You’ve Arrived! The Mom Abroad

Thoughts. Experiences. Inspiration.

The Journey Continues (The Rewrite)

Hi! I’m Jami. I’m so glad you’ve arrived.

If you’ve been following along from the beginning, you know that The Mom Abroad started as a chronicle of a crazy, unconventional dream. I’m just a small-town girl (cue the Journey music 🎶) who loves the sun, sand, and the Caribbean Sea. Years ago, my husband and I looked at the gloomy, frigid Indiana winters—which never agreed with my seasonal depression and anxiety—and decided to get busy living. Driven by a desire to raise moral, Christ-following, critical-thinking kids in a secular, fear-based world, I left my career as a classroom teacher, and we bought a home in Corozal, Belize.

We wanted to create a life with our children that we didn’t need a vacation from. When I last wrote here, our kids were just nine and eleven years old, and we were diving headfirst into the uncharted waters of international living, physical renovations, and tropical sunshine.

But as life often does, our adventure eventually took a different turn than we had originally envisioned.

We ultimately made the bittersweet decision to sell our home in Belize and return across the border. If you glance at the date of my last blog post, you’ll see it has been nearly two years since I last shared my heart in this long-form space. In the quiet of that digital intermission, the world kept spinning. Those two sweet, young kids we dragged across Central America? They are now two full-blown teenagers.

During this two-year gap, as we navigated the emotions of leaving our tropical dream behind, I needed a place to process, reflect, and connect. I poured that energy into creating my Facebook page, Jami Writes Light. I had hoped that my Facebook page would grow into a beautiful community where I could share my rawest thoughts, ponderings, and insights about mental health, womanhood, and finding hope in the dark corners of life. However, writing for five different magazines consumes much of my time. Now, I'm hoping to get back to it and continue building that space, proving that our stories have the power to heal not just ourselves, but others.

When we unpacked our bags and settled back into the rhythms of home, I realized a profound truth that changed the entire trajectory of my writing life:

We don’t stop traveling just because we unpacked our bags.

Moving to Belize was an external adventure. But navigating the complex, beautiful, and sometimes messy terrain of modern motherhood, womanhood, and mental wellness? That is an internal adventure—and it requires just as much grit, faith, and grace.

Today, I am proud to consider myself a former teacher turned freelance writer, a devoted mother, a wife, and an aspiring author. While my setting has shifted back to the Midwest, my mission has expanded. Through my blog and my Jami Writes Light community, my goal is to spotlight mental health, face the unique challenges of raising teenagers, and inspire hope and positivity—shining light into a dark world.

The perspective I gained from renovating a house abroad opened my eyes to the vulnerable spaces right here at home. Currently, that heartbeat for advocacy has led me to a deeply personal project: writing a children’s board book specifically dedicated to babies who are surrendered to Safe Haven Boxes, ensuring that from day one, every child knows they are seen, valued, and fiercely loved.

The map has changed, but the mission of The Mom Abroad remains exactly the same: to spark excitement, nurture passions, and remind you that we all need something to motivate us. Life rarely follows our original script, but there is so much beauty to be found in the rewrite.

I'm still navigating the uncharted waters—only now, I'm exploring the boundaries of the heart rather than the beaches of Belize.

I'm so thankful you're here for the next chapter. What are you waiting for? Take a look around, and let's find the light together.