Author and Artist
Hi, call me Elaene Sparrow! I'm the mom of two sweet boys and the wife of a dedicated librarian. I've always loved writing and crafting.
Several years ago, I found the needle-felted animals of Rachel Austin, the amazing artist at The Wishing Shed. I bought a needle-felting kit online, and the rest, as they say, is history. I fell in love with the beautiful animals that took shape beneath my needle.
But what was the use of having animals without giving them stories? I had already written a story about a grandma-type character who helped two bullied children, but it had never gotten any farther than that. As I crafted more animals, my original story began to change from a human tale into an animal one. And so Grandma Goldmin, Fern, and Birch were born. You can read their story in my book No Bullies at Grandma Goldmin's.
How the Website Began
In the summer of 2020, I put together this website to share our family's journey through the pain of COVID hospitalization. But since then, things have changed, and our COVID journey, as difficult as it was, is only a small part of my story. Most of my life has been affected by the trauma of being bullied beginning in kindergarten. It seems strange that something that happened so long ago could still impact me, but it does. Because of that, I wanted to write a book to help children who are bullied so that they can hopefully learn better ways to cope than I did. And so my newer website was born.
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What's in the name?​​
I know, it's a strange name, but I've wanted a blog with this name for about 15 years now! I chose "creek" because it was at a little creek that God hid His prophet, Elijah. There, in the middle of a famine, God gave Elijah water and food. It wasn't a banquet, but it was enough. During much of my life's journey, that's how I've often felt. God was taking care of me, just the grace for each day, but it was enough!
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As for sparrow, well, Jesus Himself talks about sparrows. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care." (Matt. 10:29) I have to admit, this verse has always bothered me. Why would God allow the sparrows to fall in the first place? But now I see things a little differently. Just because God allows the sparrow to fall doesn't mean He doesn't love it, doesn't care about it, and doesn't have a greater plan. As a sparrow myself, I'm so grateful to God for being with us even when we do fall. And sometimes God uses our fall to bring about a greater good than we could ever imagine.
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In fact, I liked it so much that I adopted the pen name Elaene Sparrow. So please come and join me by the creek, sit on a stone, and watch the birds as we contemplate God and life.
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