me

I’m going to tell you a story. I’ve actually told you this story in bits and pieces before. But now I’ve got an ending. Ready?

My whole life all I wanted to do was to serve Jesus. I loved working at our local church. My days were filled with puppet performances, Sunday morning skits for kids, missions trips with Youth Groups, dramas and oh yeah, cleaning up! When I went to college, I was involved with theatre, Big Sister programs and other weekly ministry. I always said I had no other skills but to work in the church with kids and families!

When I graduated from college (with a degree in Christian Ministries), my husband and I went on the road. We didn’t own a house. We just lived in hotels, our truck and with our parents when we were back in town. We traveled from church to church, camp to camp and performed. We did puppet shows, magic tricks and concerts. We were using our talents to teach kids about Jesus.

Soon we were invited to start a church in Celebration, FL. In light of my Disney Moms Panel-ness, you can imagine how awesome this was for me. I was serving Jesus in the sunniest, most magical place on earth! But when sin hit our leadership team, my husband and I had to leave. And it hurt. It still hurts.

We went home to lick our wounds and look for a new place to serve. We lived in a duplex that was the size of our current bedroom. In a few short months, we found a new job in Birmingham. It was at a mega church that desperately needed some love in the Children’s department. Maybe we were dazzled by the potential there and didn’t see the glaring red flags. But within two weeks we knew we were in the wrong place. We stayed for almost 3 years. We wanted to show that church what God’s heart was concerning kids. We wanted to help kids grow to love Jesus. We wanted to bring the life-change we experienced as kids to another generation. But it wouldn’t work there. So, we had to leave. And that one hurt worse than the first. It still hurts.

We moved back to Atlanta and were offered a rent-free home in the same neighborhood as my brother and one of my sisterchicks. It was a comfortable cocoon for us–we were able to rest, heal and just be a family.

photo by moosh in indy

Our first day in that house was Lydia’s 1st birthday party. And a couple of weeks later, I started ohAmanda.com. I remember the day. I was sitting in  our pink room at our Ikea desk looking out at our neighbor’s house because I was hijacking their internet and I wrote a little post that got the whole thing started.

Those first few months of ohAmanda, I wrote about how weird it was to go from full-time in charge of over 600 kids to beyond-full-time of just one. I felt like I was missing God’s call on my life. I thought I was wasting my talents and maybe even displeasing the Lord. And then one day God spoke to me. I still get tears in my eyes reading that post. God showed me that where I was is where He wanted. That somehow, even outside of the big plans I had made and prepared for, I was still doing something God wanted. And his plans could still be accomplished.

my fam. photo by me.

Since that time I have thrown myself into motherhood and blogging. I wave the banner high: I'm a Mommy Blogger! I hope my blog is a gift to my children one day as they see a window into their lives as children and a glimpse of their mother's heart. I pray Impress Your Kids has influenced other parents to raise their kids for the Lord.

But still. It's just a blog. It's just a little invisible spot on the world wide web. It's not big. Or deep. Or wide.

Then last Christmas I released Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands. It was my first eBook. It called parents to action--to capture December and use it to pull back the curtain on the holidays--to really see the LOVE and LIFE God gave us at Christmas. I wouldn't even let myself think about how many ebooks I might sell. I have about 2000 subscribers on Impress Your Kids and I quietly, secretly thought that maybe MAYBE I could sell that many. I mean, it would be a stretch--every single person who reads my blog would have to buy one!

By Thanksgiving there were 900 fans on the Facebook Page and I started getting nervous. Maybe this would get big!

On Black Friday I sold an ebook every minute. My pulse was racing. People were buying it! I ended up selling 6400+ copies of the book. (Let's stop now to pick me up off the floor.)

Just say only HALF of the people who bought the book actually did it. That's 3200 families! Not 3200 people! 3200 families! Do you know how many pastors would love to have a group of 3200 families in their church doing a family devotional every day for a month?! Do you know how many churches even HAVE 3200 families? (Answer: not many)

photos from the Truth in the Tinsel Facebook page

Over 4000 people were involved on the Truth in the Tinsel Facebook page during December. People from all over the world (literally--South America, Ireland, South Africa, Egypt and more!) were reading my words and doing my activities with their kids. Even now my heart feels flattened at the thought of it.

I've seen my dreams come full circle. I wanted to influence children and families in the local church environment. Instead, I was moved through two of them and able to give to more families than either of those churches have ever seen. How in the world did I get to be involved with something so awesome? Why does God use broken, unorganized, messy, impatient, selfish me to do something that big for Him?

It's what God does. He uses the foolish to shame the wise and the invisible to nullify the things that are.

I'm so thankful he took my foolish heart and my invisible blog and ebook to make Him more famous in the lives of kids around the world.

I told you I had to drop Top Ten {Tuesday} so I could devote more time to Impress Your Kids. But I can tell it's more than that. There is a God-sized dream in my heart with regards to Impress Your Kids. And I have to follow it. Build it. Dream it. Do it.

So, ohAmanda is going into hibernation. It might be back at Asa's birthday party--in September. It might be back if my husband makes us move to the farm he wants us to buy. But for now, it's going safely to sleep so I don't have to worry about it, check on it or get validation from it anymore. I need my (bloggy) heart to be focused in one spot for now.

I'm kind of terrified. I have done Impress Your Kids for years. But not having the crutch of ohAmanda is frightening. I don't know how to be a niche blogger. I don't know how to do a "ministry" blog full-time. I don't know how to accept money (or decline money) for my time there.

I don't know how to do the hidden things I think God has for me.

Will you pray for me? With me? That God would continue to lead me, just plain old Amanda as I follow His will? Not the plans I thought He had. But the new journey he has?

photo by me.

Thank you for making ohAmanda what it is. Thank you for reading, commenting, sharing and loving. I never thought I'd write this post. In all actuality, ohAmanda has brought me every fun and exciting adventure (outside of my kids!) in the last 5 years! I really believe ohAmanda was the preparation place for where I'm going now. You have been more than readers and blog community. You've been real friends, my biggest fans and the pick-me-up I always need. For once, I don't have enough words to tell you how much I love this place and all you've given me here.

Thank you.

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{And for those who need to KNOW MORE! Of course, this isn't good-bye. I'm on Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter (probably on @oohamanda with less frequency and @impressyourkids more). Plus, I'll be at Impress Your Kids every day. And you can always subscribe to ohAmanda so you'll get an update if I post!}

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