Third Year Blogiversary

Wow. Three years since I pushed "publish" on my first-ever blog post. That is so hard to believe! Blogging has become a major part of my life since that day, and has provided so many wonderful blessings and opportunities.

I remember exactly what inspired me to start a blog back in August of 2009: the release of the film Julie and Julia (which I still love). Julie Powell was launched into fame because she started a blog about cooking through Julia Child's masterpiece cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I loved to write but at the time my readership was nonexistent. Blogging seemed like the perfect way to speak and be heard, so I plunged in. 

Looking back at my first post, I can see that this blog has come a long way (I use photos and video now!). It started out as "A Different Homeschool Girl" and was meant to be a haven for other homeschooled girls like me (which I saw a great need for on the internet). For a while I posted on primarily school-oriented subjects, but then I transitioned into college work and it seemed as though it was more of the homeschooling lifestyle that I was living. So then the blog became oriented around living a life with wings. Interestingly enough, my original vision has been rebooted in the blog Altogether Separate, where I am now posting along with several coauthors. 

Out of the 272 posts on here so far, here are my top 30 favorite posts in order of publication:

1. The Last First Day
2. Facing the Bear
3. What About Your Mouth?
4. Happen to Life
5. Bad Vibrations
6. Oh my goodness.
7. The Balancing Act of the Moment
8. Day in the Bottomland
9. Dream-Resolution-Goal
10. World Champions!!!
11. Praying for an Answer
12. Why Fairy Tales?
13. The NMS Covenant (actually, pretty much everything in this series is a favorite!)
14. Stalking the Wild Forest Creature...
15. Ideas are Worthless
16. 10 Essential Gardening Tips from a Hopeless Amateur
17. To be an American
18. Winning IS Everything
19. Learning to Fail (vlog)
20. The Legs
21. Is This Art?
22. Fear of Naïveté
23. Be Ambiguous: A Satire
24. The User's Manual for M&M's
25. Abigail's Day Out
26. Finding Shalom
27. Captain John Smith
28. Exchanging Burdens
29. My Prayer for Old People
30. Masks and Vulnerability 

I've written about school, God, food, gardening, faith, prayer, history, books, cheesecake, and many, many other things. But there is something that has always stayed the same since day 1: I've tried to be open, honest, and relevant. Sometimes I've dreaded posting something because it's so personal and it feels like opening a window to my soul. But that's part of the beauty of blogging, because until that window is open and others can see inside, there will be no camaraderie, no mutual encouragement, no adventure.

Thank you, to everyone who has come on this journey with me. 

What do you think about the direction that this blog has gone? Are you willing to go forward with me into another three years of joy, discovery, and adventure?