a few changes

A whole week without posts, I can’t imagine how you have managed without updates from our family! (I do hope you hear the sarcasm) Even with the week off, I was in doubt for a few days whether I would have enough time to accomplish my short-term goals for blog development before the time I told you I would be back. Despite the craziness of the past couple weeks I have still managed to make a few changes and breakdown my goals into easy steps which I can take over the course of the next few weeks while still posting updates.

a friend comes to visit

 Updates to AFN this week include adding mentions of our newest baby and house updates on the Who We Are page and Q&A. The Store page has been updated with our current Sale on comfrey salves in prep for the release of our new remedies this fall.

 I also removed comment moderation, which means new visitors will be able to share a comment and not have to wait until I approve it to see their comment on the page. Spam will hopefully be caught by the WordPress program, but if not I will delete it as soon as it is spotted. The last of the noticeable changes is the option in the side column to add AFN to your RSS feed, which some blog readers prefer over email subscription. We want this blog to be convenient for our family, friends, and new visitors to enjoy.

 I can’t wait to put all my ideas in action, but it may take some time. Keep checking back to see what’s new. Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already, and share your thoughts – we love comments!

Taking a week off

The library has become a regular source of learning and entertainment, but I am only just beginning to recognize the benefits it offers me.

Last week I borrowed a book just for me, Blogging for Business by Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulas. I now have a ton of ideas I want to try out to develop my blogs, American Family Now and Birth a Miracle Services. I want to make them even more useful, enjoyable, and easy to use, for current readers and new ones, and experiment in additional ways to support our family through these blogs.

If you have been following AFN for a while, you know my internet access is limited, and I have about 2.5 hours a week set aside for me to visit our local WiFi spot and post updates. This leaves me with zero time for blog development, or marketing development of my book, Inspired Birth. So I have decided to take off the week of September 4^th to give me a chance to try some new ideas. Long story short, you won’t see any posts here until September 9^th. In the meantime you can check out our old posts by looking through our categories, or using the search box.

Have a great week, see you soon!

A Day in Status Updates

I’ve been off Facebook for 10 months, but I still catch myself thinking something interesting or funny, followed by the thought, “that would make a good status update”. So here it goes, a collection of thoughts I’ve had; a day (or two) in status updates.

Who needs an alarm clock when you can have a giant glue stick chucked at your head.

Who knew it could be so exciting to hear a child say A through J?

If a toddler licks the woodstove (not hot at the time) will it turn his tongue black? Nope!

A few of my favorite things: rain at night, date nights, wood in the stove, a hot cup of coffee, reading or writing in the quiet, and cuddling with my babies.

Pal is taking steps on his own! Finally getting brave enough to go for what he wants.

No, I really don’t want your booger, but thank you anyway.

Woo hoo! A trip to the post office all by myself!

My book proof arrived in the mail. It needs a couple minor changes, but I feel so accomplished to hold Inspired Birth in my hands!

I’m pretty pathetic. I sat down to watch The Little Mermaid with my two year old daughter and ended up watching it by myself. It’s just a good story!

Didn’t I just wash all the laundry? Maybe I was dreaming…

Giggles are my favorite, especially baby giggles. They just wipe away all my cares.

Buddy and I played Crazy 8′s. He won fair and square both rounds!

Of all the things to give a kid a black eye, I never expected the johnny-jump-up to be one of them.

You know you’ve had more than one child when… your 13 month old throws up a little piece of plastic and half a sticker and you act like it was nothing special.

9:30pm “Mama, why does the moon go around the earth?” (I stumble through an explanation) “Uh, you can ask God when you go to Heaven”… “No, I’ll just ask Papa… Papa? Can you tell me?”