The Mifferules Blogs

As the years spread my family apart physically we have decided that we would make every effort to continue to stay close. One of those efforts has been communication through the internet. About a year ago I started a family blog (the “Mifferules”) that we have all kept up. It is a place that we can post all of the fun things and pictures that we have to share with each other. My parents put up a calendar each month with all of the birthdays and special events and also do little competitions for the kids. My younger brother and I who are both at BYU put up pictures and tell stories of the fun things we are doing here, and my older siblings talk about all the fun things they are doing as a family. It has been a very good thing to help knit us together. The only issues we have had so far include making sure all are able to contribute. Some of my siblings are not exactly computer savvy, and so have not been able to contribute as much.
This blog became soon a place for us to talk about things that were really important to us and people wanted more and more space to write actual essays. Because of this I decided to make a linked separate blog called the Mifferulestuff. This blog was for longer essays and thoughts that maybe could not fit in the space given on the first blog. This became a great log book of another tradition which I am including here because of the similarities and connection. We have started a tradition recently of writing essays on Sundays. My sister told us about how she would write essays on Sunday afternoons mostly just to keep up her writing skills. She had in the past shared them with people she knew that would do the same thing with her. The suggestion was made, and now has been kept up for a few months, that we can do this as a family. Now each Sunday we write an essay on whatever topic we wish to and send it out to the whole family. I then log the essay on the Mifferulestuff blog. There is no pressure to write, and you do not have to follow any rules as far as cohesiveness or format or length or review. So far this tradition has been a big hit and has helped to include some of the in-laws as well. One of my sister-in-laws was an English major in college and so has really enjoyed being able to be a part of things.
This tradition of communication follows the standards set by the Proclamation better than any I have written about. It is record keeping, and it involves a larger portion of the family than other traditions have been able to. It is strong in the sense that we are able to love and enjoy each other’s thoughts and feelings. The only issue I worry about is that it is new, and young. We have not been able to test it through time to see if it will continue. It does not have anything that it is really tied to and so could die off easily. I guess it is up to us as a family to keep it moving forward. In researching family blogs I read about purposes and over and over again the people marketing blog space would talk about family blogs. One point in particular was repeated: One fantastic aspect of a family blog is how involved everyone can be in the process. This is something we have definitely seen in our family.
The tradition of writing essays and posting to the blog will need to be solidified before we can consider its ability to continue through the ages and generations. I believe keeping a record as we are on the second blog and more importantly referring to it and commenting on it when we get together is the key. We will be able to get that opportunity when we have our family reunion this summer.