One Year Ago Today

August 6, 2007. A day forever etched in my memory. I have been dreading this anniversary. Isn't that strange? It was the first day of the hardest month of my life, but it all turned out well in the end. It has a happy ending, right? So why have I been dreading it? I'm really not sure.
I did come to a conclusion, however, over the last week or so as I pondered it's arrival. I wanted to do something to commemorate this occasion. Something that would make a difference in my life and the life of my family. So my plan is two-fold.
1. For the next 23 days (the amount of time I was in the hospital before Linus was born) I will be participating in an internet and e-mail fast during daylight hours. This means that I will not check my e-mail, my blog, my Facebook, other people's blogs, play Scramble, read Google news, etc. etc. etc. while the sun is out. You see, while the sun is out, my children are awake. And I don't want to associate with the computer (unless to listen to music or a sermon) while my children are awake. It's been sucking up way too much of my time and it needs to stop!
and
2. For the next 23 days (at the very least), I will strive to be more intentional about the time I spend with my children. I will strive to turn the t.v. on less. (It's only on an hour a day usually. But I'd like to leave it off most days if possible.) I will strive to read more, play more, do more, teach more, love on more, and just be more--physically and mentally--with my children over these next 23 days. After all, last August, what was my number one complaint?
I missed my kids.
I longed for them.
Pined for them even.
And now?
I HAVE them!
All day. Every day.
I want to work on NOT taking them for granted. I want to work on appreciating them--their developmental milestones, their conversation skills, their senses of humor.

So there you go. I'll check in with your blogs, but only after everyone is tucked in bed. I'll continue to blog, updating on how things are going, but only at night. (Note: For several weeks, I've been using blogger's post scheduler. I blog at night, sometimes creating more than one post, and then schedule the post for the early morning hours on the following days. This is how I plan to continue to do things.)
My hope and prayer to is become more focused on what really matters in life. Please pray for me, especially for self control, as I take on this challenge.

Thanks,