My 600th Post

So this is my 600th post here at The Elisabeth Chronicles. Who would've ever thought this ol' blog would make it this far. I know I never did.

But here I am 600 posts later...

So in honor of this "momentous" occasion, I thought I'd highlight some of my most favorite posts...

On July 8, 2009, I wrote my very first blog post, which you can read here.

At the time of that post, I had 3 weeks left before flying to Dakar, Senegal, for the first time. I was feeling so many different emotions. I knew my life was about to change. And at that time, I truly had no idea as to the extent it really would change. And boy did it...

On November 11, 2009, I wrote the post pictured above. You can read it here. It was a list of 20 things I would've never said a few months before arriving in Senegal. ...things like Let me go soak my veggies in bleach. Or how about one of my personal favorites, I'm going to N'ice Cream and buying a liter of Obama.

On December 28, 2009, I wrote a post entitled Home. You can read it here. As I was rereading this post, it was the last paragraph that jumped out at me the most. So I decided to share it here...

On July 30, 2009 that all changed. At a little before 6 a.m. that morning I stepped off the plane in Dakar, Senegal and honestly at the moment my feet touched the ground I knew something…I knew I was home. Home is where God calls me to be. Home is where the heart is. And Dakar is where my heart is. Will God change that one day? Possibly…I don’t know. But for now, this is my home. And I couldn’t be happier!

On February 10, 2010, I wrote a post about an urgent prayer request. You can read it here.

I had finally received the final approval to be a Missionary Associate with the Assemblies of God and had recently received my revised budget. I was worried about how I would ever raise such an amount. When I reread this post, I had to laugh a little at myself, thinking about how worried/scared I was. Is it hard to raise the support? Yeah, it can be at times. But thankfully now, my faith/trust in God is a whole lot more secure than it was back then :)

On May 8, 2010, I was reminded yet again of why I was in Senegal and wrote about a conversation I had here.

I was on my way home when God pricked my heart to go back and talk with a fruit vendor set up just outside the school gate. When I did, I ended up buying some fruit I didn't necessarily want. But it was so worth it because of the conversation I was able to have with this gentleman (all in French, by the way). I was able to explain to him why I was in Dakar and why I was a Christian. I'll never forget that day when God taught me to open my eyes more to the people around me.

On February 26, 2012, I wrote my very first Dear _____ Post, which you can read here. I got the idea from a fellow missionary who was serving in Senegal at the time. P.S. Shout out to Jenn! Jenn is a super cool lady who's blog is full of all sorts of inspirational goodness. Since then, I've written a few hundred of these. And honestly, they're usually some of my favorite posts :)

In April 2013, I wrote my 30 by 30 list, where I listed 30 things I planned to finish by the time I hit the big 3-0. You can read the entire list here. But a few of my favorite items to cross off of this list were...

• graduate with my Master's Degree
• become an ESL teacher
• visit NYC and DC
• go on a road trip with my mom
• read/journal through the entire Bible

In May 2013, I wrote a post reflecting on the 10 years since I graduated high school, which you can read here. It's hard to believe that I've been out of school that long (well, now it's been 2 more years). It seems like just yesterday I was back in Florala, Alabama.

On September 5, 2013, I wrote a blog post talking about a time when I was really afraid. It was about, at the moment, the worst time of sickness my dad had been through. I was so scared that we'd lose him. Who would've believed that just a few short years later, he'd pass away?

In November 2013, I wrote a post and filled it with pictures of my day. You can see them all here, but I included my favorite one below. Ah, life in Dakar...

In December 2014, I wrote another post full of pictures that showed off the beauty God had blessed me with throughout the year. You can see them all here, but I decided to include a few of my favorites below.

There were times with friends...

There were birthday wishes from friends that are like family...

 And there were times with my two favorite girls...

 

Fast forward to the current year. In January of this year, I started off the year by writing about my sweet mama. The Lord knows I would've never made it in life without this lady. You can read the whole post here.

A couple weeks later I wrote a post, entitled It's an Honor. In this post, I discussed why I did what I did in "taking a break" from my missions assignment and helping my parents, especially with the care needed for my father as his health deteriorated so much. You can read this post here.

At the beginning of February, I wrote a post, entitled Oh Alabama, where I expressed my dismay at Alabama passing a law, legalizing gay marriage. I was sad that Alabama, a state in the heart of the Bible Belt, had passed such a law. You can read my feelings on the subject here.

Towards the end of March, I wrote a post, inspired by a Dr. Seuss quote, talking about the value of a moment. In this post, I listed some of my favorite moments/memories with my sweet Daddy. At this point, my dad was still really sick and we knew our time together was getting shorter. You can read my list of memories here.

April 2015 will go down in the history books as the most difficult month of my life because that's the month when my sweet Daddy passed away. I wrote a few posts on this horrific event. I wrote about how what I was feeling and needing to work through was definitely beyond me. If it weren't for my Savior, I definitely would not have made it through. I wrote about how I was able to experience both pain and peace at the same time. I wrote about all the people who showed the love of God to my family and myself during such a difficult time. I wrote about my heart and how the pain was just so surreal. Then, I finished up by writing about finding beauty in pain.

In May and June of 2015, I took a short trip to Senegal. I remember writing a post in mid May, entitled Just to Clarify. I laugh now, thinking about how ironic that post was...

On August 6th (my birthday - FYI), I wrote a post all about me and even included a whole lot of pictures of myself. Talk about a trip down memory lane. Want to see all of the pictures I posted that day? You can see them all here.

One of my most favorite days with my nieces happened last month, on my oldest niece's third birthday, when my mom and I joined them (and their parents too, of course) for a trip to the Birmingham Zoo, which I wrote about here.

Last week, I wrote a blog post that ended up getting quite the "rave" reviews, entitled Dear 16 Year Old Me. I decided to write a letter to myself as a 16 year old. Oh man, if I only knew then what I know now. You can read the whole letter here.

I've already written 10 blog posts this month. I've been on a roll man! Here's hoping that keeps up :)

Anywho - I've written a revised bucket list for myself. I've written about my ideal day and also about my favorite season. I've given a tour of my classroom and wrote about my guest list for a fictitious dinner party.

And my favorite post is one I wrote just a couple days ago, entitled, I'll See Ya Soon Senegal, where I talk about a big step of faith God has called me to take in the next year. Want to read all about it? You should. It's pretty exciting, if I do say so myself. Just click here to read this post.

All in all, I'd say The Elisabeth Chronicles has done well the past 600 posts. It's achieved the purposes I set back in July of 2009, when I wrote the very first post...

1. Give me an outlet to share my thoughts, my stories, my life.
2. Keep family and friends updated on my life, especially when we live so far from each other.

3. Show Jesus in all I do.

Here's to 600 more posts!