Confessions

It's time for me to come clean with the truth. This won't be easy, and you make think less of me afterwards, but I can't keep pretending to be someone I'm not...

I am a blog lurker.

There. I said it.

My name is Kristy, and I'm addicted to reading other people's blogs.

I like to think that it's because I care about the people we know and love, and I'm interested in the lives of other human beings. But I'm also just plain old, flat out curious!

I started out following along with the blogs of just a few friends and family...seeing what's new, looking at pictures of kids I don't get to see very often, the usual. But then, I started following links from those blogs to other blogs, and then from those to other blogs. Then my sister unwittingly contributed to my problem by sending me links to blogs of other adoptive families. Of course, I read them, and then followed the link trail to even more adoptive families! Before I knew it, I was hooked on some people's stories. Adoption highs and lows, funny things kids and husbands do, the ordinary stuff of stay-at-home moms...the good, the bad, and the every day.

Now my list of blogs that I check regularly is growing. Most of them are still people I know, but there is an increasing number of people that I've never actually met. And yet, I feel like I know them because they share their lives in every post.

How is this possible? Why is the blog world so very fascinating? Why do I read blogs, and why do I post stuff for other people to read on mine?

I have to think it's that God-given part of us that seeks out fellowship with other people. There is something in us that seeks out and recognizes other people with whom we share something in common. When I think over the many different blogs I've seen, the ones I go back to often belong to moms, usually stay-at-home moms, many of them adopting or adoptive moms, and all of them Christians. I didn't do that intentionally. Those are just the ones I'm drawn to the most because I can relate.

When another mom shares something sweet and adorable...or heinous...that one of her children has done, I can laugh, or cry, having been there myself. When someone else wonders if it's too early to pack their suitcase to go get the child that doesn't belong to them yet, I can say I've been there. When I see a family trusting in God even when circumstances don't make much sense, or praising God for His indescribable faithfulness that is beyond comprehension, my own heart resonates with understanding.

I have a genuine appreciation for many of the people who have unknowingly encouraged me by sharing their lives on their blogs, and I can only hope that I may be unknowingly doing the same for someone else.

But do me a favor will you...don't be a lurker like me. Leave a comment and let me know who you are. Because if you do, I'll have another person's blog to follow!