Nine Reasons Everyone Should Write a Blog

This morning, as I laid in bed trying to go back to sleep, I thought about blogging. Actually, I think about blogging a lot! :) Thus, I decided to write a blog post listing my reasons I think everyone should create and maintain their own blog. My reasons are in no particular order, so one reason isn't more important than another. Here we go!

1. Blogging is therapeutic. Over the years, I've read multiple articles that all say the same thing: there is immense value in writing about our lives. Whatever life issues we may have truly diminish as we write down our feelings.
2. Blogging makes me happy, thus, I think blogging will make everyone happy! :) It's true. I legitimately feel better when I'm blogging. If I ever feel not at my best, i.e., cranky, sad, frustrated, etc., I realize I haven't blogged in a long while—refer back to point one. :)
3. Blogging stimulates the creative side of our brains. I honestly believe creativity is vital in keeping our brains healthy. :) Even if someone doesn't like writing, per se, they could still have a blog about art, or cooking, or sewing, or home improvement projects, or photography. A blog with photos and a brief description is so easy to create, and there isn't much writing required. :)
4. Blogging is a window to our souls. We can tell a lot about a person through their consistent writing. It really is so much fun to "get inside" someone else's head—well, to the point that someone is willing to share!
5. Blogging creates understanding, which may lead to unity. Each of us have unique life experiences. No one is a clone of anyone else—not even identical twins. Even if we are involved in the same life situation, each of us has a different perspective of what did or didn't happen. Thus, it really is so good to share our thoughts and feelings with others. Think of blogging like a town hall meeting where we can freely and safely present our thoughts to others without fear of retaliation. *Of course, that depends on the good social etiquette of others. There are many blog commenters in the world who aren't supportive and can be downright mean and ugly with their words. I hope everyone chooses to be uplifting in their comments, or remain silent!
6. Blogging tells our stories best! There are many ways to express ourselves with the various social media outlets, but I truly believe blogging does the best job of telling our stories. Yes, there are people who aren't wordy and may like Twitter better, but even Twitter just extended their character limits to 10,000. Yet for those of us who are more wordy, Twitter probably still doesn't have enough space! Ha ha. Instagram is so lovely for photos and users can leave a description, but I feel everyone's stories still get somewhat lost on Instagram. Plus, even though we can view Instagram on any device, users can only create content from cell phones, which is definitely limiting. Now onto Facebook...well, don't even get me started! Ha ha. If you'd like to know my position about FB, feel free to read my posts, "My Facebook Experiment," "Unfriending vs. Unfollowing" and "Farewell, Facebook!" Google+ is okay, but I honestly don't really use it for anything other than sharing my blog links and keeping my name searchable in Google—see reason eight for clarification. Pinterest is okay, but it only shares what a user is interested in through a link to a website or blog! Again, users have to create their content if they want someone to really know what they're about. In fact, I mostly share my blog's content on Pinterest and Instagram! I'm not on Reddit, Snapchat, Twitch, LinkedIn, or any of the other social media sites I've never heard of. Ha ha. Yes, I'm sticking with blogging!
7. Blogs can be viewed without others having to sign up with an account of their own. This is very helpful for anyone who doesn't want to have a large social media presence. People can happily view blogs without the pain of having to sign up with their own account—unlike other social media websites. *Granted, this only applies to public blogs. If someone has a private blog, they must invite their desired readers to create an account with their blog hosting service. Chances are, if someone we care about wants to invite us into their world, I'm certain we'd be willing to create an account—I know I would. :)
8. Blogging helps eliminate public confusion as to who we are. There are many websites based on "public records" that claim to have all the information anyone would ever desire. After searching for myself over the years, I still can't believe the gross inaccuracies available on multiple websites. Those ridiculous websites created off of public real estate records, credit information and generic mailing lists (that are totally outdated), aren't helpful to anyone! Professionals who want to keep their name in the positive areas of the internet should most definitely write their own blog. We must own our names! Don't allow anyone else to define your name or your values! Sorry if it seems like I'm "screaming," I'm really not. I'm just very passionate about keeping the internet honest!
9. Blogging helps create our legacy. No one likes to talk about dying and death, but the fact is, we will all die one day. I have many loved ones who have passed on that I would love to know more about. I cherish the writings of my little sister and dearly wish she had written more! I think there is nothing better than to have a place to go remember our loved ones—which is why cemeteries are not scary places to me, they're sacred. *Having a blog to go "visit" our departed loved ones is a gift I wish more of my extended family members would participate in. Hey, I would love it if everyone wrote books because I love paper so very much(!), but publishing a book is expensive! Thus, writing a blog on a free web service is amazing and awesome! No offense meant to anyone, but why isn't everyone blogging for free to leave their legacy?! Um, that totally rhymed and I didn't even mean to! Ha ha.

Now, I'd like to share my opinion as to why Blogger is the best blogging platform. *To clarify, no one has asked me to write this, and no one is paying me to promote my buddy, Blogger!

Before I created Enthusiastic Fantastic I researched Wordpress. I have nothing against Wordpress and I have many friends who use (or have used) Wordpress—it's a perfectly nice place to share your life on the www. Yet after studying Wordpress for a few hours, I realized I simply like the features of Blogger better. In fact, I used Blogger for my Adrie World blog for five years and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The best news about Blogger came in 2015: Google, who owns Blogger, began hosting individual domain names again! Thus, I instantly dropped GoDaddy and switched to Google as my host of Enthusiastic Fantastic! There was nothing wrong with GoDaddy, they were perfectly fine, and kind, and all those good things. I just like the convenience of having my blog easily connected to my domain name—I went through quite an extensive amount of researching hours to connect my Blogger blog to GoDaddy. Plus, Google is cheap! My website is good to go until like 2020! :)

That said, Blogger allows anyone to create a blog for free through their .blogspot.com address. I began Enthusiastic Fantastic with a .blogspot.com address and changed to my own web address only one year and three months ago. Setting up a blog on Blogger is seriously so easy and they have all sorts of forums to help with questions. Granted, creating a blog takes time, but anything worth doing takes time!!

I also really like the fact that Blogger is connected directly to Google (It's right inside Google! Yeah yeah!), which is helpful if you're trying to get your blog noticed. My blog hasn't really taken off, and I'm okay with that. I don't know if my blog will ever take off in the sense that I could make a lot of money at it, and I'm okay with that. I just love blogging, so it doesn't matter if I'm noticed, or not. :)

A few weeks ago, I repeatedly thought, "Should I quit my blog? I spend so much precious time and energy blogging, but is it really worth my efforts?" I've had those feelings before—read "I Shall Continue!" to know more. Thus, I found it utterly hilarious when I awoke one morning to a bird literally tapping on my window. I was like, "That darn bird woke me up! And on a Saturday when I could have been sleeping in!!!" I was so sleepily annoyed, you have no idea! ;)

Because I was already awake, I laid there, wondering. I debated with myself again about quitting my blog. Yet after rolling over, I checked my email and saw I had gained another couple followers on my Google+ account. (Thank you friends, you know who you are!) In that moment, I instantly knew that my answer was no, I should most definitely not quit blogging...I know because a little birdy told me so! Ha ha. I rolled back over and saw that my husband was awake. I told Greg about what happened and he thoroughly agreed with me! Yay! :)

Lastly, this is my happy motto for everyone: "Choose To Write!" It's a play on words of one of my church's favorite themes: Choose the Right. :) I think of my motto often and take notes whenever I'm inspired with a new blog topic—I hope you'll do the same!

Yes, I'm telling the world: that little bird wants you to blog, too! Thus, go forth with greatness and write your story!

P.S. I just realized I wrote and published my "nine reasons" on the ninth of January! I so did not plan this! :)

A Snippet From My Birth

On Christmas Day, 2014, I had a deep and wonderful conversation with my father. I was so happy my dad selflessly braved the snowy Utah roads just to come visit my little family and me—his efforts meant a lot. :)

We sat on my awkward creme, blue and tan sofa (My living room could use a new sofa, but it will have to wait!), across the room from my happy little Christmas tree. My dad and I had been talking about various family memories (my childhood family) for a while when he suddenly brought up the day of my birth. He explained how long he held my mom's hand while she wearily pushed me into this world.

As he continued his description of my mother's and my event, the light in his eyes was a wonder to behold. You see, I've talked about my own children in that way—with the love that can't be matched(!)—but I don't know if I've ever witnessed/understood it when my father talked about me in that way.

The immense love and adoration in my dad's eyes was very near tear-inducing as he shared what I looked like when the nurse handed him my little-pink-bundled self. :) He basically said (not word for word) that I was such a beautiful baby, and that he was overjoyed in the moment. :)

My dad shared that immediately after I was handed to him, I looked up at him and smiled! Surprised, I asked, "Did I really smile at you?!" My dad responded something like, "YES! You really smiled at me—first thing! Ohh, Adrie, it was amazing!" He then told of how much the nurse gushed about how beautiful I was, and how she said my parents make the most beautiful babies! (The same nurse had assisted in my older brother's birth too!)

Growing up, I loved looking at my little pink bow!

I've been pondering that moment with my father for two days now. I don't know quite how to explain what this little story has done for me, but let me assure you, it has been magical to my soul! Simply seeing the love in my father's eyes, hearing the love, excitement, and joy in his voice for me, well, it filled my heart to overflowing. Knowing that I mean as much to my father as my children mean to me was enough to make me tear up a little—and I get a little teary even now when I think back to that moment...happy tears, of course!

Please don't get me wrong, I've known my entire life that my dad absolutely loves me. As a teenager, I doubted his love for a little while because I was in such a "Don't bug me!" state, but shortly after that, I completely got my dad's love for me. This experience, however, was different. It felt special—almost heavenly. My dad's heart was so completely open to me that I felt emotion from him I've not witnessed before.

I'm so thankful I was able to experience my birth from a new and beautiful perspective. I'm beyond grateful for my parents creating me and bringing me into this world—and especially for my dear, sweet, wonderful mother! I absolutely know of her great love for me, too. I literally would not be here were it not for my parents!

If anyone is wondering what you can do for your child, please follow my father's example and share with your child how you felt on the day of their birth! Explain to them what was in your heart during that amazing time. Help them understand how precious they are to you! I promise, your child will be forever changed in a most positive way!

What I love most about this experience—besides the fact that it made me feel like a million bucks(!)—is it totally confirmed to me that Greg and I have been parenting our children in precisely the right way. For we gush about our children every chance we get!

We've hung multiple photos of our children all over our home, and provide easy access to endless photo albums and loose photos so we can revisit and remember our wonderful experiences anytime we want! Greg and I talk about our children's births with great joy, warmth, excitement and love. And we share other happy thoughts and memories with our babies every chance we get!

Some might say Greg and I have gushed too much over our precious children, but after this experience with my sweet daddy, I say no way! Based on our actions, our children could never doubt Greg's and my love for them, and that fact brings great peace to my soul. :)

Yes, Christmas, 2014, will remain forever in my memory as the day I found out that I smiled right after I was born! I love knowing I had a happy heart literally from day one!

Patience, Darling!

Over the past two and a half weeks, I've had thoughts repeatedly swirling in my mind about patience. I used to dread the word patience. Whenever I heard the phrase, "Patience is a virtue!", I'd think, "Patience is a virtue that drives me nuts...a virtue I'll never master!"

Yet, over the past several years, I feel I've actually acquired a lot of patience! Yay me! (That's a reference to the character, London, on "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody." That show still cracks me up!) I feel that patience is truly becoming a part of who I am. And I relish that fact...much like the way I relish snuggling into my sheets at night! You know what I mean—that lovely, deep-breath-inducing sheet-shuffle that we all do when we're falling asleep? Maybe it's just me, but I absolutely love that feeling! The fact that I now view patience in the same positive realm as a happy-sheet-shuffle, well, that's saying a lot for me!

This past week, I've seen my darling daughter go through a patience trial of her very own. It wasn't a big deal to anyone else, but it was a trying experience for my little girl.

Last Monday (06/16/2014), my daughter used her birthday money from extended family and friends to order a beautiful mermaid tail and monofin, from Fin Fun Mermaid—I highly recommend them!!! My cute little niece also bought a mermaid tail and monofin with her birthday money. Her mom and I both purchased the tails that Monday, but my sister-in-law had purchased the monofin previously. Thus, I expected that my daughter and niece would receive their mermaid tails at the same time.

For four days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), all my daughter could talk about was how excited she was to get her new mermaid tail and monofin. She and my niece talked on the phone for more than an hour about being mermaids! They talked about what swimming suits they would wear, how they would do their hair, and how they could keep their brothers from touching or meddling with their precious fins. Ha ha. My daughter literally dreamt about being a mermaid! It was all so cute to witness. Is there anything as wonderful and happy little girls talking endlessly about their mermaid dreams?!

*Side note, here are two photos to show just how much my daughter loves all-things mermaid. My brother-in-law, Mason Fetzer, is an outstanding artist. Mason created this mural for us when we first moved into our 70s house. Check out his work (art; design; photo; shop) because he is truly gifted! His Little Mermaid mural brings smiles to anyone who enters my daughter's room!

Thursday came and my niece received her mermaid tail! She excitedly called my daughter to see if she received her mermaid tail and monofin as well. Sadly, my daughter didn't receive her tail and fin that day. She was heartbroken!

When I tracked our package on USPS.com, there wasn't any information available. :( I explained to my daughter (in at least three separate instances) that we needed to be patient, and check back Friday. My daughter truly struggled with my words. She was trying her best to be brave, but I could see the sad anxiety in her sweet little soul.

I hoped and prayed our package wasn't lost! I awoke Friday morning and tracked our package again. It finally showed my daughter's mermaid fun should arrive that very day! I shared the happy news with my ladybug, she was ecstatic!

Unfortunately, Friday came and went without mermaid gear. My daughter was devastated. Thanks a lot, USPS! (Insert sarcasm.) She kept asking me, "Do you think it will come tomorrow? What do we do if it doesn't come? I don't want to go swimming without it! What if they lost it! What if someone stole it?!!" Oh, dear. The next day, we were going swimming at my mom's condo pool with my brother's family, and my niece would be swimming as a mermaid. My daughter was on the verge of tears. I thought she wouldn't last through the night! (Not seriously, but you know what I mean.)

I shared with my ladybug that based on how things were going, i.e., a mermaid no-show, I was beginning to think that this was a tailor-made trial of patience from our Heavenly Father! She wondered what I meant, so I went on to explain about trials and patience.

I told my darling daughter how everyone on earth must go through their own trials to make them better people. I shared how I've consistently struggled with patience throughout my life, and that I felt like Heavenly Father was allowing my lovely ladybug to learn patience at an earlier age than I. I explained how I truly believe that one of the greatest and most important tests of this earthly life is to see how we react when things don't go the way we want, expect, or think we deserve.

My darling daughter seemed to understand what I was saying. I said, "I think this is the perfect time for you to show how strong you can be. Try your very best to be calm and patient through this hard time. Know that eventually we'll have an answer. And if your mermaid tail and monofin are lost, we can always call the company and figure it out. I know they're willing to work with us. Don't worry, we'll get an answer. You just might not be able to go swimming tomorrow as a mermaid...but you'll still go swimming, and you love swimming more than anything!"

Saturday morning came, and my daughter quietly asked if I thought her tail would arrive that day, or not. I replied that I certainly hoped it would! I also repeated variations of my previous patience talk. Then I suggested we go for a walk. She agreed to the walk saying, "Yes, a walk will take up more time this morning. Then I won't have to wait so long for the mail!"

We walked for half an hour, came home, stretched, and ate breakfast. We had just started watching "The Smurfs 2," on Netflix, when my husband opened the door (he was mowing our front lawn) and yelled, "Mermaid special delivery!" I've never seen my daughter jump up from the couch and run to the door so quickly! She swiped the box out of my husband's hands, jumped up and down, and squealed, "I'm going to be a mermaid!!!"

Well, the rest is happy mermaid history. My baby girl swam blissfully as a mermaid for two solid hours! She and her cousin nearly refused to exit the pool! That night, my darling daughter told me, "Mom, now I match my mermaid mural! I'm actually DOING what I've always dreamed of!" I'm so happy knowing there will be many more hours of mermaid joy to come! (Wow, there were a lot of exclamation points in that paragraph...let's add one more! Ha ha.)

My daughter was swimming over to the side, so she could take a break. Being a mermaid is tiring, but it's excellent exercise!

While I'm so very joyful about my daughter's mermaid dream being realized, what I'm most happy about is the fact that she was taught a great lesson in patience. I'm grateful I was given the opportunity to be there for her while she went through this patience exercise. :)

I'm especially grateful my daughter was willing to listen to my words! This whole experience has been very interesting to reflect on, because I feel like I wouldn't have been able to "get through" to her about the importance of patience, if it weren't for her mermaid tail and monofin arriving late! It's like my daughter had to have something that mattered greatly to her become the "conduit of patience."

Now, I'll swing back around to my initial thoughts on patience that started this blog post. *Please note, my thoughts go all over the place and might seem a little choppy. That said, I'll do the best I can to explain where my mind has been. :)

I've been reading the fascinating book "Scientific Discoveries That Build Testimonies And Strengthen Faith," by Dan Neville. While on a plane to Orlando (That's another post entirely!), I finished reading the last paragraph of page 27,

"...Professor Dawkins argues that it is a bit incredulous to think a God would waste his time by taking 14 billion years since the beginning of the universe to create man, while Dr. Collins basically comes back with, 'Who are we to decide how God should do it?' Utilizing evolution, God may have reasoned, might be the best way, as it would require man to exercise faith."

While pondering those words, I began thinking deeply about how I believe Heavenly Father instructed Jesus Christ to make the earth (which is also what my Church teaches). Based on what science believes, and other religious ideas, I know the earth could be billions of years old. My mind was swirling with the length of time that really is. I mean, I only have memories of 30+ years and that seems like a really long time already. Can you imagine how long a thousand years is? I can't! Thus, to try and figure out how long millions and billions of years are, well it is just above and beyond me. Whoa.

To religiously support the idea that the earth is billions of years old, in March 2014, I read an article in Meridian Magazine, "The Scale of Creation in Space and Time" by John S. Lewis. (Here's his personal website.) He writes,

"...In the Times and Seasons 5, p. 758 (1844), a letter from Joseph Smith’s Book of Abraham scribe W. W. Phelps to the Prophet’s brother William states: 

'… that eternity, agreeable to the records found in the catacombs of Egypt, has been going on in this system (not the world) almost 2555 millions of years; and to know that deists, geologists and others are trying to prove that matter must have existed hundreds of thousands of years:—it almost tempts the flesh to fly to God, or muster faith like Enoch to be translated and see and know as we are seen and known!'" 

(Just a reminder that there are 1,000 million in a billion.) A little later in the article, Mr. Lewis writes (I added some commas),

"Considering that Doctrine and Covenants 77:6 refers to '…this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or its temporal existence', what led Joseph Smith, who wrote that verse, to speak of Earth as 2,555 million years old? The answer appears to be straightforward. Though 7,000 Earth years is in conflict with all physical, chemical, genetic, archaeological, and linguistic evidence, 7,000 years of God is not ruled out. The arithmetic is easy: 7,000 years of God, calculated on the basis of one day of God being as a thousand years of man (one year of God therefore being 365,257 years of man) is just 7,000 x 365,257 Earth years. That is 2,556,799,000 Earth years. Clearly Joseph Smith did not intend the “7,000 years” to refer to Earth years. But why did Joseph Smith and his amanuensis W. W. Phelps quote 2,555 million years instead of 2,556.8 million? Their calculation simply ignored leap years, and took the average duration of the year as exactly 365 days: thus 7,000 x 365,000 = 2,555 million years."

Fascinating, right?! Here is one of my favorite videos, "We Lived with God," about the creation of our universe and earth, and where we fit into all of it. It is truly inspiring. *The man in the video also happens to be the author of the above fascinating paragraph!



But the actual age of Earth is simply a technicality—one that the people of our world likely never come to an agreement on. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with not knowing the exact age of our universe and earth. So, back to my thoughts about patience...

I sat there in awe, thinking that Heavenly Father possibly waited billions of years for Jesus Christ to create our earth...They definitely took their own sweet time. Talk about a patient father and son team! :) Can you even imagine their supreme patience level with each other?!

Let's think about it for a second. Have you ever tried to do home improvements or repairs with a family member? Does your project ever go as quickly as you planned? Does everything work out perfectly? Does your project ever exceed your time-frame expectations? Based on my experiences, I may have one "yes" out of the bunch, but many times, I'm tired, frustrated, and worn out at our project's completion.

Yes, dear readers, I believe that God's very first lesson to us was patience! Heavenly Father wants us to follow His wonderful example of patience—with His Son—during Earth's creation. He wants us to be patient in the development of our souls—whether they be our own, or someone else's! He wants us to be patient while we "create" our best selves! As evidenced by Earth's creation, greatness is worth waiting for!