If You're Ready to Read, I'm Ready to Write

To say it's been awhile since I posted would be putting it mildly.

Other ways of explaining my absence could include:

*I pretty much crawled under a rock.

*I've been thinking {and thinking and thinking and thinking}about a few {million}things.

I needed to evaluate the reasons why I blog.

Here is some of what I came up with:

I blog as a way of journaling our life.

Like a "virtual scrapbook" of our normal, crazy, mixed up, fun, hills-and-valleys LIFE.

From time to time, I will even go back and re-read my posts;

I've already forgotten so much of our life!

I laugh.  I'm going to be just fine when I'm old--senility suits me.

I blog to share pictures of the children.

While this began as a way for my extended family to "keep up" with my family,

I've learned that many others (friends, neighbors, and people I don't even know) enjoy the pictures, too.

I blog to share lessons I've learned.

Many times, these are lessons learned the hard way.

Lessons learned being a wife...a mother...

Lessons learned on our journey to and on the home education path.

Lessons learned since becoming a Christian.

I blog to share funny stories.

If you know me in real life, you know I like to make people laugh.

If you don't know me in real life, I hope that some of what I've written has given you a smile or a laugh from time to time.

One of the things I've enjoyed since starting this blog

is the ability to share the funny or crazy things that happen.

I'm not much for talking on the phone, and even if I was,

I wouldn't call up my mom, my aunts and uncles, my siblings,

my friends, my husband, my neighbors,

and tell them ALL

"You'll never guess what happened today..."

This is a way for me to share some of our stories with the people I love

and that know me/us.

My aunt once told me,

"Since I read your blog every day, 

I feel like I get to have a conversation with you every day!"

I love that.

Many times,

stories or pictures from my blog have been great conversation starters--

at church, at grandma's house, in the grocery store.

It has given some common ground for some adults to speak to my kids,

such as in this post {"That was a funny trick you played on your mommy, Christopher!"}

and in this post {"WOW, that must have been so much fun!"}

(The second one I mentioned also brought my dad some fun attention.)

I blog to let you know you are not alone.

We've all done it--we assume everyone ELSE has it all together.

The truth is, no one does. 

As a dear friend reminded me, one of Satan's tools is isolation.

This mortal enemy of our souls wants you and me to feel like we are the only one who has dealt

or is dealing with a particular issue,

and he uses guilt and shame to do so.

I would never, never, NEVER want to give the impression

that because I have sin in my life that it's ok for you to have sin in yours.

I don't write about my/our struggles so that we can all have a good laugh

at my/our sinful behavior.

As in, "Oh, look.  Ha, ha.  She does the same thing!  It must be ok."

However, someone who read

the post that started all of this

said I could just as well have typed their names in instead of the He and Me.

As she read it, she saw that they sometimes end up doing the same thing

and she realized, "Boy, that is stupid!"

Hopefully, now there will be more than one set of married people

who will think twice before

engaging in such a manner of speaking to one another.

Lesson learned?  I hope so.

Of course, I don't share EVerything.

There are things I'd like to talk about, but can't.

There are things I'd like to say, but I won't.

I seriously consider each post before it comes out.

Why?

Because although I don't know everyone who reads my blog,

I do know 

our kids do,

my husband does,

my mom does,

my aunts and uncles,

our siblings and their spouses,

 our nephews,

friends from church,

my homeschooling mom friends,

our pastor,

people in our community.

I've run into people when I'm out and about 

who mention reading my blog and I had NO idea they did.

That is SO FUN for me.

I think about the "audience" very much

and I know it influences what I write and the way I write.

I won't share every blessed detail of our life.

(I don't remember many of them anyway by the time I'd get to a computer.)

But I will always be honest.

So, I've picked myself up off the floor,

dusted myself off,

and am ready to write again.

I need to say a BIG thank you to YOU,

the readers of this lil' ol' bloggity,

for all your kind, kind words.

You lifted me up when I was really down,

you encouraged me to keep going when I didn't know if I could,

and you came alongside me.

Your comments, emails, phone calls,

and facebook messages have meant so much.

Your words changed me.