Thank You To My Readers

Sometime today the Dawg Howse will hit a milestone of 9,000 visitors viewing this site. This is truly an amazing thing to me. Next week, on the 29th will mark the 8 month anniversary of my first post. Back then I really didn't think there would be more than a handful of friends who actually read this, and truthfully, I did not care. I wrote more as a means of working somethings out in and for myself.

I remember commenting to Libby one day after a few weeks of writing that I was blown away because there had been about 100 people who had been to my site in those weeks. I was excited when I saw that there were like 9 or 10 people reading every day, and a few times I had like 20 readers in a day. And now, 8 months later, I am blown away when I see anywhere from anywhere from 70-100 readers everyday stopping by on weekdays. Weekends are always very slow.

I sincerely mean it when I say it is a humbling thing for me to think that there are that many people out there who honor me by caring what I have to say. It blows my mind away when I look at the stats and see that someone has spent 2 hours reading my blog. I know some of these people, and they will check in about once every 2 weeks and "catch up" on what has been going on in my world. I am amazed when I see that I have "regulars" from not only here in Illinois, but in various states across this land, as well as countries such as India, Iraq, Kuwait, Ireland, the UK, Indonesia, Canada, Mexico, Lithuania, Brazil and others. I am also equally honored to know that members of my family spread out across America regularly checks in here. (Mostly because I am terrible at keeping in touch with them, and at least this way they know what is happening in my life!)

I said all of this today, just to express to you my sincere thanks for making my blog a part of your life. In some small way you have touched me and honored me with your presence. You challenge and encourage me to continue to write when at times I feel like quitting, because I will peek in and see that 80 people stopped by that day, and I realize that I have not writen in 3 or 4 days, and I think to myself, "Hey, they took the time to come see what you have to say, so you need to write." That may sound silly, but several times I have come within an eyelash of deleting my entire blog when I was discouraged, and I saw that a number of people had been by in the last 20 minutes and I realize that God has given me a vehicle to impact someone elses life, and it is up to me to use it or squander it.

Thank You Readers...
You make a difference in my life!