When I started this blog in September of 2012, I had every intention of writing a post explaining how I landed on the name Primitive Roads. I’ve touched on the primitive roads theme in posts here and there, but I’ve never actually recounted the time Tim and I veered off a paved highway an hour or so outside of Spokane onto a narrow dirt road that took us on a wild ride I wasn’t sure would leave our rental car unscathed. I’ll always wish I took a photo of the “Primitive Road Ahead” sign that was posted where pavement met dirt.
That primitive road experience stuck with me. Several months later when it seemed like my life was one upheaval after another, I couldn’t help but think of our adventure off the beaten track. I was about to leave friends and family behind to move to Northern Idaho so that my husband of four months could start a new ministry job. In other words, I had one foot on the pavement of a controlled and comfortable environment and one foot about to land in the dirt of change and uncertainty.
Thus, Primitive Roads began as a place to write about navigating those unpaved paths that inevitably show up in life. Even though 15 months of blogging has come and gone, I still resonate with the original primitive roads concept:
Being a Christ-follower doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing. Life is unpredictable and anything but paved. We desperately need God’s love and grace to navigate our unpaved paths successfully.
My primitive roads look a bit different now than they did 15 months ago. Tim and I have been married for over a year and a half so I feel a tad dishonest claiming to be a newlywed. I will always love Southern California but I actually like living in Northern Idaho now. We bought a house and are expecting our first child – a son – in 9 weeks! These are all good things, but certainly not easy to navigate. Lots of changes and lots of refining.
So it is with this blog – change and refining.
The Change
The major change is more of a shift. The themes of Primitive Roads are the same, but the blog now has a new URL: emilycgardner {dot} com.
In an effort to simplify and give you less things to remember, the blog URL (my name) now matches all the other ways I like to communicate with you.
- Twitter: @emilycgardner
- Facebook: Emily C. Gardner
- Pinterest: Emily C. Gardner
- Blog: emilycgardner.com
A major thank you to the oh so talented Gretchen Louise for making that all happen. If you or your blog is in need of techno savvy and unparalleled patience, she is your gal!
The Refining
Vulnerability and honesty have been goals in my personal life the past few years and I strive to make my writing reflect those goals as well. Even when I talk about books, food, or crafty things, I want to be authentic – the Emily C. Gardner you would meet in real life.
Though I do want to be transparent, I also want to represent my Savior with grace and humility. It’s important to me that writing authentically about my own experiences is an encouragement to others. My heart is that this blog would be a way to virtually do life WITH others, not a way to tell people how to do life.
I want to be the kind of writer who is awake to the realities of heaven but engaged in the realities of this world. I hoped I could invite people into realities they’ve never experienced, I hoped I could wake them up to a life they wanted to be living.
Allison Vesterfelt in Packing Light
I pray you find encouragement and rest (and maybe a good recipe or two!) around here!
I gave up on scrapbooking in favor of making Blurb books (see 
This time around, I’m writing about motherhood, not marriage.
I’m a newer contributor to Embracing Marriage, but I have enjoyed being part of the community developing on the Embracing sites.
Emily C Gardner 