Daisy's baptism day

My books are here!!!

I received the email on Wednesday that my books from Blurb had shipped and were due to arrive today. I couldn't help but check my front door stoop at least 5 times today to see if the FedEx truck had dropped them off yet. I'm so excited to have our memories in book form, and to have separate copies for each of my kids (which shall remain wrapped in plastic and hidden away until they get married). Here are few snapshots:

The cover (the back side has a bunch of little pictures too). It's not all that creative because by the time I finished the book and got to the cover I was so ready to be done...

It's the 12x12 book and so it's surprising at first to see how large all my pictures are. When I'm putting it all together on the computer and stuffing five pictures on a single page, all the pictures seem so small. On a book this big even my small pictures are close to 3x5!

It was nice being able to make my own templates and using my own pictures for backgrounds when I wanted to. 

 We didn't start our blog until July of last year so I had to go back and add pictures from the first half of the year.

 I also added extra pictures that I didn't have on my blog. Since these books are now family journals, I wanted to include as many memories as possible.

My review of the book is overall positive. I wish some of the photos were more crisp, however I don't know if that is the print job or the fact that they were taken with my Powershot camera and then blown up to larger proportions.

My Relief Society president in Georgia mentioned that blogging is a form of journaling. I COMPLETELY agree and I can't say how accomplished I feel at having these books in my possession.... (Ahem, stepping up to a soapbox now)... 

As for using blogging as a form of journaling, my blog is a place for honesty. It's a place for me to include the memories, frustrations, and happy musings of my life. I'm going to include personal things that some readers might not choose to put on your own blog or share publicly given the opportunity. That's your choice, if you don't like my choice you don't need to read... From my own experience I have found that I have so much more respect for people who share their trials and honest emotions about what life throws at us, compared to those people who present a false/rosy picture for the sake of looking good to others. I'm pretty comfortable in my own skin and where I am in life. I am happy! But I am also human. If sharing my frustrations, sorrows, or shortcomings helps another person feel like they aren't the only one struggling, then I've done a good job. I want other people to trust me. I've got my own skeletons, so why should I bash you for yours? I trust people who are willing (through their blogs or otherwise) to take a chance on sharing their imperfections with me.  They help me grow. They help me have compassion and understanding. The people I don't trust are the ones who have the facade of perfection and sit and judge the people who aren't afraid to show their true colors. I'm so proud that so many of the birthmothers I've worked with are willing to blog about their journey in birthmotherhood, the good and bad. People (aka hypocrite Mormons) who don't know them judge them for the way they carry the "honor" of being a birthmother and wonder how they can "glorify" sin (I feel like I constantly have to remind people that being pregnant is not a sin, nor is placing for adoption. The sin occurred 9 months prior, okay, let's admit that and get over it. Lots of people are sleeping together outside of wedlock these days. It's wrong, horrible, you shouldn't do it, but what is done is done. Look at the amazing - and I will say REDEMPTIVE - outcome God has provided to them as an option to such circumstances, and remember how much God still does love them regardless of what they have done or choose to do). This was a topic of much discussion last night at the birthmother group I run in Gilbert...

An acquaintance of mine who has lost two babies and blogged about the brutal flood of emotions resulting from those events has been criticized for her honesty about the anger she's felt at God during those low and painful experiences. It's ridiculous to me! Reading blogs like her's and the blogs of my birthmoms inspire me. They make me want to be closer to them because THEY are REAL people. REAL life hurts sometimes and is complete bliss other times. REAL life gives us trials to refine us and make us stronger. I am a completely different person because of my trials. I am slower to judge and quicker to reach out because of them because I know what it is like to feel alone. To feel like nobody could understand what it is you are going through, and since nobody is talking about it, apparently very few must be going through it, right? WRONG. A common phrase used in the counseling world is "Vulnerability breeds intimacy". How can you be close to someone if you (or they) have the protective shroud of perfection in all that you portray? How can you trust someone that judges and backbites others all the time? Those are the kind of people I am cautious around, and from whom I choose to keep a distance.

Anyway, stepping down now. These thoughts have been on my mind for a while and I guess as the main contributor to this blog I felt a need to explain what its purpose is now. This post also isn't meant to target any particular person or group of people. This blog is certainly not going to be a juicy "tell-all" story of my life, and it's not going to be all negative (because my life isn't all negative, it's actually quite great) but it is going to be honest and real. It's what I encourage the people I work with to do, so why the heck should I be any different? 

Real people are my favorites! Thanks for being such great teachers!