Hello. I’m Vina.
I first began a treasure hunt for words when I was five years old. I was drawn into the adventure of reading between the lines of imagination in my mother’s textbook: Anthology of Children’s Literature. It was one of the few books in our small house. Snuggled in the corner of my little room I lost myself in the fine print of stories.
Five decades later my love for words continues as I craft stories of my own, reflections from 31 years as a mother of four, 38 years married to my high school sweetheart, and 10 years as a caregiver for my mother. Living with my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me to reset life into the present moment, to seek the beauty in each moment, and to create wonder in words and with paint on canvas. The greatest wonders of all have been uncovered through my forty-year journey with Jesus.
At the edge of these forty years of wandering with Him, I step into a new landscape of empty nesting, the prospect of changing roles, and a widening perspective on faith. Like you, I live in the middle of shifting stories, searching for the points where God meets me in the storyline. That intersection is where He rewrites the purpose. That intersection is where he restories our story.
Our restoried stories can restore our souls. Encourage others. Strengthen others.
Since the very beginning of time, that is what God does with story:
create something new with words.
My favorite story of life restored, here in The Mudroom, is one of my family uncovering our roots for the first time in “The Beauty of Multicultural Unity” This message written almost three years ago resonates even more powerfully today.
Discover more stories of love restoried at my blog.
More about Vina:
Vina is rebuilding life with wood, paper, and canvas in a century-old cottage by the Puget Sound. Numerous stories about empty nesting, motherhood, Alzheimer’s and caregiving, and how it all relates to restoring a 1926 abode can be found on her website.
She has been published in an anthology of essays, The Wonder Years: 40 Women Over 40 on Aging, Faith, Beauty, and Strength, by Leslie Leyland Fields, Ruminate Magazine, and a variety of sites including The Write Launch, Grand Magazine, The Redbud Post, and is excited to join the editorial team at The Mudroom.
Vina’s loves are her husband and four children, painting, and paddleboarding, and her cat, Bear.
Her heart includes a ministry started by her family members, the Kamay Project, which reaches out to the Ati people, an indigenous tribe of the Philippines that lives on the island of Boracay.
Places she has been published include The Wonder Years: 40 Women Over 40 on Aging, Faith, Beauty, and Strength, Ruminate Magazine, redbudwritersguild.com, fathommagazine.com, thewritelaunch.com, and mudroomblog.com. Follow her on Instagram @vinabmogg.
- Because of You - April 29, 2023
- The Tree Near the Side of the Road - March 31, 2023
- Spilling Over - February 27, 2023
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you guys to my personal blogroll.
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and
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the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from
that service? Appreciate it!