My Top 5 Blog Posts in 2013

Well, well, well... another year has come to a close. In reflection and celebration, I am listing my top 5 Blog Posts that had the most views for 2013 that I actually wrote in 2013. All of them revolve around the health crisis event we experienced with my father-in-law essentially being in the ICU for four months. May they provide hope for the readers. Click on the titles of the post to read them.

 #5 Post: For Days We Feel Like Crying

May the words of this post encourage someone else so that they know that they are not alone. There are days when we all feel like crying.

Sometimes in this past year when I have felt like crying; I have wondered if it is left-over sadness that didn't have time to come out as tears when the crisis actually happened.

#4 Post: A Taste of Normal in a Sea of Unknowns

If your life has ever been turned upside down, perhaps you will enjoy this post as I explore how nice it felt one day in the ICU to see a bit of old normal in the topsy-turvy world of medical unknowns.

Learning to take the moment of peace when it is offered is a gift.

#3 Post: Stories of Faith from the ICU

In September of 2012, my father-in-law had a tumor removed from his brain stem that began a four-month journey in three different hospitals and one rehab unit.

That time marked our family. We learned deep lessons of submissions, prayer, neediness, and comfort.

This post is the index page for a series of posts that I wrote about the stories of faith that we learned during the season of my father-in-law being in the ICU.

My hope is to share the comfort that God gave us during a difficult time in an effort to encourage others for the trials that their weary hearts may be going through just as it says in II Corinthians 1:4, "so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

There is comfort. There is hope. At times, there is even laughter. Every story is different. The endings are not all the same, yet there is hope for every weary heart. Sometimes it's just a matter of finding it or believing it or both. 

#2 Post: Remembering the Right Things

After the crisis of my father-in-law being in the hospital for four months, he finally went to his own house. We began to experience some relief as he continued to improve. But it was a struggle to keep remembering how God had helped us in every moment.

Instead I was struggling with only remembering the hard stuff. I think some of that is normal to process the difficulties of an event after the fact especially because in the moment of crisis one is caught up with responding to the needs at hand but our souls need time to process the gravity of a situation. 

In this post, I spend time recounting a few of the memorable times of when people showed up and touched our hearts. Ultimately, that was God being kind even in the midst of sorrow and suffering

#1 Post: How looking outside my kitchen window taught me something about faith

Simple observations of the tree outside of my kitchen window taught me a lesson of faith. I shared it here. Not only was this my most viewed post that I wrote last year, it also had the most comments. That hasn't always been the case. I spent more time on this post than most. The response encourages me to spending more time writing and crafting each post. May your faith continue to grow in 2014. 

 

 Honorable mention:19 reasons I love my husband

I have added a bonus mention because my top-viewed post of all time was written in 2012 on our 19th anniversary. Honorable mention may be misleading since it has 10 times the views of my number one post of 2013. Hope you enjoy it. 

Happy New Year!

 

February Top Posts

A few months ago Blogger added a feature where I can analyze the stats of my blog. I find it interesting and enjoy looking at it. I mean if a writer writes and no one reads it, did they really write it? I'm greatly encouraged when I know someone has read it and had some sort of reaction to it. Love it!

I am not yet a prolific blogger, by any means. And yet, I find it interesting that two of the top five posts -- every week -- were written months ago. Fascinating to me, at least and probably the most interesting to me, too.

Just in case you would like to know, here are the

Top 5 Posts for the Month of February for Kath Ink:

1) Enough? posted on February 25, 2010

2) Carole Joy Seid Inspires Again posted on August 19, 2010

3) A Different Kind of Help posted on February 8, 2010

4) In the Middle of a Five Mile Run posted on January 29, 2010

5) A Transformation Has Taken Place posted on December 3, 2010

I wrote the Carole Joy Seid post in August after attending her homeschool conference. That post continues to be a top post for me time and time again. My blog comes up when someone does a search on her name.

Originally I didn't write much about homeschooling. But since that seems to be a topic that drives some to look at my blog occasionally, I have plans to write some more posts about it as I go. It makes sense since I spend much of my time either educating, or reading about education, or tutoring for a part-time job.

Imagine that? I was on the right track when I first declared an Elementary Education major in college. I changed my course many times and walked out with a degree but not in education. I really do love to teach. It doesn't matter too much the topic -- Bible studies, Sunday school, ancient history, or even the pythagorean theorem. So between realizing that it is of interest to others and myself...I guess I''ll write some more about it!

How about you? Do you analyze statistics for your blog? Has it changed the direction of your blog any?