Building Community

I've been thinking a lot about community lately. My husband and I talk often about the benefits of belonging to solid community, and how the community we build will affect the lives of our children.

I grew up in a place out of a fairy tale- I lived in a neighborhood full of children, with my cousins and aunts and uncles just across the street from me. All of my friends from school lived within a minute's walk, and my parents knew everyone in our neighborhood. It was a wonderful place to be a kid, and the sense of community was so great for my parents as well.

Now that I'm a mother, building a life far away from my own family, I want that same sense of community for my children. One of the things (besides my husband, of course) that drew me to Arizona was the community I stumbled into and immediately became a part of. I had really good friends, encouraging, loving, fun friends who made me a better person through their friendships. They all come from strong families and I felt drawn in to these families, which really made up for being away from mine. A lot has changed in a few years- all of those friends are still around and still wonderful, but I've married and had Emmett and my life has changed.

So now I'm working hard to rebuild that sense of community. I'm working on building new friendships within my neighborhood, and with mothers of young children. I love to bake things and walk them to my neighbors. I love to bring meals to families with brand new babies. I take Emmett for walks around the neighborhood, waving hello and often stopping to chat with friends along the way. These are some of the ways I like to build relationships and community in our daily life here in Arizona.

I used to throw baby showers for my friends whenever I could. I love to host parties and celebrate my friends that way. I hope to do that again when I have a house big enough for hosting. I really love creating a menu and gathering the perfect decorations to make the party beautiful for my friends. It's one of my love languages I think.

Lately I've also been thinking about finding ways to grow and build community online. I've stumbled across a few girls who are working hard to do just that. Mary Beth from Annapolis and Company (I wrote about her here!) has created a wonderful little community through her blog and Instagram through the hashtag #theeverdayproject, where she teaches and encourages people to find and capture beauty in everyday things and to share them on Instagram. Nicole over at Today Is My Favorite is working to create community through her blog (I especially loved this idea!), just by really trying to connect with her readers and sponsors. She also created the hashtag #todayismyfavorite on Instagram (inspired by The Every Day Project) as a place where people can share the special moments from their day to day.

These ladies, and many others, have inspired me to find ways to build community through my blogging and my day to day dealings with others through social media. So today I decided to branch out and try a couple of new things, and I want to share them with you.

The first is a blog hop geared towards mama bloggers like me, hosted by Hannah of Joyful Life. This is just a place for bloggers to link up, find each other, and become friends! I've never done this type of link-up before, but so far it's been really fun!

The second is pretty cool- it's called The Great Christmas Exchange, hosted by Elizabeth from Oak & Oats. It's basically a big gift exchange, open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike! You sign up with your contact info and some things you like, and in a few weeks you'll be matched up with a total stranger, who you'll send a Christmas gift to. You'll receive a gift from another stranger, and hopefully make some friends in the process! Isn't that awesome? What a great idea. I'm really excited to try it!

How do you build community in your life, either online or in your neighborhood? I'd love to hear your ideas!