Christa Dovel

I love teaching, writing and crafts. 

Writing is something that has really taken hold of me in the last year.  While I have always enjoyed writing, I never seriously thought about pursuing it until I discovered blogging.  Since then, I have been published in Stressfree Living and sold another article.  At Keeping the Home Fire... I write about family, crafting, home schooling (I home school my children, and was home schooled for most of my elementary education, 3-8th grade) and social issues.  My mom loved English and history, so devoted much of our home schooling years to these rich topics.

Crafts were my first joy, as I learned to crochet when I was four years old.   I have always enjoyed drawing and painting.   My scrapbooks are elaborate.  Quilts are something I have too many of begun, too few finished. Knitting is my latest  joy, as I find it very useful--everyone of my six 'boys' wants socks and sweaters.  My dad was constantly pursuing a new craft, and perfecting it.  He manufactured many of his tools for wood and metal working, as well as designing equipment for the field.

By the time I was six, I had taught my younger brother to crochet.  In grade school, even though I was never the top student, my classmates often relied on me to tutor them.  Both of my parents are natural teachers, so I came by this fault naturally. 

I am married to the love of my life and have been for ten years.  We have five excellent boys, ages 3, 5, 7, 9,and 11.  My time is spent cooking, teaching my children, knitting, cleaning, baking and sewing.  I have run several businesses, but retired from my last one, daycare, this past fall.

I grew up on a farm in Colorado and loved that way of life.  I currently live in a small town in the Rocky Mountains.  We would love to relocate to some acreage with a long growing season, raise milk cows, chickens and pigs, and rear our children naturally.

My favorite things to read are how-to guides--of almost any sort, but my favorite books are novels.

"You are a living magnet.
What you attract into your life
is in harmony with
your dominant thoughts.”

 - Brian Tracy