Hello from the other side…(of our Europe trip!)

Hello, friends!

For those of you who are regular readers, you probably noticed that I really stepped back from blogging these past couple weeks, although I did share some snapshots on Instagram. I was traveling in Europe for 2 weeks with my husband, a friend of ours from college, and my sister-in-law! It was a grand adventure and I am so excited to share more about the trip with you soon. (And a huge thanks to my dear friend Jordan for sharing on the blog while I was gone! Don’t miss her post on fighting anxiety with truths from the Psalms – that post was just what I needed to hear.)

After recovering from a bit of jet lag (which mostly just involved waking up at 4:30 am!), I am eagerly sifting through the (ahem, thousands of) photos from Europe and beginning the process of selecting and editing my favorite shots! 🙂 I’m pretty pumped that I was able to shoot the entire 2-week trip in manual mode – #photographygoals 😉 Honestly, I don’t dread going through all these photos, even though it’s a ton – I’m one of those people who truly enjoys going through photos after a trip. It helps me relive it and savor it a second time.

As far as upcoming posts go, I’m thinking you’ll see more of a travel focus on the blog for a bit. We’ll see. 🙂 I plan on sharing our detailed itinerary, and breaking down the trip into multiple smaller posts so that it’s not just one big photo dump. It was meaningful for me to return to Europe after my trip there 8 years ago, and I want it to be meaningful for you too!

Stepping back from constantly updating my blog and Instagram also gave me a good break – and a fresh perspective on blogging. You know, once you step back from something, it’s easy to push it aside as time goes on. It’s easy to NOT blog. I just go about my daily life, have my deep thoughts on my own (haha), and snap my photos. It’s easier that way. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about stepping away for even longer than 2 weeks. Even though I’ve got strategies for staying inspired in blogging, I still can get hit by feelings of “Do people really want to hear what I have to say?” and “Is it worth it to pour so much time/effort into this?”

But — those moments were fleeting, due in part to the encouragement of my husband. He loves that I love to blog. And I LOVE blogging. I love writing, and photographing, and connecting. And I love using this blog as a means of journaling about our life! It’s so much fun to look back on and see how I’ve grown, what my musings were long ago, how Bjorn and I have grown closer, how God has worked through good times and bad.

And, it’s you guys who keep me blogging too. When I first started this blog, I had no idea that I’d be able to positively affect this many people! I mean, goodness, I live in rural Minnesota! 😉 Recently, the number of emails and messages thanking me and reaching out to me have been so encouraging! Thank YOU. I’m so happy and grateful to have you here!

Those are all my thoughts for today 😉 It’s time to dive back into editing photos and reliving the adventure.

Let me know if there’s a certain topic or question you’d like me to address as I start setting up these posts about our Europe trip!