About Christie

Meet Our Founder

With a passion for health, spiritualism, and the complexities of expat parenting, Christie is on a transformative journey to conquer fears and embrace her best life. Drawing from her experiences in massage therapy, developmental services, and her life as an expat parent, she discovered her true calling in empowering individuals to navigate the challenges of expat life. Through this platform, Christie aims to share her challenges, successes, and relatable stories that resonate with you.

Through her experiences, Christie understands the difficulty of finding one’s passion and life purpose, which is why she aspires to inspire those pursuing their goals in the expat world. By fostering a supportive community and taking courageous risks, she believes that seemingly far-fetched goals can become attainable. As a new mom to her son Wyatt in 2024, Christie’s journey was shaped by pivotal moments, from the challenging experiences of expat parenting to finding solace and self-discovery in her expat life. These encounters fuelled her desire to bring compassion, understanding, and personalization to the expat parenting journey.

Expat life became her outlet for confidence-building, forging connections, and embracing her true self. With an unwavering belief in embracing risks and simplifying the expat parenting path together, Christie encourages you to pursue your dreams with confidence, knowing that you are deserving and capable. Join her on this empowering journey as she navigates life’s possibilities and reminds us all that our aspirations are within reach, waiting to be grasped.

Christie’s own journey has taught her the importance of embracing risks and stepping out of comfort zones. She believes that growth and personal transformation occur when we are willing to take bold leaps and face the unknown. Through her blog, she shares stories of her own experiences, lessons learned, and the rewards that come from challenging the status quo. Christie encourages you to simplify your journey by focusing on progress rather than perfection. She believes that each step forward, no matter how small, brings you closer to your dreams. With her guidance, you’ll discover the power of resilience, adaptability, and the joy that comes from stretching beyond your perceived limitations.

“Taking risks is scary, but the rewards that come with stepping out of your comfort zone are truly extraordinary“

Nurturing Your Mind, Body, and Spirit Beyond the realm of physical fitness, Christie recognizes the importance of holistic well-being. She understands that true fulfillment comes from nurturing not only the body but also the mind and spirit. Through her blog, she delves into the realms of spiritualism, self-care practices, and personal growth, offering valuable insights and practical tools for living a more balanced and purposeful life. From mindfulness techniques to exploring alternative healing modalities, Christie encourages you to embark on a journey of self-discovery and embrace practices that resonate with your authentic self.

Christie’s blog is not just a platform for her voice; it’s a space for you to connect, learn, and grow alongside a vibrant community of individuals who share similar aspirations. Through engaging content, interactive discussions, and the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, Christie fosters an inclusive and supportive environment. She believes in the power of collective wisdom and the strength that comes from sharing experiences, triumphs, and challenges. Join the community, be inspired, and embark on your own transformative journey alongside Christie and fellow readers who are committed to living their best lives as expat parents.

In this space of empowerment and inspiration, Christie invites you to uncover the depths of your potential, rewrite your story, and embrace a life filled with purpose, resilience, and wellness as an expat parent. Let the journey begin, and together, let us embark on a path of self-discovery and growth that will transcend the digital realm and manifest in our everyday lives.

She shares her story in her words below ⤵️

You never really know what moments will change your life forever but they aren’t likely to only be the big grand changes that you easily think about when people ask you, “How did you get here?”

MapleMamaAbroad was founded simply because I became a mother living abroad but we never started there. It started with my passion for learning and growing. I’ve always wanted to have a blog. While I’m not always the best writer, I do love to sit down with my keyboard(Did you think I’d say pen and paper? You’d be mad).

Writing has always been a great way for me to process whats happening in the world around me and to share my thoughts on life in general. I started my first “blog”, if you could call it that back in 2012. So we’re going to rewind as I share this story but we’ll be going just a little bit further than that for a true history.

In the fall of 2007, my little family of my single mother and grandmother moved from our tiny little town to a town that was slightly bigger. I went from a town that had no gas stations to one that had a whopping 2! Crazy, I know. My older sister(6yrs) had already moved into her own apartment in a different town with more gas stations than I could reasonably count off the top of my head and so it was just a small family of 3. I was 13 turning 14. I had spent my entire life up until this point in the tiny town and had about how to make new friends and at 13, new insecurities were blooming in full force.

I remember trying to pick out my clothes for my first day at my new school, not knowing what kinds of things would be popular there. My old school I had grew up with. I’d known each one of them since we were 5 years old running around with snotty noses and suddenly I’m worried about what clothes I should wear to school. Whether the girls would like me and want to be my friend or whether I would have no friends in the new school and everyone would think I was weird. It was the typical experience and worries about change but for me, it felt like everything.

Making new friends wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, I did manage to make a few close friends with a few of the girls but several others chose not to accept me. It wasn’t the acceptance at school that I was used to back in my old home, so I missed my old friends terribly. I would beg constantly to be able to go back to what was comfortable but had no idea why we couldn’t just simply return. Financially, my family just couldn’t afford to live in the little town. My grandmother, on a retirement pension that barely supported her regularly had negative balances in her bank account while she tried to help support us and my mother struggled working to pay the rent on her own. When the landlord of the house we had rented, sold the property and the new owners wanted to move in, we were forced to find something that we could afford and there was nothing affordable for us in that town anymore. At 14, I didn’t understand this at all.

In the summer of 2007, things got a bit worse. My mother, sole primary provider got into a car accident that we considered as a saving grace originally. She fractured her breastplate and in doing so, required an x-ray that showed us the lung cancer that had been hiding inside. She did months of chemo and radiation, lost all of her hair but she continued to fight. I couldn’t imagine a life without her. She was always there for me in every future that I pictured.

In 2008 everything I new changed.

~Check back for the next part~

So, Let’s Simplify things together!

XO.