My Turn: State of the Blog

So I am blogging in from Galveston as I am at my professional conference. I am here for a week with all my art friends - BIG FUN! Bob has tagged us so here you go:

1. What motivated or inspired you to start blogging and how long have you been doing it? I first started blogging when I went to Japan on my Japan Fulbright Memorial Teacher Fund trip in summer 2006. I started as a way to communicate my experience to my students, family and community. Lorna got hooked on blogging and when I got home Bob threw down that how would he keep up with us if we didn't blog. Lorna worked at it for a year and then I finally got on board and now we are more frequent. The pressure of it all.

2. What are your goals, purposes, or reasons for blogging? Basically to communicate with family and friends - to record those simple moments, thoughts and events in our lives in a more thoughtful way than just taking a picture and sticking it in an album.

3. In your opinion, is your blog “successful?” Yeah - we don't have hoards of people, but it is a fun outlet for us.

4. If you pay attention to your blog statistics, rankings, number of comments, number of visitors, etc., share some of your significant numbers. Statistics - what are those? Just kidding. No, we just like seeing comments from our readers and sharing our life with those we don't see on a daily basis. It must work to some degree, because we still have a connection with Bob after more than a year and we know what's up with him and I think he gets a flavor of what's up with us. My brother-in-law gives us a hard time that he doesn't know anything about us unless he reads it on our blog. He didn't even know what a blog was until he started reading ours and now he blogs too (even though he hasn't put anything new up in like FOREVER). So there you go!

Your Turn: State of the Blog
1. What motivated or inspired you to start blogging and how long have you been doing it?
2. What are your goals, purposes, or reasons for blogging?
3. In your opinion, is your blog “successful?”
4. If you pay attention to your blog statistics, rankings, number of comments, number of visitors, etc., share some of your significant numbers.

What is My Turn / Your Turn?

My Turn

My friend Bob, from my time in Japan, has started a new blog. Part of this blog is a meme which I am responding to in this entry as My Turn. So I have a lot of fall memories, but this year my favorite fall activity is that I have the opportunity to spend time with my two oldest kids as we help at our church's first fall festival. The two pictured in orange are mine with a couple of their friends from youth group. Thanks Pat for the picture! For three Sundays this month we are schleping pumpkins together, face painting, running a bounce house and generally greeting people from all over our community through this church event on the site of our future building. What's so great about this fall activity for me is the chance to see my kids at some of their best. I get to see them helping children smaller than themselves, being silly with their peers, and just being kids in a beautiful setting of our church site. It gives me a glimpse of who I have had a hand in raising ---- two strong, empathetic, smart and loving beings. Unfortunately in the busy life we lead, between jobs, school, raising three kids, keeping up with a house and being part of a new church congregation, I don't always slow down to really look at Lane and Maren in this way. As the weather cools, costumes are brought out and decorations hung, it is great to be reminded that the pace of life should slow and that we need to look around us at the falling leaves, feel the brisk air (such as it is in the South), and look close at our loved ones. Especially those that are growing way too fast and like the season, will be moving on too quickly.

Your Turn: Describe a favorite fall activity or memory.

What's My Turn / Your Turn?