Blog Decompartmentalizing

Yeah, that's right. I'm done compartmentalizing the various areas of my life.

Big word, huh? It just means "to divide into categories or compartments."

I've said that my blogs help me compartmentalize my life, which is almost impossible to do in real life! I've got my family blog for funny stories, pictures and family updates...my spiritual blog for reflecting on what I'm learning on my walk with the Lord...and my public blog (this one), which focuses mainly on crafting, shopping and home caring.

I do definitely think it's OK, for example, to keep your family life and your work life separate. Leave your family problems at home and leave your work worries at your desk--don't mix the two. And some people insist on keeping their religious or political views out of the office or away from social gatherings. That's understandable and even wise. Well, except for my husband, whom I wish would talk about both more. But he's one of the few people I know who actually knows what he's talking about. I digress.

What I've started to notice is that both my husband and I seem to let all the areas of our lives blend together. Our family life and our political views are a reflection of our spiritual beliefs. The way I parent, how I relate to my husband and how I run our home are intrinsically linked to my relationship with the Lord and He often teaches me through my daily rounds or through my experiences as a mother. I don't want to have one without the other!

It has been hard to keep my precious family off of my public blog, and it has been tricky to keep the family blog private. Even I have a hard time carving out time to visit password-protected blogs! So I don't want to maintain a private blog anymore and, after all, most of my friends from my public blog are interested in my family, anyway. I would be!

A lot of it, I will admit, comes down to my relationship with Jesus Christ. It isn't just a "Sunday thing," nor is it even a daily thing--it's my moment to moment reality. I try to rely on the Lord in every moment and for every thing. My growing relationship with Him is my #1 priority and fuels the other areas of my life. So I'll be talking about that here, too.

I also hope integrating my various blogs will help streamline my time blogging and will help me make more bloggy friends, since I won't have to direct them to all different blogs, depending on what they're interested in.

The only one I will keep separate is my pregnancy blog, because it's only for a short time and is definitely, how shall I say..."women only." I'll keep the link in the sidebar in case you're interested.

So...welcome to my new, fully integrated blog!

I hope you'll stick with me and enjoy the journey!