This picture is so precious to me! These three girls have been best friends since Kindergarten. And although they are in 3 separate schools now, they still attend the same church together. We are blessed beyond words that we get the privilege of escorting them to their first official Youth Rally tomorrow evening. (They are just moving up to the youth ministry of our church. )
God has been so good to us. We are so thankful to be a part of our youth group and the opportunity it affords us to enjoy the teen years with our children.

The time is just passing so quickly. Spending the other evening at Maggie's softball game, with my oldest son, Patrick and his son, Myles....it is just overwhelming to me to see my life from this new perspective. A whole new lens. One in his early twenties and two teenagers. The only little is the grand baby! WOW!

Gratitude is what comes to mind! An amazing sense of gratefulness to the Lord for giving me such wonderful children and for opening my eyes and my heart to His ways of parenting, of loving and sharing of Him with them. And for a husband that is sensitive to the needs of his children and supportive beyond measure of the calling to serve in the ministry and home school our two youngest children.

Now, off to check on these silly girls, who just finished scarfing down a whole package of cinnamon rolls...oh, to be that age and calories be free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FB or blog...or both??

Well...I see it has been a bit over 2 years since I started this.


(((SIGH))) I will be honest and say that FB took over. FB is not nearly as labor intensive and truly it is not nearly as transparent. Although that may seem contradictory, FB is full of one-liners, quick blibs, a sort of "instant gratification" of blogging. I found it much easier to post on FB, without truly exposing self. When I would consider getting back to this I would get that queasy feeling of ...hmph.. who wants to read a paragraph or more of my brain??? So, I would just stick with the familiar, easy, and entertaining FB.


After a "mis-click" on FB though, I found myself really rehashing the entire idea of it. I went through the usual pros and cons, thought alot about it, prayed about it and still am unsure as to what I should do. Maybe a family and close friends one? Maybe stick with what I have and be more careful, (can I be more careful????) The answer to that is a resounding YES! I know I can be more careful. I guess the most disheartening of it all was that in an attempt to protect my children from something I knew they shouldn't see, I almost myself put the very thing out to view for all of the innocent little eyes that are on my FB list.


And I do know that won't bother most, and I am certainly not boasting of self here. But, I was truly sick over this issue. Thinking about how I felt knowing what my son almost saw. Yes, I know, I know, there is a world of ugly out there and the Internet is certainly no haven of innocence. It is just so easy to get complacent in a familiar setting. I am thankful to the Lord for a high sensitivity to the ungoldy, for a heart of grace to understand my own faults, and mercy that was applied to me, that I may offer it to others.


So, here I am, deciding to continue on with the social networking phenom and finding that I cannot get away from connecting to the outside world via technology. Hence the return to this blog.....
The break has been freeing in a sense. When I told the kids this they looked at me like I had three heads, (they look at me like that often). But FB had become burdensome, of course only by my permission did this occur.
How about this: Once we are saved we are free from sin, we are no longer slave to it. We are free to say NO to it. That is how this feels for me. I am free now NOT to FB. Be careful of judging me...hehehe..you could be me!