Many are saying good riddance to 2017, but I am kinda sad to see it go. For myself and my family, it was a defining and encouraging year. While 2016 was one of traumatic transition, 2017 was one of settling in, hearing from God, and stepping out in new areas of faith. The journey has been completely surprising and was honestly quite painful. But now that we have caught our breath, I look back with gratitude for what God has done. And I want to say thank you to all who read my words here and elsewhere--many thanks for reading.

Ministry Highlights

• Launching Redemption Parker 11 months ago and joining the Acts 29 Network  
• Speaking at 4 women's retreats and challenging a couple hundred women to memorize the book of Ephesians (and they're doing it!)
• The privilege of writing not only here at jenoshman.com, but also at The Gospel Coalition (on grief, faith, and parenting), Desiring God, Unlocking the Bible, and RisenMotherhood, as well as the inclusion several times in Tim Challies's A La Carte lists 
• Transitioning from the Oshman Odyssey to this site in hopes of better serving my readers (thanks to my husband's web design skills!)
• Engaging in deepening relationships in our local church and neighborhood 
• Serving Pioneers' 73 teams of missionaries across Europe 

Blog Highlights

When you're a blogger and it's the end of the year, you're evidently supposed to do some "best of" lists and whatnot. Mine are below. It is helpful, actually, to look back and analyze the statistics.  I detail both OshmanOdyssey.com and JenOshman.com because I didn't make the transition until July 2017.

Unique readers in 2017: OshmanOdyssey = 48,100 and JenOshman = 21,300

Total Page Views in 2017: OshmanOdyssey = 82,400 and JenOshman = 36,100 

Top Referring Sites in 2017 (they were the same for both sites) = 

1. Facebook
2. The Gospel Coalition
3. Desiring God 
4. Instagram 
5. Challies 
6. Church Leaders
7. Christianity Today 

15 Most Widely Read Posts in 2017 from both sites combined: 

1. Open Letter to the Belong Tour 

2. What if we applied reproductive rights rhetoric to the refugees?

3. Belong Called. I told them Jesus Doesn't Need our Help Being Relevant.

4. How a Church Can Help or Harm a Newly Adoptive Family

5. The Immigration Crises May Be a Providential Call to Make a Move

6. Trafficking Can Hit Closer to Home Than You or I Ever Think

7. Ladies, Please Consider: Who is the Subject of Your Bible Study?

8. You Can Loosen Your Grip on the Future

9. When the American Dream Becomes a Nightmare for Middle Class Moms

10. Spiritual Growth Comes From Community

11. Students Are Begging Us to "Change the Culture" After Three Teen Suicides Last Week

12. Opening Your Home and Heart to Women's Bible Study

13. We Are Called to Be Faithful, But Only God Can Make our Efforts Fruitful

14. An Appeal to the Church to Resist 'Death With Dignity'

15. Hefner Died, But His Legacy Lives: Raising Daughters, Not Bunnies, In A Playboy Age

My mission statement as a writer is "To honor the Lord and serve the reader." It has indeed been an honor to serve you from this desk in 2017. To God be the glory and may you have a very happy new year.