Pondering the purpose for my posts

Lucy and I pose at the airport in Japan, just one flight away from being united as a family. Her story and the story of how Molly became a Graham were the first reasons I began to BLOG.

As you've noticed, I've not been so consistent lately when it comes to blogging. Too many afternoons have found me sitting in front of a screen trying to get a picture to load to a post when my children walk in the door after their short walk home from school. I was here, when they needed me to be at there, at the threshold, welcoming them home and hugging them tight. So I've had to put first things first, which means that this little space for me to write in is no longer a daily "to do" but a "want to" that needs to take its turn instead of a self imposed responsibility.

Realizing this important priority -placing- fact has helped me remember why I started writing things down on the internet in the first place. Originallly a place where we could show you (mostly the "you" then was our kids and parents and grandparents) what it looked like to bring a daughter home from Vietnam. Those posts are precious insight into the heart of my motherhood. And after the fairy tale of adopting Lucy and Molly ended, I kept writing; about Africa, about Texas, about moving and relationships and friendships and family and faith.

And that has all been good. And I will keep on writing, and I'm sure it will be more frequent at times and less frequent at others. For now, I'm happy to have a chance to reflect and review on why I sit in front of the computer and spew my thoughts and feelings.

Here is why I blog:

*to record my thoughts and feelings for my children and grandchildren to read. I want my daughters especially to see the chaos it is to raise a family, and the joy and fulfilment too..

*to rejoice in my own ideas and thoughts, my observations and my abilities. Not to toot my own horn at all, but to practice writing and thinking. To observe and record. To process and praise.

*to be reminded of the goodness of my marriage, and the wonder of the relationships within the walls of the Spruces.

*to encourage others in their journies, wherever those journies are leading. I especially want other mothers to see that every home has its mess, its not- so -perfect -parts. And that raising a large family-though unique in the eyes of the world-is possible and wonderful in this day and age.

*to testify and proclaim the source of all good things. To awknowledge God in the daily experience, and to point His workings out to others. To share my belief and my conviction, but more than that to show that the doctrine I espouse has an everyday-ness to it, it works in real time and it helps in hard times. It is a source of strength and comfort, and an encouraging kick-in-the-pants when I am spiritually stalled to get up out of the myer and press forward with all my faith.

Once I thought I'd get all "advertise-y" and try to attract more readership and become a "blog brand" of my own. I have a couple of blogger acquaintances who have found financial success and lots of internet popularity through their daily writings. But as I thought a bit further, it seemed to me a farce to try and be more than just me and my thoughts. So this blog as a business is not for me. Its just a place where my ideas have space to be recorded and reviewed by you.