This blog has started to hold such a dear place in my heart. I have met so many lovely people through this space, I have received so much needed encouragement, and I have had the opportunity to pour my heart out and touch the lives of so many different people. Whenever I have found myself away from this space too long, I’ve really missed it. I’ve longed to hear the words of the friends I have met here and hear what they have been inspired to share. I’ve missed being able to pour my heart out through this keyboard and pray that it touches the lives that read it. When I am not here, I miss it. I miss the writing. I miss the community. I miss this blog.

When I started this blog, it was few and far between when I posted. Whenever I felt compelled to write, I poured it out here and shared it with my friends on Facebook. It was never much more than that at first. I don’t think I realized it could be much more than that. Until I stumbled across the community behind blogging and learned that it was so much more than just writing in this space. I realized there are real people building real relationships through the community of blogging. I realized it’s more than just writing here and there, it takes real work. Blogging takes real time and effort. The best blogs have all of that, and a whole lot of passion to go along with it.

Whenever I talk to my husband about this blog, I always tell him how funny I feel like it is to say I have a blog. When someone in my real life asks me about my blog because they’ve seen a post or have heard me mention the blog, I kind of chuckle because it’s such a hard thing to explain. I always feel like when someone discovers that I blog, they probably think its just because I love to be so active in social media and it stems from my extrovert nature. Sure, that could be part of why I love it so much, but it doesn’t even touch the surface. I feel like it’s so hard to explain to someone that blogging is more than an online diary. Blogging is more than journaling my thoughts on various world topics. There is community here. There is relationship here. There is encouragement here. I am challenged in my life as a wife, a mom, a friend, and a child of God. I am inspired, reminded I’m not alone, and encouraged to go after those dreams in my life.

I know there are many other bloggers out there who feel the same way. How can you explain to someone the depth of community that can be shared over the internet through a blog? It almost seems crazy, insane, impossible, and all of the above! It may be all of those things, but it is also so real. It is these little things that keep bloggers doing what they’re doing.

So for you who wonder what this whole blogging thing is about, I have your answer. It’s about the community. It’s about the people. It’s about the real life relationships we make. It takes effort and time. It takes being vulnerable and opening up the parts of our lives that so many people shy away from sharing. It’s the real and raw passion that draws people to this place – the same feelings inside of you that compels you to share that post you found through Facebook. It’s about you, the person reading this. Because even though we have no idea who you are, who this might reach, or what might be going through your mind, we care about you.