I was planning to take this week off from blogging. It’s the week between Christmas and New Years, and in less than two weeks, I’ll be heading to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International where I’ll be blogging up a storm!
But to be completely honest, I was drawn out of my well-intentioned blogging hibernation by two well-known bloggers, Michael Hyatt and Money Saving Mom, who published “Top Posts of 2014” last week. Their posts were interesting from my perspective as reader, and seemed to be eye-opening for the authors as well. I left wondering how this type of post would take shape on my blog.
So here goes, my Top 10 Posts from 2014! Perhaps you read them all, perhaps you missed a few. But definitely check them out! These posts were most highly read this year, and include many of my faves, too!
1: In Which I’m Throwing A Belated Retirement Party for My Dad
In this post, I threw a virtual retirement party for my dad. He spent his career as a public school band director, but due to an unfortunate series of events, never had a proper retirement celebration. This online gathering was successful beyond my wildest dreams! I’m still flabbergasted by the outpouring of response.
2: Serenading His Way to Big Dreams
This post features Pete Ford, a singer-songwriter I met at a local mall who composes and records personalized songs for customers. It was a delight to chat with Pete. And I’m psyched to report that after my blog post ran, Pete’s Serenade Store was was also featured by the Star Tribune and on Kare 11 News!
3: Where God Leads When We Listen: In Memory of Teresa Marie Hennen Moksnes
In this post, I shared a miracle I experienced at a cemetery. I was drawn to a young mom’s grave one summer evening only to discover that day would’ve been her 40th birthday. It was a significant honor to receive comments, Facebook messages and emails from several of Teresa’s family members who discovered the post after the fact.
4: When You’re a Single Mom Who’s Living With Mental Illness
This was the fifth post I published about my sister who has a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder: bipolar type, but the first she wrote herself. It was an honor to have Tiffany guest post and share what it’s like to be a mom of two who’s living with mental illness.
5: In Which I Follow My Little Girl Heart
This post couldn’t be any nearer or dearer to my heart. It’s the one in which I shared my journey to child sponsorship, my heart for Haiti, and announced my sponsor trip to Haiti with Compassion International in February 2014. It’s also the post that includes links to ALL the blog posts I wrote about my journey to Haiti. Love. Love. Love.
This post introduced my 31 Days series for 2014, Dreams from the Street. At the time this was published, I had no idea what I was in for. A whole month asking complete strangers one question (If you didn’t have to worry about money at all, what would you do with your life?) proved to be quite challenging. But I met a lot of inspiring people along the way, and all of their stories are linked at the bottom of the post.
7: Why I’m Taking a Three-Week Break From Blogging
In this post, I explained why I decided to take the biggest break I’d taken from blogging since launching the blog in July 2012. The break proved to be crucial in regards to gaining clarity regarding my call to write, and perspective about my future as a wife, mom, speech-language therapist and writer.
8: How To Know You’re Done Having Kids
I really loved writing this post, and hope the moms who need it most will find it via Google search. Yes, I finally know what it feels like to KNOW I’m DONE having kids. This was a huge breakthrough for me. I spent many years wondering if we were done having kids, then after our third, I finally knew. We were done. Questioning whether you should add another member to your family? Maybe this post is for you.
9: When God Fulfills the Dreams of His Little Girl’s Heart
This was my ninth most popular post of the year, and a very special one at that. In this post, I share the awesome news that Compassion International invited me to join a sponsor trip to the Dominican Republic with two other writers in January 2015. The trip is coming up soon! Maybe you’d like a refresher before I go? Check it out. I can’t wait to share the journey with you.
10: Dream 7: Therapies and a Bucket List Blessing
I just love this post. It was one of my faves from 31 Dreams from the Street, and the second most popular read from the series. In this post, I feature Lisa, whose son has autism. Lisa shared her dreams for her son, for her marriage, as well as her dreams for herself. It was an honor to spend time connecting with Lisa, and a privilege to share her story. To see the support and positive feedback Lisa received from friends and family when she shared this post on Facebook was pure joy. Blessings, Lisa.
Well, I’ll leave it at that friends! Hope you enjoyed a post or two you hadn’t read before. We’ll see you around here next time.
