One Hundredth Post - What Were We Thinking?!?!?!

Today we're celebrating because this is the 100th post of Laughing Out Loud in the Ministry. Since this is a special occasion, we decided to do a three-way conversation on the blog today. We spent almost  a full ten minutes or so trying to decided what topic to cover for such an important post. We finally decided to discuss the expectations we had with blogging versus what the actual reality is. As we discussed the topic, we also talked about changing the schedule of who posts on what day. We'll pick up in the middle of that conversation.

Kylee:  Ok. So, Mom will post this Friday, I'll have Monday, Mom will have next Wednesday and Steph on Fridays. Does that work?

Stephanie:  Works for me.

Kylee:  Mom, did you die? We haven't heard from you in two hours!

Stephanie:  She's dead.

Kylee:  I'm sending an ambulance! Should I have them use sirens or would that draw too much attention?

Jill:  Sorry. I was at the gym and then in the shower. I think we should switch days; going back to the original line up is fine; I'll post this Friday and then next Wednesday and 100 of anything is too much for one blog post. Am I all caught up now? Oh, and if I'm going anywhere in an ambulance, there should be lights and sirens. I want the whole experience.

*Crickets*

Jill:  So ... no relief that I'm alive? Okay then.

Kylee:  Sorry, I was talking to 911 ... wait, it was Jimmy Johns. Did you know they were freaky fast? Much faster than the ambulance. Just kidding, but now Jimmy Johns sounds good.  BTW, I'm glad you're not dead.

Jill:  Next time I have a medical emergency, I'll call Jimmy Johns instead of an ambulance. I'll get to the hospital faster, and I won't have to eat hospital food.

Kylee:  Win, win!

Kylee:  So what are some expectations you've had of the blog versus realities of the blog?

Jill:  I expected it to be a lot easier blogging with three people than it was when I was doing it on my own. The reality is that I still struggle with posting on time and coming up with topics once a week. I'm beginning to wonder how I ever came up with 3-5 posts per week. What about you?

Kylee:  In the beginning I thought, "this shouldn't be too hard". And then I wrote my first blog and realized I should retake an English class.

Jill:  I'm beginning to think Steph is dead now.

Kylee:  Let me call Jimmy ... er, I mean, the ambulance!

Jill:  She's probably driving. She gets less motion sickness that way. Maybe she should dictate her answers to Zack and he can text them.

Kylee:  Steph, ya dead mon? (Jamaïcain accent)

Stephanie:  Sorry, Sorry. Not dead, just driving ... Although it was through NYC and I felt like I was about to die. Now we're stopped in New Jersey to go to the bathroom, and I won't be able to text long because this is a scary place to be stopped.

Kylee:  Lock the doors. And grab some coffee while ya theya. Get it? That was my jersey accent.

Jill:  What's with all the accents, Kylee?  And Steph, you're just going to have to dictate your answers to Zack so he can text them for you.

Stephanie:  Nice Jersey accent. Zack's driving now.

Kylee:  Thanks. It's not real easy to do over text. So what are some expectations you've had of the blog versus realities of the blog?

Stephanie:  My expectation vs. reality was that I thought blogging with y'all would be really easy because every time we talk we end up laughing a lot. Then I realized that, when it came to writing, the kind of the things we end up laughing about may not be so funny to other people. And now I'm really hungry btw. Jimmy Johns sounds good.

Jill:  Sometimes we end up laughing at stuff that would be inappropriate to share with the World Wide Web.

Stephanie:  Should we admit that? Although, when you have four teenage/young adult males around, I think that tends to happen.

Kylee:  Sometimes I feel really good about a blog that I write and I think it may get quite a few views, but then I look at it and it's got, like, 33 views!

Stephanie:  I know, right? The ones that I think are the funniest are the ones that have no views and no comments.

Jill:  Same here. I also thought we'd have a lot of people comment and participate, but sometimes it feels like pulling teeth to get people to say something. I have noticed that we get the most views and/or comments when we write about the guys.

Stephanie:  And our kids. We get a lot of views with adorable pictures. Not always comments, though.

Kylee:  No comments is the worst!

Stephanie:  Well if we have a hard time coming up with stuff to say, they probably do too.

Jill:  LOL is not hard to say. Or type.

Stephanie:  They probably feel like that's not enough to comment.

Kylee:  Maybe they have to decide if they want to lol or not?

Jill:  What about smiling slightly or politely. Otherwise you feel like ... *crickets*

Stephanie:  I have to say that my husband's expectation was that our only readers would be, like, Kylee's family, my in-laws, and a couple of people from our church in Madison. So when I told him we had between 200 and 300 views, he was shocked. Kind of sad to say he didn't have a lot of faith in us. How do you smile slightly or politely in a comment?

Jill:  Zack obviously does not understand the power of social media. Also, sad to say, I don't think any of our husbands ever read what we have to say.

Stephanie:  Zack reads mine ... but only because I make him. Correction. I make him proof it before I post it.

Kylee:  Matt reads mine to proof too. Well, up until the last few anyway.

Jill:  Dad said he reads them sometimes. But then he also said it's been awhile.

Stephanie:  As he's proofing, Zack usually asks me, "what grades did you get in high school?" Apparently my grammar isn't great either.

Kylee:  Matt told me I should take an English course at the beginning. He did say I'm getting better. I'm going to say it's just because I was rusty since I hadn't been in school for awhile and the only writing I did was texting.

Stephanie:  Good answer. We'll go with that for both of us.

Kylee:  My expectation for the next 100 posts would be to start making money ... but in reality, maybe just have a guest writer.

Stephanie:  My expectation is that I'll remember my day every time. Reality ... probably not.

So there you have a few of the things we had in mind when we started, and then the realities we actually faced. We've made it through 100 posts, and hopefully we make it through hundreds more. We'll occasionally do group posts, another contest in the spring, and a little game for the month of December to help us all get in a Christmas mood. In the meantime, thanks for sticking with us. We really appreciate it, and we do hope we've occasionally brightened your day.

Now about those comments ... if you're having trouble thinking of things to say (and really, who isn't?) here's a few suggestions:

LOL; HaHa; too funny; cute; I like it; that was dumb; you are so silly; I agree; I don't get it; huh?

Feel free to use any or all of the above, but keep those comments coming!