Did you know, that this blog has, and always has had, a guardian angel, of sorts? It’s true. Her name is Teri Eddy, and she lives in Missouri. You might be thinking, “What the heck?” or “Why would a blog even need a guardian angel?” Well, I guess ours did. We call her our blog angel because of 2 reasons: 1) She really has guided it’s birth right into the world, and 2) I have never really met her, in ‘real’ face-to-face  life. It’s an amazing story, really. Every time I think of her and all she has done, to this day, I am blown away – by her existence, and her amazing heart.    So I need to tell you, after 3 drafts of trying to keep this story short, I realized, I just can’t do it. Every detail is important. The story means a lot to me. So you can read it or not, read a paragraph every visit for a year, whatever….but it’s going to be long, and with encouragement from my husband, that’s just how I am letting it be.  I just need to get it out there.

It all started back in April, 2008. Everyone, everywhere, were starting blogs. Professional and personal. Even so many of the pro photographers on a forum I frequented, were starting up business photography blogs, in addition to their web sites. I had been seeing blogs of all kinds, all over the net. I started thinking about how cool it would be, to have a family blog, that really focused on the blessings and joys of our life, and the kinds of things we were up to. I also thought it would be great for our extended family, to kind of keep everyone up to date and share photos of the kids and all. I had high hopes that they would all start one up too, and we could all keep in touch better that way.I also wanted to keep it fairly private, but try and open it up to the home schooling and/or Christian or Catholic community circles. Because we wanted to find other blogs, and other families who we could network with, be inspired by. The more I thought about a blog, the more I wanted one, and I knew exactly how I wanted it to look like too.

So I followed a couple of links that seemed to be where I needed to start. But I wasn’t really seeing what I wanted. I wasn’t even sure I knew what I was seeing, or reading. The more I researched, the more confused I got about what I needed. So I posted some related question on my photography forum I mentioned. A few people replied, as I recall, but the most helpful answer came from Teri. Now, I didn’t really know Teri. We had both been members on this photography forum for quite awhile, so I had seen her around there. But all I knew was that she was a successful and AMAZING photographer, and lived in MO somewhere. So I was thankful for her helpful reply.

But soon I had another question I couldn’t figure out, posted it, and Teri was there again. And again. I realized pretty quick, that I had no idea what I was really doing, or looking for, and I think she was catching on to that too. ; ) One of the problems was, I had a pretty clear vision of what I was looking for, and I couldn’t find it looking through all of these themes/templates! Soon, Teri and I were private messaging through the forum, and then she sent me some links from her e-mail. I think we even did some IM’ing (instant messaging) at some point. I was conveying to her all of these specific things I wanted, so she said to me something like, ‘Just find a 3 column theme you like. Look for (this), and (this), and don’t worry about (this), because we can change that later.’ With a lot of going back and forth between us, she helped me find one that would work.

This virtual stranger to me, never did stop helping me, all-the-way-through. It turns out, what I needed to get what I wanted, was a fairly customized, yet still simple and single, blog.  (Not the way it is now, btw.)  I had no idea what that entailed, how to do it, how long it would take, etc. With lots of e-mailing with her, some instant messaging as I recall, and a lot of work done by her, my blog came together.

It took maybe a couple of weeks on my end, and I was so, so thankful for this chick. Humbled, really. She was SO helpful to me, SO kind and SOOOOOO patient. How did she possibly even have time for this? I knew she was a successful photographer. I knew she had contracts and lots of work, and kids! And I mean, I had some serious focusing issues at the time, and could barely follow directions. Trust me. But she pulled me through, explained again, and at some point little by little, I had passed on to her all of my user names and passwords, and she was truly working with me. We never talked much about anything personal. Not our personal lives or families or anything that really had us getting to know each other well. She was just there…..out of the blue….helping me make this silly custom family blog exactly the way I wanted it, even though she didn’t really know me. I was just blown away by her generosity all the way through, right to completion. She would not take any pay of any kind. She was ‘happy to help.’ I just….I needed to do SOMETHING for her. But she refused. I managed to get her address, and I did send her a thank you gift. But honestly, it never felt like enough. One thing I did figure out on my own, because I was going to if it killed me, was get her name at the footer. And I did. I certainly considered her a friend for life! I just could not get over how much she helped me.

Over the next few months, I would run into a blogging glitch, want to change something, or messed something up trying to do something (thinking I knew what I was doing), and she would be there to help when I got frustrated enough to ask. Always ‘happy to help’. ‘No problem’. I always felt bad even bothering her, considering she had done QUITE enough for me as it was. More than I ever even had the right to expect! But I’d be desperate. I loved my blog, but I never much loved technical computer stuff. I just had no patience or understanding of a lot of it. But over time, I got pretty self-sufficient, for the most part. Still, she kind of kept watch over it and made sure things were running ok.

It turned out our blog didn’t end up really serving all of the purposes it was intended for. Much to our disappointment, or family wasn’t much interested in blogs. Not having one themselves, nor visiting ours, for the most part. Only Michael’s mother took an interest a few times, and left comments for the kids.   Other than that, the blog had started to really get around the Christian/Catholic community! In time, I started being less protective of the privacy of it too. We were enjoying this blogging thing, and finding all of these other family blogs, most home schooling and /or Christian/Catholic, to network with and be inspired by.

Shortly before the 1 year birthday of our blog, I started feeling really limited by our customized but simple-ish blog. What’s more, I was kind of taking it in a new direction, with our family not as interested as we thought they’d be. So all kinds of ideas started popping into my head, that would really make the most of this space on the net. I started thinking of short and long term goals I could have for the new blog, and lots of new stuff I wanted to incorporate. I wanted to go MORE public with it. Being a photographer, I loved having more REASON to take photos of anything I wanted! And we all loved sharing our faith, home schooling, creative projects and ideas. So my dream blog started forming in my head, and it just grew and grew, because…..well, letting my imagination go was so easy. : ) But it made me really want, what I could mentally see so easily.

So I got in touch with a web designer who I knew did some fabulous web work. I had no idea what it would cost, but I figured I would worry about that later. : ) She and I communicated back and forth, and she was definitely friendly, professional and competent, and likely well worth her quote of nearly $4,000. I was not about to criticize her fee, considering I too was a professional, and well knew that the general public just had no idea the kind of work that goes into what you do. So I respected it. The problem was, I couldn’t spend that much. We had just come out of a slow and financially tough winter. That’s the truth. So…..after a few days of sulking, I started letting go of lots of the features of this new blog in my head, that I wanted. But I still wanted a new blog.

The problem was, even simplified, there were aspects of it I was not going to know how to do myself. My focusing issue was under control, but it was more a lack of knowledge, and technical know-how. It occurred to me,,,,maybe Teri would know how to do those few things. Maybe, I could pay her by the hour or something, and it would be much more affordable. It wouldn’t be the blog I REALLY wanted, but it would be a big improvement over the one we had kind of grown out of, and there would be some exciting new features.

So I got in touch with Teri. I knew she was not a web designer, just as I wasn’t. But she had proven before that she knew more than I did! So I just sent her a pretty simple e-mail telling her I wanted to make some changes with the blog, and if she was available and had the time, I would love to hire her to help me out. So she replied and said sure, she could help me, and what did I have in mind. So I told her my simplified version, and said that I had had this big dream blog in my head that I had to let go and really scale down, because it turned out it would cost way more than I had, to have done. Her reply to that puzzled and surprised me. She said something like, “Well, tell me about your dream blog.”

I was reluctant to even get into it, because really, what was the point? I figured she was just curious, but I knew…..the more I talked about it, the more I would want it again, and I had worked so hard to let it go! But I typed out the details in full description anyway, letting myself ‘dream’ once more. But, I typed to her, I know I can’t have all of that.

Her e-mail response came at some point after that, that said something like, ‘I think I can do all of that, actually. Your dream blog. I’ll help you.’ It wasn’t her exact words, but pretty much exactly what she said as I recall. Then she let me know in no uncertain terms, that she does not take money from friends, and we wouldn’t be talking about that again. Period.

I think I sat there dumbfounded at first, and in just absolute disbelief. I cried. I was screaming with excitement. I felt like I won the lottery…..that’s how much I wanted this blog in my head. And after getting a quote for nearly $4,000, and then Teri telling me she would help me for free? It was…well, literally a dream come true. She let me know that she would let me do any of the designing and graphic stuff, because it’s not her bag, but she could help with all of that technical stuff, coding, making things work right, etc. I loved the designing end of things! It was the rest I didn’t know how to do….was so frustrating, and impossible for me to do alone, at that point.

And so we began, building this new blog, from the very ground, on up. Now, I’m not sure if she even knew what we were getting ourselves into. I mean,I knew it was a big, huge job, and would be time-consuming. And I knew that, not even KNOWING all that needed to be done. Like, I really did not have a technical understanding of what it was going to take to make this place real. But Teri started delegating like a pro, and the work began.

Now remember…..she is in Missouri, and I am in Massachusetts. Just imagine this. We are almost a 1/2 a country apart. But, we were very closely working together over the internet, on the back-end of this blog. We e-mailed back and forth a whole lot. We IM’d a whole lot. And in the process THIS time, we were getting to really know each other, personally, for the first time. The more I got to know her, the more I was just amazed with her in so many ways. We put in a LOT of time. I mean, you have no idea. More than I ever knew it would take! Granted, this was going to be ONE AWESOME blog site. But we were working like nobody’s business. We were a MAGNIFICENT team too. In my eyes, she had the hardest part! Her work entailed everything I had no idea how to do….so it was the HARD stuff to me. My end was more the designing end of the site, which I was thoroughly enjoying. BUT….Teri did more for me than just ‘do it all for me’. She taught ME how to do a lot of this technical stuff I was so uneducated about. She would show me how to do something, and then she gave me lots of it for homework, that essentially, was getting stuff done on the blog. So I was learning right along side her, and we were building this place together. Teaching someone else as you go, takes even MORE effort, time and patience, than just doing it yourself! You know?? But I had the focus now, and I was getting it….I was DOING it!

Honestly, I just wish the world could have witnessed the dream team that we were. She would work on it almost every day, with me. There were mornings where, both of us were working really hard at the same time, in silence. For hours, sometimes. We had our instant messaging windows open, so we would update each other, or just say a chat thing, and just work….diligently. I would sit there for these long, long periods of time, and think…..”There is someone a 1/2 a country away, who has never even met me, working really HARD and putting in MAJOR time right now, and every day, to build MY blog with me! ” I mean….it really just baffled me. For me, it was hard to believe it was even real. Really happening. Granted, neither of us were REAL web designers. So, maybe it all was taking us longer than it would a professional. It took us almost 2 months. But really….I was pretty impressed with every single thing we accomplished, as we did. And Teri…..she was SO committed. Every time we would hit a bump (because I had some really complex requests going on), trying to make a detail the way I wanted, I would feel bad the way she was working so hard for it, so I would suggest we let it go….just do it this other way….but she would say, “You should have what you want. Don’t settle.” And so she would keep trying to work it out. The thing is, this was no simple site. It was really complex to build, lots of customizing crazy stuff, and it was BIG! But man….it was looking amazing!!

Truly, we had been to hell and back a few times, building this thing. I mean, I made the BOLD and scary move, of moving everything to a new host, after we had done SO much work with the new site, and that was almost catastrophic. We got that worked out after a few days of my conversing with my new and awesome host. But I thought ALL was lost, and I had wasted my time, HER time, and the entire project. Then we had another obstacle over a BIG feature. I will never forget this one week, when we had put SO much time in all week, and then she was going away for the weekend with her family. It was right when we were stuck on this big aspect of the blog, and we weren’t sure if we could do it after all. So she went away, and she would be back the next Monday. But over the weekend, I got this quick message that said something like, ” I think I figured out how we can do it. It should work. I’ll tell you about it when I get home.” First of all, this was SUCH good news! But more so, it just blew-me-away, that she was that committed to MY project…..to be working it all out in her head, on her weekend tripl! Her plan worked, like a dream. If there was anything she wasn’t sure how to do, she was on a mission to figure it out. Always.

We were really getting to know each other this time. And having so much FUN sometimes. There were times we were laughing hysterically, together through IM’ing. I mean, I had tears streaming, and I was practically on the floor. Because even just IM’ing, we really had such a sense of each other with the time we had spent together that way. There were times we were singing and dancing in our computer chairs, watching the same you-tube videos at the same time. And the truth is, I came to care deeply for not only her, but her whole family. It was really a bonding experience, to work on this project together like we did. And can I say it again?? We work SO well together like that.

Slowly, but surely, the blog was really, really, looking good. The more it was coming to life before our eyes, the more excited we got. I personally, was eating, sleeping and breathing this blog. I was not the most attentive mother or wife, in the world in those weeks. I was SO in the zone, and determined to get the blog done and launched. I was barely sleeping at night, because I was so excited, and had this to-do list in my head for the next day. It was crazy. I get like that. These things bring me LOTS of joy. But what’s more……through every waking moment, I just could not get over Teri. I still can’t. I mean….through the days of the project I would just say out loud, at any given time or place, “I just can’t believe it’, and Michael would know exactly what I was talking about. Teri. I mean, she was helping me bring my little dream to come true. Yes it was just a blog, but it was a BIG DEAL to me!

So here’s the thing. I just want the world to understand the magnitude of Teri’s actions. She put in 100′s and 100′s, and probably 100′s of hours with me, to build this new Our House of Joyful Noise. This place would never BE with out her. Ever!! What was ever in it for her, I just could not understand. But I know…in MY mind, this blog is as much as hers as it is ours. I will see to it it serves her, in any way I ever can. I will forever be there for her. I will edit for her if I can….I will design for her if I can. I will do anything I ever can for her. What’s more, she and her family will be in my prayers every single day, forever. Yes, now, Teri and I are great friends. But when she committed to this, we barely knew each other, except for our previous work project before, which was also all for me. To me, it was soooo…..Christ-like…..for her to so selflessly commit such a chunk of her life, to me, and the creation of a BLOG. You know? And JUST LOOK at we did together!! To think that 2 people, many many states apart, built a blog like this, literally working together over the internet…..it really is an amazing accomplishment. I seriously, I could be wrong, but I think even the savviest of web designers would be impressed with our amateur team efforts. I know people, who know what it takes to build a place like this, and they can hardly fathom how we each so seamlessly had our strengths that together, was complete capability, and to create something of this magnitude, working together, through the internet. Teri’s marks are all over this thing. She invested heart and soul into it, and that is not being dramatic. And because of that, I could not have been ANY MORE THRILLED, that we launched this blog on her birthday!!! Now, to her, birthdays are no big deal. Especially her own. But “I” was just, an emotional mess, that it launched into the world, on the very anniversary of the day this amazing, intelligent, generous, beautiful, selfless, driven, inspiring, ‘good-people’, Christ-like soul was born. And when she did kick it out into the world, she said something like, “There you go! Congratulations! Enjoy!”. Which was SO like her…..like she claimed no part in it, and almost broke my heart in a way. I was like ‘NOOOO! It’s OURS!! Congratulations to YOU!!’. I think, this blog means more to me than it ever would have had I been able to just ‘buy’ it built for me. It means so much to me, because so much of our heart, soul, time, highs and lows went into it. And because Teri and I did TOGETHER. Like the rockin’ team that we are. I told her at some point, that I just NEEDED to tell people, everyone, all she had done for me. I had to. And she simply said, “No mush.” I think maybe I failed miserably at that. But, I just love her. She inspires me to be a better human being, mother, wife, photographer, stranger, friend…..

What I am trying to get across is, I will just toot Teri’s horn until Kingdom come. I had to ‘put this all out there’ somehow. Share what is still all so amazing, to me.  I will never get over it. I consider Teri a very, very treasured friend now, and I feel like we really, really know each other very well. Our kids are now e-pals, which I think is just awesome. And I pray that, some day, my family and I get to meet her and her family. And if we do? I swear to you, I am checking for wings on that girl. I really, really am.

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