Blogging

I'm just getting into this "blogging" thing... I've had a "blog" for awhile now, but used it more as a website to keep friends and family updated on our lives. I'm learning that there is a whole world out there, a community of people who share life through blogging. And, now, I'm joining that world (something I would never have had time to do when I worked fulltime).

I truly enjoy reading other people's blogs - people I've never met, have no connection to, and probably will never meet - sometimes I laugh, most of the time I relate to what they are sharing, and often I am encouraged by what they have to say. It seems that the world of blogging allows people to open themselves up to complete strangers, allowing each person to become as transparent as they want to be, without the awkwardness that might accompany such transparency in a face-to-face conversation with the same individuals.

I'm enjoying being to just write what I'm thinking, feeling, what God's been teaching me, what is going on in my life, etc. To be free to express to my readers (if anybody is actually reading this), my dreams, my doubts, my successes, my failures, to be completely (well, maybe not completely, but closer than I've ever come before) transparent. I have found that writing is freeing. When I write, I can express thoughts and ideas that I couldn't put into words in a normal conversation. I find myself sharing things about myself that I don't think I could share in a face-to-face conversation with someone - even someone close to me.

Sadly, the majority of my interaction with people is via the internet - blogs, Xanga (which I guess is technically a blog interface), FaceBook, etc. I have very little interaction with people in my day-to-day life (although I'm working on this - making "plans" to get out of the house with the kids at least two days during the week, in addition to church on Sundays), and I have nobody close to me that I have an "intimate friendship" with... actually, I don't really have an "intimate friendship" with anybody, and haven't for a number of years. Through my experience in the blog world over the past few weeks, I have "connected" with various bloggers, joining women around the world in memorizing Scripture together (on Xanga), sharing prayer requests and joining others in prayer, and finding people with similar hopes and dreams.

If you are part of my blog world, THANK YOU for being a part of my sanity! :) If you are a part of my real world, THANK YOU for caring enough to share with me in my struggles and triumphs! And, if I can "connect" with any of you (if there are any of you reading this), feel free to share with me - your prayer requests, your thoughts, your needs, etc. I love feedback and I would love to share life with you!