Let's Get This Story Started

For years, I have had so much to say and share and for about ten or so years while on staff at a local church, I had a forum to do so. Before blogs were a thing, I wrote a newsletter titled "Nursery News" with a recurring column called "Anne Marie's Anecdotes",  (the name of this blog is a nod to that which went before) where I shared anecdotes primarily related to the experiences I had while raising my boys.  I'm not entirely sure if it's a good thing or not that the targeted audience for that publication has largely forgotten that it ever existed but I will optimistically count it as positive, since it will allow me to recycle stories previously shared that to most of you, will sound brand new.  (If you remember it, please let me know). LOL!

Since I resigned my position at the church five years ago, I have mainly used Facebook to get those straggly and random thoughts on "paper" and thanks to unrelenting encouragement from numerous people, but most especially from my sons, Bradley & Brendan, I have opted to start this blog. 

While spewing random thoughts into semicohesive paragraphs is not new to me, this mode of delivering those paragraphs is, so thank you for bearing with me as I try "to get this story started" without benefit of my old editors and mentors, Julian Richter and Ann Wagoner. (Guys, feel free to chime in at any time.)

I'm not really sure how this will play out over time; whether it will be random or sequential, happy or sad. I do promise, however, that many of the stories you read about my life will startle you. I have kept most of the life I had before very close to the vest. It is important for you to know however, that anything that I share about what went before I have dealt with. I am not fragile about any of it and I do not want nor do I expect sympathy or condolences and I'm quite serious about that. In fact, that is why I have not shared the bulk of any of this previously. In sharing, I hope to encourage and motivate others to know that God recycles every last thing, every heartache, every tear, every sickness and every sadness.  In addition, He multiplies and magnifies our joys and in Him, my joy is complete.

From my blogger profile:

Introduction	After a lifetime of struggle, I came to know Jesus in a deeply personal way while in my 30s. Through this medium, I hope to use the circumstances of my life to encourage others and to measure in some small way, how far I have traveled. I am a fifty something woman with an eclectic, interesting and somewhat unsettled background. The varied experiences that make up the story of my life have ushered me into a life of absolute contentment and unmitigated joy. My husband and I have raised two incredibly different, yet strikingly similar sons. By similar I mean that they are kind, compassionate, hard working and strong leaders. They fiercely love each other, yet they are opposite sides of the same coin. They know the Lord and seek His will and serve Him daily. As it says in 3 John 1:3 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."
Interests: My family, my Identity  in Christ, ministry to mom's and their babies, family vacations, British TV, Worship Music and hymns, Historical Fiction, Dining Out and Cooking