WOW, an award?!? How crazy is this? We are beyond thankful for this award and want to give a H U G E shout out to Mary over at Gallagher Farm & Faith for nominating us for this award. I’m almost beyond words, but I guess that won’t work for a blog post huh? Thank you Mary, we very very thankful for this opportunity. The Liebster Award is an award that bloggers can award to each other to bring recognition and encouragement to each other. What an amazing way to bring a sense of actual community to the people behind the virtual world that is blogging. Sometimes it can get a little lonely out here to be honest! We’ve been asked the following questions, enjoy our mini interview…
- What has been your biggest challenge with blogging?
Not knowing what we don’t know – haha! There is soooo much that goes into running a blog that we had no idea about and are just not scraping the surface of these things now. Our biggest challenge with blogging has been the technical end for sure. While hubby is a tech junkie and it comes naturally for him, he isn’t available to me for most of the issues. This has lead me to watching a lot of YouTube videos and asking endless questions to my blogging friends and the blogging community I’ve been welcomed into through social media. While he knows the lingo I don’t even know that, so even when I get a response to a question I usually have to google every 3rd word to figure out what to do next. This continues to be the biggest challenge for me and I will be happy to hand it off as soon as we are in a position to delegate that portion of the blog! For him it’s time 🙂
- What is your number one tip for other bloggers?
Have a good understanding of what goes into making a blog successful. There are so many more components then just providing amazing content. Such as, how much content, how to promote it, when to promote it, where to promote it. It all makes a big difference in how quickly your blog will be able to gain the proper exposure – do a good bit of research before you start, but not too much that you never get started! Always be open to learning and changing, this is an ever changing project as technology changes daily. Be passionate and go for it, toss your fears to the wind and put it out there, even if you aren’t sure how it will come across, just put it out there!
- What are your hobbies other than blogging?
I love to read! I also like creative projects and renovating our home. I was a full time interior designer so I use our house as a continuous long term project. Hubby who makes appearances here too likes to hike and spend time with family! He also really loves to mow the grass, go figure!
- What successful entrepreneur do you admire and why?
I really admire my dad. And while you won’t find him in Forbes he is one of the most successful entrepreneurs I know. He is a Vietnam veteran and has built two very successful businesses in his lifetime. He’s the definition of success to me because even after large failures he hasn’t given up – he rebuilds, refocuses and perseveres. That to me is the definition of success!
- Who is your favorite blogger and why?
Ann Voskamp is my favorite blogger. She shares raw real life through Christ and I admire how she steps out of comfort zone to share her heart. I read her books before I even knew she had a blog. I jump over there anytime I feel I need encouragement or great grounded content to read. Not sure hubby has one, he isn’t a big reader haha…he’s more of a podcast kinda guy!
- Tell us about your blog and why you started blogging.
Our continuously evolving blog is a Christian lifestyle blog. We run two blogs simultaneously, Our ‘Daily’ blog about our daily life- parenting, marriage, faith, kids…and our food blog ‘Feed Me’. Our goal is to bridge the gap in communities – basically to show everyone we all need each other and our community doesn’t end at the end of our street, neighborhood, or township line – it goes much further than that. We feel it is all of our responsibility to help each other, share Christ’s love in a real way, and break down fears and beliefs by serving and loving others. This doesn’t just mean in underprivileged areas (where you will often find us) – it means that sometimes that executive in the super fancy sports car needs to be reminded that he matters and that someone is praying over him – we do this through our ‘random acts of kindness’ outreach program. Sometimes we leave gift cards taped to items in a store, we’ve left cash at the gas pump and handed out ice pops at a sprinkle park on a hot summer day.
- An item you can’t live without?
This is something I’ve never thought of before – I guess you never really know until you don’t have it! So while I can’t think of an item, I’ll say my family – hubby and the kids – they keep me grounded, we have a lot of fun, we hold each other accountable and have real conversations. So now that I am writing this, I’ve thought of an item – my Bible, because that keeps me 100% grounded, holds me 100% accountable and leaves me daily reminders on the areas I need to grow in…just like we like to keep our kids’ heads from getting too big, God’s word does the same for me!
- What and who motivates you to write?
My family and the community motivate me to write. I’m very passionate about sharing our stories with others. There are so many facades out there, so much judgement and false expectations I think if we can share our story and help to break some of that down then we are doing just a tiny part in helping to make this a better world to live in. I don’t think people always realize that we are all victims, we are all hurting, we are all broken – and if we aren’t bold enough to share all our brokenness with others then we aren’t really doing anything to help move past our brokenness and we are doing a disservice to others who need to hear that there is life, really really good life in the midst of it all. I believe that through social media we have found a way to mask some of this in a way to help us heal, but it has the potential to give false reality to others – and then in turn leaves us feeling inadequate, having false expectations, and searching for something we will never find without knowing Christ and His unconditional love.
YAY, now we get to nominate some other bloggers we L O V E! And lucky for you if you love food like we do, several of them are food bloggers! Before we get to them, please please hear me…blogging is probably one of the most challenging things we have ever done. It is amazing, it gives us an awesome outlet to share our heart and life with others – but it’s HARD, and it’s LONELY sometimes (often times) and did I mention it’s hard? This award is all about sharing and encouraging bloggers, so would you PLEASE stop by and visit each one here? You don’t have to stay long, but if you have time leave them an encouraging comment, subscribe to their email list if you feel it’s a good fit for you? Thank you so much, it means so much to me!
On to our nominees….drum roll….
My sweet friend Misty Phillip blogs at Misty Phillip By His Grace. This is a beautiful place to “Seek Jesus, Study the Word, and Grow in Grace” be sure to stop there for a little.
Nina Singhapakdi who shares her art and blog at Nina Singhapakdi. I love supporting local artists and continuing to learn different forms of art, she makes beautiful things. Nina is a writer, creative artist and content creator based in the Philadelphia area.
My lovely friend Vanessa Price blogs A M A Z I N G food over at The Cheerful Kitchen. The things that come out of her kitchen….drool – B O N U S she specializes in whole foods! She is also a contributor to our Weekly Meal Plans!
Luisa is kind of my partner in crime on the inter webs 😉 She is a former radio DJ and runs a house full of kiddos while cranking out the sweetest treats at Always Room 4 Cake – the name of her blog is so fun, and she has more on there then just cakes! And she is so stinkin’ cute I can’t stand it (so are her kids!!!).
Texting the Truth, Real Moms, Real Grace by Michelle is an outstanding blog! The format is so awesome it’s like reading text messages between to mom friends – you HAVE to check it out! I have never seen anything like it before and just love how she puts it all together!
For our nominees; please pass this award on to another blogger you know would love a little encouragement. Your guidelines for nominating a blog are below:
- Thank the blogger who nominated you for the Liebster Award.
- Link back to the blogger who awarded you.
- Upload the award to your blog. It can be done as a blog or on the sidebar.
- Answer the questions you have been asked.
- Nominate 5-11 blogs with less than 200 subscribers that you believe deserve to receive the award. If you feel others deserve the award, then you are welcome to nominate more.
- Notify the nominated bloggers so that they can accept the award. Bloggers can be nominated more than once, giving their readers more chances to learn more about them.
Please answer the following questions in your post:
- What has been your biggest challenge with blogging?
- What is your number one tip for other bloggers?
- What are your hobbies other than blogging?
- What successful entrepreneur do you admire and why?
- Who is your favorite blogger and why?
- Tell us about your blog and why you started blogging.
- An item you can’t live without.
- What and who motivates you to write?
Leave a Reply