Category: Uncategorized

Are there blogging cliques? Where do you fit?
ABSO LUTELY!!!!

Anytime you have a large group of people (especially women) you get cliques.

Here are just a few example as that I have found.
1. Professional bloggers…..these people make blogging their job. There blog has tons of ads and/or they have something to sell or market.. It’s very hard to make connections with these people if you don’t know them in real life. They have gobs of comments on every post and you feel lost in the shuffle.

They also tend to not pay attention if your blog doesn’t look like theirs.

2. Ranters and Ravers! These people seem to always be unhappy about somebody or something. Rarely are they positive…ABOUT ANYTHING!

3. Mom bloggers…..they blog about all things kids. I have some pretty neat mom blogger friends. Warning though…some mom bloggers may border on the trivial…like poop, puke, all the cute things their one month old did and so on.

4. Famous people- for some reason they think just because they are famous they should write…….or have someone front as them…..they almost never respond to commenters.

5. Ministry/Faith based blogs- this is where I fit in the most. I want to encourage my readers, challenge them to grow and walk with God. One day it might be a family thing the next how God is working in me but I *try* to always have a faith thread through whatever I write! And that seems to be what most of the writers in this category does!

Now there are a bazillion and a half other cliques but these are the ones I have witnessed first hand over the last 7 years!

And I most certainly am not stereotyping every celeb blogger or every mom blogger or every faith based blogger! These are just some of my experiences!

Hi all,
It’s that time again to blog my way through a book, that is a part of an online book club! I have enjoyed doing these (2) over the last year.

I have worked through numerous of the Good Morning Girl’s bible studies, and thought it would be fun, and life changing to partake in the Women Living Well book club by Courtney Joseph!

CHAPTER 1
1.) On a scale of 1-10 (10 = great; 1 = stinky) , how is your walk with God right now?
Somewhere between a 5 and. A seven…..all depends on the day!

2.) What would you say is your greatest hindrance to carving out time to meet with God in your busy day?
Lack of routine. I never know what my day holds

3.) Grab your Bible and read (or google) Hebrews 11:5-6. What does verse 6 state that we must do and believe if we want to be like Enoch? WALK WITH GOD!

4.) What is one intentional thing you can do this week to begin creating space and solitude to earnestly seek after God?
Be committed and intentional

Chapters 2&3
1.) From Chapter 2: When, where and how are you studying God’s word right now?
In the mornings after the kids get on the bus for school at my kitchen table. Bible reading, a devotional book, extra reading (like this book). I’m reading through the bible chronologically in two years!

2.) Read Luke 5:12-16 – what was Jesus doing here? How can we, as busy women, follow his example?
He was serving others. He was intensely busy , and yet despite all of that he took time to get away with God

3.) From Chapter 3: How can you improve your prayer life this year?
I loved the idea of a prayer walk through my house! I think I’m going to try to implement that!

Wow what a challenging start!
I highly recommend this book!

I think that as I go on my heart will continue to be challenged! But as for today Chapter 3 REALLY spoke to where I am at in this moment. In this week! Waiting on God’s answers to our prayers. I will be writing more about this soon I promise!

So I’ve been asked this soooooo many times!

It’s a couple of things

1.  I have always loved to write and to be completely honest I was intrigued by the “art” of it all. You get to design and embellish, write and so much more.   In all the testing and so on at one point I had FOUR different blogs!   I wanted to try out different platforms and I wanted to write about different stuff!

2.  I still remember the very FIRST. Blog I read….it belonged to my brother-in-law HT!  He no longer writes one…unless he does it secretly 😉 he now is my techie.  He designed my blog and if  I have any major issues he is the first place I turn!

3.  When I started my first blog (7 years ago!!! yep I totally missed my own blog’s anniversary!   Lol. ) I was expecting my third baby in three years.  We were new in ministry and there was no one my age around!  I longed for friendship.  I knew nothing of Facebook or MySpace or Twitter  (did twitter even  exist in 2007?). I quickly made friends!   I still read their blogs!  And my blog has most definitely changed!   

So I guess the next question is Why after 7years do you still blog?

Well the obvious answer is 

BECAUSE I LOVE IT! It gives me an outlet for all the crazy thoughts flying through my head!  Don’t worry I don’t write about EVERYTHING that crosses my brain waves!

The not so obvious answer I guess, is that I have a story to tell (we all do). A story of grace, mercy, and love!  I’m not some famous person with a gigantic platform to reach millions.   But if I inspire one person.  If one person is challenged to seek and grow in their relationship with God. If one person changes how they view this life, we’ve been blessed with…..then ALL. Of my time, effort and money has been well spent!

I get asked all the time….HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Home

Time with God

Husband

Ministry 4 kids 8 and under….that doesn’t  sound nearly as bad as four kids five and under!  Yep that was me, not all that long ago.

2 dogs

Crafty things

Gardening

Blogging…..

And the list goes on and on and on!

I have gotten a lot of criticism over all I juggle….and sometimes I drop one of those balls.  This past year it was definitely the blogging ball that got dropped!  But this year, I have found new resolve!   So. I have planned most weeks to blog four days a week and writing 2-3 blog posts each of those days.  That’s hard work, but I. Love. It!

This pasy year, I struggled so much in balancing everything I had to do, and routine? Ha! It was such a trial!

But as I headed into this New Year, I wanted  to revamp how I looked at my goals and life in general!

And a big part of that for me is Purpose! Why I do what I do!

So since blogging is fun for me (and writing in general) I need to make sure all the other not-so-fun stuff is done first!

You know like

Cleaning toilets

Washing widows

Dusting

Laundry

Dishes

Yeah Those not-so-fun things!  But when those are done I reward myself with time to write (usually after the kids are in bed!) 

BUT over the last few weeks I have become even more creative in taking advantage of waiting times.  Most people might  dwell on the fact that they can’t drive….most of the time not me!   There are quite a few pluses, but one of them that is a huge blessing to me is sometimes a large amount of wait time.  

A great example was this past Thursday. I had a dentist appointment, my hubby had to drop me off early, so I had 40 minutes before my appointment and then another hour afterwards.  In that time I whipped off 5 blog posts!  And this morning I wrote half a blog post in the five minutes my hubby had to run into the bank to pay our mortgage!.

If I have no pending writing I will read!   I think one of the biggest things that has helped me to use my time in this way is my tablet.  We got it a couple of years ago when I was struggling with massive migraines due to having to get too close to the screen because of my visual impairment.  Most of my currently reading list is contained to my tablet, along with notepad/blogging app so if I don’t have a wi-fi connection it still saves all my work until I do!  

So when it comes right down  to it, it really depends on what works best for you.  I have found what works best for me.  Yep, I have had to be creative but it is TOTALLY worth it!  Hopefully I haved spur your thoughts!

So if I could make any one of my dreams come true with out facing any roadblocks, what would that dream be?

Oh boy! I could use this, more often then not!

But I think for this once, I will go with my long time dream (since college) of being published. Whether it is writer’s block, dealing with publishers or whatever comes in the way. The funny thing is you never know what those roadblocks are or will be until you run into them head on. So that my friend’s would be my dream of choice…..nothing big, or flashy!