Do I blog? NO WAY!

I have been hearing about blogs for months, possibly years now, and I have avoided the trend completely. I honestly had no interest until April 2008 (5 months ago), when suddenly I am surronded by bloggers. They wanted to know if I blogged, everyone talked about everyone else's blogs, and it seemed I was the only person who not only didn't blog, but didn't even know how to blog. What peer pressure!

I, being the strong-willed person that I am, decided I was going to go against the flow and I still wasn't going to blog. "Really what is the point?", I said to myself. Do I really want to spend my free time checking other people's blogs, writing my own, and spending more and more time on the computer. I don't even enjoy being on the computer. "Why should I blog?", I said to myself, "my children will just destroy my house while I am distractedly choosing the exact word that will express my deepest thoughts and feelings. Then, there are the other factors such as, what am I going to give up so I can blog (maybe I just won't do the dishes anymore), or what am I going to neglect (do you ever just not hear your kids, and then you suddenly realize they have said your name at least a half a dozen times or more and you are still not answering to their persistent - mom, mom, mom)." I was seriously trying to resist the blogging fad. I had every excuse not to blog and I was prepared to use them.

Yet, in the last 5 months, I have made some wonderful friends. In many of our recent phone calls, I have heard many sentences that start out with phrases such as these..."Well, I know you don't blog, so I thought I should call you and tell you what is going on". Or, "I posted it on my blog, oh but you don't blog...". Everyone has seriously been so nice about calling me and telling me things, but I have finally decided that I need to quit being so stubborn and become a BLOGGER.

There are a few reasons I have come to this conclusion, one of them of course being peer pressure, which I could have resisted if that were the only reason I thought blogging would be beneficial. The biggest reason I feel I need to start keeping a blog is that I DO NOT keep a journal. Have you ever had something that you know, absolutely know, that you are supposed to do and still have the hardest time doing it? Well, keeping a journal is one of the hardest things for me to do and I KNOW that I am supposed to do it. It talks about writing and keeping a journal several times in my patriarchial blessing and every single time there is any mention of journal keeping in a talk, lesson, article or conversation - I either feel one of two things. Either I am completely overwhelmed with the spirit or I feel totally guilty because I am not already doing it. Both are good indicators that the Lord has a purpose in asking me specifically to keep a journal. So, blogging is my attempt at repentance and restitution.

My blog may be a little different than the typical blog. For example, the title. I have felt that I need to write about things that happen in my daily life that show me that Lord loves me, loves each one of us, knows exactly who we are, and is in the details of our lives. I have had and continue to have things happen that help me know, not just believe, but know that things happen for a reason. That life in all it's beauty and unpleasantness, does not just happen on accident. There are no coincidences! We are given experiences, strengths, weaknesses, trials and temptations for a reason. I love searching for what those reasons are. Of course, I also want to use this blog as a way for others to get to know me and my family better, but hopefully through the course of writing about me and my family, I will develop stronger faith, improve on the talents Heavenly Father has given me, and maybe - just maybe - help strengthen someone else in the process.