Blogging on Purpose: Why I want to go to the 2:1 Conference!

God’s timing is amazingly perfect. I find myself standing in awe of Him yet again, just marveling at Him. God doesn’t just give us the answers we seek, He gives them at the exact moment we need them.

I have been praying and seeking God’s guidance, for what seems like an eternity now, about several areas of my life, some more important than others.

First, I have asked my Father for a while now to give me strong friendships and community with women who not only encourage me but challenge me and stretch me.

Second, I have been asking God whether or not I should blog. I have worried that blogging was just another one of those time wasting activities that took time from my home, children and husband. I love blogging as an outlet for me but when the rubber of time meets the road of my schedule, is blogging really good stewardship of my time? Also, if I am going to blog, I want some purpose for it. I am not one to run around wasting time on things and activities that have no Kingdom value.

Finally, with regard to the second question, I asked my husband “should I blog or not?” His response shocked me. “Absolutely,” he said “you should definitely blog!” Really?? I had no idea he had any opinion at all about me blogging, much less that he felt so strongly about it.

He asked me if I felt ministered to by the blogs I read regularly. Of course, I do. He asked me if reading blogs of other like minded women gave me that sense of community that I felt I was missing. I realized that it did. Then came the big question, “Don’t you want to offer the same thing to other women who might be in a similar situation? Isn’t that a worthy ministry?” Wow! There I sat on my bed with my mouth hanging open. Several answers all wrapped up in one with a pretty red bow! I was thrilled but I needed a more specific purpose. I had more questions and I got answers.

My blog has always been about my family, our life and all of the things we do, large and small that make us who we are. How could that really minister to anyone? As I was reading an old post I had written about "Worship as a Way of Life," it hit me. Our life is and should be worship. Every tiny thing we do in the day to day should declare the glory of God. I was hit in the face with Colossians 3:23

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 24Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

There was my purpose! We are doing life to the glory of God and sharing it.

I wanted to spend my whole day writing posts, redesigning my blog and linking up with others. I wanted to make reservations for every blogger's conference around and sign up for every “bloggy help” service available. Unfortunately, neither my schedule nor my budget would allow for any of that. Imagine my surprise when I saw this post waiting in my inbox from Amy at Raising Arrows. She is offering a chance to win a free ticket to the 2:1 Homeschool Blogging conference for simply posting about why you want to go. So, here is my post:

I want to go to the blogging conference because I now have a purpose and a clear vision for my blog, I am an information junkie and I want to consume all that I can to improve my blog in the shortest time possible and I am just dying to attend my first ever blogging conference!

Blogging Lesson Learned

So, it has been two weeks since my last post. For those of you who know me, thank you so much for the prayers for my stepdad. For those of you who only know my blog, my stepdad had a heart attack, chaos insued and life is just now settling back to normal.

Lesson Learned: always keep a few posts scheduled to post at future dates :)

I should be caught up in a day or so!

Blog Safety

It never occurred to me that I would need to protect my childrens' names on my blog. However, just the other day I read a blog by a mom who nicknamed her kids online. As I was thinking about how cute that was, it dawned on me that it was for safety as well. Now for me, being on of those people constantly preaching about those stickers in the back windows of cars with the kids names and sports numbers and how that gives predators way too much info about our kids, I felt like a complete idiot for posting so much about them on our blog!! I first considered deleting our blog all together or just not including the kidos. However, I know we would have several readers that would be terribly disappointed with us so, here is our answer. We are carefully going through our archives interchanging our kids names for some nicknames. Those of you who know the kids know they fit.

First, there is the Monkey Man:

He is 7 years old and all monkey. At any given point in the day you can find him hanging from something. I don't think I even notice it so much anymore. In fact, I think he practices his memorization each week while swinging from his top bunk!
Next, there is the Tater:

While some may argue that our 6 year old could only be labeled the "Princess", I respectfully disagree. She is the house trickster, instigator, aggravator, agitator ...you know, a Tater! She and her daddy have even started their own "Tater Club". It is a very special members only kind of club to which only the most skilled Taters are invited.

Next, the Screecher:

All who know our third child know that she is absolutely tiny in body but HUGE in vocal ability! Her one offensive and defensive weapon is her ear piercing screech! This is heard daily around the Langford home, most always when the baby has just drifted off to sleep. After a sleep deprived night, I threaten the worst of consequences on anyone who would make her screech.

Last, but not least, there is our Little Man:

As he grows, I am sure he will show us a better nickname but for now, the only other thing that would fit would be the "Spewer" and that just isn't a pretty thought :)
So there you have it, our newly named crew!