200th Post!

Thanks, Tereza for the ideas!

Seventeen months and two-hundred posts ago, This Pilgrimage began. I wondered (out loud) what I should do to mark this occasion, and settled on reminiscing a little about how I came to be a blogger.

When we first came to Guatemala in 2002, I relied mainly on email and telephone to keep in touch with friends and family back in the States. I was content for a while, emailing photos and updates on the family, but as I began to learn that there was more to the internet than email, (I know, I was waaay behind the times. Still am...) I started to look for ways to post our photos and updates online so that our people Up North could just click there.

It took me a little bit of digging to find this, but This Site ("Tammy's Bulletin Board") was my first attempt at it doing that. Don't laugh! Hey, it was free... :o) I set up a page for each family member and intended to have running updates on each page. But I quickly learned that Tripod.com wasn't going to hand over that much free space, ha ha.

So I started looking around for other options...

...And I learned about blogging! In September 2005 I started our first blog,"The Daniel Coates Family", and boy did I have fun with that. My friend and fellow missionary Tori helped me get going, and she has been a blessing in that way several times since. (Thanks, Tori!)

That blog covered it all, ministry stuff, family stuff, all kinds of stuff. By January 2008, I realized we needed a separate blog for family, and the first is still maintained for ministry. Thus This Pilgrimage was born. I asked God to help me with it, and use it however He sees fit. It is about the path we take, following Him. Thanks for coming along!

So that is my blogging story! It's been fun and inspiring. It has frustrated me and stretched me. It has worn me out at times, and kept me going at other times. Overall, I love blogging, and appreciate all of my readers (whether you comment or not). Thanks for stopping by. :o)