Goodbye 2012 >>>>Hello 2013

Had to know change was coming in 2011, huh?

2012 was a year of defining moments. Some  were good, others scary, and some are still evolving. It was a year in which I knew God was saying, “Shhh! Study to show yourself approved.”

I took him seriously about that admonition. The evidence is in how many fewer times I blogged in 2012 compared to 2011. I hope my decision will reap good things in 2013.

In April, my brother sent me to Washington, DC for the Titus 2:1 Conference. I can tell you a secret because I told my now very dear friend, the conference director – Cheryl, what I’m about to tell you. When I arrived, I was mortified. The conference had a small feel to it. Too small, I thought.

image credit

I wondered how I’d tell my brother I had wasted his money by agreeing to go. I felt out of place and ill at ease, but there’s nothing new about that, is there?

The next morning I thought about hiding out in my room for an impromptu three day vacation. I made myself go down to the meetings out of respect to my brother. I wasn’t about to waste his money. In that moment, I changed my life. Or rather, the 2:1 experience and all the friends I made changed my life.

Those friends and mentors continue to enrich my life, career, and soul almost by the hour. Because of them, I am in the process of creating a newer, better blog and will be moving to my own “.com” within just few days. The Lord willing and the creek don’t rise!

I am about to embrace an even scarier endeavor. I will tell you more in the coming weeks. Suffice it to say, you better buy smelling salts now if the news of my own website didn’t leave you woozy! That same community of friends has catapulted me into this endeavor as well.

Ridgecrest Conference Center/BRMCWC - 2012 

In May, I returned to the weeklong Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. (Again, thanks to my big brudder.) I was privileged to take classes with both Eva Marie Everson and Ramona Richards even though I was woefully, embarrassingly unprepared for both. I was able to nourish old friendships and make some very meaningful new ones.  

In October, my brother sponsored my trip to the Allume Social Media conference. With Anne Voskamp, Mary Demuth, Darren Rouse, Sarah Mae, Jessica Heights, and Logan Wolfram among others pouring into my life, I discovered my own personal super power.

When I tell you, you may wanna scream, “DUH!” because some of you told me so already. Fraidy cats have a hard time believing.

My superpower is: encouragement. I don’t wear a cape. I wear a wristband and necklace. In fact, I’ve worn them daily since I returned from the conference.

I don't need no stinkin' cape.  :-)

As lame as that sounds, those mementos have kept me going in this mean season of life. I went shattered emotionally and spiritually. I came home knowing that God sees me even though I'm buried in this rubble I call a life. He sees me and because of him, I am a superwoman with a superpower. I look at the band and necklace every time my soul grows faint.

This year, I discovered a truth in my heart of hearts: I am a blogger. This is my first love. Gone are my book contract dreams and great American novel dreams. Those have been replaced by my love of blogging and my devotion to you – the fraidy cats that have come in from the cold to walk with me. I rejoice in letting go of the former dreams and in knowing that God is doing a new thing in my life. 

Courtesy Mad Penguin Creative

Thanks for all you have meant to me since May 21^st 2011. Thanks for bearing with me when I don’t post and when my posts are lame. Thanks for all the times you’ve hit the ‘share’ button on Facebook, Google plused me, pinned me, or tweeted something about my journey.

I can’t wait to get the 2013 party started. Say some prayers for me as I get this new website launched. Yea. . . me. The  anti-Geek who is a techno-phobe. I told you that 2:1 Conference changed my life!

Happy New Year! See you soon?

Isaiah 43:19 (NIV)
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

P. S. Just in case you wondered, my top 5 posts of all time are linked below!

Courtesy B. Creasy - 2010

Psst . . . Hey, Homeschooler:  click here

What if the Proverbs Woman Had a Pinterest Board  click here

I Am That Woman  click here

When Parents Make Mistakes  click here

In the Company of Brokenness  click here 

Top 10 Reason the Titus 2:1 Conference Changed My Life

You know the feeling. You come home from a conference all aglow – energized and enthusiastic with all you've learned and the friends you made. As the weeks and days wear on, 'real life' gradually snuffs out the glow leaving you to wonder what happened to all that enthusiasm. It was a good thing while it lasted. It just didn't last forever. Sigh.

In April of this year, I opted into Titus 2:1 not knowing what to expect. I'd been to a writers conference but had never even heard of a bloggers conference. At the last minute, I jumped on board. Seven months later, I shudder to think how close I came to missing this life altering opportunity.

Not only am I still awash in the glow of the experience, I've already signed up for next year's event. Wanna know why you should join me? I can think of about ten good reasons!

1) T-eaching: The faculty consisted of homeschoolers who blog. Conferees were free to pick and choose sessions about homeschooling and/or blogging. Session content was both practical and actionable.

2) I-nspiration: Experts in both ventures including Rachel Carmen, Christine Young, Kendra Fletcher, and Heidi St. John spoke to the issues that concern each of us as homeschooling moms.

Courtesy and in Loving Memory of Christina Jones Hooker

3) T-actics: Both homeschool moms and homeschool moms who blog look for and appreciate strategies to improve productivity and efficiency. 2:1 faculty spoke to these needs in encouraging and inspirational ways.

4) U-nderstanding: I found my peeps, and they get me. In the months since the conference, relationship building has been ongoing. I have continued to make new friends through the alumni group and cement friendships begun during the conference. I am 'at home' as a blogger and as a homeschooler in the company of this community.

5) S-upport: The 2:1 community offers ongoing support after the conference is over. Got a homeschooling concern, express it. Got a blogging question, ask it. In seven months, I have been amazed at how quickly this community responds to each other in helpful and instructive ways.

Courtesy A. Hughes

6) T-echnical expertise: Again, whether the questions and concerns have been about blogging or homeschooling, this community has been a wealth of consistent support and information. If anything, the community has grown more vibrant as the months have passed.

8) O-ptimism: You know me. I'm a fraidy cat. This community has challenged me to try new blogging ventures like (gasp) photo-editing and HTML. When I despair, they keep coaxing me along, even via phone tutoring sessions, until I have 'eureka' moments. They refuse to give up on me even when I have given up.

9) O-ften: I am in touch with the friends I made at 2:1 every day. We text. We inbox. We call. We have become IRL friends. During a recent personal crisis, they became part of the fabric of my life, my backbone. When I was able to see some of them at the October Allume Social Media conference, it felt like a family reunion.

Courtesy B. Creasy - 2010

10) N-oble: The goals of this community are trustworthy. Each of us wants to see the other succeed in our homeschooling and blogging efforts. We want to help equip each other and spur each other on to love and good deeds.

And now for the bonus you've been waiting for!

11) E-veryone who homeschools, especially those who blog, should take advantage of the 2:1 opportunity. I can promise you, you will come home knowing your life has been changed. 

(Today, I am happy to be part Top 10 Tuesday hosted by Many Little Blessings!)

Spreading a Little Sunshine

It is almost the end of two arduous weeks with an even more arduous one looming ahead. The heat wave undulating over the earth has left me feeling like I have been through a pasta maker. Picture Flat Stanley's grandmother. My heart and soul feel even flatter. I know friends, faithful friends, far and near are praying for me.

I messaged a friend about the prayers going up and how I needed to hear from God. Even as we typed back and forth, a note was landing in my email inbox. A note from a stranger. I'll tell you more about that note later. I have to percolate on it a while longer.

As I was absorbing the message from the stranger, I saw a friend's name pop up on my sidebar. Oh! She had a new blog post up on her site, Journeying Sue. I hit on it faster than a fly on watermelon at a picnic. 

A friend had nominated her for a Sunshine Award which is awarded to “bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere”. My friend Sue and I met at the conference I mention so often (Titus 2:1). I mention it frequently because it has been pivotal in my life. Sue is one of those pivots. Meeting her was to experience instantaneous and permanent friendship. She is the definition of sunshine, and I smiled thinking how fitting for another friend to label her just so.

Courtesy Mad Penguin Creative

Award winners are asked to nominate ten other bloggers who inspire others. It's a fun way to create a blog roll when you get right down to it. I was excited to see who would inspire my inspiring friend. Are you laughing already? Yes. There was my blog listed among her top 10 faves. I just LOL'd. Not to be cliché.

You see, she is an army nurse practitioner that has served 'in theater'. That's fancy talk for in a combat zone. She has 6 kiddos and a spouse still on active duty. She homeschools, and she blogs. She is in triathlons for goodness sakes! She is an iron woman to my fraidy cat. How in the world I inspire her is anybody's guess, especially mine! But, I love her to pieces and can't thank her enough for being the 1-2 punch of encouragement in my life today.

Let me introduce you to MY favorite blogs worthy of the Sunshine Award in their own rights. The weekend is coming. Stay in out of the heat, and peruse my little neighborhood of the blogging universe?

1. Learning Table is presently nominated by Circle of Moms as one of the top 25 Teacher Moms of 2012. (Drop by and vote for her?) She is my IRL friend and sister of the heart.
2. Eternal Instants is one of the sweetest blogs I've seen. One look at her photography and companion blog posts and you'll be hooked! 
    
3. The Daisyhead is one of my blogging mentors. You won't want to miss her series, Our Sick Babies. She blogs about crocheting, green living, homeschooling and more. She's like the Target of blogs - so much under one roof! She taught me how to compost the lazy way!
   
   
4. 

   Courtesy Mad Penguin Creative

    Deeper With Jesus in Rhode Island is the reason I nearly quit blogging. Lori's words are so compelling I feel there is simply nothing left to say. If you need to drink deeply from the well of living water, she has the cup.
5. The Budget Maven is a young lady who ignored the differences in our ages and adopted me as her friend. Her blog has won awards two years in a row at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. For good reason, I'm sure you'll see.
   
   
6. Beth Pensinger is another young lady who stole my heart when she compared me to her beloved aunt. She has a heart for young 20/30-somethings and is working on a book that will speak to many. 
    
7. Amber Howard Massey has a heart for horses and the people who ride them. She is working on a devotional book, derived from her blog. I love her concept of teaching spiritual lessons via her riding experiences. 
    

8. 

   Courtesy Mad Penguin Creative

   Meet Penny is another of my blogging mentors. She is a tour de force of homsechooling info, couponing info, freebies, ebooks and too many more projects to name. She is both a Pinterest and blogging award winner. 
    
9.   Lovin My Crazy Life details the ups and downs of life as a mom. She maintains a vibrant sense of humor despite the challenges of  her son's autism and related learning struggles. 
   
   

   1. 
      

      Jennifer A. James is one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I've met. Her blog echos hear heart as she encourages homeschooling moms.

Courtesy Mad Penguin Creative

Now for 10 things about me: My favorite color is blue. My favorite animal is the leafy sea horse. I have no favorite number. (Who makes up these Q's???) If you know me, you know my favorite drink is hot chocolate...even when it is 107F in the shade. Facebook over twitter any day. Good movie vs good book unless I have downtime. My passion – to be God's head cheerleader. Getting vs giving gifts bcz I find it hard to receive. Favorite day is any day I do something out of the ordinary and get out of the house. Hey, I homeschool. I don't get out much! ;-) Favorite flowers are hydrangeas, calla lilies, and zinnias.

Courtesy B. Creasy 2010

I am so grateful for you, my fraidy cat friends. I am equally grateful for my blogging community. Every time this fraidy cat gets ready to throw in the towel, one of these bloggers comes to my rescue. I hope you'll thank them for encouraging me to keep doing what I do . . . even when I'm not sure you are out there! Love you long and strong. See you soon?