How do we even do this?

I remember when Katie first asked me that question.

Pretty sure I was listening to her vox one morning as I took a quick shower after a workout. (Multi-tasking at it’s finest.) I’d thrown out the idea of a blog a few days before and we’d both gotten excited about the idea, and had been tossing around ideas for posts.

"Good point, though, Katie." I thought. "How do we do this? Where do we even start?"

We knew God wanted us to write. It was literally being confirmed at every turn.

I had people private messaging me, and others stopping me at church - all telling me that I needed to write. And it was no different for Katie.

And yet, we hesitated. We knew God had crossed our paths. We knew we shared the same vision, the same passion, the same heart. We knew God was calling us both to write. We knew that blogging together was the way to make it happen in this season of our lives as moms of 9 crazies between us.

But, we were honestly worried. What if we started a blog and we just couldn’t keep up? It’s not like we “needed” more to do.

We had both previously started blogs individually and we hadn’t kept up with them.

So, how would that not happen again?

Surprisingly, we decided on a name for our blog fairly easily and we even had several posts lined up and ready to go. . .

Except for the first post.

And so, we talked about starting the blog. We dreamed about it. We even prayed about it.

But because we didn’t have a perfect “first” post, we just didn’t do anything.

Again, it’s not like we were sitting around wasting time, eat bonbons and watching soap operas [does anyone actually do that?], but we also weren’t actively stepping out by faith into obedience to start this blog.

And then, somewhere in our stalling, it hit both of us. Katie was reading Present over Perfect  by Shauna Niequist and I was in the middle of Anything  by Jennie Allen. God was using those books to stir in both of us the realization that He calls us to obedience. He calls us to walk by faith, not by sight. It wasn’t about having the “perfect” first post. It was about obeying God and starting the blog.

These things were dawning on our hearts as my family battled the flu for over 2 weeks and Katie’s kids passed around a tummy bug. The pressing of the Spirit to do this came at a time where we could have so easily excused it away again, but one afternoon when the kids were getting some fresh air, and the baby was napping, I grabbed a cup of hot tea for my sore throat, and got to work.

Katie had voxed me earlier that day that we just needed to launch it. It was time. No more waiting for the perfect post, or the perfect timing.

God wasn’t calling me to show off. He was asking me to show up.

I was so excited. This was what obedience felt like. This was faith. This was pleasing God.

I started working on that “first” post and then hopped over to “create” the blog.

(Now, something you need to know right off the bat about me and Katie, is that we are not technologically inclined in the least. It’s okay, we make up for it in passion, I promise.  .  . but if that means you can’t handle our blog, I respect that.)

So, I popped our chosen name into the domain name spot and google kindly informed me that that name was taken. So I tried another order. I played around with the spelling. I shortened it. Lengthened it. Everything.

Our chosen name was apparently popular.

You kind of have to have a name to start a blog.

Back to square one.

I voxed Katie.

“Katie, our name isn’t available. Now what?”

And Katie voxed back:

“What all did you try?”

"Huh?" I groaned inwardly. "I tried the one name we had decided on."

We wanted a name that would encapsulate all we hoped this blog would be.

A place to share our hearts.

A place to share our journeys of faith, and fitness, and family.

A place to be real and raw and open about our own struggles and strivings to make this short life count for eternity.

A place to grow.

A place to encourage.

A space where we could let our passion and our mission spill out into words that weren’t lost over time. . .

We wanted a blog name that would hopefully convey in one or two words all that God has done, is doing, and is worthy of.

So, if the one name we liked wasn’t available, then what?

“Wait.” I voxed back to Katie. “What if we use our names? What if our names are the web address? What about Amy G and Katie D? Or is that just corny?”

“I don’t think it’s corny. It’s kind of catchy.” she replied. “So, we title the blog what we’d already decided on and the web address is our names? Yeah?”

So, that’s how it came to be.

I sat back down at the computer, typed in our idea and it worked.

The Amy G and Katie D blogspot - our little space in the great, world wide web - was birthed.

Better Things is the result of months of praying and dreaming.

See, Katie and I both have to fight to be still and know God. But we know it’s the better thing that won’t be taken away.

We have to strive against complacency and laziness in our lives by committing to healthy habits.

We have to discipline ourselves to be intentional.

We’re in pursuit of better things - things that help us remember that here and now is fleeting and forever with Jesus is coming.

We want to live lives that are spent, poured out in joyful service to Him because He has filled us up to overflowing.

We invite you to join us as we chase after Better Things!