This Maine Girl: Blogger or Great Pretender?

My sister-in-law, Marjorie, has become a Blog Goddess and has inspired me to give it a whirl. I'm a creative gal by nature, but not in the crafty sense of the word. I love writing (although I don't do much of it these days), reading, pondering, and spirited debates! I also love pictures but I'm a miserable failure at scrapbooking! I don't write letters, I'm terrible at remembering to send cards, and I rarely send emails any more.

Soooo, begs the question why Blogging will be any different, eh? Honestly, I don't know that it will be, but I do like the idea of being able to post pictures and thoughts so my friends and family can get a peek at what's going on with me a little more often. I have met so many wonderful friends through the various seasons of my life and most are scattered throughout the four corners of our country, so I never see them and rarely correspond outside the occasional email, Christmas card, or update to their own blog. I have grand hopes that after our children are grown these friends and I may be able to properly reconnect...during a real visit--over dinner, wine, and coffee--with real conversations and hugs. So til then, maybe technology can be the bridge.

Figuring out what to name my Blog was...thought provoking. It will be a family blog in that I'll share the happenings of the most important people in my life, but really, I want this to be *my* blog, a way to reconnect with some dormant part of my personality. Who am I? What do I think about, ponder about, dream about? I'm a wife, mom, working woman, Christian woman, thinking woman...all those things are important, but some far more than others. God, family, and then all the rest. But who am I, this blogger wanna-be?

2007 was an incredibly challenging year for my husband, me, and our little family and 2008 still finds us sitting on the plateau, not really climbing the mountain but certainly not coasting down the sunny side. God has put us through some tremendous tests and the purpose is still yet to be discovered. During trials, you start to question what you're made of, who you are when the rubber hits the road. Through this, I've remembered that I'm actually made of some tough stuff. And through this, I've come to appreciate where this person I am began. You see, I am a Maine girl through and through. Growing up in Maine formed the foundation of who I am, how I think, the lens through which I see this crazy, mixed up, amazing world. And I've never felt completely me anywhere else. So, it's the perfect context for this new blog...A Maine Girl who finds herself Away. Longing to go back but finding that the practicalities in life make that naught but a pleasant dream, at least for now.

Well, there it is. The first post is done...let's see where the journey leads! I should probably warn you that you won't actually get this until I have another post or two under my belt...so you likely be reading my January post in July! Welcome to my world!