Have you Backed up your Blog?

Way back in 1998, I had a web site in GeoCities (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/8063/).  It was called

peggy's page 

(about God, family, kids, crafts, graphics, and making your own page)

This is what the first page said...(and I noticed that my blog is still about similar topics.)

"Let's talk about...
...God.
Life is often complicated and full of challenges but the Lord makes all the difference. He is the source of peace and joy in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. Even when we walk through the dark valley we can trust that He will always be with us, to refresh and strengthen us. (I have posted about the dark valley I have passed through in this post and have shared my faith in many other posts like the one about hot air balloons, running the race and birdseed blessings.)

...Family.
These days we often have so much to do and so little time. We need to make the most of the time we have with our families, with creative activities and celebrations. Make happy memories for everyone! All of us parents know that parenting is a really important job!  (I've celebrated special days like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Earth Day, and Easter with you!)

...Kid stuff.
Playthings, Gardening, Story telling, Games, Cooking and Baking, Collecting, Crafts, Bird Watching, Kite Flying, Sewing, Scrapbooks, Paperdolls, and Puppets are just some of the fun activities for kids I'll be talking about. Let me tell you about some of my own experiences when I was growing up and of raising my daughter Elyse who is now 19 years old. Visit Elyse's page which she made herself when she was 9 years old.   (I've shared about being a mother in this post, and this one and those of you who have been visiting me for a while know all about my crafts, sewing and the "bird watching" I did with our baby bird Squirt).

...Crafts.
I'll be adding pages and links to some of the arts and crafts I'm interested in: Kids crafts, Play Clay and Decorative Dough, Stencilling, Paper Cutting (Scherenschnitte and Silhouettes), Crayon Resist, Easter Eggs, Potato Stamping, Rubber Stamping, Collages, Paper folding, Cross Stitch and other Embroidery, Quilting, Knitting, Crochet, Needlepoint, Applique, Pressed Flowers, Tie-dying, Marbleizing, Paper Mache and Handmade paper. So many things to do and so little time, and now here I am making a web page.  (And here I am making a blog and I've posted about scherenchnitte, collages, paper folding and what next!)

...My Graphics. Visit my graphics page and look at my drawings of teddy bears, little kids and a few other things. Come back later and see if I've added some more.   (Here are some graphics I offered in my web site...

...and I have just found out about digi stamps and was wondering if anyone would be interested if I offered them here.)  

...My Web Page.

In June 18,1998, after visiting a friend's web page at Geocities, I visited the other neighborhoods as well. There was a vacant lot at Heartland Valley. What a nice name! Well, why not? I moved in and here I am! Since I started making this page I've been busy looking for stuff to add. I think the web graphics are soooo great. Did you notice that my favorites are the animated gifs? Also, visit my links page: Christian, family, kidstuff, crafts and graphics sites, make your own webpage and promote it.  (After learning how to make my web page, I was able to help make some websites for family and friends and to help them with search engine optimization.)

Also, visit my Heart to Heart Collection, with poems, quotes, and stories to encourage and inspire. (I've shared a favorite story of The Three Trees and the songs Every Season and Five Loaves and Two Fish.)

Well, you may ask what this all has to do with my question "Have you Backed up your Blog?"  On October 26, 2009, GeoCities closed and all the web pages there (including mine) just disappeared (Wikipedia says there were at least 38 million user-built pages on GeoCities before it was shut down.)  I was able to back up my pages because they did announce the closure, but unfortunately, not everyone knew how to back up their pages.

And so, after all the time and effort we put into our blogs, don't you think it's a good idea to back it up regularly?  If your blog is on Blogger, from your Dashboard, click on...

Settings

Export Blog (on the right of Blog Tools)

Download Blog

Save File

You will now have an XML file which you can use to upload your site somewhere else if necessary (at least that's the way I understand it, this could be a case of the blind leading the blind).  If your blog is not on Blogger, sorry, but I guess you'll have to check the Help page or ask Mr. Google.  Hopefully we never need to use our back up file but since it only takes a short time, I think it's worth the effort.  What do you think?