Happy Anniversary to the Journey <3

I got an email yesterday informing me our automatic annual charge for this little space on the internet had been processed.

So I just looked back to see when my first post was published and it was October 11, 2013.

Fresh off of a She Speaks conference in North Carolina, I was encouraged by Russ to try out blogging. I had absolutely no idea how to go about it, so I made an appointment with the amazing tech wizard at our church, Fred, and he and I sat in the earliest beginnings of what is now the Mosaic Cafe and he pushed buttons and moved things around to fit and helped me get this site going.

I knew I wanted photos because my pictures speak words and my words speak pictures, so he showed me how to do that, too.

Over the years, I have added sharing on social media through Facebook and Instagram, tried to send newsletters that don’t seem to work very well, had guest posters that seem to do better than me in drawing likes (I am looking at you Russ Reimer and Rachel Maxwell…) and hopefully encouraged you or made you laugh or think or know you are most assuredly not alone in this journey of life.

Each year I set a goal to grow in some way. Last year, I had a tech friend, who happens to be a professional at this website stuff, help me snazzy up the site. The year before that she helped me make a PDF of the “Deep Healing Series” I wrote over time in various posts. That is what pops up when you first sign on to the website.

She also helped me get a better email subscription service going and if you have never signed up for email and used that as a way to access any posts, I invite you to do so.

This year, I am praying and striving to collect the “best of the journey” posts, and compile them into something in print. I know I have said that before and nothing happened, but maybe it was for such a time as this.

This week is special to me because eight years is a long time to invest your heart into something and share it publicly. So the plan for the next couple of days is just to look through the past posts and pull up some of my favorites.

When this started, our family and life looked quite a bit different than it does today. Some of the growing pains have been beautiful and some have been hard. I have shared as much as is respectful to individuals and prayerfully/hopefully have never crossed the line too much.

Thank you to our family for allowing me to share about you, with the understanding that it is for a higher purpose. You are my people and you are funny and unique and kind and compassionate and wonderful and I love you with my whole heart.

If you have been with me from the start, thank you for being a part of it. If you are new or newer to the Journey, I am so glad you take the time to read. I love hearing from you all and especially when someone I don’t even know reads it thanks me because someone shared it with them.

Truly grateful for this opportunity and deeply appreciative of the love along the way. A special thank you to my husband who is my biggest fan and greatest supporter and financial backer <3