Kimberley Woodhouse: One Extreme Mom!
Kimberley Woodhouse is a wife, mother, author, and musician with a quick wit and positive outlook despite difficult circumstances. A popular speaker, she’s shared at more than 600 venues across the country. Kimberley and her family’s story have garnered national media attention for many years, but most recently her family was chosen for ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Montel Williams Show, Discovery Health channel’s Mystery ER. Welcome Home: Our Family’s Journey to Extreme Joy, released from Tyndale House Publishers this month. In addition to her non-fiction, she also writes romantic suspense and children’s books. Kimberley lives, writes, and homeschools in Colorado with her husband and two children in their truly “extreme” home.
Overwhelming trials . . . met with overcoming joy.
Kayla Woodhouse is not your typical twelve-year-old. Due to a rare medical disorder, she feels no pain, doesn’t sweat, and needs protective cooling gear just to go outside. With her restrictive lifestyle; countless hospitalizations, including brain surgery; and the resulting mountain of hospital bills, what’s a family to do?
How the Woodhouse family has faced seemingly impossible challenges is a story that has captured the hearts of
Now Kayla’s mom,
Guest Blog from Kimberely:
A Writer Having Time to Actually Write?
My writing friends who know my insanely-crazy-TV-interview-filled-homeschooling/swim-mom-writer life – always ask me the question, “How do you ever get any writing done?”
To this, I laugh and smile. It’s not easy - just ask my kids, or my publicist, or my agent, or one of my volunteer assistants. There are days we are all gasping for breath from the hectic-ness. But yes, even though there are millions of interruptions—I still am able to get some writing in. Some days. (Grin)
My biggest problem was learning how to write with noise around me. I’m an organizer, planner, itinerary-following, need-my-quiet-to-focus type person. But I am a wife and a mom, I homeschool my children six hours a day, have to keep up with laundry/cleaning/meals, handle all the marketing and publicity that comes my way, and then spend six hours every day away from home as I take my wonderful kids to their swim team practices. (Not to mention the fact of all the TV shows we’ve been on – lots of people around the world email in asking questions, offering encouragment, or needing help. And we try to do everything we can to keep up and help.) In the midst of all this the need for quiet was soon overtaken by the need to meet deadlines.
So I’m stepping out of my box a little. One little, red-painted toenail at a time. I bring a comfortable chair, laptop, and research materials with me to the pool. I have two blackberries that keep me attached to all the powers that be that may need me at any given time. And I’m still there for my family. I’ve learned how to write and still keep an eye on the lane of the pool where my son or daughter is swimming. With Kayla’s special needs, I always have to be present—ready for any sign of emergency—but I love how God is growing me, pruning me, teaching me, and loving me through the chaos.
I used to handle interruptions and distractions horribly. Today, I’m trying to get better at it, one minute, one hour, one day at a time.
I pray that you are blessed by our story, Welcome Home, and I hope that you can take with you a little encouragement. God’s joy is always there. Even if you are trying to write and have lots of interruptions, too. It’s amazing how old dogs really can learn new tricks.
I hope you’ll watch my website www.kimberleywoodhouse.com for coming releases – we have some really exciting news to be sharing soon…
In His Abundant JOY!
Kim
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