A handful of everyday epistle readers and friends were asked to name their favorite posts from 2012. Receiving their responses has been like opening early Christmas gifts for me. Starting Sunday and running until the end of the year, you’ll meet this diverse group of readers and see what posts they chose.
As always, comments and sharing will be open on all selections. Look for the purple Reader’s Choice 2012 seal and join me as we revisit the posts that defined this year on the blog.
We all live off His generous bounty,
gift after gift after gift. (John 1:16 The Message)
Do you write Christmas letters? We used to, but these days I use most of my words here with you.
Blogging is a lot like writing a letter. This is electronic stationery where I inscribe a little of myself each time I publish. As with a letter or a book, the reading can be strangely personal and removed at the same time. And, although the response may be immediate, the reader and the writer may reside miles apart.
I love that our culture still reserves a time to celebrate Jesus’ birth. But the churning of the holiday season is a mixed bag for me, and I’m not the only one.
After I published the bah-humbug-ish post Saving Duck this past Tuesday, my best friend, my closest cousin, and my brother all contacted me within a three-hour period. These people are more dear than I deserve, so their concern could be a coincidence. Just in case, I thought I better clarify.
First, I’m okay. You’re okay. God willing, we’ll all make it through.
Second, this is not a retraction of my thoughts from my last post. The unrealistic expectations of a perfect Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year’s are destructive. They steal our joie de vivre and drain our bank accounts. We question our faith and our sanity.
Now I know there are a few of you who would prefer I only write about shiny, happy things. I appreciate that, and I wish I could meet your demands.
But I can’t.
It’s not my intention to be a negative Nelly. I do write about fun stuff as well from misread song lyrics to missing underwire, from discontinued lipstick to dismissed hair accessories. But to me, it wouldn’t be honest or helpful to present as if everything is sunshine and roses (or pink poinsettias) when it’s not.
Yesterday I hung out with some Christian girlfriends. One caught my attention when she said, “I don’t really like this season. I mean I like Christmas, I just don’t care for all that goes with it.”
Her courage struck a chord. One by one, every woman recounted personal stories of how painful the holidays can be. My December dread didn’t seem so abnormal after all.
The wisest of all the women shared a story from when her kids were younger. She and her husband piled their little ones in the car and drove across three states to visit a relative for Thanksgiving. The trip wasn’t a surprise visit; the relative knew they were coming. Imagine their shock to arrive just in time to stand in the driveway and wave good-bye. Grandma had made other plans to go out with friends for Thanksgiving dinner instead.
don’t be a turkey
“We laugh about it now,” said my friend. “We joke and say, ‘Remember when Grandma left us on Thanksgiving?’ But at the time, it wasn’t funny.”
This is in part why we need other people in our lives. It’s why we need to tell each other the truth. It’s why some of us write and read and comment. How good to know we’re not alone. Others have walked this road or on it with us now. Many have survived. Maybe we will, too.
Walk on, pilgrims. Walk on.
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease. Lamentations 3:21-22 NLT
Posts have been flying out of here faster than a french fry out of a Happy Meal. Here’s a recap of what’s been published where, including links you may have missed.
Back on BlogHer
Lisen and I are on BlogHer this week, fearlessly discussing biotech foods (GMOs, genetically modified organisms) and California’s Prop 37. Whether you live in CA or not, this measure has huge repercussions for food, farm, and those of us who buy groceries. Please drop by to read the point-counterpoint post and add to the conversation.
Carolina on My Mind “The number one reason I’m voting for Mitt Romney can be summed up in two words: North Carolina.” That’s the opening line to my post Why Mitt Romney Has My Vote, featured today on Project Underblog. Earlier this week, Project Underblog featured my letter to Facebook founder, Dear Mr. Zuckerberg.
Mobilizing Moms Yesterday my guest post The Mommy Vote Counts appeared on Mastering Mommy Brain. I was honored to write this nonpartisan post encouraging moms to vote. Often we don’t recognize our own strength. “Mommy, your vote is wanted and it counts. Your voice needs to be heard in this conversation.” Read more in The Mommy Vote Counts.
Love to North Dakota
My blogging sister Katie Pinke had a little surprise this past week. Her blog’s URL was mistakenly listed as expired and sold to someone else! Her blog of five years disappeared. Fifty hours and mountains of frustration later, her blog was restored with a new URL—just in time to launch a new series North Dakota November. Please go by and give Katie some blogging love at ThePinkePost.com. I’m so glad she’s back online.
keep calm
Polar Opposites
A special thank you to those of you who subscribe. I appreciate you sticking with me through a WordPress glitch that temporarily stopped email updates. For those of you who don’t subscribe yet, it’s easy and free. As a bonus, you get to catch my misspells and typos before I do. For example, the emailed version of Should Christians Vote?instructed voters to go to the poles on November 6th rather than to the polls… Now wouldn’t that be a hoot?
That’s all the news that’s fit to blog today. Rest up this weekend. Next week promises to be a doozie!
The Lord gives strength to His people;
the Lord blesses His people with peace. Psalm 29:11 NIV
It happened when I guest posted with the cowboy blogger. It happened when I guest posted with the baseball blogger. And today it’s happening again as I’m guest posting with the mommy blogger.
Dana of Mastering Mommy Brain
I’ve written a post I think must be my very favorite so far—and I have to let it go to debut on someone else’s site!
I’m verklempt. But I can think of no better place for my little post to be today than on my friend Dana’s all-things-motherhood blog Mastering Mommy Brain.
Fly and be free, little post. Go spread your wings and do your work to bring courage to the mommies out there, left and right. They are true super heroes. Little do they know their own strength to direct the future of our country.
A reader and friend alerted me she was no longer receiving emails of new posts even though she had subscribed. WordPress says it was a glitch that has now been resolved.
If you are a subscriber, did you receive an email of today’s Wednesday Words to Remember post with Dr. King’s quote? Please leave me a yay or nay in the comments if you don’t mind so I know if the emails are indeed working again.
Thank you! See you tomorrow with a brave new post about Christians voting.
The blog’s been abuzz this week. A few links of interest:
where’s the beef
Where’s the Beef?
Yesterday BlogHer published a post you first saw here about the new public school lunch standards, Where’s the Beef?: Public School Lunches Lean on Meat. If you’re all about food and farm (And who isn’t? We all eat, right?), I’d be much obliged if you’d click over to read and comment. Your interest and engagement shows there’s an audience for stories like this. BlogHer recently updated their reach from 40 million to 50 million women a month. That’s a lot of groceries…
caped crusaders
Comic Book Capers
Did you catch the Vice Presidential debate? My esteemed Finding (Un)Common Ground co-blogger Lisen Stromberg and I commented on the matchup. Was it young man vs. old man? Rude vs. polite? Seasoned vs. green? Or the Joker vs. Robin?
Voter Prep Video Earlier this week, I changed my Missouri driver’s license to a Kansas driver’s license and registered to vote here. I video blogged about it in The Adventure and Responsibility of Voter Registration. Here’s a preview (It’s okay to laugh as I’m still learning how to vlog!):
yankee doodle
Teachable Moments During Election Season This past Tuesday, BlogHer published my story about engaging kids in the political process. Media literacy, parenting, and politics collide in You Can Watch Election Coverage With Kids. It’s an honor to publish in this forum about such important topics!
Abortion Showdown Looms Life issues plague our country. Abortion is the elephant in the room this election. Watch for Lisen and I to take opposite stands on the issue first thing this week on Finding (Un)Common Ground.
Checking Out
Everybody feel all updated now? God willing, I’ll be back around mid-week with more in store including the first of the Instead of Hot Dogs recipes and Words to Remember from a famous Greek philosopher. Have an excellent weekend.
Praise the Lord; praise God our Savior!
For each day He carries us in His arms. Psalm 68:19 NLT
This post was featured on Project Underblog on October 29, 2012.
Rumor has it you’ve changed Facebook again. It’s your company. You can do as you please. What you may not realize is that your latest alterations have the blogosphere all a-Twitter.
Mark Zuckerberg by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid, creative commons license
We blogger types write our little hearts out day after day. We work hard for our fans on Facebook. Oh, I know you have one billion people using Facebook now, so my page’s 254 likes may not mean much to you.
But to me they mean the world.
Many of us lowly bloggers have noticed a significant drop in the number of fans who actually see our posts in their News Feed since your recent changes. We’re scrambling to figure out how to manage. Do we ask fans to add our pages to Facebook Interest Lists? Do we pay to promote our posts? Do we step up our presence on Google+?
Mark,—may I call you Mark?—you may be a visionary like Steve Jobs. A person no one really understands. You may see a future the rest of us can’t quite grasp. More power to you, son.
We stood by you through the Timeline, the Top Stories, the Ticker deal in the sidebar. We survived and learned to thrive. We watched as your social media empire evolved. But there’s something you need to remember.
We make you look good.
Yes, Mark. Yes, we do. When we invest our energy to promote our content on Facebook and build likes for our pages, we add power to your platform.
On behalf of all the little (and big) blogs, causes, businesses, bands, and others who’ve created Facebook pages for fans, could you give us a break? Keep things fun, simple, and uncomplicated. I like Facebook, I really do. It’s intuitive. More personal than Twitter. More connective than Google+. I want to stick with you, but you must stay true to the mission.
Help us easily connect with our people.
Now Mark, I know the whole stock thing hasn’t worked out so well for you, but give it time. Trust me. It’s cyclical. It’ll come around. We’re in a recession, in case you haven’t heard.
Wait it out, son. Cut us some slack, and we’ll do the same for you. We’ll give you time to do that crazy coding thing you do. Just make the magic happen, and let the good times roll again on Facebook.
Sincerely,
Aimee
PS: The Social Network may be an unauthorized account of your story, but I loved it all the same.
Surely God is my help; the Lord is the One who sustains me. Psalm 54:4 NIV
I used to be a good cook before I started blogging.
trinity of gingham
My cookbook collection is outfitted with three shades of Better Homes gingham and Seduced by Bacon. I’m of Italian heritage, and I married into a Midwestern farm family. My stockpile of recipes is hearty. Well-loved. Often made. Until I started blogging.
When I write, my time flies out the window.
Some of you think my mind goes with it, but that’s just the blood sugar plummeting. I’m hypoglycemic; it’s not pretty when I don’t eat.
A couple weeks ago, I realized I’d had hot dogs for lunch three days in a row. I don’t have anything against hot dogs. I like hot dogs. Eating hot dogs once in a while should be a requirement for all good Americans. Right up there with voting. By the way, have you registered yet?
how about corn dogs?
I digress. Back to lunch. It’s time to get off the hamster wheel of writing all morning, stopping to lunch too late only to discover there’s nothing in the house to eat except hot dogs. On Facebook, I joked that grocery shopping had moved to the top of the to-do list. But I know my problem is bigger than that.
I like to write. I like to cook. I need to eat. I can pick two of the three.
Wait a second. I know a lot of women who blog about cooking. They write, cook, and eat. But how?
I asked some of them for help. What sweet salvation they delivered. During the next few weeks, my family will be cooking and eating seven eight of their best recipes. These recipes are easy to make with ingredients that are easy to find.
Explore their sites, preview the recipes, then come back to see the results of a good cooking revival at my house. This promises to be one delicious series!
Lisen and I posted our responses to last night’s presidential debate. Click Finding (Un)Common Ground to read both posts and participate in civil dialogue.
Steady My Heart by Kari Jobe. Beautiful. Even when it hurts, even when it’s hard, even when it all just falls apart, I will run to You ’cause I know that you are Lover of my soul, Healer of my scars.
This post was syndicated by BlogHer on 9.20.12 and featured in the BlogHer Conferences Newsletter on 10.3.12.
I wanted to eat my breakfast.
welcome to BlogHer ’12
“Okay, everyone,” said Lisa Stone from the stage. “It’s time for Speed Dating.”
Imagine a hotel convention room filled with thousands of women. Not just ordinary women. Blogger women.
That morning, I was late to the BlogHer conference welcome breakfast hosted by co-founders Elisa Camahort Page and Lisa Stone. I was hungry. I wanted to eat.
“Form two big circles around the outside of the room.”
“I hate ice breakers,” I said to myself as I inhaled scrambled eggs. “I hate speed dating.”
“There’s room over on this side. Let’s go, ladies!”
Then it occurred to me. “You bought the ticket. Now get up and speed date!”
I joined the outside circle that faced the inside circle. For the next 20 minutes, the circles moved around each other. And I met fabulous bloggers.
Our hostesses issued the one-minute warning, and my mind returned to the bacon abandoned on my plate. “Hang on, breakfast. I’m coming!”
I had time to meet one, last blogger.
A gorgeous, vibrant blonde from California introduced herself to me. “Hi, I’m Lisen Stromberg,” she said. “You look so familiar. Where have I seen you?”
“Hi, I’m Aimee Whetstine,” I said and shook hands with her. “I was syndicated on BlogHer this week. You may have seen my face there.”
Have you ever witnessed a cat and a dog face off for the first time?
We tried to make small talk about our blogs, but we kept coming back to the issue at hand. I couldn’t understand why civil unions weren’t enough. Lisen couldn’t understand why my church didn’t approve of gay marriage. Back and forth it went. Each of us holding our positions with dignity and without screaming.
There was another blogger waiting to speak to Lisen. As I said goodbye and turned to go, I looked down at Lisen’s business card in my hand.
The moment of truth fell like the sunlight through clouds.
“You know,” I said as I turned back to face her. “We should do something together. We should write about this.”
Lisen’s eyes met mine. Was she thinking the same thing?
“Yes, we should,” she said.
“It would be good for my readers,” I said, “and for yours too, I think.”
“Yes, it would.” she said.
Today Lisen and I set out to create a forum of civil dialogue about the issues that matter. We’re launching a neutral, shared website called Finding (Un)Common Ground.
We’ll regularly post our views on hot topics and invite you to dialogue and share your thoughts. All comments and perspectives are welcomed, provided they are expressed within the bounds of civility.
Today we’re posting about the events this week in Libya and Egypt. I hope you’ll visit, share, and comment.
Civil discourse must be achieved if we are to find understanding and solutions within the issues that divide us and our country.
“Come now, let us reasontogether,” says the Lord:
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.” Isaiah 1:18 ESV
This past Monday was the first time I’ve cried over technology.
stone woman’s face, Kansas City Plaza
Don’t know exactly what happened, but for a short time my blog site went down, refusing to show anything but post titles. If it hadn’t been for Bluehost, it might still be down.
Nick the Bluehost tech guy and I ruled out the GoDaddy hacking debacle. We suspect it had to do with a WordPress update. But who really knows what technology is capable of these days? The more we worked on it, the worse it got.
Alas, I’m a ghost in the machine.
If you’re of a certain generation, you’ll remember The Police album Ghost in the Machine. If you’re younger, I’m sorry you missed it. Just kidding. The Police were Sting’s former band.
My new best friend Nick restored my blog from a copy saved the day before. All I lost was what I’d written Monday and, for a few tense moments, my sanity.
What does that mean, ghost in the machine?
Are we merely spirits outfitted in flesh and wandering haphazardly through the mechanics of this world? In my heart I know despite what Madonna says, the material world doesn’t matter. It’s going, going, and someday will be gone.
But I live in the here and now. I breathe the physical. As much as my soul is me, so is my body me. And so is my work, my family, my home, and country, all part of the material world I inhabit. The time and space. The machine.
When the machine’s broken, it’s desperately hard to remember the machine isn’t all there is.
Times Square blur
What poor creatures we are, living with one foot in the decaying world of trolls, cancer, and terrorism, while the other stretches for a world yet to be made new.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 NIV
It’s time for Reader’s Choice 2012!
