Every year about this time, I offer you a look back on the year here at Raising Arrows.  It gives you an opportunity to read through some posts you might have missed and it gives me a little time to focus on upcoming projects here at Raising Arrows.  So, here’s a little bit of reading enjoyment for your “almost” new year!

In January, I explained how I manage to have enough of me to go around with a larger-than-average family.  I continued my Lifestyle of Learning homeschooling posts.  I told you the guidelines we follow for choosing outside activities for our family and I shared my breastfeeding journey.  And the big event…we moved!

In February, I gave you a look inside a Family Integrated Church and a Home Church (along with my favorite Lord’s Day Bread).  I did an entire series on Large Family Moving tips (because I’m a professional at it and I’m doing it again in a month!  ACK!).  I released Psalms for the Grieving Heart on the 3rd anniversary of our daughter Emily’s death.  And then I touched a nerve with many women when I asked, “Are you an angry mom?”

In March, I answered the question of how we afford all these kids.  I told you how to be conversational with your children and why I believe homeschooling builds confident children.  I taught you how to make your own vanilla and how to wash and dry cloth diapers (and I have a great series on cloth diapering coming up next year!)  I talked about why I have to balance my frugality with my time limitations and how I’ve made our master bedroom a haven.  I also announced my reasons for leaving Sonlight curriculum.

In April, Caroline from The Modest Mom and I began a series that exceeded our expectations:  She Wears Skirts.  I talked about how to be a friend to someone experiencing infertility and revealed what it was like to have a colicky baby.  I explained the components of building and growing a blog.  I told you how to write your own history curriculum and I began the Saturday series: Weekends in the Word.

In May, I began another popular series: Homeschooling With Purpose, exhorting others to focus their hearts on God’s purpose for their homeschool.  I talked about how children’s minds must be trained to recognize twaddle and I told you how we give grades in our homeschool.  I told you about our little kitchen garden and I started yet another series that reached out to those suffering from Diastasis Recti called The Tummy Chronicles. (and yes, I know many of you have asked that I please update…let’s just say I fell off the wagon…but I WILL be back!)

In June, I told you I look like a mom.  You understood.  I told you how I keep toddlers and babies busy during homeschool hours and I explained how we give each of our children their own space.  I also talked about how I manage to blog in between homeschooling.  And I grieved.  It was a difficult month as we did the very last thing we had left to do for our precious Emily…put up a gravestone.

In July, I offered all my readers a free download of my Homeschooling During Crisis session from a homeschooling conference I spoke at in June.  I taught you how to create a schedule from the routines you already naturally do and how to make reusable assignment cards.  You gave me all sorts of wonderful advice on raising a lefty, I told you about our morning Bible time, and my evening conversations with my wonderful husband.

August – WOW!  What a month!

Stop Filling Pails – homeschooling isn’t about how much academics we can cram down our children’s throats!

How to Turn Old Storybooks into Placemats

How we have organized our many homeschooling spaces

Homeschooling a Large Family

How to Get Homeschool Books for Free

Too Many Choices – How to choose what is best for your family

Learn the Days of Creation – a fun finger play (video included)

How You Spend Your Time Matters – we will all give an account!

How to Keep a Clean House & Homeschool Too

I Wish My Husband Worked from Home – blessing your husband right where he is

I also revamped my Once a Month Shopping Series and offered a FREE Shopping and Grocery List!

And I launched my first set of Church Listening Pages and an Age-Appropriate Chore List.

PHEW!

In September, I started a Twitter hashtag for homeschool bloggers (#hsbloggers), I spoke about seeking out godly friendships for your children and why the fact that we don’t own a television does not make us holier.  I showed you how to use a prefold diaper (video included!) and I offered an entire page of Homemaking Helps!  I gave up soda for 6 weeks and donated the money I saved to charity ($40!) and I whined about having to move…again.  And then I asked a really hard question…do you LIKE your children and do they KNOW it?

In October, I took it easy.  I talked about how we view allowances and children working to earn money.  I answered the burning homeschool question: Does that count as school?    I told you how you couldn’t just take the worldliness away from your kids without replacing it with something and I really irritated some people with my post on parents who are too busy texting to parent.  I also started a Large Family Link Up (more on that coming after the new year!)  I asked where all the real men are and then I got back in my sewing room and made my 5 year old some chaps!

In November, I wrote the 10 Days to a Peaceful Home series and then added some extras and offered it as an ebook.  I also talked about the importance of making eye contact with your husband.  We also felt the pain of meeting a new baby via sonogram and then saying goodbye.  And from there, I decided to focus the blog on Christmas and the traditions our family holds in order to point to Christ.

And finally, December!  It was so much fun to share and grow this Christmas season!  I offered a second round of Church Listening Pages with a Christmas theme and I found new meaning in our rather meaningless Advent Calendar.  I asked for your help choosing next year’s Christmas books, I showed you how to decorate simply with grapevine and lights, and I hosted a Christmas Link Up!  I was blessed by a buffalo and I sang for you.  And best of all, we celebrated Christ’s birth!

Happy New Year, dear readers!  I’ll see you back here on the 2nd of January for another wonderful year, Lord willing!

When I started blogging as Raising Arrows back in December of 2005, blogging was exactly what the word BLOG infers…a WEB LOG, or daily online journal.  Over the years, my site has changed and grown, but it wasn’t until I became PURPOSEFUL that my blog began to really reach people.

Ty and I sat down one evening and “talked blog.”  We prayed about what the Lord would have us do with my little corner of cyberspace.  We moved forward in faith and invested time and money into being more purposeful with Raising Arrows.

That was nearly 2 years ago.  And I have never stop learning and growing and asking the Lord for direction.  He has more than once shut doors I wanted open and turned my heart in directions I hadn’t intended to go.  He has blessed me with a husband who is both supportive and a voice of reason and balance.

Over the years, I have seen the amazing benefits of connecting with other bloggers and learning from them.  I’ve also seen the benefits of investing in my mission here at Raising Arrows.

Yes, investing.

Now I’ll have you know I am one of those notoriously frugal homeschoolers.  I don’t like to spend money for anything I think I can get for free.  However, I have seen first hand where you get what you pay for and where a little front end investment can reap great rewards.

That is why I want to invite you to join me at the 2:1 Conference in Washington D.C. April 27-29, 2012.

This conference is the premier blogging conference for homeschool bloggers looking to extend their reach for Christ!

From now until December 31 2:1 Conference tickets are on sale for only $199.

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I just heard a couple of my “frugal homeschooling” readers gasp, but hear me out for a moment…

1.  If you have a story (and everyone does) and the Lord is calling you to tell that story, you want to do your very best for Him.  This is an investment in the Kingdom.

2.  At conferences you connect with other bloggers in a way you can never manage online.  You will have opportunities to pick the brains of other bloggers (myself included), learn how to optimize your site, and form relationships that can lead to wonderful blogging.

3.  The Lord might be leading you to a place where your blog makes an income.  I know in some circles this is a taboo subject, but I also know that I have seen many homeschooling families who have had husbands lose jobs, go into full-time (unpaid) ministry, or pass away and the rest of the family must find a way to survive.  Blogging can be that way to survive.  It can also be a way to supplement an income, pay for homeschooling materials, and raise your level of giving.

4.  No blog is too insignificant to make an impact for the Kingdom.  You may think your blog is nothing and you don’t have any use for a blogging conference, but I beg to differ.  If you are faithfully blogging for the Lord, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t expand your readership and shine a light in the dark!

I often think about the Duggar family and how God brought them into the limelight.  They were just living their lives for the Lord and what looked like a stumbling block (Jim Bob losing the election) turned out to be an opportunity of a life time…one only the Lord could have orchestrated!

What if the Duggars hadn’t taken that opportunity?

God took one family’s willingness to be used and grow and teach to reach hundreds of thousands of people.

That’s how I see blogging.

An opportunity to be used, to be grown, and to turn all of that back around and offer it to God as a sacrifice.

Won’t you join me at 2:1 this Spring?

Click here to learn more!
and remember, the $199 sale ends Dec 31!

I also want to encourage you that there are companies out there who are willing to sponsor bloggers to conferences.  You may get a lot of NO’s before you get a YES, but don’t give up!  There have been times I’ve taken that leap of faith and had the Lord bring the funding to me almost immediately afterwards!

And watch the #2to1Conf hashtag and the #hsbloggers hashtag on Twitter for more information and ideas!  I’d love to connect with you there!

From now until October 21, you can nominate all your favorite homeschool blogs in these categories:

• Best Homeschool Mom Blog
• Best Homeschool Dad Blog
• Best Blog Design
• Best Photos
• Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog
• Best Family or Group Blog
• Best Encourager
• Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog
• Best Homemaking or Recipes Blog
• Best Teen Blog
• Funniest Homeschool Blog
• Best Special Needs Blogger
• Best Curriculum or Business Blog
• Best Variety
• Best Thrifty Homeschooler
• Best SUPER-HOMESCHOOLER
• Best Nitty-Gritty Homeschool Blog
• Best NEW Homeschool Blog
• Best Homeschooling Methods Blog
• Best Homeschooling Nature/Field Trip Blog

This is a wonderful way to promote your favorites and meet new and new-to-you homeschool bloggers.  In fact, some of my favorite blogs came from reading through all the nominations!

So, click on the banner and start nominating!

As we ease into Autumn (my absolute favorite time of year), I wanted to thank my sponsors and top referrers for the month of August.

THANK YOU!

Raising Arrows Sponsors

A Journey Through Learning
Sweet Little Blessings
The Homeschool Village
Jerusalem Gift Shop
Vista Print

Top Referrers

Mama’s Learning Corner
The Homeschool Classroom
Eat at Home
The Homeschool Village
Raising Homemakers
A Full Heart

Also, you might have noticed the new header and background here at Raising Arrows.  Super big thanks for Joy at Five J’s Design!  I’m loving it!