Grateful

Is it a silly thing to be grateful for the Internet? Because I am. It has been a blessing of different sorts during this past year. I hadn't heard much about blogging until we got invites to view a few of our friend's blogs in their Christmas letters. I thought they were so fun, and now here we are!

Writing on our family blog has been a fun way to express myself and my love for my family. There will be times when I think about the blog during the day and plan out what I might say. I even find myself debating particular topics for days! I take photos specifically to put on the blog. It has helped me find a way to document this special time while our kids are growing and changing that I actually do regularly and willingly!

The Internet has also kept me in better touch with friends and family far away, and has put me in touch with people I have lost track of and have been so lucky to find again! It has helped to develop relationships and friendships.

I am on goodreads, and a great friend from college found me on there just by chance (my face was shown as someone that had been on recently), so now I get to keep in touch with Annukka and watch her family grow. My Uncle Kent invited us onto Facebook--it has been another fun way to connect and reconnect with people. I didn't grow up knowing my cousins too well, and I have had the chance to keep in touch with some of them now.

My cousin, Marla, had a fun little contest on her blog. She collects pencils and had a contest to see who could guess how many she has (she has been collecting since she was a young teenager), and the winner gets a free pencil! I thought our kids would love that, so I made a very calculated guess....1031...okay, so it was Alexis's age and the date David was born on (Dec. 31)...and we won! Marla was so sweet to send a pencil to each member of the family, and the kids absolutely love their pencils! It also got Alexis wanting to collect pencils, so that was a fun start for her.

Marla's husband has been really sick and he passed away today. I am so grateful she has kept a blog so that I could know more about her, her marriage, and all that she and Rob have gone through. I can always sense her love and strength as I read her entries. How grateful I am for her example of enduring support and love. How grateful I am to have a sound understanding and appreciation of our Heavenly Father's love for us.

How grateful I also am for having the worries that are mine. I know we will never be given more than we can handle, and that in and of itself strengthens me!