In September of 2005 I was a new mom living in a "new" house.. I had been uprooted from my home in MN and all of the friends I had made there during college as my husband and I moved back to my home state for a missionary internship for the summer. After the summer, we decided to stay and my dad had a job opening in his business for my husband, and here we are 3.5 years later! You may think it would have been easy to move back to my hometown, but it wasn't! All of my friends my age were gone, my closest brother was away at college, my parents were very busy (mom was getting a teaching degree to become a teacher). We lived out of town and I was still adjusting to life as a mom and desperate for some mommy friends. We had internet, but that was before blogging and facebook became popular and our dial-up connection was incredibly slow since we were in the country.
I felt so alone that I decided to put my love of writing to use and encourage other young women in the same boat. I really feel that God gave me the idea and the grace to continue it for 3 and a half years. I started the Circle of Friends newsletter and began mailing it to my friends all over the country. I started with a list of 40 young ladies and it continued to grow over the years as more friends came into my life and more ladies sent me addresses of their friends whom they thought would enjoy it. In addition, I heard from more than a few husbands that they loved reading the COF (including my dad who says he likes to read it to figure out what we women are thinking!) It has always been free although lots of ladies over the years have contributed stamps or the occasional donation for printing cost. It was never anything fancy, just 4-6 pages of recipes, mommy tips, poems, praises, and occasionally a cutie pie page where folks could show off pics of their little ones.
When I was nearing the time of Justus' birth I realized that financially, I would have to cut COF back. It was costing me around $50 a month to produce, which I always took out of my grocery allottment. I told all of my readers that it would become a quarterly publication instead of monthly. I enjoy doing it and am so glad for all of the things I have learned in putting it together. I have loved every minute of researching and growing in the domestic arts in compiling tips and having other readers send in their tips and recipes.
I have always thought that when the time to homeschool came the newsletter would be put aside. A sad, but necessary change. But now, due to our temporary scarcity, the COF will not even be published this spring. I will likely send out one farewell issue to my readers either this summer or perhaps in a Christmas edition.
The good news is that almost all of my readers have internet now and often communicate with me that way. I started a blog a couple of years ago and have come to love it and consider it just like writing a daily Circle of Friends tip! Blogging offers the opportunity to have daily encouragement from other Christian women and homemakers on an endless variety of topics and I can convey so many more tips, project ideas, and personal family updates through this venue. In addition, many of my friends and newsletter readers have started blogs too and inspire me as they write about life as a mom, their ministry endeavors, and their homemaking projects.
Change can be hard, but it can also be good. As my responsibilities with my kids increase and as our family has increased, priorities have had to change and that's okay! I hope that the COF has blessed you for a time and has encouraged you in the noble role of being a homemaker!
In a salute to the Circle of Friends, I'm going to be publishing a weekly post for a while called, "The Best of The Circle of Friends." I will be pulling out some of the best recipes and articles from my newsletter and featuring them on Saturdays for your enjoyment. This way even more women than those on my COF database can enjoy these in an online format!
Thanks to all of you who participated in this endeavor! May we continue to be a Circle of Friends for years to come!
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