Who Adopted Whom?
by guest blogger, Jenny Carlisle
I was not born in my favorite state in the United States, but God brought me here just before my senior year in high school. The distance from my childhood home in
Southeast Kansas to Arkansas was not far, as the crow flies. Honestly, I didn’t have
much occasion to travel to the Natural State until my divorced mother started dating a
man from Little Rock.
Visits with our future stepdad took us south through the beautiful Ozark mountains.
Looking out the back-seat windows of our car on those trips, I was immediately
captivated. Tall trees perched precariously on rocky cliffs. In some places, the rocks
seemed to hang over the road. Our home in Kansas was located in the coal-rich
foothills, so this scenery was new and exciting for me.
Those weekends, spent mostly at campgrounds on a lake started a love affair of sorts
with the Natural State. Sister and I rode our bicycles up and down hills and picked
endless bouquets of wildflowers. We enjoyed riding in the boat, with our hair blowing
wildly in the wind; fishing in the early morning calm; and even learning to waterski on
one slalom board. A whole new world waited three hours away from the place we’d
spent all of our young lives.
When a new family was created by my mom’s second marriage, we moved to Shannon
Hills, a small community southwest of the state capitol, Little Rock. For the first time, we rode a bus to high school, in the nearby town of Bryant.
I can’t speak for the experience of others who spent their senior year at a new high
school, but I was instantly welcomed and included. My new friends laughed at my
“accent”, and I had to make the difficult switch from “you guys” to “y’all”, but their friendly
spirit and hospitable ways entranced me. I was instantly at home.
Not surprisingly, I dated and eventually married one of those friends. We didn’t stray far
and raised our family nearby. All three of our children graduated from that same high
school, home of the Bryant Hornets.
Arkansas is located at the top of the Southern region of the US. Their speech and
customs are similar to neighbors in Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana. The geography
varies from mountains in the north and west to large lakes in the central region, to fertile farmland in the Mississippi Delta of the east. Most of the population lives in rural towns, but there are a few metropolitan areas, like Little Rock, Fayetteville/Bentonville, Pine Bluff, and Texarkana. Resort towns like Hot Springs and Eureka Springs have attracted visitors for centuries.
Band and scouting trips took us all over the state while raising our kids. Later, as empty nesters, my husband and I continued to explore, packing lunches and driving during the pandemic. Our favorite lunch spots feature magnificent views of the valleys below us.
By now, you will not be surprised to learn that my first published Christian fiction series is set in Arkansas. Three full-length books and a Christmas novella of the Crossroads series take place in fictional towns located in the river valley of Arkansas. My characters have grown up on cattle ranches at the base of the beautiful Ozark and Ouachita mountains.
They are as familiar with paved and unpaved back roads as they are with
Interstate 40, the major East-West artery across the state. I loved imagining adventures
for two families whose cattle and horses graze on opposite sides of a wooded hill.
Inspired by the real beauty of my favorite state, I never run out of ideas for romance and adventure.
I hope you’ll visit Arkansas sometime soon, either in person or by reading one of my
books. I have a feeling you will feel every bit as welcomed as I did.
Have you ever visited a new place where you felt strangely at home?
Tell us about it in the comments!
Jenny Carlisle retired from a career in state government to pursue her dream of writing fiction. Her first adventure in publishing was as a columnist for Ouachita Life magazine. She self-published two collections of those monthly columns while attending conferences and entering contests to hone her skills in fiction. Scrivenings Press published her Crossroads Series, set in the river valley of Arkansas. Hope Takes the Reins; Faith Moves Mountains and Love Never Fails are contemporary women’s fiction with a strong thread of romance. She collaborated with Tonya B. Ashley and Ellen Withers for A Gift for All Time, a Christmas novella collection.
Jenny is past president of American Christian Fiction Writers-Arkansas Chapter, and Saline County Preservation. She recently volunteered as a journey partner for Women Equipped, Christian Job Corp.
She and her husband, James live in Benton, Arkansas, where they worship with the Church of Christ. Three married children have blessed them with eight busy grands. She loves spending time with her supportive tribe of readers and writers, in person and on social media. God is good!
https://www.facebook.com/jennycarlisleauthor