What a year!

-
Wow, what a year! 
This year has been full of highs and "not-so-highs." Finding out that we would become a family of four, an (almost) problem-free pregnancy, and the birth of our healthy baby boy Evan, were definitely high points for us. My Dad's horrible car accident, my hospitalization because of dehydration due to morning sickness, saying goodbye to Bryan's grandfather, and burying my grandmother today have all been fairly low points. 

Many of you have been following this blog for some time and have witnessed many of these major life events that my family has experienced. Even in those very low points, this blog has caused me to focus on God's blessings and search for things to be thankful for. I have been blessed over and over again by this blog! Today I am thankful for "A Year of Gratitude." I'm forever changed by the choice to make gratitude a part of my daily life.

After one of my friends told me about the statistics available to view on Blogger, I started watching which of my post are viewed most often, how many page views I have, and where my audience comes from. I was completely humbled when I realized how many people are reading what I write. Since January 1st I have 9,373 page views (woah!). I would have thought that most of my followers live near by but I found out that my audience includes folks from Russia, France, Germany, Lativa, Australia, Netherlands, Romania, United Kindgom, Canada and of course, the USA. I was most affected by the amount of views of my post from December 27. In only 4 days that post has had 67 views. What!?!
 I am not writing these statistics in an attempt to brag but to show why I am so excited to continue this blog! My original idea was to do the blog for one year and I have successfully reached that goal. I have now decided to change my blog to "A Life of Gratitude." I probably won't post every day but I promise to post a few times a week at least.

I have absolutely loved this gratitude challenge. This blog has forced me to be a more grateful person, focusing on the blessings of God even when they seem hard to find. I am a better person because of this experience and I don't want to quit now! Thank you so much to all of my followers. Hearing feedback from several of you has shown me that gratitude is a very attractive quality that is extremely contagious! I hope you will continue to follow "A Life of Gratitude!"

Happy 2012!! I look forward to seeing what God is going to do in this New Year! God Bless!

Comments

Post a Comment

Please take the time to leave an encouraging message

Popular posts from this blog

Please don't give me a wedgie!

-
Image
 Would you believe me if I told you that life with 3 boys is wild??  You probably would, huh? I'm telling you, just an average Wednesday night in the Shaw household is full of all sorts of craziness! I did hear a first tonight though!  Bryan was wrestling with the boys and suddenly Dylan starts yelling "Please don't give me a wedgie!" Now by those words, you would assume that he didn't want a wedgie but the way he was shaking his booty in front of Bryan and laughing, proved that he really did want a wedgie! HA! Then, of course, Evan and Tyson started saying, "Please don't give me a wedgie!" (One in English, one in toddler language) So we had three little boys running around shaking their tail ends and begging for wedgies.  There. Is. Never. A. Dull. Moment. As you can see from this picture above, they got their wedgies! They thought it was hysterical! And I just had to show you the picture below, just to give you an id
Read more

Psalm 84: 11-12

-
Image
For the  Lord   God is a sun   and shield;      the  Lord  bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold      from those whose walk is blameless.  Lord  Almighty, blessed  is  the one who trusts in you Psalm 84: 11-12 I've been pondering Psalm 84:11-12 for a couple of weeks now. It has become one of my favorite verses. After really digging into this verse on my own and in Bible study this morning, I feel like God speaks volumes through these 38 simple words.  God is a sun and a shield. Like the sun, God provides for us, nourishes us, and is always present. The sun provides hope with each new day, just as God gives hope in even the worst situation. Like a shield, God protects us and gives us security. We can hide behind Him and feel safe. But, a shield does no good just laying near by. It only protects when picked up and used appropriately. The same is true with God. If we don't acknowledge Him, if we don't get to know Him, if we don'
Read more

Beauty from Ashes

-
Image
I have heard the term "beauty from ashes" a thousand times in the past week. It wasn't the first time I 've heard the term but I've always just brushed it off. Since I've heard it so much lately, I decided to pay it some attention.  So here we go... The Bible says in Isaiah that God will give us beauty instead of ashes. In Biblical times it was the custom for people in great times of mourning and difficulty to lay down in ashes. Just imagine this...you’ve got a big problem in your life so you just lay down in a pile of dirty ashes. There is absolutely nothing beautiful about this scenario. So where does the beauty come from? Can ashes really be turned into something beautiful?   Scripture says that God is able to take the situation that burdens you or causes you pain and turn it into beauty. He can pick you up out of the ash pile of life and make something beautiful out of you. The Hebrew word for ashes is epher and the Hebrew word for beauty is pheer. Just m
Read more