I’ve never done this before! But last night I thought it’d be fun {and it was!} to peek at my stats and see what YOU loved reading on Girl with Blog during 2013. I am humbled every day when you share your stories, stop by my fence, send an email or tweet, and choose to spend time here with me. Thank you for making this place what it is. Here are your favorite 10 posts from 2013:

10. on choosing joy {a simply honest #girlwithbaby update} –

 I’ve been utterly self-protecting by not talking about this baby at all. 14 weeks in, and still the fear that it’s not real or it will end. Which it always could. But I want to live into my word for this year, and choose the softness that will allow for joy. The vulnerability it takes to accept the joy is the hardest part of it all, I think.

9. on soup & healing {Unstuffed Green Pepper Soup} –

Soup is, perhaps, the ultimate comfort food. When one feels ill, soup. On a rainy or chilly day, soup. For heartbreak, soup. And so it was that last night, the only thing on my mind for supper was soup.

8. on a simple supper – Skillet Lasagna 

7. on celebrating the other mothers on Mothers Day – There are mothers without carseats, diapers or pacifiers. Mothers who do not have bedtime rituals or middle of the night feedings. Mothers without handstamped necklaces or birthstone rings. These are the other mothers – the ones in our midst who are quietly hurting.

6. on finding the calm in Christmas – She rode a donkey, while nearing labor. She RODE a DONKEY while nearing LABOR. She’d been teased and ostracized, chastened by an angel visit  that shook her life and filled her soul. No doulas assisted, no nurses fussed. Just a husband was leaned on to fill the roles of doctor and coach and father. No onesies or tiny diapers were available, just strips of cloth from who knows where. No nursery to send Him to so she could rest, just the baleful eyes of donkeys and sheep.

5. on meeting in real life {#inRLMN recap} –
There is food, both savory and sweet. We eat, but we’re all hungry for a different kind of nourishment. And the videos we watch and the conversations we bravely have provide it in spades. Slowly, with boldness, we share our stories with used-to-be strangers. Strangers that begin connecting faces to avatars, names to handles, hearts to blogs.

4. on The Boy’s new shirt –  

3. on seeing myself {and the photos that got me there} – In all that is in these photos, I just see me. Gently and genuinely smiling, untouched up face with the ‘beautiful imperfections’ that make me just that. And dark circles and all… I liked what I saw. There was no rush to hide the photos – no, I changed all my avatars to these photos. The interrupted nights, the lack of trendy, the giant baby bump that comes from so many pregnancies… I earned them all. I love them all. And I wear them proudly.

2. on grace & doing it all {and how I struggle with both} – But when the wondering turns ugly… that’s the cutoff. And honestly? {lean into the fence, friend – I have to whisper this} I’m struggling to not cross that line. At the end of the day, it’s hard to see all that I’ve done rather than the ginormous pile of mismatched hangers on the floor that’s covered with dog hair and ohmyword how long has that bottle been under the bed?

1. on Redemptive Sloppy Joes {a Gooseberry Patch recipe} –
It’s a cozy food kind of week, starting out with these BBQ/sloppy joe sandwiches. And also,  we had some sloppy joes last week that were not very good, so we needed redemptive joes =)
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And there you have it. You’re spoken. Thank you for all you’ve given me this year, my fence friends. It’s been an honor. Can’t wait to travel 2014 with you!

-Anna
{girl with blog}