Have a Little Faith Blog Update

Well hello, friend! It’s been almost a year since I wrote a real live post here on Have a Little Faith Blog. I figured I was long overdue in sharing a bit of a life update in my extended blogging absence.

First off, I’ve really missed sharing more in this space. When I first started blogging 7 years ago, I had just stepped away from my career in Marketing to focus on raising my young children, and really needed an outlet to continue to express myself creatively. Since I love writing and design, this blog was born.

Fast forward to present day, and my life looks a lot different. I’m still raising those kids, but we’re no longer in the thick of preschool and playdates. Now we’re taking driver’s ed lessons and learning how to effectively speak ‘middle-schoolese’ …”right, bruh!”

I returned to a job outside the home about 4 years ago, but within the last year, my career has shifted gears, and I’m back to working about 4 days a week. I’m still volunteering as a K-8 school librarian, plus I’ve stepped into a Communications role with a non-profit again that has me writing a lot. Quite honestly, I no longer find myself seeking out the opportunity to write more here on the blog simply due to sheer writer burnout. While I do still enjoy sharing what I’m up to from time to time, it’s been a lot more focused through my social media channels than in long blog post form. I’m not entirely certain that will change much as long as I continue working in the capacity I am now.

Then there’s also the huge shift in the blogging world that has transpired over the last several years. Having an online presence in this space has dramatically changed and morphed into such a chaotic scene, in my personal opinion. What used to be a quiet, thought-provoking medium, has now completely been turned on its head with loud, in-your-face, trendy reels and influencer-crazed posts. It seems everyone is trying so hard to get noticed, to make a profit, and with algorithms constantly changing, it has overall developed into a much different game than what I originally signed up for seven years ago.

As a naturally private person – any other type 6 enneagrams out there? – I find this to be really exhausting. The older I get, the more I’m ok with stepping a little more out of the spotlight. I’ve never really been one to enjoy all eyes on me. But I’m ok with letting that chaos pass me by, and I no longer feel the need to try to keep up with all those fast-tracker Joneses on the interweb.

However, with that said, there’s still a lot of joy I get from creatively expressing myself through blogging, even if it is only posting a few times a year. You’ll still find me actively sharing more inspirational tidbits over on Instagram or Facebook. And I’m ok with that balance right now.

So, here are a few more life updates from Have a Little Faith Blog…

DIY Projects

We’ve not really done a whole lot of home projects this year, especially since we were on the heels of an extensive remodeling project in our basement that finally ended last summer. We do have some plans to tackle a minor backyard patio project over the Memorial Day weekend, that will hopefully get done just in time to enjoy the season ahead. We also really need to tackle some flooring replacement in our home, but are currently debating when the right time will be to take that on since it will involve a lot of moving things around & emptying rooms, which is never really convenient.

Chickens

As you know, we’ve had chickens for many years, and been through 2 rounds of laying hens. We turn our flock every 4th year, in order to get the most out of laying potential, since we can only have 5 hens at a time where we live. Last fall, we turned our 3 remaining hens and took a break with no birds over the winter. Boy, was I missing those free fresh eggs with the egg prices so high!

But, this spring, we got another round of chicks, which should be big enough to move into the coop within the next few weeks. Even though we won’t see eggs until later this summer, I’m excited to have another flock of feathered ladies back again. We even purchased a chicken trailer for our hens this year, so they can hopefully get a change of pace from their enclosed coop, by safely moving around the yard.

Pets

Last fall, after months of contemplation, we finally put in a request to be added to a puppy waitlist from a local Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeder. We knew we wanted a pure bred Corgi, with the traditional white and tan coloring, but with most small breeds, each litter only produces 3-4 pups, so we knew we’d have to be patient. I had hoped that maybe by Christmas, we’d get a pup, but no such luck. Then, in March, I got a call from the breeder that one of her pups who was already spoken for had suddenly fallen through. Apparently, the family who had reserved her was from North Carolina, and at last minute, they weren’t able to make the trip to Wisconsin to get her after all. We were the next family on the waitlist to be called for a pup! So, without telling the kids anything, we hopped in the car one Saturday afternoon and said we were taking a little road trip to see something cool. Vague, I know, but the kids went with it. About an hour into our drive, we started to get pretty far out into the country, because this particular breeder lived on a farm. Then all of a sudden, the breeder calls me on my phone (which was giving us GPS directions to the farm) and my phone immediately goes into speaker mode. She’s telling me what landmarks to watch for as we get closer to her property and asking me how far out we are, and I start to panic! We really wanted to keep this a secret so the kids would be totally surprised when we got there. Thankfully, she hangs up without revealing too much about the puppy destination, so I can breathe a sigh of relief. But the kids are now suspicious. They have no idea what’s up, but I can tell they’re hot on my trail. Finally, as we turn the corner down the dirt road to the farm, my oldest blurts out, “We’re getting a Corgi puppy, aren’t we?” I couldn’t hold it in any longer, so I finally let the secret out that yes, we were indeed getting a Corgi puppy. The kids pretty much went nuts, and I got the whole thing on video. It was great. Definitely a family core memory day.

So, at a mere 8 weeks old, and weighing a whopping 5 lbs, we picked up our new little girl, whom we affectionately named, Maple. We chose the name since we had first started our puppy adventure in the fall, and ended it in the spring, both seasons where the Maple trees are either showing their beauty or running their sap for a tasty treat. Either way, she lives up to her name as a sweet pup.

It was a good thing we were coming up on 2 weeks of spring break vacation, because we needed every second home with her to work on potty training, crate training, chew training, you name it training!! Needless to say, it was like having a newborn in the house again and we were exhausted, but very much in love with our new girl.

She’s just over 4 months old now, doubled in weight, and almost has the potty training down pat. She loves playing with the kids, our 2 cats, and our other dog, Annie. It’s always been a dream of mine to own a Corgi, and I can say, it’s been worth the sacrifice of no sleep and constant supervision. She’s the best dog, with a great temperament.