Question #1

Why a blog?

I enjoy writing - always have. I remember in 1st grade my elementary school had a "Young Authors" contest. Each student in each grade was to submit an original story. I had a story in mind but my mother insisted I use a story I had written in kindergarten about a male squirrel who had babies. Obviously, confused about the dynamics of reproduction at that age, but a cute story nonetheless. My story did not win and I naturally blamed my mother (a pattern to follow for years to come). I did, however, go on to win the following three years with such titles, as "Stories About Judd" and "Ralph, the Talking Hockey Puck". For the life of me, I cannot remember the 3rd book. But I did win, THAT I remember.

My junior high and high school writings mainly consisted of the usual teenage-girl angst. Lots of starry-eyed love poems mixed in with rantings of being misunderstood, topped with a dash of insecure journal entries. Nothing worth sending off to Reader's Digest but good for a chuckle whenever I pull those dusty writings out of their box.

The next two decades barely a word emitted from my pen and I found myself both mourning the loss of my desire to write and accepting that that part of me had played itself out.

Then children came along. And along with children comes the one thing that no parent on this earth can escape:

The perpetual state of "Deer in the Headlights" syndrome.

NOW I have something to write about!

I am blessed to be surrounded by many other wives & moms who are being there, doing that right along with me. What's even more of a blessing, is the willingness of these women to share their daily ups & downs, joys & frustrations and tears & laughter at the mess of it all with me. It is unbelievably cathartic to confess the sins of motherhood to others who understand.

(Okay, so letting your child have chocolate milk with breakfast or putting them to sleep in well-played-in play clothes because you don't want to wake them aren't really biblical sins but, in some circles, sins nonetheless).

But, even more importantly, is the healing that takes place when we open up to one another.

Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]... ~ James 5:16 (Amplified)

When I first learned that we were to confess to each other, I thought it was so that no one would be allowed to "get away with something" with their fellow man. That thinking stems from my childhood belief that God is out to get us. Now, I realize that God is encouraging us to be open with others so that we can be comforted in the knowledge that no one is perfect and understand that we all struggle, so that we reach out to one another with compassion, and ultimately, come together in love.

What every good parent wants for their children, isn't it?

So I'm blogging because my desire to write has returned and I'm making these writings public because I have the need to NOT be alone in my struggles and to be healed on a daily basis.

I have reason to believe that others have that same need as well.