How did I get into blogging? I don’t even really know. This goes back to 2007. I remember searching for a site to blog from. I started one place (I dont remember the name) and quickly found blogspot and the rest is history.
I am a writer, always have been. I tried to publish a book of poems at age 8. I didn’t go to college for writing and have no training except trial and error and learning from other authors. There was never a question in my mind that I would publish a book someday. The genre or topic didn’t matter; I just knew it would happen. Nancy Drew was my idol. I can’t tell you how many times i started a mystery novel modeled after ND.
As I grew older some topics came to mind for a novel but I discovered that I am mostly interested in real life. I am good at writing essays and poems but manuscripts are very daunting to me. How do I take an idea and expand it into a 150 page book? I was told to just write and think about organizing it later. I am taking that advice. My desire for real life stories is why I like blogging. This venue gives me the opportunity to talk about things that are important to me and practice my craft. It is rewarding that people are reading my entries, commenting and even praising them. I am grateful for that. We are our own worst critic and hearing people tell me that my writing is inspiring is unexpected and wonderful.

My first blog is about our experience with infertility and our decision to adopt and subsequently all the steps that came along with that decision. It was meant to be read by family and friends, but I found that the link was passed on to friends of friends and then some. This is how the idea that I (me and my husband) could help people by telling our story. We could inspire and educate. We could celebrate the evolution of our experience and the pure joy of its result- our son. We could also reflect on all we had been through- which was a lot.

Telling the raw details of our IF experiences made them real. No one really knew what had taken place in our lives for the prior four years. They didn’t know about the 18 guage needles, the ectopic pregnancy that was ended with our unsympathetic doctor saying, “It’s ectopic. You need to abort the embryo today- now.” No kind words. No one knew that our hearts had been crushed with grief with the thought that a child would not be a part of our lives.
As I kept writing, I realized, they needed to know. People need to know. Education is the catalyst for understanding and sympathizing. If I could change the opinion or outlook of one person, maybe they would refrain themselves from saying something insensitive about adoption or infertility.

The day I ended my first blog was sad. I cried as I wrote the last entry. At the time I didn’t see a need to continue on with the blog, but I also couldn’t envision beginning a new one. I was busy with my son and being a mom. Who wanted to hear about our lives raising Fyn? Then it occurred to me, I didn’t care. His blog is a journal for him to have always and forever. It is my baby book, my scrapbooking, my video collection. Even at this moment I don’t know how long I will continue to blog about our family life. I know that many people don’t understand blogging or why I write about our life. Believe me, it is not because I believe in voyeurism. I don’t like Reality TV shows that don’t serve a good purpose or celebrity tabloids that exploit people and their privacy. I am not trying to expose myself or my family in a negative way- just an honest way, a way for friends and family to catch up on Finn and for others to learn that there is life after IF. For us adoption was a wonderful way to fulfill dreams of parenthood.

This blog connected with the non profit, Parenthood for Me, Inc. was a no brainer and luckily at that point I had some experience under my belt. But, I was in no way prepared for “The Blogosphere.” When I found Mel, I thought, ” I have a lot of work to do.” Of coarse I wanted my non profit’s blog to be resourceful, interesting, popular but I had no idea what I would be aspiring to become (not that I could ever accomplish what Stirrup Queen or other blogs have accomplished). I just want to prove to be useful to readers and followers. I want to continue to enjoy creating my blog and making it better and better. It is part of the work I am doing for the non-profit. In fact, the blogosphere is turning out to be the biggest tool I could ever have imagined for building our non-profit.
Thank you to my supporters as of now and thank you to all future supporters of Parenthood for Me. We are growing everyday with the help of reaching out to those in our community and our blogging community. I take a little bit from every person I meet on the IF and adoption blog circle. I learn a little everyday on how to be a better writer and organizer of information for those that need help and guidance. I aim to make my non profit a success for those that needs its support. Through others hard work and heartfelt blogs I gain momentum and inspiration to continue on.