Parting thoughts

I've been blogging to some degree for about 10 years (how crazy is that?). As a young teen, I had a little blog I used as a journal. As an adult I started trying to grow a blog that would reach larger audiences and perhaps be an income-stream for my family. That's when this blog was born.

About a month ago (on May 13), my husband drove me three hours to North Carolina to see my precious Grandma, who was in a coma after having two strokes and a bleed in her brain. She was being kept alive on life support until we could gather around her bedside to say, "Goodbye."

The common theme as we reminisced about her life and planned her funeral service was the great impact she had on each of us. She lived out her entire life serving her family. She was a homemaker from the time she was 15 when she and my grandfather got married until she died at the age of 84. She raised four children who gave her 7 grandchildren, who have brought a dozen great grandchildren into the world so far--and up until her dying day, she was intimately involved in the details of our lives. She was always available to talk and encourage, to give wise counsel when we needed it. And she always pointed us to Christ.

And the reason she was able to be the influence she was in each of our lives was that she devoted her life to being a godly example and building solid relationships with her children that lasted into their adulthood and poured into the lives of their children.

And me? I want to be like Grandma. I want to pour my life into my family now in such a way that when my children (and Lord-willing, grandchildren and great grandchildren) are planning my funeral, they will be thanking God for the life I lived and the godly influence I had in their lives. These years with my children are flying, and I won't have them to re-live.

My days are so full. I have a sweet baby to cuddle and nurse, a little girl who's about to start Kindergarten (at home) and loves for me to play princess with her, and a precious boy who loves anything with wheels and really loves to be wherever mama is. I have an amazing husband with a growing business and a campaign for public office. I have family near-by (and family I wish was near-by) and an incredible church family who I want to minister to as best as I can. And I'm still trying to finish school. My house could use more of my attention than it gets, and I do have a job I work from home on a very part-time basis (which does contribute a enough income to our family that the mostly-minimal time investment is worth it for now).

I want to devote the best years of my life, every hour of every day, to the things that really matter most, or that make me more suited for the things that matter most (like exercising regularly so I am healthy enough to keep up with my kids!). I want to spend my time on the things that will be worth mentioning at a worship service celebrating my life one day. For some people, that does mean growing a successful blog for the sake of Christ's Kingdom. But for me, for now, it means unplugging more and being here. And that's fine.

Covenant Homemaking won't be going anywhere. I'm going to keep all the archives up. But I think for now, I'm going to use this space as more of a way to journal what's going on in my sweet little family so I don't forget it all! And so they can see it one day if they want to. If you want to stick around and read it, you're more than welcome to. And if you don't, I certainly won't be offended.

Thank you for being readers here over the years. You have been a blessing to me, and I hope you have been blessed as well!