What's your porpoise?

Hey, stranger! It's great to see you again!

We have been thinking about this blog and what we want it to be because we are just not ready to say goodbye to that solid url. The thing is-- I was feeling a little hazy about what my purpose for blogging was. To journal? To keep in touch with people? To uplift and inspire the Internets with things that made me giggle? To share sumptuous recipes of treats that made me jiggle?

I was never feeling too sure of what I was doing, so from time to time, when I would come back and start tickling my qwerty keys again, I would quit because I had no point, like a dorsal-finless porpoise.

I have been thinking for months about the purpose of EVERYTHING, though (like, why are you here little sand in my eye? Hey, toenails. I've never really given you your due. What are you doing here by the way? What is life?!), and it has caused me to re-evaluate my Internet usage (among other things). It even had me renaming my blog. Twice!

I think the Internet can be a place of hope and beauty, where truths are discusses and hilarious GIFs are shared. Obvs, it can be the opposite of that, too. I, for one, have fallen prey to many a mediocre GIF. But you have to admit, there are good things on this web. There is a lot of hope to be shared.

I was reading my scriptures yesterday, and got hung up on Moroni 7. "In Christ there should come every good thing," verse 7 told me.

"All things that are good come from Christ," verse 24 repeated.

And I was feeling grateful for the many good things that have come my way from Christ since I last saw you. It brought to mind a Primary song I particularly enjoy that lists off all kinds of simple but miraculous phenomena that we get to enjoy from day to day and all those things are a testament of Heavenly Father's love for each of us:

Whenever I hear the song of a bird 

Or look at the blue, blue sky,

Whenever I feel the rain on my face

Or the wind as it rushes by,

Whenever I touch a velvet rose

Or walk by our lilac tree,

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world

Heavenly Father created for me

He gave me my eyes that I might see 

the color of butterfly wings.

He gave me my ears that I might hear

the magical sound of things.

He gave me my life, my mind, my heart:

I thank Him reverently

For all His creations of which I'm a part

Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

If you are related to me, you know from experience the many delicate kindnesses have come over the last couple weeks since Josh passed away. Here's the understatement of 2014: we miss Josh. 

...

That ellipsis was me crying for five minutes. I am back again. And what I was trying to say is that with all the pain that comes from living in a fallen world, there have been many times when I have felt like those good people of Jared, who after days upon days of being tossed around on the sea, came out on solid ground and "did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them" (Ether 6:12).

I want this blog to be a place where I can share things that have helped my faith to grow and inspired me to me more hopeful, charitable, kind, prayerful, brave. So, get ready, Internet friends, because for the next thirty days, I hope to be filling up your blog list with every good thing.

Love to you.