We listen and take notice of feedback. We aren't running a popularity contest and you can't please everyone but we recognize it is a PUBLIC BLOG, and if a public blog is not something the intended audience wants to visit repeatedly, then what's the use? So here is a response from both of us.
From Michelle:
First of all, you are right, I haven’t been posting very many pictures or updates about the kids. For a while I wasn’t getting very many comments when I posted or many questions about Abby and the other children, so I wasn’t sure how interested people were in those things at this point.
I love to take pictures and share them on the blog. I love to talk about my wonderful children. Knowing others care about Abby and love her enough to spend their time praying for her is more comforting than I can express. A cancer mom’s biggest fear is their child relapsing, the cancer returning. Knowing others are praying goes a long way towards calming my heart.
It is weird, now that we are not dealing with huge crisis with Abby, there is a lot more time to think about how sick she really is. I know other mom’s of cancer kids have gone through this too. When things calm down, it is a blessing, but it also gives us too much time to think. Unfortunately, at this very moment, a friend who I care a lot about, is sitting beside her daughter, in a hospital, dealing with her daughter’s relapse and the stubborn cancer cells that are still present in her bone marrow. To get the transplant she desperately needs, they have to destroy the cancer that has invaded her daughter’s body. Cancer stinks.
None of that is pretty or fun to read about, but it is where I am at. I am not living in fear, but I am also not able to escape the reality that our world has changed.
I would love to refocus, to write more and post more pictures. Brent would love it if I would post more. He encourages me to do it all of the time. Brent loves to answer the questions and does a great job at it, but I need to step up to the plate and post as well.
What would you like to know about Abby and the other kids? What would you like to see on our blog? Is there anything you are curious about?
We would love to meet anyone who has been following our story and praying for Abby, if you are ever in Oklahoma. We love getting to know the people who have been praying for Abby and Abby would love to give you a hug.
From Brent:
My gift is writing and teaching. I answer questions because people ask them. I write and write and write every day on this blog, my blog (brentriggs.com) and my ministry blog (seriousfaith.com). As long as there is interest and people keep asking questions, I'll answer them. I already shifted non-family answers over to brentriggs.com and seriousfaith.com to that they would not be "in the face" of readers who didn't care to read them.
I have so much work, ministry and book writing going, that I find it hard to make time to do a lot of "fun" stuff (photo's, demo's, "true or not true", etc) but if it helps to make this blog more enjoyable (which makes my wife happy), then I'll try to make more time for the fun family stuff as well as the writing.
As one commenter put it, no, this is not the "question and answer blog"... it the Riggs Family Blog. And the Riggs' get asked alot of questions, and we are happy to make a difference in people's lives. Every blog and every family has something that makes it unique, and answering questions, doing demo's, cool photos and creating blog stuff for our readers is what makes us different, good or bad.
I didn't publish the comment, and won't mention the name (because I doubt they meant it as ugly as it sounded), but NO, we have not "put Abby on the back burner". The blog is about everything my wife and I choose it to be about. Different times, situations and seasons will bring different content and different emphasis. The reason why it has felt more like "Brent" than Michelle in the past few weeks is that she just needed me to pick up and carry the load for a while. There have been some comments that I hijacked the blog to promote my business, but that is simply untrue.
We want people to enjoy or blog, but most of all, we want our lives to make a "Kingdom difference" in your life. You may not choose to embrace our Christian beliefs, but our joy, integrity and honesty can still be an example to anyone no matter what they believe. We pray our love for our kids and our love for YOU will make our blog something you want to visit often.
Pics
Spidey Landis hits a perfect landing down the
slide and ends up in spot on web pose.
Abby holding a frog in Indiana. Abby was thrilled.
I was standing by with hand sanitizer,
holding my breath until she was done.
Yep, I (Michelle) am a wimp.
(From Brent: she can change diapers,
deliver babies, and do major wound care, but those
AWFUL little frogs are just too much)
