Four Years of Blogging!

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late! I'll detail the craziness of my past month at some point, but for now I'll spare you the stories of how life has almost descended into chaos. There’s always time for that, but for now, I have bigger, better things to write about!

Today is a pretty big day for my blog, because it marks FOUR years since the day I decided, on a whim, to start my blog! Hooray!!! Truth be told, I’m surprised that I've managed to stick with it this long, but I’m oh-so-glad that I have! Lately, I have read lots of my early posts and I love seeing how my writing and my life has a whole has evolved since then! In the past year or so, I think that I've really started to develop my voice as a writer, writing about what is in my heart instead of what I think that everyone will want to read. I mean, I've always written in ways that are true to my heart, but I've started to become bolder in my writing. Honestly, I think it’s probably a result of me growing up and growing into the person I’m supposed to be!

I've never really written about it, but when I decided to create my blog, it was a difficult decision deciding what to name it! I received lots of humorous suggestions from my family members, which I chose not to use, for various reasons, mostly because their suggestions included embarrassing nicknames! After some contemplation, I settled to give my blog its current name. I think that it has been a good fit and has some serious staying power, regardless of what direction I take in life! No matter where I go, what I do, or who I meet, I will always have humble roots as a farm girl. My blog is really just my reflections on all that I encounter through my perspective as a simple farm girl. In many ways, I’m not like the stereotypical farm girl that most people think of, but when have I ever been one to perpetuate most stereotypes?! :)

Now, for some fun facts that I’d like to share about the blog! Some of the cool behind-the-scenes features of my blog include statistics about my readers. By that, I mostly mean that it tells me which country readers are from, what browser they use, what websites link them to my page, which posts they read, and what keywords they use to find me through search engines. It blows my mind to see that people from all over the world have read my blog, for some reason or another, especially when I sometimes feel like my mom, sisters, and a few friends are the only people in my reading audience! 

So, having written a considerable amount of posts, what has been the most popular one? For reasons I don’t really understand, my post from two summers ago about my roommate Carissa’s wedding in the Holderman Mennonite church has been the most popular by a LONG shot…it currently has over 1,100 views! I find it pretty comical that that many people have looked into Mennonite weddings!!! It’s bizarre and hilarious at the same time, considering that I never expected it to be that popular…apparently LOTS of people want to know about the intricacies of their weddings! This leads me to the best search keyword, and it actually just popped up a couple of weeks ago…surprise, surprise, it was about Mennonite weddings, but wait, it gets better! The keyphrase was “Can I wear my piercing to a Mennonite wedding?” (Umm, what?!?) I’m not entirely sure what type of piercing they were referring to, but I sure hope that my post answered their question!!! PS: If whoever searched for that still wants to know my opinion on the matter, I’d consider removing it if it has caused you to look to outside resources to answer your question! That’s just my opinion, though! :)

I love looking back at how my life has changed from year to year, be it at the beginning of the year, on my birthday, between school years, or even just random days like today! I’m a firm believer in looking back for the purpose of seeing how my perspective, my personality, my relationships, my life as a whole has changed. I love looking back because it helps me to solidify the fact that, as a person, I am constantly evolving into a different person, be it for better or worse. (I hope it’s always better, though!!) It helps me to see that, even when it doesn't seem like it, the little things that occur in my day-to-day life are much more profound and impacting that I give them credit for. It also helps me to see that there really are no coincidences and that EVERYTHING is interconnected in ways that are far beyond my understanding! You see, there are no small choices in the grand scheme of things. These are all interesting things to ponder, but they take on a new level of depth when you realize how God’s hand falls into it all, silently guiding us to new ways to grow in faith and love for Him and our fellow man.

As far as changes go, I can definitely say that the past year has brought about some of the biggest changes for me as of yet, and I can’t wait to see what else awaits me! When I first started writing, I was seeking refuge in the coolness of my sister Gina’s house because my parents’ A/C unit was on the fritz in the middle of a typical Oklahoma August. I was also getting ready to start my senior year of high school and have my wisdom teeth removed! Life was much simpler for me back then, if only I would have realized that! I also think I took myself a little too seriously back then! Three years ago, I was preparing to start my first year of college and move into my dorm room, I’m not entirely sure why I insisted on stressing myself out so much for that process, it was nothing big! Two years ago, I stressed myself out preparing for all that awaited me once I went back to class and began working on all of our PLC activities. (I was still in the time that I needed to learn how to not take myself so seriously! :) Last year at this time, I was reeling from the fact that Mimi just had her bleeding stroke and was otherwise terrified of starting school at OSU. Here I am now, getting ready to start my senior year of college and generally loving life! I’m not stressing quite so much stress this time around…yet ;)

I've loved every minute of blogging, and I have no plans to stop! What a great four years it has been, even with its ups and downs! If you've ever thought about starting a blog, you should! Even if you don’t think you have anything exciting to write about, do it anyway! I rarely have anything of importance to write about, but that obviously hasn't stopped me! If nothing else, do it for your family so they have something to remember you by, or to help you remember when things happened! (Surely my family isn't the only one that takes a group effort to remember the timeline of certain things! :) I've loved it, and so will you!!!

To everyone who has read my blog, thank you! I hope that you have enjoyed it and haven’t grown too tired of hearing about my latest exploits or opinions! If it has made you laugh, inspired you, or elicited any sort of good emotion, I’m glad that I could help! (If not, I’m really sorry, but it’s also my blog, and I cannot control how you feel about what I write. I hope you found something good about it, though! :)

Here’s to the first four years, and to many more!!!