I'm BACK!!!

After a long hiatus, I am finally back and hoping to take more time to maintain this little blog of mine. I truly do enjoy blogging and feeling that sense of closure to my day, and the cheap thrill that anyone may be interested in reading about my family!! Now that everyone is glued to Facebook all the time, I feel like blogging is losing interest because everything is so quickly available through FB! Don't get me wrong, I love stalking all my friends, people I went to high school with, and even people I don't even know at times; but, blogging offers a different way to stalk the people we love. For example, my sister likes to stalk the blogs of complete strangers, but not just any strangers, people who are living the saddest stories EVER! Children with cancer, brains growing on the outside of the skull, people with like 100 kids and no jobs...of course these stories are very interesting, but do we read them to feel sorry for these people, or to make ourselves feel more blessed that we are not facing those same struggles?? At least my sister is doing something about what she does read....she has adopted one of these families and is sending warm jammies and various other goodies to a family with six kids that are finding it difficult to survive the current state of the economy. Fortunately for that family, they have someone as caring as my sister reading their blog and willing to step in and help without passing judgement. I wish I was in a position to help more as well. I saw The Blind Side today, and again I am feeling helpless to help others. This family honestly took a child in when they saw the opportunity to help, and in doing so have made history and one child's dreams come true!! I want to teach these lessons to my kids who seem to get everything they want and are just fine to throw the dinner they just didn't like down the drain!!! As a parent, we want to give and provide everything to our children, but now I can't help but wonder the things they are not learning as a result??? How will they learn to empathize with those less fortunate then they are? How will their hearts fill with love for perfect strangers and what will they do to help? I think that my new situation being without a job as caused me to have a reality check as well. I now find myself constantly juggling opportunity costs....what am I giving up when buying this or that??? The holidays are here and I am struggling with the loss of income, but why? It comes down to the whole ideal in my head that my kids and family deserve everything they want because they are the best. The truth is, the idea of buying gifts for people is what is putting so much unneeded stress into the loves of so many people. I would like to take all the gifts we have bought so far and donate them to the anonymous families with "NEED" lists! These people are asking for socks and coats and the single mom living in the women's shelter wants some "puffy eye cream" from Bath & Body Works....we have all these things and still I feel helpless. I guess it just gets overwhelming because we don't know where to start. So, we are starting with buying the socks on the need list for a family of six. I know it isn't much, wish we were in a position to do more, but we will be someday, and mark my words....I will be doing what I can when I am equipped with the resources to do so!

Wow, if you just let your fingers do the typing as your brain does the thinking, you might end up with a pretty heavy post! Sorry about that!

I am thankful for my family and my beautiful healthy children. I am blessed!