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    Hi, I’m Krista.
    The wife of a very talented musician who takes me around the world in pursuit of excellence.
    Mama to Jakob, Audrey and Ella, who just happens to have Down Syndrome
    and an aspiring disciple of Jesus, defender of the oppressed, photographer and domestic diva.
    I write and speak on navigating through the fog of life - you know, when things don’t go exactly as planned and am fuelled by a passion to be a voice for those who have trouble speaking for themselves…oh, and coffee…lots of coffee.

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  • Dis/ability
    • Ella’s Story
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  • The 2021 Writing Challenge
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Some men see things as they are and ask “Why?” I dream things that never were and ask “Why not?”

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This is one of my favourite pictures of myself. It was take in Aldeburgh, UK. I felt such peace on this beach. The ocean is home.

Hi Friend. My name is Krista and this is where I write about family, faith and dis/abilities.

Life rarely turns out as we had pictured, and certainly not as we had hoped. And yet, through the fog of disappointment a light shines and the light is beautiful. I write about navigating through the fog and finding the light. It’s a rough world out there. I know because I’m in it – calling out from the trenches.

I am the wife of a musician. This could be the subject of a blog in and of itself. My husband, Ben, is a Choral Conductor (that is conductor of choirs) and we currently live in England, where he is a Music Minister and I work as the Communications lead for the National Ministry Team of the Church England.

I am the mother of three beautiful children – Jakob, my feisty and courageously independent just-turned-teenager, Ella, my beautiful and ridiculously charismatic eleven-year-old who just happens to be blessed with an extra chromosome and Audrey, my baby who reminds me daily to slow down and take time for the more important things in life. And I am follower of Jesus Christ, fumbling daily through faith in pursuit of holiness.

Food is my love language and jazz is my soul language. I enjoy photography, dancing (think more ballet and less disco) and am seriously addicted to coffee. I am passionate about being a voice for those who have trouble speaking for themselves and about finding the beauty in the everyday.


kristadawne

This week, I invited my friend Alida Thomas to wri This week, I invited my friend Alida Thomas to write on the word, Inquire. Alida and I started our graduate studies together at Trinity Western University.

We share both the rewards and challenges of being multi-hyphenates and I resonate with every word when she writes, “I’m deeply compelled by our collective potential – locally, nationally, and globally – to address the pressing needs of systemic inequality and to build healthier more equitable ways of being with each other (in our shared humanity) and with our planet (in our shared belonging). I’m passionate about equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice; intersectional feminism; social and environmental justice; human rights; refugee rights and care for newcomers to Canada; and active and informed citizenship.”

I could not be more in love with what Alida wrote this week and am so grateful for her contribution to my little corner of the internet. Read her piece on the blog. Link in profile or at kristaewert.com

#2021writingchallenge #writersofinstagram #passion #inquiry #belonging #community
Ready? You’ve thought about it long enough. You Ready?

You’ve thought about it long enough. You’ve explored every dark corner of your insecurity and decided that there is nothing to lose and much to gain so you activate. After a long savasana, you start to bring small movement to your fingers and toes, deepening your breath.

You move.

You start.

I listened to a great podcast the other day in which the guest said, “Witnesses are activated people.” To me, this gave a sense of intentional action. It’s easy to go through life as if we are lying on an oversized inner tube floating down a lazy river or coasting on cruise control down a six-lane highway. There are times, when we are too tired to do anything else, but in other times life calls for action. We see a need, or something that needs to change, and we activate our creativity and our courage to veer off the wide and easy road and take a detour on the road less travelled.

Witnesses are activated people who tell stories. But what are we bearing witness to? The heart of God is, more often than not, counter cultural. It is concerned with caring for the poor, the wounded and the oppressed.

Read more on the blog. Link in profile

#2021writingchallenge #writinggoals #activate #witness #writersofinstagram
#onthursdaysweadvocate Today I am privileged to j #onthursdaysweadvocate 
Today I am privileged to join a handful of moms who advocate for individuals with Down syndrome. Thank you so much for the tag @mindfullytaryn 

Ella has changed the way I look at the world around me, myself and how we, as a society talk about and respond to milestones and achievements. 

Ella has achieved so many milestones and in the face of great adversity. The things many parents take for granted, we rejoice in. Take for example, a simple task such as putting your hair in a ponytail, which Ella has mastered. I am so proud of her and these achievements are not to be overlooked but I have realised that, even more important than our achievements, are the contributions we make to our communities. 

An accomplishment is the fulfilment of a task. It is something one can do well but often for the benefit of oneself. In my life, the more I can tick on my to-do list the more worth I have. The better I am, and by that I mean better than everybody else, the better I feel about myself. If I accomplish a task, it might serve someone else but often, it only serves myself. If someone has a lot of accomplishments it is a credit to that person and focuses on their credibility versus the impact that those accomplishments have on the wider community. Please understand that I am not saying accomplishments are bad. 

However…. 
Contributions are for the common good, “the act of giving in common with others” or “that which is given toward a common end.” They are made within a community and are dependent on others to receive. 

Ella has contributed so much to our communities: church, our DS family, her school and our village. 

This photo is of Ella reading her book for an organisation which seeks to provide educational resources to families with children with DS. I am so proud of her for her amazing contributions through”This is Ella”.

Now head over to @zainplusone to read how they have approached milestones.

You can read more about accomplishment-based vs. contribution-based approaches on the blog (link in profile).

#downsyndrome #downsyndromeawareness #contributions #trisomy21 #theluckyfew #thisisellabook #ellafreda #downsyndromelove
This is 39. I eased into the day with coffee in This is 39. 

I eased into the day with coffee in bed, reading and reflection followed by a light recovery run to ease the guilt of a wonderful birthday breakfast.

My little fashionista selected my outfit down to the shoes and birthday sash. I did however, add a blazer as it was a day of back-to-back meetings with the high-ups. 

An early sign off after the meetings concluded early (🎉 unheard of) to take a walk with my ever-conscientious boy. Spring is coming.

And now, playing with new toys and enjoying a glass of wine by the fire before I finish preparing my birthday dinner of chimichurri steak, potatoes, veg and traditional English trifle for pudding (that’s British for dessert). 

I’ve had some moments of deep conviction and gentle revelations of late that I am hopeful will carry me into my 40th year. More to come.

But as always, as ever, grateful for another year, my family, friends and this journey we call life.
It smelled like spring today. It smelled like spring today.
Despite this sassy little face someone is very ple Despite this sassy little face someone is very pleased with her new glasses. 

#littlemisssassypants #EllaFreda #newglasses #purple #Downsyndrome #theluckyfew #trisomy21 #seetheability #mygirl #lifeisbetterwithyou
Byron living his best life. #dogsofinstagram #bu Byron living his best life. 

#dogsofinstagram #buckinghamshire chalfontstpeter #colliedog #colliesofinstagram #lordbyrondog #englishcountryside #capturingbritain #winterwalks #chilterns #chalfontstgiles
This week, I have invited my beautiful friend @hma This week, I have invited my beautiful friend @hmarazzi to write on the word, Awaken. She writes...

I chose this word early in the stages of when Krista was dreaming up this writing challenge. Something about the word spoke to me but I didn’t know what yet. I tucked it away because, in truth, I found myself in a season that felt anything but awakened. I felt submerged, lost, and a little like I was wandering in the dark. This was not how I had envisioned welcoming in the new year but here we were. And yet, as I sit down to write this almost a month and a half into 2021, I can see now that something, even in those darkest days, was being awakened in me. 

We are two days away from Lent. I am three weeks into a term that promises to be as rigorous as the last. We are in the middle of our third indefinite lockdown. It’s funny though, as I look back on the last days and weeks, I am reminded of the truth I re-arrive at each Shrove Tuesday: that almost all good things are grown in the dark - the womb, the tomb, the dirt. I did not arrive at this truth by myself. This concept was gifted to me by Madeleine L’Engle, Sarah Bessey, Mary Oliver, and Barbara Brown Taylor, to name just a few of my teachers. 

Could the 40 days of Lent, these interminable lockdown days, this liminal space between the beginning and end of my masters degree spent living out of a suitcase, caught by COVID in a home not my own, be the setting of my awakening? What is being birthed in all this uprootedness? I’m beginning to see glimpses of it, like I’m opening my eyes for the first time, adjusting to a new kind of light, the darkness like a blanket, gentling my arrival to somewhere entirely new. I am awakening to values I didn’t know were so deeply rooted in me. I’m awakening to weaknesses and wounds I need to face up to. I am awakening to the strength that is deep in me, having waited for so many years for me to trade-in my previous ideas of power for a new brand of resilience, entirely my own. Slowly, slowly, I am beginning to awaken to a life that will become clear on the other side of this degree. 

The secret in the comments...
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