a brief history of blogging.

My blogging career began when I was in college with the very original title of…”Life with Lori”. I like to think it was a hit, but I am not exactly sure anyone outside of my mom ever read it. Once in law school, I left my simple ways behind and started a new blog, smartly entitled “Laws of Distraction.” Unfortunately, I was too distracted by actually making it through law school to write much, and that was soon the end of that. Then in 2014, when Erik and I made the decision to adopt internationally, I started my third blog entitled “A Steenken Story,” primarily to document our adoption journey. That journey ended up entailing so much more than an adoption, and the blog had a pretty good run. I made my final post in 2018, when our adoption officially ended (you can read more about that on said blog). Although I’ve had the urge to write again, posting on a blog dedicated to an adoption just seemed off. So I just quit writing for a while, and I have really missed it. After years of dreaming about writing a book, I’ve finally decided to just get going and put some content out in the world…and see where it lands. So here we are.

For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with expectations…whether unmet, uncommunicated, too high, or too low. I know I am not alone in this, as I have discussed this very topic with women for years now- especially as they relate to marriage and motherhood. Social media has only made it worse for me personally…new expectations I’ve put on myself for what my home should look like, what my kids should be learning and when, what outfits I should be wearing this season and even how my vacations should go! It can be exhausting if you buy into it all (trust me, I know). Not to say all expectations in life are bad; some are necessary and even good. I expect to receive a paycheck when I do work. I expect my children to be respectful because they know we require it of them. I have also learned to expect life to not go as planned sometimes…because does it ever really?? I have more experience than I ever wanted with learning to adjust expectations in many areas of my life, and I know I still have much more to learn. Maybe you do too. Maybe we can help each other learn to adjust, raise, lower, communicate, or just realize what expectations we have and how to handle them.

While I do desire this space to be one where I can delve more into this topic, I don’t want to take myself too seriously here…I also want to personally try new things and share about it, even if they flop. (Can’t expect perfection in everything, amiright!?) I want to share and receive helpful life hacks that make life a little easier or more enjoyable. I eventually want to interview older moms who have already walked through parenting seasons I haven’t yet…and can tell me what to expect! (see what I did there?) There is so much information on the internet these days and not nearly enough encouragement. I am hopeful this can be a place for more of that. I also expect God to show up here and speak through me because ultimately, He alone has the answers we need to live this life with the right kinds of expectations in our hearts and minds.

Thank you for being here and following along on what will hopefully be my longest running blog yet!