Today my precious blog turns 5 years old. I call my blog precious because it has been incredibly “life giving” to me over the past 5 years. This space and the community here has been a creative outlet for me while I have been home raising my children. It has been a comfort and support system to me as I’ve navigated life and motherhood. Plus it has been a financial blessing to our one-income family.

Today, in honor of my 5 year anniversary, I am unveiling my new blog design. This look was created by the talented Mindy Harvey from Simply Designs. I have waited such a long time to hire a professional designer to give this space a makeover. Honestly, it was long over due.

A Look Back at Simply Rebekah’s Journey

Does anyone remember this blog?? At the very most there would be about 20 of you. This was my very first blog design back when my blog address was SimplyRebekah.wordpress.com. I wrote there for a year before I made the switch to my current web address. I ended that year with only 20-25 subscribers and every single one was someone I knew personally.

There weren’t very many people reading my blog at that time, but I was not blogging in vain. It was during that time that I first started writing about my experience with breastfeeding and excess lipase activity, which lead to the release of my eBook this fall.

When my blog was only 2 months old I wrote the post Blog Envy. I found this little gem while I was reorganizing my posts and categories. In the post I wrote:

There are a lot of stay-at-home moms out there who are serious bloggers. Like – making MONEY by blogging bloggers! I read several of them and really truly enjoy it. However, yesterday I was hit with some major blog envy. My goal with this blog isn’t to make money from it. It is to have fun! It is meant to give me something other than Grace to do with myself. I enjoy passing along helpful tips, easy recipes and great documentaries – so that is what I am doing. It is also supposed to be a place for me to update long distance friends and family about what we’ve been up to.

So consider this your warning. You aren’t getting a super organized mommy blog here!  It is just simply me.  Simply Rebekah.

It is true that my goal with blogging has never been the money. It has always been the creative outlet and community, but the truth is that I never thought the money was even possible. I never thought enough people would want to read my blog that would allow me to earn any income from this space.

Reading the quote above, it is so obvious to me that my vision for my blog was bigger than I was allowing myself to dream. Deep down I always hoped for big things, but with that hope came the fear of disappointment. It was easier to not dream.

I want to take a moment here and let you know that although my blog has grown to the point where I am earning an income, it is a very modest income. I feel fortunate to be able to contribute to our family’s budget and I hope it continues to grow. I truly am thank you for all the ways that you have impact our finances. Allowing ads on my blog, using my affiliate links, and purchasing my eBook are all ways that you have blessed my family. Thank you!

The money is nice, but really it is just a reflection of the growth of this community, which means so much more to me.

Next came a “temporary” blog design that was only meant to be a placeholder until I could come up with something better. Well, that placeholder stuck around for 4 years! Part of the reason that it took me so long is because nice blog designs (like my new one!) cost money and I was not willing to spend any of my personal money on a design.

So take a nice hard look at that picture up there because it is the last you’ll ever see of it! You served me well, old blog design, but I am so happy to see you go.

During those next four years of blogging, the roof was blown off of my blog.

• December 2009 – started blog
• December 2010 – 23 subscribers
• October 2011 – 250 subscribers
• December 2012 – 384 subscribers
• October 2013 – 580 subscribers
• December 2014 – 1,700 subscribers!

I don’t share these numbers to brag. (Honestly, there are many bloggers out there with much more impressive numbers. I share these numbers because I am humbled by them.) It is truly an honor to share this space with you and that you allow me to take up valuable real estate in your inbox.

Life in Between Newsletter

In honor of 5 years of blogging and this awesome community, I am launching a brand new newsletter. The Life In Between Newsletter will be an extra way for us to stay connected. Each month I will be sharing behind the scene looks into my family and all the things that I am currently obsessed with. You can expect winning Pinterest finds, family photos, articles from around the web that are worth reading, and highlights from Simply Rebekah. The best part is that you’ll be able to hit reply to any of these emails to connect with me directly. I hope you will sign up and join me!

About The New Design

First of all, the new design is created to help you find the content that interests you the most. The dark brown menu bar just under the Simply Rebekah logo lists all of the blog’s main categories. To sort out those posts into more specific topics, click on any of the subcategories in the drop down menu.

A big difference you’ll notice on the homepage is that there are only excerpts of my most recents posts. This change was made you’ll be able to easily see all of my most recent blog posts to see if you’ve missed anything. Plus this is helpful for new people coming to my blog. They will be able to get a feel for the different types of posts that I write without having to scroll through entire blog posts.

If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the blog, you’ll be able to find my most recent Facebook posts, an up to date list of my most popular posts of all time, and access to my archives.

Once again, thank you for being part of this journey. I am looking forward to growing Simply Rebekah even more, starting the Life In Between Newsletter, and possibly exploring new forms of media.

I hope you enjoy the new design! Let me know what ya think.