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Why I Blog

This is a tough question.  I've had to think about the answer to this one.  So often we do things without truly thinking out the reasons of 'why' we do what we do.  Perhaps we often lead with our emotions, our passions or our gut instinct.  To answer this question, of why I blog, I had to sit and reflect, and I suppose, that is a good thing, to truly take a moment and contemplate the 'why' of such a thing.

At first, I believe it all started as a way to keep the sanity.  I began to jot random thoughts down, back in September of 2008.  With five kids, and adult conversation at an all time low, writing on this blog became a source of sanity.  I got the chance to sit alone, think things through, and put into perspective the daily happenings, or the daily musings I encountered.  Truly a melancholic mind needs this type of time to think things through, analyze, sift through it all, and properly deal with the big, and yes, even mundane details of a typical day.  And that's what I did.

Then, I began to take notice how keeping this record of our daily family happenings, could serve my own children one day.  Perhaps one day they'll want to read how life was for us as a young family.  Perhaps after I am gone and they have their own children, they'll want to read, remember, how and why they were raised the way they were raised.  Most of all, I hope they will read these entries as a window into the heart of their mother.  How even the mundane details of the day, or how even the silliest of conversations we have had in our home, were nowhere near trivial to me, as their mother.  Perhaps they'll wonder, in an age when the Stay At Home Mom is becoming extinct, why I decided to stay at home with them.  Maybe this blog will help them to see how valuable I saw the job of Motherhood, and that they were worth every moment spent in all the 'yuck' moments of the job.

As time passed, I became more aware how much we as Stay At Home Moms need support.  I would be reading someone else's blog and be truly inspired to keep going, to keep fighting the good fight, that my kids were worth it.  Over the years I have followed some great bloggers, and while they have allowed me a peek into their lives, in a very real way, they supported me, they encouraged me, they challenged me, they gave more to me than I ever gave to them. 

Here's to those women, whom I have followed, who inspired me.  I applaud them.  It's not easy to take all those pictures, blog every day, or even come up with something unique to touch someone's heart.  I learn by example.  Though I know to never be up to the task that these Moms have been, I strive to 'pay it forward', to give to others what I have been given.  I hope to support, encourage, ultimately give hope to all those Moms out there, whether or not they stay at home, they are doing the great work of raising and forming the next generation.  It takes grit, all moms gotta have grit.

Lastly, I have been asked why my profile picture is not my own picture, but of the Coronation of our Blessed Mother.  I have always been attracted to this image of Our Lady, and in my effort to retain some anonymity, it seemed fitting to dedicate this blog to her, our example of what it truly means to be a Stay At Home Mom at Work.

We, moms, know our reward is not here, not in this life.  Our reward is delayed.  Our prize for our sacrifice, our reward for the countless loads of laundry, the hundreds of birthday cakes, the thousands of times we bent down to tie a shoe, the millions of times we said, 'I love you,' even when we didn't feel like it.....the hugs, the kisses, the up in the middle of the night holding a vomiting child while fighting a fever ourselves.....well, Our Lady knew it as well. 

And like her, our reward is awaiting us.  God is preparing a room for us.  We'll get there, with His help, and the help of others.

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