Reflecting

Yesterday, after logging on to write the brief update here, I started thinking about the purpose of having this blog.  I'm not sure what I envisioned when I started it~I mostly just wanted an easy place to post pictures and videos for family and friends who were far away.  With Facebook it just doesn't seem necessary for that purpose anymore though which is, perhaps, why I'm so terrible about updating it! 

I do, however, have a myriad of unusual life experiences/bits of random knowledge that I'm constantly journaling about and wondering about the purpose of.  While I am often able to help a friend of a friend, or a coworker, or even a stranger met on an airplane or some such place, it seems like I should be somehow making myself available to a broader range of people.  People who might be in the early stages of something I've already gone through and researched exhaustively, or who might be plugging the same words into Google for the one millionth time just hoping to get something new to pop up that might ease an experience or offer some peace or a sense of not being the only person on planet Earth going through "it,"whatever "it" might be.

So, for that reason, here is a list in no particular order, of the things that have come up in my life over the last 5 inexpressibly challenging years.  Perhaps no one will ever read this other than the family and friends who already know about these things and who for the most part, other than because they love me, have no need for any of the knowledge.  But, just in case, here is the list.  I imagine I'll think of some other things to add but this is just what comes to mind while sitting at the computer for 10 minutes with a napping 1 year old and a 4 year old in "quite time" (who is, of course, anything but quiet yelling down to me constantly from the top of the steps "Mom, can I tell you something?" :o)

Miscarriage
Private, open, domestic, newborn adoption
Sine Scleroderma
Gastric Antral Vascular Ectasia (G.A.V.E.)
Raynaud's
Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover (after all of the above wreak havoc on finances!)
Raising kiddos with no local family support
Surviving 8 job/schedule changes in a 3 year period
Reinventing my nursing career to find something that works for my family, schedule, and health


Over the next few weeks I will attempt to write detailed posts about each of these things and my experiences so that anyone who comes across this can read more about what I've been through/discovered and can be in touch if I can offer any support.  I'll also update my "favorite things" list to include many of the places I have found support for all of the above!