As we were getting ready to head upstairs for bed I realized it: it was the blog's anniversary this week.
I've been blogging for 5 years now.
1, 039 posts!
So, today I sat down and took a commemorative selfie at the dear old desk where it all happens. (out of sight: my round 25-week baby tummy) I always blog at the desk. It's the only place that feels right. I wonder how many mornings and mugs have been spent and sipped at the desk in this 5-year blog span. How much typing and photo editing have I done during those mornings? (and sometimes nights?) Whatever the amount- it's been a fun privilege. 5 years together, little blog! It's no big deal, but it is a big deal. Because it made me stop and ask myself, "Has it been worth the hours I've put in?"
And my answer is yes.
The past 5 years have been a season in my life when I could blog, so I did. And it has helped me embrace God's plans for my life, the spiritual and material gifts that He has given to me, and the purpose for which I was created: to reflect the beauty and the wonder of His ways. It has been a tool for creating relationships and opportunities that I wouldn't have otherwise. It's also been a practical place to store family memories and my recipes (I honestly do pull up my blog recipes on the iPad when I'm making dinner). And it certainly has helped me avoid an idle mind. I hope that the blog lives on for as long as it gives glory to the One who made me.
"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things."
Romans 11:36
And now is when I get to reminisce about all the life that has happened outside the Blogger "Compose" box and all the good that has come from within it. It all started on September 25, 2008. Isn't it nice that with a blog, you can go back to an actual day and time when it began? There is a concrete starting point- an opening day. You can read all about my opening day right here. That was a big feeling. I had no idea where it was going or how long it would last. I remember the first few weeks being very preoccupied with comments and site traffic. Comments were like gold (and let's face it- they still are) and I always hoped, with each time I pressed "Publish" that this post would strike gold. I woke up each morning and had no idea what I was going to blog about that day. I've loved that about my blog- it has stayed super spontaneous and unscheduled. It's sincere, in that whatever I post about on a certain day, is truly what I'm most anxious to talk to someone about. Speaking of which, I came across this quote from C.S. Lewis which so perfectly captures why I like to blog so much:
I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.
There it is! I praise what I enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise. In essence, until I tell someone else about it... or blog about it. If I wasn't allowed to speak about what I value and celebrate, what I love and praise and admire, my joy could not be full. If I wasn't able to tell you guys about my new-found recipes, my delight in them wouldn't be completely full. (thoughts originating from John Piper's daily devotional app)
So thank you guys, for simply being there to hear me praise the things I'm loving from day to day. You help make my joy full. So many of you guys have been here from the very start! You might remember some of these things that have happened since the blog began...
I learned how to keep house as a newlywed in our first apartment.
I adapted to living in a small town. Over time.
I realized how much I love cooking/baking, and made my first apple pie.
We bought a house.
We bought some stocks.
We bought a dslr camera and I got really interested in taking pictures of food.
I started eating a lot better and getting way less picky.
I ran my first 5K.
We went to a Vikings game- my first ever NFL experience.
I got to sell postcards with my dear friend Marta.
I fell in love with real food and we completely changed the way we buy groceries/eat.
I got pregnant with our first baby.
I got a job doing freelance blogging for a food company.
I took my little sister's senior pictures.
Grant got his master's degree.
We went to Disney World.
I talked a lot how much I love Elisabeth Elliot, food, and having music wherever I go.
I did a ton of baking.
I gave birth to our little girl at home.
We spent 5 summers at Camp Shetek.
We experienced like 38 Minnesota blizzards.
I learned how to nurse a baby/toddler.
I did the GAPS diet, Grant did a form of the GAPS diet, and we both got a lot of healing.
I got really into probiotics and coconut oil and bone broth and magnesium oil.
We started making our own sauerkraut, pickles, and kombucha.
I read a lot of good books. (Unbroken, The Hunger Games, The Shaping of a Christian Family, etc.)
Both of my sisters got married.
I opened up my own tiny online shop.
I did some more baking.
I got pregnant with our second baby.
We got rid of cable.
We went to our nation's capital and I got my first Metro experience.
I discovered almond butter.
I designed blog headers and custom prints for some of you guys!
We bought 3 different Apple computers and an iPad.
I sold hundreds of sets of 50 Promises to nearly every state in the USA.
Grant started more schooling to get his principal's license.
I've made 800 or so lists, about anything and everything.
And I made friends with all of you guys!!!!
And I've re-connected with old friends rom elementary school, from high school, from camp, from growing up in Nebraska, from when I lived in Texas!
And I did some more baking.
And a lot more stuff that doesn't make it onto the blog because... we keep a lot of family stuff just in our family. :)
Thanks for an awesome 5 years, you guys!!!
I'll be back at this desk next week. See you then! Have a great weekend!
9 comments:
Congrats on 5 years! I've enjoyed your blog for at least 4 years.
You feel like a friend :)
Hi Summer! This is my first comment ever on your blog, but I must have been reading it for at least the past two years if not three. I'm reading your blog from London and I want to thank you for letting your readers get a glimpse of your life. It's very difficult for me here in very atheist northern Europe to find peace and acceptance with the Lord. My grandfather was a minister and yet I sometimes feel that I do not live in a society where a young 23 year old can just openly be a Christian - sadly I don't think it's something those around me would understand. So thank you for inspiring me and making me feel like it's OK to believe in Him - your little blog means more than you know!
wow~ comments like that from Ella make it all worth it! happy 5th dear blog! we have loved every minute of it...or should i say, every "word" of it!
Wow. You've inspired me to write more--thank you. I get caught up in making sure I should write a certain way, and that often leads to me not writing at all. But that quote from CS Lewis is so spot on--the joy isn't complete unless it's shared. Also, I love that you have your blog too look back on all those big events in your life--I should be blogging more about those things too! Why do I worry about what others think? I should just be me and write, and certainly it will bless and encourage at least some people! Thank you so much--your writing has encouraged me!
Happy blog-anniversary!
Loved this. Like, really loved it. Having just entered into this blogging world, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I feel about it and what my goal is, and I think you just cleared that all up for me :) Thank you! Blog on, sister. xx
Possibly my favorite post yet!? I love how elegantly you describe why blogging is so full and good and complete for people like us. I remember your blogging break after Hadley was born and how bad I missed your words yet still completely understood too and I'm hoping to come back to it as it ebbs and flows.
You've shared such a love for God, food, family, homemaking, service, photography, books and more. I'll never think of blogging without also thinking of summer harms. So grateful for you!!!! Happy anni!!
I think I've been reading your blog for about the last 3 years! Your blog has always been refreshing to me--you write of God's blessing, daily joys, lists (I love lists too!) and I think it's so great that summers are "lighter" to have a chance to be at camp and with your family. I loved this post!
love to ram my hard pecker up you.