Yes you read that right, today is National Delurking day in the blog world. What this means is that if you read blogs and you never comment, today is your day to go and comment. Tell them what you love about their blog. After I finish this post I will head on over to The Picky Palate blog and thank her for her gorgeous pictures and lovely recipes that I'm loving. In fact after I leave that comment I'm taking my booty to the kitchen to make her brownie covered oreos for a dinner tonight.
Now that your mind is thinking about those oreos ……
I read about the National Delurking day over at Kristen's blog and I'll be honest I thought she was making up this day! You see she's funny like that and I could see her doing that, but low and behold she didn't make it up. I found out it is true and in fact others are also blogging about it!
Leaving comments is easy and for the blogger it's nice to know who is reading …… so here's your part! I know that some of you read this and have never commented. Tell me who you are, where are you from, how did you find this blog, why in the world do you read it and anything you want to know more about.
Maybe tell me about your kids, your job, your love life …. whatever!
Just for your enjoyment here's a picture of Cayden a long time ago in an elephant suit that was clearly too small for him! Gotta love kids!
hi! i’ve commented before — a long while back — so since its been a while thought i’d delurk again 🙂
being recently married i’ve enjoyed the insight you’ve given about marriage & love getting your thoughts on parenting (even though those days for me a years away!) love your heart for the Lord and how you live it out. thanks!
Thanks Leigh Anne – marriage is amazing and one of the top things to fight for in your life!!!!
Im Alicia and I am from California but recently moved to Round Rock. I Became a Christian shortly before I moved out here and helped start a church in Round Rock when I moved out here. I have had a heart for adoption since I was little and one day hope it will be my reality. I love the unique stories each one of your kids has and just how your life revolves. Thank you for all you do for them and your and Aaron’s relationship. You are an inspiration to so many, probably more than you know!
it’s amazing how easy it is to plow through blogs without leaving a comment here and there. It has been great keeping up with you via the internet!
Love that you are always so real. Have a good one and enjoy those oreos!
Hey there Jamie! I LOVE your blog!! Love your family! AND I’m totally going to do this on my blog too!
Northern Europe calling. Found you blog just around the EQ in Haiti, I was following the news, Livesay Twitter and other things. I have kept reading, as… hmmm so close and yet so different. You are a window into a totally diffrent world (I’m 45, mother of a 3 year old son, working full time). The thing that made me interested after the first story was a genuine interest in a person pretty much like myself, yet so different. Laugh my head off when you comment on IKEA, stare in disbelief at your faith (church is not a part of my life) and share your daily stuff with small kids around.
Pia
So I guess this is the time I confess that I am one of the few guys that follows your blog. My wife started following you first and told me about your blog and she thought I would enjoy it. We are in the process of adopting a child that isn’t our race. I have enjoyed learning how you have dealt with race in your family, handled the tough adoption questions from others as well as your children, and I appreciate your honesty and openness.
Hi! I have commented in the past, but it has been a while. (Even though I am still a faithful reader. 🙂 ) I am 31…live in Alabama…been married 9 1/2 years…have one 4 year old boy…hope to start the adoption process this year. 🙂
I gotta try those oreos!
Haha- what an awesome idea.
I’m Ashley. I’ve been reading your blog for a little over a year now, I think. I’m a writer, used to write for Focus on the Family’s magazine for teen girls, BRIO, then got laid off and now I work for Compassion International. Love it! I like to read your blog because I think your kids are fabulous and I enjoy hearing your thoughts on various and sundry life issues. I also have a huge heart for adoption and hope to adopt one day in the not-too-far-off future.
Definitely going to have to put this on my blog today…I’ve got a ton of lurkers I’d like to drag out of the woodwork. 😉
Omg love that picture. Got a good laugh out!
Hey Jamie! I’m not sure if I’ve commented before, but we have met! My husband B.J. and I used to go to the stone before we moved to Kentucky. We attended the T4A conference with yall in Nashville.
Anyway, I love your blog. I’ve been reading for a year or so.
Happy de-Lurking Day!!
Hi, it’s Stephanie in Chile! 🙂 Blessings to you and yours.
hi! i just started reading your blog a couple weeks ago after a friend was raving about it and your beautiful adoption story. love reading about adoptions!
I found your blog through Kristen’s (we are from so cal orignally) after the Haiti earthquake. I totally stalk/lurk your blog. Come to find out my haridresser friend is friends with your sister and brother in law. He shoot their wedding. Small world. I tried to explain to her I knew you but not really since I blog stalk you..HA!!! May even meet your SIL in person cause she is having a purse party at my friends house next week.
We live in Knoxville TN. I’ve been married 9 yrs and we have a almost 6 yr old son (his bday is in 2 weeks) and a 3 1/2 yr old daughter.
So there you have it.
I’m TerriAnn in California. I found your blog through the ‘delurker’ post at BlogHer as well. Keep up the good work and, man, is that one serious wedgie 🙂
Ashley i used to read Brio!!!
Melissa please met JoAnna and give her a hug from me! You will love her purses!
Hi Jamie!
I like getting comments, so I’ve been trying to leave them on my favorite blogs. Yours is one of them.
I’m looking forward to trying your latest recipe. I like all of you blog topics. I can really hear your “voice” in them.
XO, from your friend in Buffalo, NY
I don’t comment much but I’m out here reading!
hi there! i have been reading your blog for years…since the beginning of your haiti journey.
we have 4 children, savannah (6), adeline (5), silas (2, from ethiopia), and jude (7 months, waiting for us in ugnada).
i am not sure how i came across your blog…i am sure from another adoption blog. i always enjoy catching up with your family 🙂
i think i am going to celebrate delurking day as well!
I think I have commented before but just in case I haven’t: This is me delurking! I love reading your blog, I love your adoption stories and how they are each different, I love your honesty as a mom. My husband and I are adopting 1 or 2 children from Ethiopia just waiting to see what God has in store!
Hey Jamie,
I read your blog!
Because there are so few adoption stories in Australia it has been amazing to meet your family in Texas and then to check out your blog and see your heart for all your kids no matter how they entered your family.
Hey there,
I just recently starting lurking on your blog. 🙂 I first learned of your family at a camp (Super Summer) a few years ago. Spur58 was the worship band. Fast forward a few years…Now, I am a newlywed! My husband and I both feel led to adopt one day. We aren’t there financially yet, but my heart is already feeling so drawn to my future children. I remembered Aaron telling us about your adoption stories so I looked yall up on twitter. I absolutely love reading about your adoption experiences and the life that follows it. I totally relate to Dreaming Big Dreams. 🙂
hi jamie,
well i’ve left a couple of comments here and there, but really not as much as i read your posts! love your heart and all you write about.
x
Hey Jamie… I’ve read faithfully for a year and never commented 🙂 oops. Found your blog cuz we were in the adoption process and wanted to read about families who’d been there. It’s helped me so much as we lived in Indonesia at the time and I didn’t know anyone there who had adopted. We just moved back to the States (Waco actually) with our 11 month old Ugandan son. God is good!
Thanks for blogging- it sustains the weary 🙂
I just started following your blog and I heart about it from another blogger!! When she said the word adoption, I wanted to check it out! We hope to adopt in the next year as well!! You have a sweet family!!
I’m saying hi & vowing to delurk & comment WAY more often! Love the outfit! so cute!
I think I may have commented before, but I normally just lurk. I found your blog from some Christian site that had a listing and liked your story about adoption.
Hi! I’m Katie in Nashville. I’ve commented a time or two (I think). I can’t remember exactly how I came across your blog, but you were added to my “Google Reader” many months ago. I always tell my husband that I think we’d be friends if we met in person and lived closer :). We just adopted our son in Sept. of last year, and I appreciate your insight and honesty regarding adoption (and just in general). I think your family seems really fun & appreciate you sharing parts of your life on your blog!
Hi Jamie! In honor of delurking day (which I’m stealing to post on my blog) I thought’d I say hi, since I follow your blog and rarely comment. We have met each other a couple of times at the Stone at St. John’s campus. We’re adopting internationally, and I love reading your post-adoption stories. See you around church. 🙂
I’m such a blog ‘ho that I’m having to delurk everywhere today. 🙂 I came to your blog through a friend and I’m sure it was regarding adoption. We’re about to send our dossier to China to adopt a special needs daughter. I’m from a little city just south of Nashville, TN. I read a lot of blogs but rarely comment…I know, shame on me!
Hi Jamie…. My name is Michelle. I’m a 35 year old divorced mom of two boys and I live in Cedar Park. Oh, and the Gayharts fondly refer to me as your ‘stalker’. 🙂
I’ve been following your blog for a year- since the earthquake and after I saw your story on the local news. I love, love, love your blog and sooo appreciate your ideals on parenting, marriage, love of God and faith in all of these things. So, there. I’ve outed myself. 😉
I’m an adoption blog lurker…I go to the Stone and my husband and I are currently fostering our first. Love reading your honest parenting stories and “shopping” your book list. I’m reading Little Bee right now and loving it.
Hello Jamie,
1) I read your blog and like it lots.
2) I live in Austin and go to the Stone, but we never find a way to get our families together. :sigh: someday
3) I have 3 kids; 5, 3, and 18 months old.
4) We’re a foster family.
5) I rock the stay at home thing, workout a lot, and love Jesus. I’m still trying to convince you that Gowalla is super sweet and that you should try it. 😀
Well…I don’t really lurk…but I had to comment on the picture, I LOVE THAT KID! I miss you guys and your whole crew SO MUCH! HAPPY DELURKING DAY!
I started following your blog when you guys lived in the Smyrna area and went to church at FBC. We met at my best friend- Melanie (Simpson) Hill’s lakehouse for a girls weekend. We have since adopted and I love hearing about transracial adoption in older children as I also parent a child of a different race. I now live in Indiana and love reading about Texas because it’s super snowy here and you and your kids are hanging out outside.
I started reading your blog after the earthquake in Haiti. I’m from the big apple -queens,ny. What attracted me to your blog was your realness.
Hi, I’m definitely a lurker. And all you bloggy people are killing me today with this delurking stuff. Sheesh. Ok, so I have a daughter from Uganda and I think I might have come upon your blog when we were early on in our process. You seemed like you’d been there, done that as an adoptive mom, and I needed some contact with those types of moms, even if it was through a blog. I was positively GLUED to your blog after the Haiti earthquake, and I’ll never forget “seeing” you guys finally get Amos via Twitter. It was amazing and emotional, which is weird since we don’t know each other. Blogs can be weird like that, I suppose. But most of all, while I’m delurking here, I just want to say thanks. For your transparency as an adoptive mom, for your encouragement in sharing your experiences. Can I go back to lurking now? 🙂
Just a college kid from Memphis… Love your husband’s music and found my way here through his site a couple of years ago. I’m so very often encouraged by the way you live life.
Your kids are adorable, by the way!
God Bless
Definitely a “lurker” haha. I love reading about your kids and what God is doing in your family. I stayed up all night reading the updates when Amos was coming home. I had to work to keep myself awake, but I wanted to know that special moment when he was finally in your arms.
Hey Jamie! I started following your blog a few years ago when my college roommate who grew up with Maris introduced me to it. I’ve continued to follow it and be encouraged as my husband and I have also journeyed through the adoption process. We just brought our son Duncan home from Uganda in October!
Hi! I’m pretty sure I found your blog through another adoption blog this past year. My husband and I live in China and are just about to begin pursuing adoption. We’ve lived here for just over a year. Originally I’m from Texas and he is from California.
Thanks for sharing your heart. It is a blessing to read about your journey.
Hey Jamie,
It has been a while sense I have commented, I always enjoyed reading your blog and I love the idea of a “Delurking Day”. I just recently added one of those counters to my blog just so I could see if people were reading (sense hardly anyone ever comments) 😛 Is that pathetic of me?!. LOL! I guess when you are going through the adoption journey you could use all the support you can get…even if that means seeing the number on your counter move up 🙂 Hey, it works for me!
I’m a fostering SAHMomma and a Christian from the midwest…I found you from another fostering momma’s blog and I read so I can feel ‘normal’! Not many people IRL understand and can swap stories like we can so it’s enjoyable to find commonalities here on the web. I have been reading for a month or 2 and keep meaning to de-lurk…but now that there’s an official holiday, here I am! =)
Hey Jamie!
I feel like my work as a spy is ruined!! haha But I’m the TeenRock intern and you have seen me around!! I love reading your blog and how honest you are it is a breath of fresh air. I’ll see you around church on Sundays! Hope to run into you more!
Melissa
Well when I first found out about your blog I was excited because not only do I love reading blogs but I love your husband’s music (since his early Spur 58 days) and your family’s story. I go to the Stone and am a college student. But I like your blog not because you are Aaron Ivey’s husband but because you are real and open about your life. Whether you are struggling with the process of adoption, trying a new diet or workout, or talking about God I can find something that I relate to. Thanks for sharing your life and being open to all of us!
I’m only 21, but find that your blog is of interest to me because I am very passionate about orphans/adopting, God, working out, etc (the typical girl stuff) just like you. So that’s what keeps me coming back! And the pics of your family are always fun to look at!
It isn’t officially delurking day but I need to confess.
My name is Jodi and I am Philip and Kim’s sister-in-law. I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now. I’m a stay at home mom, married 6 years, with a 15 month old daughter. I enjoy reading your blog because of the honesty.
Jenny the lurker here!
I found your blog when I met my husband. He is bi-racial and I am white. I dont remember exactly how I found your blog but I know it was when I was looking up bi-racial issues.
I married my sweetie on 9/5/09 and I am so thankful God lead us to each other. He is my greatest blessing here on Earth other than my walk with the Lord. We are unsure children will be in our future as we are older (I am 39 and he is 45) and not financially able to adopt but I do enjoy reading abut your sweet family.
Love the thoughts you share, receipes and your desire to grow as a family and a child of God.
Hello Jamie,
My name is Brooke, I’m 29, I live in Michigan, have been married for 9 years, have three children (13, 8 and 5). We love Texas, have friends in a couple different areas, but Austin is our favorite place. Hoping this is the year we will be adopting, sorting that out with God right now lol…I believe you are the first person I have ever left a comment on and now that I am, it seems like more of a personal ad haha! Cannot even remember how I started following your blog. Love your honesty and all that you write about. Bought some shirts from you a couple times and still never left a comment, love those btw! Ok, I feel liberated and free now that I made myself known lol!!
I’m really behind because I don’t read blogs but about once a week (gasp!). I found your blog through conversations with our friend Aaron Cauble about your adoptions of Storey and Amos. Followed your journey after the earthquake and have been enjoying your insight on marriage and family ever since! Oh, and I live in Round Rock.
oh, and I’m a working stay-at-home mom to two little boys (almost 1 and almost 3!)
Hi, like a previous commenter, I’m another Alicia from Round Rock (weird!) 🙂 I’m married and stay at home with my 2 yr old boy and 5 month old girl. I’ve been following your blog since around the time of the earthquake in Haiti – I think that’s how I found it. I enjoy your honesty, adoption insights and stories about day to day life with your family. We haven’t adopted but I wonder if we will one day- I also like your recipes: those crunchy banana muffins sure have been a hit with my friends and family! Thanks for blogging!
I still read:) I love your transparency and your heart for the Lord!