So Here's The Thing...

I am well aware that this blog is not going to help find a cure for any disease or solve any of the world's hunger problems.

I have no platform or awareness for anything that I am trying to create...except only to record the highlights of our family's life to publish for my boys someday.

I want them to see how their Mama lived the day to day, and I want them to know how hard she tried to savor the few years that she had with them.

The truth?
I'm not always happy, and things aren't always perfect.
I just don't very often post about those times. It's how I roll.
It doesn't mean that they don't exist.

My natural tendency is to generally see the glass as half full, but I also intentionally look for the humor and the joy to write about and remember.

I have read "those blogs" where everything is sugar-coated, super sweet, and gag me if I have to read another post about your perfect life. Holy Hannah, just shoot me now if my blog has ever come across that way. That has never been my intention.

Here's how I see it:
Life is full of crap. (No, I do not use that word in front of my kids. They would love it, and it would become their sole adjective of choice).

Anyway, life is full of it - and we've lived our share of it. So, I view this blog the same way I view sad movies. Here is Amy's philosphy on that whole deal: Life is already full of enough sadness and pain. Why voluntarily put yourself through more of it? This is why I have a strong, personal stance against seeing any sad or traumatic movies. Ask any of my besties. If we're going to watch a movie together, they must already know what the ending is and assure me that it's going to be happy, otherwise I won't watch it. Pathetic, I know. It's just my thing.

And so is this blog.

My little corner of this world over here - it's real and it's authentic.
There's nothing fake about it.
It's not always great, it's not always fun, and we're not always happy.
I am just choosing to record the joy.

Like that verse in Habakkuk 3:18: "I will take joy."
That's what this blog is for me.
I write through the lens of what is good and life bringing to our days, and I try to always embrace the small joys.

It's therapy for me.
It's testimony of God's goodness in our lives.
It's an outlet for my love of words.
And it's a legacy for my kids.

I don't negate the sorrow or pain that's out there.
I am acutely aware that it exists and that it's very real.
I don't deny, or turn a blind eye or a deaf ear.
I am surrounded by failing marriages, broken families, and loved ones dying.
I have friends with barren wombs, husbands at war, and limping lives.
I see many dead walking - waiting to die.

It's there. I know.

And I am trying to live intentionally in such a way that makes room for God to come in and move me to "be" and "go" and "do" whatever He would have for me to do.

But, because of all of the pain and yuck that's out there -
And maybe even in spite of it -
I am intentionally choosing, for the most part, to write about the good that can be found in every day.

If I don't record it, I won't remember.

And so, for the most part, I write about what is happy and life giving. What is whole and what brings joy. Simple pleasures and tiny nothings. Because this is what brings redemption to our days. When I sit down at my computer and look through all of the pictures that I took in one single day - I can see the gifts. No matter how that particular day went down - good, bad, or ugly - those pictures tell the story. And when I choose to list the blessings and remember the small things - well, a whole lot of simple little moments end up becoming one blessed life that is full to overflowing.

When the struggles and the sorrows come - which they will, I can bank on that - I can look back, and I can see the good. I can remember the joy. And then when things get cloudy and confusing, I can look back and see clearly.

I embrace the gifts of now wholeheartedly.
I bend the knee and receive today.
Tomorrow will take care of itself.

And when I record the thanks - always, everywhere the good -
Satan loses. Every time Satan loses.

So, right here -
THIS little corner of the world...
this is me - choosing to see, choosing to chase joy.
It's a good life, and I know full well that I am blessed.
And I'm going to rock the heck out of it.