201d and \u201cCan those two things coexist?\u201d I think that was my first year of motherhood\u2014was really wrestling through\u2014\u201cCan my art exist alongside my motherhood?\u201d\r\n\r\nAnn: Kind of explain\u2014because listeners, if you're a mom, you're going to relate to this\u2014what it felt like, as a young mom, of that tension: \u201cWhat did you feel like, personally?\u201d\r\n\r\nAshlee: It felt like a scarcity mindset. I think, where I really struggled, was I felt that every second I was spending on my art was a second being taken away from my motherhood. \r\n\r\nAnn: Did you feel guilty? \r\n\r\nAshlee: I felt guilty; I felt selfish. I felt that I wasn't doing anything well enough\u2014that I wasn't giving all to my art, and I wasn't giving all to motherhood\u2014and I was sort of suspended in midair, trying to keep up with the very real demands that motherhood had placed on me and, also, the very real desires that I wanted to cultivate in the world. And so I was sort of stretched, like Gumby, I think both ways.\r\n\r\nDave:And I'm just guessing\u2014again, I'm not a mom, obviously\u2014I mean, dads experience this a little bit, too; but it's definitely different. I think for moms, because even the maternal instinct that dads have, but not the same way. But here's my question: \u201cDid you feel like that tension usually gets answered, like: \u2018Got to put the creative away; put away my gifts\u2019?\u201d I mean, your title is Create Anyway, so I know you literally picked each word. You're like, \u201cNo, even in that moment, I'm saying, \u2018Anyway, create.\u2019\u201d \r\n\r\nBut was that a tension to get to that? Because I think most moms say, \u201cOkay; for the next five, six, seven, ten years, I'm only going to do this one thing; and do it well,\u201d\u2014and I'm not saying that's wrong or bad\u2014that's often the mindset. And you're saying it could be a different mindset.\r\n\r\nAshlee: Definitely. And I think there is a very real assessment of priorities there. Obviously, you technically can put your creative dreams on a shelf for five years, ten years\u2014you could do that\u2014you can't put your baby on a shelf for five or ten years. So there is a very real difference, I think, in those two roles and, even, the priority and the placement in our hearts as mothers and as creatives. \r\n\r\nBut for me, it sort of turned into this kind of expectation management of: prior to having children, what it looked like to create in my days\u2014what it looked like to write, and to take photographs, or to do any number of creative things\u2014it looked one way. And after I became a mother, it looked a different way. I think part of my journey into becoming such a champion and a cheerleader for mothers\u2014not letting their creative selves fall by the wayside\u2014is that transforming mindset that you sort of have to go through when you just recognize that creating, as a mother, does not look the same way that it did before I became a mom. \r\n\r\nOnce I kind of accepted that I might not have three straight hours to sit down and write; but I have this little pocket of time, here and there, and I can still use that\u2014and those minutes still matter, and none of it is wasted\u2014even though it doesn't look like it used to look like.\r\n\r\nDave:I mean, you write about writing your book on note cards while you're sitting by the bathtub.\r\n\r\nAshlee: That's how I started writing this book; yeah. \r\n\r\nDave:I mean, can you imagine doing that?\r\n\r\nAnn: No! Because I was yelling most of the time: \u201cWill you stop splashing the water?!\u201d And so I wasn't sane enough to probably do that, but I could have thought of different ways that worked for me; because you\u2019re saying, \u201cJust figure out what that looks like for you.\u201d\r\n\r\nAshlee: Yeah; I think I've had to let a lot of my own expectations shift and change. I've had to let go of a lot of perfectionism\u2014creating in the margins, creating on the bathroom floor\u2014it looks different; it feels different; it's not perfect. I've had plenty of moments, where I'm yelling at my kids while I'm trying to write, or whatever the thing is. I wrote Create Anyway in the middle of the pandemic, and all of the coffee shops were closed. And there were days when I had three children in my house twenty-four hours a day; my husband was home twenty-four hours a day. And some days, I would take my laptop out into the driveway; I would just sit in my car in the driveway, and just connect to the Wi-Fi. I would just write\u2014sitting in my car, parked in the driveway\u2014to just tend to that part of myself, which is so essential to my own flourishing. \r\n\r\nI think that's why I'm so passionate about helping women figure out how to make it work, even if it's hard and even if it's complicated, because I just believe that\u2014when we tend to the creative gifts and talents that God has infused in our DNA\/that He has planted in our hearts and really created for us for His glory\u2014when we tend to that work, it makes us better mothers. And that's a permission slip I just want every woman to be able to hold.\r\n\r\nAnn: What about for the mom [who\u2019s] listening, and she says, \u201cI'm not a creative; I'm a computer programmer. I don't have that creative part you're talking about.\u201d Because I feel like I don't have that in me that much. But what would you say to that person?\r\n\r\nDave:She's a creative.\r\n\r\nAnn: Are we all creative?\r\n\r\nDave:I mean, in some sense. \r\n\r\nAnn: How would you define a creative? \r\n\r\nAshlee: I believe we're all creative, because we were created in the image of God; and God is a creator, and God is creative. And so if we were created in the image of the same God\u2014who created butterflies and created any number of wonderful, brilliant, amazing things in this world\u2014we have to believe that we are, also, creative. And so I gently push back on that notion; but I also want to free women up from connecting creativity to crafting or creativity to being a painter. I think a lot of women have a lot of hangups with the word, \u201ccreative\u201d or \u201ccreativity.\u201d I just want to broaden the scope of what that means. \r\n\r\nAnn: I can broaden that, because here's what I struggled with when our kids were little. I used to think: \u201cMan, I could craft a message,\u201d or \u201cI would take a walk if I had five minutes by myself.\u201d I would dream what it would look like to bring women together to bring a ministry or to meet the needs of women in our community. I have this leadership gift\u2014and so my creative side doesn't sound creative; that's why I say that\u2014but it is. It's part of who God made me to be, like: \u201cHow can I draw women together? How can I stir women's hearts with the gospel?\u201d \r\n\r\nI don't think of myself as a creative\u2014but there is this stirring\u2014it's the dreams that God put in our hearts that\u2014I think we think, as moms, that we have to shelve them\u2014and God's whispering. Do you feel like that?\r\n\r\nAshlee: Yeah, yeah. \r\n\r\nAnn: He whispers to that part of us.\r\n\r\nAshlee: And mothers, in particular, are creating all the time. I mean, think about a mom going through one day of her life\u2014creating meals, creating memories, creating magic, creating rhythms\u2014like mothers are creating life! We are creating all the time. And so I think that's such a helpful reframe for women\u2014who have hangups with that word, or that word makes them bristle or uncomfortable\u2014or \u201cI can't own that title,\u201d or \u201cThat's not me.\u201d It's like, \u201cBut it is! It's inside of you.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnn: Yeah, you're right. Even\u2014I was thinking of the way that I used to teach Bible stories to the kids; I would come up with some way\u2014\r\n\r\nDave:Her stories are epic; talk about creator.\r\n\r\nAshlee: \u2014to make this relevant.\r\n\r\nDave: I started getting my phone out and taping them, like, \u201cThese are children's books.\u201d\r\n\r\nAshlee: That's amazing.\r\n\r\nDave:I've never heard such epics, and they're hanging on every word. I'm like, \u201cYou're not a creative? Yes, you are!\u201d It just depends how you look at that.\r\n\r\nAnn: I like how you're saying that God's a creative God, so He has made that and put that into us. \r\n\r\nDave:But here's my question for you two moms, because one thing I've noticed about Ann\u2014I don't know you, Ashlee; but I'm guessing from, what you've said, you can juggle many things at once: you're writing a book while you're giving your kids a bath, and your husband's probably\u2014whatever.\r\n\r\nAnn: I could not do that. \r\n\r\nDave:She has a one-thing focus\u2014and this, over here; it\u2019s like\u2014\u201cI'll get to that next.\u201d \r\n\r\nSo is this partly gifting? Or can you think any woman, depending on their focus, could maybe do this?\u2014even if they're more of a one-focus, one-thing-at-a-time woman. \r\n\r\nAshlee: I think personality probably plays a really big role in that. And my personality is one that I do like to juggle a lot of things at once. I used to be a waitress, and so I'm used to having lots of plates on my arms. That\u2019s comfortable for me to be juggling it all and making it work in the margins. I think other women: they might need a different structure for them. \r\n\r\nI do think that all women can, and should, create in the margins of their days; because the number-one reason I hear from women, who aren't creating, is that they don't have time. They don't have time, and they don't have space. And so when I push back on that lovingly, and suggest, \u201cWell, if you don't have time, you don't have space. Could you give 15 minutes on the bathroom floor with the stack of index cards?\u201d and \u201cCould you delete Instagram from your phone for a week?\u2014or a month?\u201d\r\n\r\nDave: \u201cNo; can\u2019t do that.\u201d\r\n\r\nAshlee: Some people can't. But I think there are lots of different ways to make this work for you. For me, I always come back to this phrase of just\u2014\u201cexpectation management\u201d\u2014when we can kind of sit down with ourselves, and really assess, \u201cWhat is possible in any given season?\u201d It's going to look different; and it looks different for me\u2014even from when I had babies and toddlers hanging on my body\u2014to now, where my kids are all in school for various parts of the day. I do have different blocks of time than I had when I had a baby and a toddler. And my creativity, at that time, looked different than it looks now. I had a different method\u2014when I wrote the index cards on the bathroom floor\u2014I had a one-year-old. And it was writing in my car, sitting in the driveway\u2014and part of that was the pandemic\u2014and part of it was just the life stage I was in. It's like I would do anything to be alone for five minutes.\r\n\r\n And now, I have a little bit bigger blocks of time; but I don't have the same capacity or the same time as a mother, who has full-grown children, who are totally out of the house. She has different hours in the day than I do. And so I think just assessing\u2014in every season, \u201cWhat is possible?\u201d\u2014is a good place to start.\r\n\r\nAnn: Hey, I just wanted to take a quick minute to jump in, and say, \u201cWhatever you're going through today, listen to this: \u2018You aren't alone.\u2019\u201d I know that you know that God is with you; but let me add this: \u201cDid you know that Dave and I have a team, here at FamilyLife Today, ready to pray for you?\u201d and \u201cIt's this incredible honor and privilege to lift your name up to God.\u201d So if you need prayer, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.\r\n\r\nDave:And here's the easy way to do it\u2014you can text us, and we will pray for you\u2014here's how you do it: text FLT to 80542. Again, that's FLT to 80542. And we will send you an immediate text back to let you know that we've connected; and then, you can respond to our text with your prayer requests. We will pray for you: text FLT at 80542.\r\n\r\nAnn: Talk about the Target parking lot.\r\n\r\nAshlee: If you looked at my camera roll, right now\u2014I'm not kidding\u2014there would probably be 30 to 40 pictures of a sunset in the Target parking lot. I don't know why God does this\u2014I can't make sense of it\u2014but I swear to you: the sunsets in Target parking lots are more beautiful\u2014\r\n\r\nDave: Target? \r\n\r\nAshlee: \u2014than anywhere else in the world.\r\n\r\nAnn: Is that before or after you spent the money?\r\n\r\nAshlee: I just love finding beauty in unexpected places; I think that is the mark of a true artist in this world. And for whatever reason, God tends to minister to my heart in Target parking lots. I often just sense His presence there; I don't know why. But really, the next time you're at Target\u2014I just want you to go at sunset\u2014and just check out the sky, and see what you find.\r\n\r\nDave: Seriously; you're not kidding. \r\n\r\nAshlee: I'm not joking. I wish I had my camera roll to show you right now, but I'll have to text it to you later.\r\n\r\nDave:What I'm hearing you say, though, is: \u201cOpen your eyes,\u201d\u2014\r\n\r\nAshlee: Yeah.\r\n\r\nDave: \u2014that's what I'm hearing. It could be Costco; it could be Target; it could be the gas station; it could be your backyard\u2014but we often don't open our eyes to see what God's doing and creating, right around us\u2014because we\u2019re so myopic in our little world, especially moms with little kids, right?\r\n\r\nAshlee: Yes.\r\n\r\nAnn: Ashlee, I did it yesterday. I went on a walk.\r\n\r\nDave:She did. I was on my bike; she's walking.\r\n\r\nAnn: I\u2019m walking. But I was feeling sad yesterday; we've just got a lot going on with people [who] are sick, and there's just a lot of things that are out of control. So I was walking\u2014I was telling God, pouring out my heart to Him\u2014like, \u201cLord, I'm sad about this,\u201d or \u201cI'm frustrated,\u201d or \u201cI'm mad.\u201d And I said, \u201cI just need You to show up in my life. I need to see You. I need something; are You here? Do You see me? Do You care? Do You hear me?\u201d And I had my camera with me.\r\n\r\nDave: \u2014phone.\r\n\r\nAnn: This is on my camera.\r\n\r\nDave:Ashlee has a real camera; we have a phone.\r\n\r\nAshlee: I take photos on my phone all the time. \r\n\r\nDave:Those pictures in your book: those are not iPhone.\r\n\r\nAshlee: Yeah, those are from a real camera; but I\u2014 \r\n\r\nAnn: Your book is beautiful, by the way. \r\n\r\nAshlee: Thank you so much. \r\n\r\nThere's a quote\u2014I think it's Chase Jarvis who said this\u2014but he always says, \"The best camera is the one you have with you.\u201d And so that is my permission to embrace your iPhone photography.\r\n\r\nDave: They're pretty good cameras. \r\n\r\nAnn: Okay, so mine is animals. \r\n\r\nAshlee: Okay; I love it! \r\n\r\nAnn: So I walk out my house\u2014there's this tiny little bunny, so I take a picture\u2014I felt like, \u201cIt's nice, Lord.\u201d It\u2019s just a little\u2014and some people: \u201cIt's just the rabbit eating the grass,\u201d\u2014but for me, it was like, \u201cOh!!\u201d\r\n\r\nAshlee: No, I'm a believer. See, I believe it.\r\n\r\nAnn: And then, I cut to the pond\u2014there's all these baby little ducklings\u2014I\u2019m like, \u201cOh!!\u201d But then, the most epic part of the walk is\u2014 I come down our street\u2014and there's the most gorgeous rainbow. And it was\u2014I mean, I showed\u2014you met me!\r\n\r\nDave:Yeah, I didn't even see it. Isn't that crazy? \r\n\r\nAshlee: That is crazy. \r\n\r\nDave: I'm riding my bike; she goes, \u201cLook at the rainbow.\u201d\r\n\r\nDave: \u2014rainbow? \u201cOh, wow!\u201d\r\n\r\nAnn: But you're right; I wouldn't have noticed it because a lot of times, when we're in life, and we're just walking, our head is down, and all we see is\u2014\u201cThis is hard,\u201d and \u201cThis is difficult,\u201d and \u201cI'm sad,\u201d or \u201cI'm mad,\u201d or \u201cI'm lonely,\u201d\u2014but when we lift up our eyes, we see Him. \r\n\r\nI think, sometimes, what we do, as moms\u2014we just had this women's group, and we were talking\u2014I was asking: \u201cWrite down the dreams that you've had in your life.\u201d And as these women are writing, tears are falling down their faces. And I asked them, \u201cWhy were tears just streaming down your face?\u201d And they said, \u201cBecause I've put those dreams away.\u201d And what you're saying is:\u2014 \r\n\r\nDave: \u2014\u201cCreate anyway.\u201d\r\n\r\nAshlee: \u2014\u201cCreate anyway.\u201d \r\n\r\nAnn: You're saying, \u201cYou don't have to put them away.\u201d\r\n\r\nAshlee: Yeah; I think I want to put a caveat on that,\u2014which is to say\u2014\u201cSometimes God does ask us to put our dreams on a shelf.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnn: Maybe you wanted to be a ballerina, and that hurt. \r\n\r\nAshlee: Yeah; yes, exactly. And so I want to leave room for the sovereignty of God in this equation. \r\n\r\nAnn: That\u2019s good.\r\n\r\nAshlee: But I don't believe that, the second we become a mother, we're not entitled to those dreams anymore. I also think God can shape our dreams into something different. \r\n\r\nBut I truly believe that God has put gifts and talents into each of us, and He has created passions in each of us for different communities of people. And so I love really exploring with women: \u201cWhat is the thing you're really, really good at?\u201d and \u201cWho are the people you really, really care about?\u201d\u2014and finding that intersection. Because, to me, that's where creative dreams are born: it's born out of the natural talent that you have and the people that you have a heartbeat for. And so how that actually all pans out, I think, it varies from person to person. \r\n\r\nFor a long time, I really wrestled with that tension of balancing\u2014and I hate that word, but I can't think of a better one right now\u2014but sort of balancing motherhood against the backdrop of those dreams. And where I land now is that it's good and holy for my children to see me pursuing the dreams that God has put on my heart. And that's something I actually really want to model for my children: that when God drops a dream in my heart, and I go out and pursue it, that that's something they can do. And there's no better way for me to model it than to show them what that actually looks like. It's important to me that my children see me as a whole person, and not just the woman schlepping them from school to extracurriculars, home to quesadillas, and whatnot. I want my children to see the way I light up when I write, and when I take pictures, and when I do creative things that just make me feel alive. I want them to have a mom in touch with that side of herself.\r\n\r\nAnn: Is that how you founded \u201cCoffee + Crumbs\u201d? \r\n\r\nAshlee: Yes. \r\n\r\nAnn: Talk about that a little bit.\r\n\r\nAshlee: Yeah, very much so. [In] 2013, I had a one-year-old. I was not even pregnant, yet, with my second. And I had been writing for a really long time\u2014writing online\u2014writing personal stories, writing essays. And at that time, I was really inspired by motherhood\u2014I was looking for places to write about motherhood\u2014looking for places online to submit my writing. And at the time, all that was really out there, in 2013, there was \u201cHuffington Post Parents,\u201d and \u201cScary Mommy,\u201d and some of these other websites that just weren't quite a fit for my personal writing style and the types of stories that I wanted to tell. \r\n\r\nGod just dropped this dream in my head of creating a collaborative space online, where women could write stories about motherhood\u2014not advice, not $800-diaper bag recommendations\u2014but just stories: really honest, raw, gritty stories. I rallied up a group of friends, who were all mothers and writers; and we started \u201cCoffee + Crumbs\u201d officially in 2014. We just had our ten-year anniversary.\r\n\r\nDave:I like the title. I'm guessing this is what you were thinking as well, because it\u2019s messy.\r\n\r\nAshlee: Yes; so initially, my heart for that name was\u2014at that time, coffee and crumbs kind of defined my life\u2014because I was home with little kids, and lukewarm coffee, and crumbs everywhere; but to me, \u201cCoffee + Crumbs\u201d represents the beauty and mess of motherhood. It's the peace and the chaos.\r\n\r\nAnn: Are these stories, that you've included in your book, did they come from \u201cCoffee + Crumbs\u201d?\r\n\r\nAshlee: No\u2014so this was all original to Create Anyway\u2014but I have been writing about motherhood, for ten years now, publicly online, through \u201cCoffee + Crumbs.\u201d And I would say that this book, Create Anyway, is really the embodiment of the last decade of my work and what I believe. I think the more that I've written, alongside other women\u2014and I've really engaged in helping other women kind of harness their creative gifts into a collective good\u2014it's really solidified this message for me in my heart of how much this actually matters. I've watched the art of storytelling really transform women, as mothers; and I want other people to have access to that.\r\n\r\nAnn: How many stories are in the book of these women? \r\n\r\nAshlee: I don't know, off the top of my head, how many are in there\u2014maybe eight to ten, I guess. \r\n\r\nDave: Yeah, I'd say eight to ten. \r\n\r\nAshlee: Yeah; I have these little kind of spotlights throughout the book. I really wanted to include that, because I wanted to showcase the fact that creativity means different things to different people. I'm a writer, and I'm a photographer\u2014and I talk a lot about that in the book; I talk a lot about writing, and I talk a lot about photography\u2014but I wanted to rally up women, who are painters, and who are sculptors, and who make different kinds of art; because I want to expand that definition of what it means to be an artist and what it means to be creative. So that was kind of my heart in including other perspectives in the book.\r\n\r\nAnn: It\u2019s beautiful. \r\n\r\nAshlee: Thank you! \r\n\r\nAnn: And then, my last question is: as a mom, I remember struggling with: \u201cI don't even have time to read my Bible. How do I develop my walk with God?\u201d I know you would say that's pivotal, as a mom, to not forget the importance of our walk with God. Do they go hand in hand?\u2014can they? Because I'm like, \u201cDo I draw? Do I create? Where do I spend time with God?\u201d Do you know? \r\n\r\nAshlee: Yeah; absolutely.\r\n\r\nAnn: How do we balance that? And there's that word, \u201cbalance,\u201d again. \r\n\r\nAshlee: I know; I know. Well, I really love that question; because I think spending time with God is spending time with God. You can spend time with God while you're painting. You can go outside\u2014and see a bunny, or see a sunset in Target\u2014\r\n\r\nAnn: \u2014and worship.\r\n\r\nAshlee: \u2014and worship, and spend a moment just relishing in the extravagance of God's creation. I believe that is part of making art, and that's part of spending time with God. So I don't even think of those things as necessarily separate. I think, sometimes, I will be struck over the head with a story or something that I'm just dying to sit down and write\u2014and it feels like Holy Spirit commissioned\u2014and so I think, when we're walking with the Lord, the Lord walks with us in our art. They don't have to be two different things, I guess. \r\n\r\nDave:You are the blending of the \u201cand\u201d; you know what I mean? I always think: \u201cand\/or\u201d; you're saying, \u201cNo, there\u2019s a genius of the and.\u201d\r\n\r\nAshlee: \u2014\u201cboth\/and\u201d is where I land.\r\n\r\nDave: \u2014\u201cboth\u201d; yeah!\r\n\r\nAnn: I like that; because I tend to go one or the other\u2014but to include both\u2014we're worshiping the Creator Himself in His creation and how He's created us, as well. That's good!\r\n\r\nShelby: It can be difficult to think about creativity as a form of connection with God and even worship; but our God is a creative God, as we've been hearing about today. So I love this perspective about embracing the both\/and-ness when it comes to creativity; it's really great stuff. \r\n\r\nI'm Shelby Abbott; and you've been listening to Dave and Ann Wilson, with Ashlee Gadd, on FamilyLife Today. Ashlee has written a book called Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood. And I know that you, listening right now, might be a mother; and you feel like, \u201cI am living my life in the margins. How can I pursue creativity?\u201d Well, this book is going to help you do that: to unlock a deeper sense of fulfillment in your role that God has called you to, as a mom. You can get your copy, right now, of Ashlee's book by going online to FamilyLifeToday.com; or you can find a link in the show notes. Or feel free to give us a call at 800-358-6329 to request your copy. Again, that number is 800-F as in family, L as in life, and then the word, TODAY. \r\n\r\nWe're right here smack dab in the middle of October, and that means that Halloween is coming up. Regardless of how you may feel about the holiday of Halloween, we want to give you an opportunity to be able to communicate the gospel to your family in this moment. Family Life has created a free resource for you, that's a downloadable family activity for you and your kids to do; so basically, it includes pumpkin face stencil sheets, a guided script to help your kids talk about and learn about the gospel as you're going through carving your pumpkin into a Jack-o-Lantern this year. You can find this free resource at FamilyLife.com\/Pumpkin, or you could look for it in the show notes. Again, the website is FamilyLife.com\/Pumpkin so you can learn how to share the gospel, proactively, with your kids as you're carving out your pumpkin in just a couple of weeks.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nNow, tomorrow, Ashlee Gadd is back to talk about balancing creativity and motherhood. She's going to talk about guilt and the role of play in pursuing creative passions with your kids. That's coming up tomorrow; we hope you'll join us. On behalf of Dave and Ann Wilson, I'm Shelby Abbott. We'll see you back next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today.\r\n\r\nFamilyLife Today is a donor-supported production of FamilyLife\u00ae, a Cru\u00ae Ministry. \r\n\r\nHelping you pursue the relationships that matter most.\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019ve benefited from the FamilyLife Today transcripts, would you consider donating today to help defray the costs of producing them and making them available online?  \r\n\r\nCopyright \u00a9 2024 FamilyLife. All rights reserved.\r\n\r\nwww.FamilyLife.com                                 \r\n\r\n\n","theme_header_position":"Sticky","post_header_is_sticky":"default","is_header_overlay":"0"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/308480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47000"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308480"},{"taxonomy":"podcast_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast_series?post=308480"},{"taxonomy":"cwp_profile","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cwp_profile?post=308480"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=308480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}