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For sometime now I’ve been involved with a publication called Footprints  which is a Christian Womens Magazine in Australia.  I’ve been looking after their website and participate in committee discussions and prayer. If you haven’t heard of Footprints then you need to visit their website.   Read what their Editor/Founder has to say.

Spreading the Word – how have you promoted Footprints?

Over the years I’ve tried just about every free or low-cost type of PR that you can think of. I’ve borrowed marketing books from the library and pored over them for hours, seeking inspiration!

Right from our earliest days, I’ve sent press releases and photographs to the media on occasions such as our first birthday, or when a Footprints team member is presenting at a conference. As a result, stories about Footprints have appeared in our local newspapers, the Salvation Army Warcry magazine, the Australian Evangel, websites such as Sight (www.sightmagazine.com), and we have been interviewed on radio stations such as Brisbane’s 96.5FM, Toowoomba’s 92.9 Voice FM, and the Gold Coast’s Rhema FM, to name just a few.

We have held a couple of competitions over the years – they’re great for creating “news” for media releases. We held a writing competition around the them of “God Answered My Prayer” (one of our regular columns) a few years ago; more recently we held a cover competition for our 50^th issue.

Along the same lines, I’ve also written articles for numerous Christian publications and websites, and as a thank you, received a bit of a plug with my by-line or perhaps a free ad. Footprints hasn’t taken out much paid advertising in other Christian publications; we’ve never really had the budget!

Speaking engagements are another great way to spread the word about Footprints. In the early years I experimented with sending a few introductory packs to churches, with some sample copies, flyers and a reference from my pastor.  However, it didn’t seem to generate much interest. When I phoned to find out the general reaction to the packs I had sent, they seemed to think I was “selling something” so weren’t interested. Sadly, they didn’t catch the “Footprints” vision and how it could benefit them and their flock.

However, I tried a different tactic a couple of years ago by sending out a pack along with a letter offering our “speaker services”, and that was much more successful! Although I personally don’t do much speaking these days due to time constraints (I also work four days per week), a couple of the other girls on the Footprints Team also do some and so spread the word about Footprints.

Getting involved at community events has also been part our promotional strategy. Back in 2000 the churches in my area put on an Easter festival, and Footprints organised the Mum’s Sanity Corner tent – playdough for the kids, and free tea/coffee for the parents. It was a quiet spot for young families to unwind, and parents could feed and change their babies. We had a Footprints display, as well as some copies and lots of flyers available.

Sometimes we host a display stand at conferences or Christian events, and often donate vouchers for a free magazine to churches to put in their goody bags when they hold an event. Ideally we’d love to send them free magazines to put in the goody bags, but have never had the finances to be able to do that. At least by having a voucher, we know that if somebody takes the time to request their “freebie”, they are more likely to sign up rather than sowing our seed (magazines) willy-nilly.

The internet offers a world of opportunities for promotion! As the internet can be a scary place, and we realise that Footprints is an “unknown quantity” to many people, we offer a free copy of the magazine to Aussie visitors to our website. Our presence on the net has now expanded to include a blog, Facebook fan page, and a free monthly FOCUS ezine. FOCUS in particular is a great way to keep getting our name in front of interested Christians. I try to make it good value with a quality devotion in each issue (to help readers FOCUS on God in the midst of their busy lives), as well as all the latest in the world of Footprints. Marketing experts say that you have to keep getting your name in front of prospective clients, and the FOCUS ezine, and regular updates to our blog and Facebook page, are a couple of the ways we try to achieve that.

This blog tour is hopefully going to generate lots of interest in Footprints too! When I first came across the idea, I thought it was ideal for Footprints – people who read Aussie Christian blogs by women are highly likely to be interested in our magazine – they obviously like reading; and many of them have a blog themselves and enjoy writing. So as well as being potential new subscribers, we will also be introduced to possible new contributors. Gotta be happy with that!

And who’s on the team?

Right from the moment I first told them of my “brainwave” to launch a Christian women’s magazine, I had several friends who pledged their support. A couple of them are still on board over 12 years later! Melanie was my best friend in high school; her sister Nicola is also on the Footprints Team. It is amazing to think that God was putting the pieces together for Footprints all those years ago, long before we ever thought of it! Vivian is another of the original Team members, we became friends when we were attending the same church.

Sonia has been our prayer warrior for several years now; and Jenny came on board about 5 years ago. Both girls knew of Footprints through their friendship with other girls on the Team, and gradually became involved.

Some of our Team members I first “met” through email – including you Kathie (our wonderful web editor); Victoria, the lady who provides our cover photography; Narelle, our WA rep; and Cate. We have also had a couple of readers, like Margaret, Kylie, Annie and Pauline, who have loved Footprints so much that they sought out a greater involvement.

The girls each have their own gifts and talents which they contribute to Footprints. We have you Kathie as web editor, and Victoria as our cover photographer. Vivian is a psychologist and Nicola has qualifications in counselling, expertise which I often rely on when writing or compiling articles. Melanie and Nicola do some official Footprints speaking engagements, and are prolific writers. Narelle, Cate and Kylie write a lot of our articles. Pauline, Margaret and Annie are fantastic helpers when it’s time to package up the magazines ready for mail out. Jenny is an accountant and helps us keep our finances on track! Vivian, Annie, Jenny and Kathie all have experience in being on the management committee of other not-for-profit organisations, which has been invaluable since we incorporated earlier this year! And all of us pray!

All of these lovely ladies donate their time and talents to Footprints. I often and joke and tell that although the pay is non-existent, the rewards are out of this world! I’d still love to have a graphic designer, and a PR person join our team, so this is one of our key prayer points at the moment. The more Footprints grows, the more helpers are needed and the more I am learning that I really CAN’T do it all and I am gradually learning the art of delegation!

Follow these links for the rest of the tour:

•Tuesday 29/6 – Back up to the southside of Brisbane for a chat with Lil from http://motheringmisadventures.blogspot.com/

•Wednesday 30/6 – Head on over to Brisbane’s northern outskirts for Corallie’s feature on Footprints at http://buchanan-beeline.blogspot.com/

•Thursday 1/7 – Joni from the Blue Mountains in NSW plays host to the Footprints blog tour today at http://every1matters.wordpress.com/

•Friday 2/7 – Go west dear reader, as we chat with Narelle from Perth at http://www.momentsformum.com/ (Narelle is also our WA state rep).

•Saturday 3/7 – Back to the Brissie girls, with the popular http://www.squigglemum.com/ for an interview with Cath.

•Sunday 4/7 – Still in Brisbane , with Paula at http://paulassharingspot.blogspot.com/

•Monday 5/7 – Heading west – but not quite so far this time! Stopping in with Kelly in Toowoomba at http://beafunmum.com/

•Tuesday 6/7 – And finally, an interview practically in our own backyard with Tabitha in the Redlands at http://tabithabird.blogspot.com/

I have been running a discussion forum for P31 women at Ning but recent Ning annoucements have made me think about the direction of this group. With close to 200 members there is obviously an interest in this topic and a need for women to reach out to each other, however the style of forum meant members had to log in to find out what was happening and they weren’t receiving email notifications of updates or new members unless they subscribed to those threads.

I sent a message to members asking if they wanted the forum to continue or shall I just let it die and many emailed me saying if it were in email format they would participate and don’t want to see it go.

So I’ve now set the forum up at yahoogroups – the link is in the menu on the right of this blog or you can click on the link above.  Our intention is simply to connect with one another, share on our challenges and ask for prayer when needed, praise God for the good things in our lives, lean on each other, cry and laugh together and generally share the things that women love to share.

It is still a closed forum in that you need to be approved as a member to join and discussion are for members only.  We would love to see you there!

Do you remember my devotional about Roger?

http://proverbs31-woman.com/2008/12/10/you-bless-him/

Today I went back to our old house to do a final inspection after the cleaners had gone through to make sure all was in order before handing the keys over to the selling agent for the new owner.

After that I popped into the local shopping centre to buy some new summery frocks. I live in jeans but now I’m in the country I have this urge to once again wear long flowing loose summer frocks.

While wandering around the centre I saw a familiar man stooped over and walking.  It was Roger. I’d never seen him at the shopping centre before – it’s very large with lots of department stores and specialty shops. I’ve only ever seen him at the small shopping strip close to our old home.

I thought about whether to go say hi and turned around and noticed he’d stopped and he was holding his forehead in his hand.  This is a normal pose for him. I think he gets tired walking around but does lots of it.  So I went up to him and stood in front so he could see me (he’s partially deaf) and said ‘hello Roger’.  His whole face lit up when he recognised me.  He said hi and I explained we’d shifted and told him where. He said to me we were very lucky.  Sounds like he knows the area.  I asked him how was his Christmas and his face dropped, he said not special. I asked him if he saw his sisters and he said yes.  I asked him how his church was and his face lit up again and he said it was good.  He asked my name – he’d never known it and shook my hand.  I wished him the best and moved off again but not before saying I thought of him often.  He’ll never know I’ve written about him and that my story might have prompted others to look for people like him to bless.

I hope I’ve blessed his day.  I prayed for him as I went on my way.

Proverbs 31:31 Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

My husband and I have been house hunting for most of this year.  We wanted to buy a place in the country with some land – not too much but not too little. We didn’t want to be close up against neighbours and wanted some peace and quiet.  Our children have left the nest and we are empty-nesters now, enjoying our pre-retirement stage.  We’re free to do what we want in the evenings and weekends and just do nothing if that suits us.

Not that either of us are the type to just sit in front of TV and do nothing. We are both active people.  He enjoys mountain bike riding and is out every weekend, I enjoy my photography and often join him on his trips so I can wander off to enjoy the scenery behind the viewpoint of my camera while he enjoys his rides with his mates.

We finally found the house a couple of months ago. We shift in this coming weekend.  The wait was worth it, although we despaired whether we would find the right place.

Because we are in pre-retirement stage we are conscious also of our bodies growing older and the needs that older people have. We wanted to be sure we were close enough for medical support if needed later in years. We had to have a place where the land was reasonably flat so our knees wouldn’t give out on walking steep slopes every day.  And God has been good and provided the right place.   2 acres in an area that is nearly all sloped. We think we got the only ‘flat’ piece of land in the area – well almost!  3/4 of the land has lawns and plants and a tennis court. The rest is bushland and sloped at the back of the block.  Native birdlife and we’re told some animal life too, which I look forward to seeing.

Now comes the hard part. All the packing. I feel like I’ve been doing it for weeks and that’s probably because I have.  I am so over packing and just want it to end.  But every day I get stuck back into it, after knocking off from my work early in the day. I don’t want my husband coming home and feeling overwhelmed with how much there is to do.  We’re nearly at the end part of it.

When I look at the last verse of Proverbs 31 I wonder how often the P31 woman also felt like this.  Like there was no end to the work in sight but she knew she had to press on.  And look at how she is remembered all this time later!  She did achieve, she did succeed and she earned her reward.  She is a woman for us to look up to and admire, and want to be like. She was a hard worker and that hard work paid off.

For me, my reward will be the unpacking in just a few short days and being able to take photos inside and outside our new home.  Being able to sit back and enjoy the solitude of the country and enjoy more of the beautiful nature that God made.  And knowing that I might just experience a little of what the Proverbs 31 woman felt so long ago for a job well done.

This year has been very different to the past years of our lives.  We’ve gone through tremendous upheaval and change which began almost 12 months ago when we lost our darling Miriam.

If anyone had told us at the beginning of September last year that nearly every member of our immediate family would be moving house this year and that we would be missing a member of our family too, we just would not have believed them.

It’s been a long slow year – one where I’ve been anxious to get back to some sort of normality and yet when opportunities arise, particularly through my business, I am slow to respond or take things up.

I’ve been very reluctant to go out in the evenings so have missed a year’s worth of business networking events and church events. I haven’t wanted to leave Graham alone and I haven’t really felt like being with groups of people.  Neither has he for that matter.

The book I was going to write has been put on hold but I am a contributing author for an anthology of poems and short stories about babies and impending motherhood called “Even Before You Were Born“.  The poem I wrote back in the 1980s.

I’d been planning a number of things for my business and team this year – at least I was going to plan them, but the year is almost over and I haven’t moved forward with them.  I wrote things down and thought about them but they progressed no further.

I did set business and personal goals in January this year, as I do each year, and I have achieved 5 out of 11 things which isn’t too bad (45%) – but I usually achieve 85-90% of my goals.

It recently hit me that I’m entitled to ‘time out’ – time to reflect, time to heal, time to just vegetate if I need and want to.

Why do we (and particularly women I mean) feel guilty if we just take time out?

When we look at the Proverbs 31 woman in Chapter 31 of Proverbs she seems to be constantly on the go, always doing, never letting her lamp go out.    But if we look more closely at these verses there are hints that because of her previous hard work, profitable trading, her planning and preparation, she has no fear for her household (v21) and she can laugh at the days to come (v25).

Perhaps I am allowed to take time out after all and not feel guilty about it, simply because of all I have done in the past.  I need to allow myself time to renew, refresh, heal, rest, and gain new enthusiasm for life and all it promises in the days to come.

I manage a forum for women interested in being Proverbs 31 women and I had shared with them there about the loss of our daughter some months ago.  One of the women had commented she didn’t know how she’d cope with something like that.

My response to her astounded me even – it was like God was speaking to us through my fingers.  I hope what I share below will help you too.

It hasn’t been easy by any means and we’re only 9 months down the track.  Two weeks ago (almost) my cousin lost his son in a car accident.  My cousin is not a Christian and now I feel that it’s my role and responsibility to reach out to him and his wife. I hadn’t seen a lot of them over the past 2 or 3 years so I’ll be making up for it now and keeping in constant touch. The funeral was Tuesday just gone so it’s very early days for them yet.

I find often that our healing takes place when we are helping others, our growth takes place through our own personal hardships. So one needs to follow the other so we have this balance of growth and healing.

Now, I hadn’t even thought about that till I typed it just now.