30 Days of Thankfulness ~ Day 1

My sad, lonely, neglected blog...time to let the thoughts start working out of the crannies they've been hiding in the last 6 months. What better way than to start with things I'm thankful for during the next 30 days? This will be my 3rd year doing the "30 Days of Thankfulness" and I'm hoping instead of burning me out, it will have the opposite effect and you'll start to see more regular posts from me once again.

Day 1

I am thankful for the break from the blog the last 6 months. Sure I feel a little sad looking back knowing there are things I didn't post about, pictures I didn't share, memories that weren't typed out to be forever remembered. But that sadness is fleeting as I remember that the reason I wasn't writing these things is because I was busy doing the very things I love writing about - spending time with my family, watching my boys grow, exploring new places, trying new things, building relationships with wonderful people along the way. Perhaps some day I'll look back on these 6 months and think, "what in the world did I do?". Then I'll remember that I had a toddler and an infant, my days were full, and I was making use of every last minute of the day (whether that was doing laundry or eating chocolates doesn't matter I suppose). 

To be quite honest, I've relaxed quite a bit (or become more strict??) with social media in general. I'm not on facebook nearly as often, obviously I've not been on my blog, and I have yet to (and probably won't) get a twitter account. I realized what a time sucker these things were becoming in my life. It was actually through a couple different posts I read while on such social media sites that I realized my addiction to the constant beeps & pings from the communications devices in my life. Was that a facebook alert? Oh, I've got an email!   I'd better check facebook before I start [insert opportunity to bond with my boys]. Steven started talking a ton in the spring and continued his communication skills throughout the summer. When I started hearing, "Mommy put your phone down" frequently throughout the day I figured I'd better do something before I it became the order before everything he'd tell me. 

It has required a concerted effort to do this. I've had some really horrible days of failing to ignore my phone and then days where I've gone all day without checking it (and of course those are the days important things happen). I suppose there is a balance in this age of technology...but all this to say, I wasn't living in balance with it before this, so the pendulum swing was okay. 

So, consider these 30 Days of Thankfulness a fresh start for me - on this blog and inching back into technology, with much higher boundaries than before. I'm hoping this blog can become for me the outlet I used to rely on facebook for. Only, instead of short little status updates about random happenings (when really, who cares about our random happenings but us?), I can actually share something of value - something encouraging, something I'm walking through, or something that can bring joy to the reader and make them feel like their time wasn't wasted reading about what I ate for dinner that day (although tantalizing you with the scrumptious things I've eaten isn't necessarily off limits). It's not to say that my posts are going to be exciting, or all that unique from what you might read elsewhere, but they will all be from the happenings in my  life, and most of all my heart. (okay...that was sort of cheesy...)

Here goes!