Who is Christy Bagasao

One would think that, with the advent of the personal computer, I could somehow end, or at least contain, my paper fetish. Not so. When I have a freelance assignment or an ebook in the works, my notes, research, and information are stored neatly in the laptop and backed up on the fancy whachamajiggy that cost the equivalent of two months of groceries. I print it just once in case some amazing homeschool science experiment blows the house, computers, and fancy whachamajiggy to smithareens, but miraculously spares the filing cabinet. I love that organized person. It's the creative writer in me, residing apparently on the opposite side of my brain as the practical freelancer, with whom I take issue. She jots one-liners, character sketches, imagined dialogues, and elaborate scene descriptions on every available scrap of paper...and keeps them all. She is my husband's bane. Nevertheless, she adds a touch of creative inspiration to every piece of writing, and that is, quite possibly, worth putting up with a bit of a paper fetish.

I spent my college years, both at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Wisconsin and at Nottingham University in England, fine-tuning my writing skills, expanding my skills-base, and getting horribly into debt. I am currently using the first two outcomes of my education to help reverse the third. I now offer my skills as a freelance writer through Words by Christy (link below). When you hire Christy the freelancer, you get the organized girl writing for you, with just a touch of the creative side thrown in!

As a writer, I believe quality is crucial. I still uphold the value of a well-punctuated sentence, a properly structured thought, and grammatically correct expression. (That's the diplomatic way of saying that the subpar writing and poor grammar ravaging the English-speaking world and especially the Internet is my fingers-on-the-chalkboard experience. It hurts.) Contact me at Words by Christy for your writing needs. I put quality effort into everything I am asked to write. No fingers on the chalkboard for you!

It was 1996. We had never laid eyes on our child. We thought she was a boy and called her Joaquim. Our firstborn daughter had not even been properly named when we knew that we had to take seriously God's command to raise our children in His path, in His ways, talking about Him as we walked along the road, lay down, got up. We knew we would homeschool.

Neither of us were homeschooled. I had a wonderful childhood, gowing up on a corner of my grandparents' farm. We had horses and sheep and a passel of other creatures coming in and out. How I loved growing up there! How I loved being with my grandparents, brothers and parents! My brothers and I (I had to wait until my brothers married before getting the sister I always wanted) spent a few years in the public school before switching to the new church school. I was one of three children in my grade, and there were five grades in one class. I loved my four years there. What I did not love was my earlier years in public school, most of high school, and much of college. I spent too much time sitting through classes that I could have completed in 15 minutes with just the book and a little quiet time, no class clowns or football egos, thank you. I also spent too much effort memorizing irrelevant facts and participating in mandatory and irrelevant philosophizing for the sake of hearing ourselves think. Finally, I spent too much time in social situations for which I (and almost every other child I knew) was unprepared. No. I just wanted to be home with the animals and my family and the land. That's still where I want to be, although now home is a couple different places, the people are spread out, and most of the animals are gone.

Today we have six children. We live in the Mojave Desert surrounded by beautiful mountains. Our days are packed with family activities, mostly schooling (a rather eclectic, Charlotte Mason approach), cooking (they all love to get their hands dirty in the kitchen), playing piano, reading, and always folding laundry. Life would be a lot less busy if we each owned only two outfits--one to wear, one to wash!

My children and I love horses and country living. They are actively planning their future horse ranch, a pursuit that we tie into our schooling whenever possible. They say Daddy and I can live on a corner of their land rent-free. I guess they think it's the least they can do. They also request that the future scenario involves our cooking dinner for them on a rather consistent basis, so they can focus on the horses and keep their own kitchen clean. We are always looking for a way to start the ranch now, but until then, we will enjoy the balmy winters of our desert valley.

I married a pre-med Christian musician turned self-employed appraiser. Working as a principled man in the real estate market in this economy has its downfall; you often get passed over for work when you won't stretch the truth. Every time my man loses work for sticking to his godly principles, I love him all the more! He is a guitarist, songwriter, and singer with a Nashville-produced CD. His lyrics are powerful, his voice beautiful and easy to listen to, and his music absolutely wonderful! The children and I love to travel with him for his performances. (I am also excited to note hints of his musical talent in many of our children.) He is currently working on his second album, funds permitting...which they are not. (See his link below.)

Our world is not perfect. We have aches and pains, anxieties, financial issues, and stresses just like anyone else. What we do have, however, that gets us through this life is the promise of a Savior. We believe in the God-inspired truths of the Bible, taking His Word as truth instead of making up our own version of truth or accepting the popular feel-good spirituality of the day. Many have tried to disuade us from the faith, but no argument yet has been strong enough to convince us to walk away from Christ. He promises eternal life to all who believe. It doesn't get any better than that. And nothing else carries a person through the hard time here like the assurance that Home--the place I have always most wanted to be--is waiting for us.