Marcia is a pastor's wife, the mother of three grown daughters, a freelance writer and Christian speaker. She is a published author and editor, having written for Christian magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, as well as home-town newspapers. Her short stories, articles and poetry have won awards in Canada and the U.S. and been broadcast on CBC radio. Her work also appears frequently on the world wide web.

Marcia is a frequent speaker for women's groups of all sizes and has often taught writing courses for the Alberta Adult Education Department, Inscribe Christian Writers Fellowship, and The Word Guild (Write! Canada).

In 1996, Marcia and her family served with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Papua New Guinea. While there she wrote for the Non-print Media Department of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, producing radio and video scripts.

For six years Marcia held the communications portfolio for the Associated Gospel Churches in Western Canada, writing, editing and producing their quarterly newsletter. She also served on the executive of Inscribe Christian Writers' Fellowship (www.inscribe.org) for many years. She currently writes a weekly column, Home Words, which is published in Country Sunrise News and distributed throughout western Canada. It also goes out to subscribed readers each week. New subscribers receive a free download of one of Marcia's popular short stories. Just click this link -https://bit.ly/3iqwqTH

Marcia's devotional book, The Spur of the Moment won an Award of Merit at Write!Canada in 2003, and she was the recipient of the Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel One Smooth Stone which was released by Castle Quay Books in 2007. The Sequel, A Tumbled Stone, was also short-listed for an Award at Write!Canada. Marcia's work has just been short-listed in several categories and won various prizes in the past.

Marcia and her family currently live in Southern Alberta, Canada, where they share a house with a comical Berne-doodle named Livy

 

Of herself, Marcia says, 

I was raised on an island in Lake Huron, ran away to Alaska and then the Yukon, had a "road to Mayo" conversion in 1982, leaped by faith into Briercrest Bible College with my husband in 1985 and landed in the "promised land" of central Alberta in 1988.

I've had the privilege of living a few miles south of the Arctic Circle (Dawson City Yukon) and a couple of degrees south of the equator (Papua New Guinea). I suppose that's why my writing is steeped in the imagery of winter, with the odd palm tree thrown in.

For the past 30+ years I've been a pastor's wife, mother of three girls, caretaker of dogs, cats and sundry fish, and oh, yes, a freelance writer. The writing began in the attic of my parent's house where I wrote stories for my dolls. None of them complained, so I kept it up. The Lord has abundantly blessed, challenged, rebuked, healed and restored me through the process of writing and being involved with writers.

Visit my website - www.marcialeelaycock.com 

Facebook - www.facebook.com/marcialeelaycock 

Medium - https://medium.com/pondrings 

Kyla's art has always been driven by her love of adventure and her commitment to following the Spirit. After a four year term as a media missionary in Asia, Kyla began working as a professional artist in her hometown of MacGregor, MB. Since 2020, she has worked on a variety of creative projects including illustrating children's books for local authors. Her artistic expression has gone through many phases over the years, including explorations into digital art, animation and culturally contextualized cartoons, resulting in a highly flexible approach and perspective. She is never content with standing still and is always looking for her next artistic adventure. 

Visit her website: www.kylart.ca

Meant to help parents and grandparents cultivate contentment in the children they love, this story is a 'the grass is not always greener' (or 'the house is not always better') story with an ending reminiscent of the prodigal son. 

Parents and grandparents will have opportunity to talk about themes such as being grateful, unconditional love, and forgiveness in terms the child can understand.