Come On In!

My New Year’s Eve view as I walked last evening.

WELCOME TO MY NEW HOME!

Today’s the day – a brand new year and a brand new space!

My deep thanks to Lyla Lindquist for all the behind the scenes work, design skills and kind expertise as I shift from Blogger to WordPress. I’m a newbie here, so please forgive any formatting errors as I try my hand at writing in this space.

I’m loving the way it looks and slowly getting used to the way it works.

Please, kick off your shoes and take a look around. You’ll find some things that are familiar (like all my old posts, links to social media and buttons from places where I write and read) and some things that are new (like a button of my very own, featuring my backyard garden fairy, a beautiful new banner and a new address,  something my technologically proficient son-in-law has been begging me to do for about two years now.

Today’s post also marks something of a milestone in my own blogging history:

THIS IS #500

Yes, indeed – I’ve written 500 posts, most of those in the last two years. I’ve always had a love affair with words, but 500 posts? Who knew? So, in keeping with the turn of the calendar page and with fingers stretched both backward into the year just past and forward into this brand new one, shimmering out there in the future, I thought I’d do a little research and see which posts in 2012 received the most ‘looks.’ I’m not a place where lots of people leave comments. This is a low traffic site, but there were several posts that got a little bit more attention than the others in the year just past. And, true to form, the one topping the list was a guest post, from Laura Oyer as she and Megan Tietz took a blog tour as part of the second wave of promotion for their wonderful book, “Spirit-Filled Parenting.”

Coming in right after that as the Top Ten for 2012 were these:

1. A post I wrote for Rachel Held Evans’ synchro blog on mutuality, in which I told the story of our marriage and my call to ministry.

2. My contribution to the community Bible commentary series on 1 John over at Bibledude’s place,

3. One of my personal favorites – a prayer with photos last August.

4. A tribute post to my friend, Lucille Peterson Johnston written in August.

5. A letter to my teen-aged self, part of Emily Freeman’s wonderful invitation that so many bloggers participated in.

6. This one was part of a larger discussion between two blog posts over at A Deeper Story – mine on my call to ministry and Emily Wierenga’s wonderings about feminism – such an interesting ‘coincidental’ pairing that I thought we both handled exceptionally well. Here’s the link to my commentary on that, which includes a link to both of our posts.

7. In November I wrote about rainclouds and wildfires, looking briefly at my mom’s journey with dementia. There will be other posts on that topic as we walk this long road together.

8. And coming in just after the one above is a second post about my mom – this one with a link to Rachel Held Evans’ Women of Valor series.

9. I just finished a 24 day Advent series and one of those posts landed on this list – the one about the single red leaf.

10. And rounding out this list is yet another December post, this one in celebration of our 47th wedding anniversary, I wrote this post for A Deeper Family.

And that’s what people looked at in the year just past.

I wonder what will catch the eye, the heart in 2013?

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Comments

  1. Diana – this is beautiful!! Love it – and look forward to many visits to “just wondering”! Should we re-subscribe?

    • You may need to – I did. I’ll check with the genius behind this because she believes all the subscriptions are coming right along with us over here. I just know I didn’t get my inbox notification from the new space, so I put my own email address in the box and was accepted. Which I think means that my subscription didn’t make the move. So wait 24 hours and if you don’t see it in your inbox by then, re-up. Thanks for coming by, Sue!

      • Hi Diana – I just “re-subscribed” – and a window popped up saying that I already
        was a subscriber! Yay – Blessings on a beautiful year of wondering –

  2. Well! Look at you! Beautiful, beautiful work to surround your beautiful words. Nice work by the fabulous Miss Lyla.

    Looking ahead to journeying with you in 2013. Shall we sing together along the way?

    • Thanks so much, Nancy. And Lyla is truly gifted at this stuff (which is SO beyond me!) and truly helpful and patient as well. And yes, let’s sing our way through this new year, friend. Absolutely.

  3. Diana! It is so beautiful. I can breathe deeply here :). Lyla did a wonderful job. Happy New Year to you, dear friend, and congratulations on logging so many posts!

  4. Write away Diana! I love the risks you are taking with your gift of words. Blessings on you in 2013 and beyond!

  5. Thank you for posting this, it’s wonderful! (Must have felt awkwardly self-promoting but if so I’m glad you did, because although I’d seen and read half of them, I hadn’t the other half and now can catch up!) Are you signing up for (in)RL? Please do!

    • It didn’t feel all that awkward after reading TONS of other top 10 lists and I was quite honest about the low traffic around these parts. :>) I am traveling to Nebraska to be part of the leadership team at a bloggers’ retreat the weekend before IRL and I’ll be back at work at MCC for a few hours a week. I’ll see about IRL – maybe. I’ll let you know… (what’s this I see about a church plant?? tell me more.)

  6. YOU are very well one of my top “discoveries” of 2012–did I “know” you before last year? I can’t recall how long yours has been a familiar name.

    Your new spot is well worth the wait; it seems to suit you.

    I’m hoping that when I get around to reconstructing mine…I’ll feel the same way.

    Glorious greetings to you on this day, thankful you’re in my sphere.

    xo

    • Thank you, Robin. I knew about you but I doubt very much you knew about me!! Greetings right back to you, lovely Robin! Glad we’ve been dropped into the same sweet pool over at ADF.

  7. So very lovely here both in thought and photo; you and Lyla have used one of my favorite colors! I look forward to getting to know you better this year.

    • Thanks so much for coming by, Susan! And Lyla picked this color – said whenever she sees it she thinks of me. Weird, because – I surround myself with various shades of it, in my home and in my closet! How did she know that??

  8. Ro Elliott says

    Diane…this is just lovely. Your new space is bright and beautiful …a wonderful reflection of you. Happy new year!

  9. Congratulations on a beautiful new home, Diana! 🙂 I love it and am so glad that God has knit our hearts together with other “Frio” sisters. You are a treasure and an inspiration.

    • Thanks so much, Dena. And I say a hearty ‘amen’ to that heart connection because of that river and the lodge on it.

  10. Congratulations on your new site – it looks great, and I look forward to following!

    • Thanks so much, April – for the kind words, and for the follow. Look forward to interacting with you in the new year.

  11. Love the new format. It works really well with being able to showcase the various interests and themes in your life. It’s easy to navigate around too which is a plus. I think you’ll like wordpress once you get used to it. I like it a lot better than blogspot which is what I was using before. I haven’t had much time in the last few years to blog much. Life has been kind of crazy. My goal this year is to blog more. 🙂

  12. First visit here and wow…so glad I found your corner of the Internet. Love it! I’ll be back!
    God Bless!

  13. this new space suits you! open and beautiful:)

  14. Sitting on the runway, on my way home from the keys but had to say that your new space is beautiful!!

    Happy new year!

    • Happy Travels, Michelle! And thanks for the kind word. Looking forward to interacting in this new year – online and in person, too!

  15. I am so happy for you, Diana. The new site is beautiful and how fun that it is your 500th post. Strong work.

    Fondly,
    Glenda

  16. Ah, late to the party and all I wanted to say has been said of beauty, color and words. I’ll add a virtual “hug.”

  17. It’s perfect, Diana. Lyla did such a great job! (She’s doing one for me, too.)

    Thanks for being my internet pastor. Happy New Year!

    • Oh, goodie! I can hardly wait to see another of these wondrous things Lyla does. I feel very blessed indeed to have made this connection with her. Thanks for being my internet (and RL) friend, Megan. I value our connection very much!

  18. Love. Love. Love. = )
    Clean, crisp and clear… a beautiful space for more Truth. How wonderful! Happy New Year, dear Diana!!

    • Thank you, Patricia! Hope you’ve had a great holiday season and that the new year brings lots of good things your way.

  19. I absolutely love it, Diana! It’s so fresh and new. Great job! xoxo

  20. Just stopping by to take another peek. It’s still beautiful. 🙂

    • It really is, isn’t? Now if I could only figure out how to find enough space to breathe and reflect and WRITE here. Gotta hairy month ahead, too.