We are so humbly grateful to our friends and family who have consistently kept up with us and read our blog over the years. It is hard to express how much it has warmed our hearts to receive emails and comments from people who we rarely get to see in person these days and to know that all of you care enough to stop in every now and then. You are all very special to us and we appreciate your friendship.
We lament losing this wonderful tool to keep folks posted on how and what the Keys are up to, but right now it appears to be the best decision.
2008 was a very challenging year for us in some unique ways. It seemed we were having to reorganize and readjust to something big and new at every turn. As it has always been our goal to maintain a positive home environment, a deeply happy marriage, and patient and joyful parenting of our boys, the challenges we've faced have taken a great toll on our stress level and our emotional, mental, and physical energy levels.
And so we have been all-the-more saddened to have received some very negative reactions from some readers. We have tried to make it clear that the primary purpose of this blog is for us to document our lives as a growing family and archive our memories for the future. From the beginning this blog has been by us and for us - like a diary. The fact that it's so easy to share a blog with others has been a nice byproduct, but it has never been our purpose to make everybody happy.
We did try though - but it's kinda like punching that ol' tar baby in the mouth. Once you start trying to make one person happy, somebody else is going to get their feelings hurt and so on until it's just one big mess. And the result of it all - the fact that our lives have been pushing us to the limit in every way these days, it was very hurtful and emotionally stressful for us to feel attacked when we're just trying to do a good thing.
So here's the solution: We have made this blog totally private. Instead, we hope to begin sending out periodic email newsletters that will include some highlights about how we're doing and probably a few pictures. And so here's the part where you get to opt-in or opt-out for said newsletter. If you want it, post a comment to this blog (don't worry, all comments are moderated by me and none will be published so nobody will see you do this), OR email me at jeni underscore key at hotmail etc. (Do it the real way... if I publish it the real way internet spybots will find my email address and send me nasty spam) and include your email address in the comment or email to me. It is very important that you actually type your email address in the comment if you choose that route, as no email address is included when I receive the comment in my inbox. We will compile a mailing list of folks to use when sending out our "newsletters." (Don't worry, we will NOT send forwards to you, LOL!) If at any point you get sick of hearing from us and wish to not recieve the newsletters any longer, just email us and we'll take you off the list.
We are actually looking forward to trying this out as it seems like it will open up more of a two-way conversation with those of you who we don't get to see in person very often.
Again, thank you all who have followed our blog for almost 500 posts! And we look forward to keeping up with you in the new year! Happy 2009!
With love,
Michael, Jeni, Levi, and Silas
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