January 15, 2007 8:23 AM
Happy Birthday to MommyLife!
Two years ago today I published the birth announcement for this baby: Yo Ho! Yo Ho! A Mommy's Life for Me!, which included my life in a nutshell and the following promise:
But some things haven't changed at all: my commitment to children -- not just mine, but children everywhere. My columns frequently reflect my desire to reveal the hearts and minds and needs of children to the adults in their lives, just as Montessori's writing first opened them to me.Take for instance my column last week in The Christian Science Monitor: Help kids make sense of tsunamis.
And now, added to my commitment to children is my commitment to mommies -- to do all I can to unburden, enlighten, and empower you to find and hold fast the joy in motherhood.
Mommy Life will be a place where you'll be able to find some practical wisdom -- like how to incorporate Montessori principles at home to help your child become a better learner -- as well as encouragement from someone who truly understands what you're going through each day.
Because I'm still going through it too, after 35 years, with seven still at home -- 17, 15. 12, 11, 9, 8, and 4 (the last three are adopted). Not to mention nine grandchildren by my first two daughters -- Samantha has five children under 12, Jasmine has four under 6. The whole family spends Sundays together, with the whoops and hollers of fourteen kids under 13.
On the technical side, I must confess I'm stumbling in the dark setting up this blog. I wish I knew more, but hope to learn as I go along. I'm just so anxious to get the conversation going! Books and columns aren't as immediate and alive as a blog.
I plan to post five times a week - with lots of practical ideas and inspiration for helping your children reach their potential even as you reach your own.
I planned to post five times a week. That makes me laugh! Now I could post five times a day if I had the time - there is always way more to share than I can get to. Though before I started my blog, I had published three books and 700+ magazine and newspaper articles, blogging quickly became my favorite form of communication - even without the pay. I loved - and still love - the immediacy and intimacy of the contact with readers. Blogging is just so - well, so REAL! And while I did work on books I contracted - my 8th and 9th will be out in six months - plus my biweekly newspaper column and an article here and there, blogging quickly became the heart and soul of my writing.
Early in my writing days, I'd had a teacher - Robin Jones Gunn - who insisted that to be any good at their craft, writers must love their readers. So I came to MommyLife with that love and a desire to share and serve. But even as I wrote here to help mothers find the joy in their calling and to release their potential, I found my own joy renewed and my potential strengthened. God is so generous. He asks us to give, and yet he always gives us so much more!
From the get-go, He gave me strong support. Among my earliest comments are some from women I am proud to call my Blogging Buddies: Mel, Pam, Sherry, Amy, Michelle. I have this wild dream that someday I can fly around the country and meet all these women in person and post our pictures and conversations. Wouldn't that be wild?
He also sent me a gifted technologically gifted individual I call my BlogGuru, who has also grown and learned and now even does work for some very famous people :)
I referred to this blog as my baby, and being part of its growing process really reminds me of watching a child grow. I always think of children as gifts sent from God (as the Bible says, right?), and my advice to parents is not to have such rigid expectations that you miss something different God might have planted in your child. Not every kid wants to play football or ride horses, even if their parents want them to. Instead, let God surprise you with the gift as it is unwrapped. Instead of pushing for your agenda, be open to see what he wanted to bless you with.
That is how it's been for my blog. One day I just saw what was going on here and thought, "Oh, God, that was what it was all about!" and I was so happy because if I'd planned it myself it wouldn't have turned out the way it did. I have found so much happiness and contentment here.
In the meantime, here are the birthday statistics:
Entries: 1514 (as opposed to the 520 I planned at 5/week)
Comments: 5377
Links: 190 (If I am on your blogroll and you are not on mine, let me know)
Since 1/1/07:
Unique visitors: 12,793 (Thanks for visiting!)
Number of visits: 34,727
Pages: 262,038
Hits: 612,603 (I’ve really never figured out what “Hits†means and why this is so large)
Average daily visits: 2315
Although I don’t often answer in the comments, I hope you understand that I do read them all and appreciate them. But it is also a daily struggle to answer my email – and I love the results of sharing some of the questions “out loud†so that we can get lots of different input and ideas.
I just want to say thank you! Thank you for coming and sharing. Through this daily conversation with my readers, God has helped me to become a better mother and writer. I treasure the individual relationships He has brought into my life through MommyLife.
Remember back in the days when if you read something you loved in a magazine, you’d cut it out and tuck it away? Maybe to celebrate this birthday, if any of you have favorite entries here, you can share the link in the comments below. If you’ve forgotten where to find it, just google the title or keywords in my personal Google on the right. I’d love to know what made a difference in your life.
Blessings to you and your families. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement. I’m praying for you each day too!
Posted in Blogging | Permalink
Comments
Congratulations, Barbara!
And Happy Birthday, Mommylife!
You have blessed us all.
-- Tara B.
Posted by: Tara Barthel | January 15, 2007 4:55 PM
O, Happy, Happy Birthday and happy days ahead. Thank you for the tremendous blessing and benefit you have been and continue to be in my life and motherhood. Thank you for the encouragement to daily press on toward the mark and to be an exemplary mother. O, how grateful I am today to see the work the LORD does in and through you.
The coffee's on... and your seat at the table is waiting... and I'll be at the window watching for you. Thanks for candidly sharing your life. I am really blessed over and over as are the others who have read your blog, books and columns. Keep writing... you obviously have readers. ~smile~
blessings and love to you
~pamela
Posted by: pamela | January 15, 2007 7:05 PM
Happy blog-iversary!
Posted by: Mel | January 15, 2007 7:14 PM
Thank you for being here, Barbara. I don't often comment but I read everything! And I'm just so thankful for all your encouragement. My husband will attest to this! :-)
-Laurie
Posted by: Laurie | January 15, 2007 8:28 PM
Barbara, Happy Bloggy-Birthday! I've only just discovered you and am enjoying the ride!
Thanks for all you do and share.
~Jody
Posted by: Jody | January 15, 2007 9:42 PM
Happy BIrthday, Mommy Life. I would love to have you fly in and meet us in all our glory, or I'd love to come see you in Virginia someday. Wouldn't that be fun?
In the meantime, keep blogging.
Posted by: Sherry Early | January 15, 2007 9:51 PM
How interesting! I rediscovered your site while going over old comments on my own blog, only to discover that you're celebrating your MommyLife's anniversary today. Congratulations! I hope the coming years prove at least as productive as the first two.
Posted by: Jarred | January 15, 2007 10:07 PM
Happy anniversary! Those are some stellar statistics.
Posted by: Meredith | January 16, 2007 12:52 AM
Happy 2nd anniversary!! You're a whiz even at time management -- wife, involved mom to many kids, writer...and you get to blog so much and help others in the process!
I look forward to reading more =)
Congratulations!
Posted by: Sunnyday | January 16, 2007 7:42 AM
I thought about this blog all day on the 15th, trying to find words to express what it has meant to me. It has profoundly changed my heart and my life in many ways. I am so grateful to you, Barbara, for sharing all that you do. God has used you mightily in my life. I have so many favorite posts, but one that always stands out and brings a smile to my face as well as a laugh to my day is http://www.mommylife.net/archives/2005/07/why_i_love_havi.html
It's the picture of Jonny saying, "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk". Thank you, thank you, thank you. May you have many more blog birthdays for our sake.
Posted by: Greta | January 17, 2007 4:49 PM
