JOY: A Year in Review

2012 was a fantastic year!! I set out to find joy in the journey, despite my circumstances, making JOY! my 2012 word and boy did God bless my efforts! Here are a few highlights...

- we started {Hope for the Home} with the help of various bloggers around the web, to help moms and families find God in their everyday lives and homes

-we began selling our sports camp manual "Worthy of the Prize Sports Camps: A Church's Guide to Implementing an Effective, Community-Reaching Christian Sports Camp" to enable churches and mission organizations to reach their community (local or on mission) with the gospel message of salvation through Christ alone

- we ran 5 high school volleyball team camps during the summer

- moms living in The Mercy House, a maternity home in Kenya, are now receiving our prayer cards and we have an international presence in Canada and Italy as well

- we started our orphan ball ministry to spread the gospel message one ball at a time and are about to send our very first shipment through our brand new partnership with J316 Ministries, which will go to further sports ministry in Belize

- we wrote "find joy in the journey: how 12 women could face tomorrow just because He lives" which is now in the final stages of publication, should be available for purchase soon

- we helped 5 families bring their adopted children home through our Chosen Child Adoption Ministry

- we held our first donation birthday party which raised almost $900 for our adoption ministry

- we hired Julie Steed, our Director of Orphan Ministries, to help with both our adoption and orphan ball ministries

As for blog traffic, features and numbers...

- we have been featured on some major blogs around the web: our "12 Ways to Make Easter About Jesus" post and our "Pumpkin Pie Croissants" post were both featured on Tatertots and Jello, our "50 Ways to Make Fall Fabulous" post was featured on TidyMom and our "find joy in the journey" printable was featured on Ann Voskamp's site A Holy Experience, to name a few

- we are now averaging 60,000+ hits per month and have over 250,000+ total pageviews

- we have 6,000+ followers on all of our social media sites

- one of the posts from our "Dress Up Your Tailgate" series (Paula Deen Easy Crockpot Potato Soup) has gone viral, being viewed 104,000+ times since we posted it less than 3 months ago

- our blog is now drawing a profit through sponsorships, ads and affiliates

On a personal note...

- we moved from Wisconsin to Tennessee, our 2nd (cross-country) move in less than 2 years

- Big A and I together have lost 55 lbs so far

- Little A started kindergarten

And yet, as fantastic a year as it was, I feel very overwhelmed as I think about the upcoming year. God is doing tremendous things through this little ministry of ours and honestly, I don't feel that I can keep up. I am praying and praying that He will provide the support I need to keep this thing going. I am a big picture, visionary kind of person to say the least, but I have tremendous difficulty when it comes to organization and details. I need others to come alongside of me to put systems into place and keep me in line. I am trusting that God will provide the help I need but most days I want to quit. My life would be so much easier without the burden of this ministry. I feel like God is about to do something huge through our sports outreach ministries and the devil is attacking big time.

Pray for me and us! And a HUGE THANK YOU for your support! Could not do this without you and could never thank you enough for the money, love and prayers you have sent my way!!!

I hope you and yours have a Happy, Happy New Year celebration and a blessed 2013! Check back soon to find out my 2013 word and my plans for the upcoming year, which I believe God has already revealed to me! 

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17)

About the Author: Erin Vick Franklin is the founder and director of Worthy of the Prize. Erin has a BBA in Marketing and Management from TCU and a Masters of Christian Education in Church Recreation from Southwestern Seminary. She is a published, award-winning author and poet. Purchase her book Worthy of the Prize Sports Camps: A Church's Guide to Implementing an Effective, Community-Reaching Christian Sports Camp to be used as an outreach tool for your church or mission organization. Erin is the wife of A, a Worship Pastor, and a work-at-home-momma to 2 crazy little boys, a and e.