I heart blogging!

This was the scene on my kitchen table the other week...

One package received, two getting ready to be mailed out.

All in some way tied to blogging.

The package received was from my friend Heather.

I won a give away on her blog...hooray! I won a Scentsy package, and not only does my house smell yummy but now I have a new thing to be hooked on =)

The big package to be mailed out is for my friend Adrienne, and her baby boy Bennett.

It's packed with preemie boy clothes that I had stocked up on, and my little baby boy was born too big for.




And the little package to be mailed out is the one that made me smile the most.

Inside is a pregnancy devotional book that my sweet friend Julie gave to me when I went down to her baby shower for her daughter, when I was like a week pregnant. Julie and I met on this_blog, after realizing we had amazing-stunningly- similar life stories. Last week,with great joy, I sent that devotional book to my friend Lori, who is pregnant with her first baby after many years of infertility.

How beautifully circular, no?





I could go on and on about the reasons I love to blog, and say something special about each and every friend I have met through blogging, but instead I will just touch on a few highlights...


I am grateful for the journal it provides, as both a place to empty the thoughts from my head and clear some space, and as a make-shift baby book for my sweet children.

I am grateful for all the people who prayed for us and supported us during our long wait for our babies. I met some of the neatest women on that journey. Women who were currently waiting, and commiserated with me, and women who were on the other side of their journey, who offered me hope.

I am grateful for the friends in Bloggerland who were there for me when I was completely wigging out after we brought our babies home. I was more stressed and overwhelmed then than I have ever been in my entire life. I was feeling so incredibly inadequate, and dealing with so much, including what I have no doubt was a significant Spiritual Battle. And then one day, about a week and half after we had come home from the hospital, I sat on my couch with tears streaming down my face and drafted an email to a few women in my life. I wrote about what a hard time I was having, all my thoughts and fears -free form, with no editing,- for I knew I could trust these women not to judge all that I had to say. I wrote about the hives I had broken out in from all the stress, and the details of the wicked nightmares that were haunting what little sleep I was getting, and I humbly asked for them to pray for me. To intercede on my behalf when I was simply too weak to. I still smile when I think about the list of names I sent that email to, and how over half of them were friends I had met via blogging. Friends I had never actually met in person. Friends who had become dear women in my life. Friends whom I trusted my heart with at it's most vulnerable time.

And I am grateful for all of you who have encouraged me as I struggle to find my way through the waters of new motherhood. People who have left comments with suggestions of what worked for them, and stories of having been in similar situations. Friends who have traded emails with me, offering their advice and thoughts. Friends who have supported me through the toughest job I have had to date.

Yes, I am grateful for blogging.