What a year!

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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!

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