BLOGGING

My friend, Jess, at jessrivers.blogspot.com, told me I should start blogging over a year ago.

I thought she was crazy.

I have a facebook.

I even have a twitter account.

I don't ever update my status.

Why?

Because that means everyone knows what you are doing and thinking.

For a private person who doesn't share thoughts easily, that is scary.

As my friend Teresa pointed out yesterday at brazilbairs.com, I'm quiet. :-)

But I do surround myself with people who love to talk, so it works out very nicely, as I love to listen.

I do worry sometimes that I am a little boring to be around. (Not that my friends make me feel this way, at all. It is just a secret fear.)

After all, a person who doesn't say that much can't be that entertaining.

And I will admit that it is harder to get to know the real me, unless you are around me a lot.

Somehow God has blessed me with a few super close friends, in spite of this quality in me.

I also have a husband who apparently adores me. :-)

And, I will admit, on occasion I can be a chatterbox, you just have to catch me at the right moment.

Also, rather ironically, I do teach a highschool Speech class. My students that have gone on to Speech in college assure me they learned everything they needed to. I guess I can talk a lot when needed. :-)

But, one thing I do love, and can do a lot of, is to write.

I even took a Children's literature college class just for the fun of it. Two of them, actually.

So I'm telling Jess that she was right! I love blogging. It's quite addicting, and it helps me remember so many things I would otherwise forget.

A company will print it out at anytime for you in a nifty little book. Pictures and all. I look at it as one of the best gifts I could give my girls. Memories of their childhood.

What didn't quite connect with me was the fact that blogging is way more personal than tweeting or facebook.

If you can't already tell, technology isn't my thing, a continual frustration to my husband. :-) It didn't really don on me that people would read it.

People get to see inside my head.

And that is a little scary for someone like me.

Someone, who when asked, would probably still say, in spite of everything currently going on in my life, that everything is o.k. We will be fine.

That is, in a way, true, but so much more is going on.

Stuff that I am willing to blog about, but in the relative safety of not that many readers.

That is why I haven't had my blog updates streamed to facebook, etc.

Lots of readers make me a little uncomfortable, ok, a lot uncomfortable.

Unbeknownst to me, my husband, who is the opposite of me in about every way, did post my blog on facebook.

You know what I discovered?

Yes, I felt a little bit vulnerable, walking into a place and having someone ask me how I am doing, and knowing everything I have written.

But...something I didn't expect is that I have felt so blessed.

Blessed that people care enough to check out what is going on in our lives.

Blessed that people out there are praying for us as we face all the decisions we have to face.

Blessed that people take the time to tell us we are in their thoughts.

And blessed to know that we aren't going through this alone.

So... well sharing some of my innermost thoughts to a rather larger group (larger for me is anything over 20) than I am used to takes some adjusting on my part, I am grateful.

Grateful that God has given me this outlet. And I will just keep on blogging as I have been. Knowing that people are reading because they love us and want to know what is going on.

If you meet me face to face I probably won't share all that you read here, but at least you will know what is going on in my heart, and that we truly do appreciate your care and concern, and especially those prayers.

Thank you!