What's in a name?

When I started this blog I named it OneCrazyLady because that represented how I felt most days. I struggled to find like-minded folks. I was raising six kids as Confessional Lutherans while spending our days in homeschool fellowship with Baptists and Pentacostals. We were all confused.

Our calendar was always packed.

I was trying out all sorts of things that seemed crazy in the culture we were living; like diapering with cloth, birthing at home, nursing for more than a year and writing my own curriculum. It was a busy time and I often felt like I was crazy. I was trying to get everything perfect, and live up to the standard set by the "perfect women" who kept "perfect homes", and had "perfect children". I felt like I had to be "good enough" to be their friend.

I'm still doing all those crazy things, but I have since found a whole community of like-minded ladies, who live  and breathe the same moments that I do. Those friends have helped me to discover that I don't have to do everything perfectly to be their friend. In fact, the more I fail, the more they like me. Good friends are funny like that.

I still struggle daily to get things right; the right balance of chores, schoolwork and fun, the right curriculum, the right materials, the right discipline. But, I have learned that I am not crazy and I am not alone. Instead, I am surrounded by women who are trying to keep their homes organized, raise their kids and make sense of daily life. We all feel crazy sometimes and we all fall flat on our face when we try to be perfect.

I thank God for these women who have taught me so much. I thank God that we are forgiven when we fail.

So, as I begin a new life adventure in a little Midwest village where I am the pastor's wife and everyone knows me, but I know no one, I still wonder how I will get everything done around the house. I still spend my days trying to find a balance between chores, schoolwork and fun. I still struggle to get the curriculum and lesson plans just right. I still fail daily. And, again, I am left to wonder how I will find like-minded friends.

But, I don't feel crazy anymore. I sort of feel normal, and I think of my friends who are facing all the same daily challenges and I pray for them. There just haven't been as many things to write about anymore, because my life seems so average. So, when a new friend asked if I had a blog, I said, "Yeah." But, "My blog is lame," and I decided to change the name.