for you

Sometimes Facebook makes me sad and just plain blegh towards humanity. Sometimes it shows me friends (close and acquaintances) that are hurting. Sometimes it reminds me of someone I haven't seen or thought of in years.

In all these instances it has spurred me on to pray, lately.

For the lost and hurting.
For the persecuted.
For the confused.
For the ones full of anger.
For the struggling marriages and new widows.
For the lonely.
For the scared.

It has also encouraged me to try to have as positive a presence I can on social media. I'm not a confrontational person by nature and starting drama or divisions on the Internet is my last idea of a good time. But it can be so easy to get a little snarky or overly sarcastic in a medium where tone is lost.

So, I mostly post pictures of my silly baby and goofy poodle. I also interact with and call out my husband in a fun way. He enjoys it, I promise.

All that to say: if life has been rough on you lately and you've expressed that via social media, I noticed. I noticed and I care. I've mourned with you for whatever you've lost and I've prayed for you. I have hope for you and I hope you can feel that in some way.

I hope my random life and presence can make you smile a little and know that the Savior who brings me so much joy loves you.

What's a blog again?

I logged in to see how long it's been since I last wrote, and dang...almost a year. Then I thought about waiting 18 days to write this to make it a perfect year break. But I know myself. I'd forget. Write it today and schedule it to post later? I'd get too anxious. Hey, at least I know myself, ha.

Hmmm, what's been going on this past year? Nothing too exciting really. I'll just list it all out since life has been pretty slow and is basically the same as last year.

• August 2014: David and I moved in with my parents when our apartment lease was up to help save all the money for a house. We have roughly 216 sq. ft. to ourselves.
• October 2014: I had a baby. A daughter. Marley Diane. She showed up on the 15th and basically nothing changed, I don't know why everyone says life is never the same...weirdos.
• December 2014: Went back to work after 6 weeks and basically hated it. Loved my job, hated being there. It was weird, confusing, frustrating, and a total downer for me.
• Christmas break. Woo!
• January 2015: Went back to work and gave my notice. Lots of mixed emotions.
• February 2015: Began life as a stay at home mom, while living with my mom...who also stays home because she's retired. Lots of momming around this place.
• April 2015: Road-tripped to Florida to introduce the Bordens to our spawn and go to DisneyWorld with just David. So much fun. So much.
• June 2015: David's company did a major downsizing and he was one of the lucky ones to get the boot. We're actually pretty excited to figure out what we're gonna do next.

Like I said, no big life changes. ;)

I was thinking earlier that now would be the perfect time to really kick this blog off into a cool new direction. Some potential candidates for new themes?

• Small Space Living: the adventures of Chuy & Marley
• Hipster Parenting: how to mom in Austin. TX and retain hipster cred
• Woes of a Worship leader's Wife (what does that even mean?)
• Just Keep Knitting: crafting with tiny fingers all up in my business

Those are just a few thoughts. Then I remembered I'm Miranda and I am terrible at this whole intentional blogging thing and don't actually know enough about being a hipster or lamenting about the ever present woes of being married to the clergy. What I am good at is sporadic, snarky posts full of Instagram pictures and maybe a few deep thoughts about the life I lead.

For now, enjoy a picture of my ridiculous family that I absolutely love doing life with. (Doing life with? Ugh. How 2010.)