How to use the Blog:
Hello Friend,
Thank you for checking out our News Blog!
I wanted to offer some little tips on how to use this blog site. I’m very excited about using this as a means to let you know everything that we experience here in Africa. One of our goals has always been to provide a way for people back home to see, taste, hear and feel what we do here in Burkina Faso (or here) .
On this blog we will be able to put videos, photo galleries and news very quickly and easily. This means that we will be updating this site fairly often.
But the thing that can make this site the most interesting of all is that it can become interactive! You will be able to respond to our news/thoughts/pictures, with thoughts of your own! You will also be able to be informed anytime there is new information - whether a new “post” (news story) or “comment”.
Since many of you may be new to this whole blog thing (I’m pretty new myself), I wanted to explain how it works:
- The “Posts”
- The posts are the meat of the site and will be updated fairly often. They will all be listed on the main blog page (home) in date order. The newest post will always be on top.
- On the main page (home) you will see a summary of the posts. If it seems to be worth reading, simply click on the Title of the post to read more. This will open up the entire post and give you the option to leave comments.
- Comments
- Once you have read a “post”, you will be able to leave a comment. Simply type in the name you want seen, put in your email address (so that I will know that you left a comment - it will NOT be seen by the public), and leave a note.
- The note will then be sent to me, and I will then approve it (this ensures that no spam comments get through) and then it will show up at the bottom of the post.
- Your comment will enhance the post by adding your thoughts. Others can then respond to your comments or add their own. Do you know of another link that is relevant? Do you agree/disagree? Put a comment.
- Subscribe
- If you would like to ’subscribe’, which simply means that you want to know everytime there is a new ‘post’, put in your email address in the small box called “email subscriptions” on the right hand side.
- You will be asked to confirm your email address (this is another anti-spam tool).
- You will then get an email everytime the blog site is updated!
- Search
- Is there a particular topic that interests you? You can do a “search” by using the search tool at the very top of the main page. It is not searching the web, only the blog site.
- The posts are listed in categories. If there is a particular category (family, ministry, etc..) that interests you, simply click on the category listed in the small box on the right side called “categories”.
- You can look through the posts by the date they were posted. This can be done by looking through the Archives. Simply find the month that interests you in the small box on the right called “Archives”.
- Additional Stuff
- The little boxes I keep reffering to are called “Widgets” and they may change from time to time as I find new, interesting ones. But here are the ones I have as of 10/07:
- Email Subscriptions - Allows you to get an email everytime the blogsite is updated
- Links - This is my “Blogroll”. Simply a list of websites that I want to share with you.
- Pages - This shows you all the pages that are on the blogsite. These are like “posts”, but they are always there and don’t move. What you’re looking at right now is a “page”.
- Categories - Allows you to see all the posts from a particular category (i.e. family, ministry, etc..)
- Archives - Allows you to see all the old posts from a previous month.
- The little boxes I keep reffering to are called “Widgets” and they may change from time to time as I find new, interesting ones. But here are the ones I have as of 10/07:
Well, that was a lot of information!!! I hope I got most of it right 
The key for this site to be interesting is that I update it often with interesting posts, and that you give us your thoughts and comments! Even if all you want to do is say “attaboy”, leave a comment. It just makes everything more fun!
By the way, if you want to start your own Blogsite, check out these links to get started:
