Who I am & Why I'm doing this

Hi, my name’s Jen and The Wadding Pool Diaries is one of my blogs.  Yes, one; as in, I have other blogs.  Not because I’m a spectacularly famous writer and need multiple outlets for my resplendent lyricism.  But because experts agree that one has to keep her blog niched; as in: stick to the topic about which you are most passionate and keep the timbre and genre the same.  This means that my quasi-multi-personality, ehrm, personality is only partially represented by my other blog, as that one is purely theological in bent.  Yet, I’m not always serious (in fact, I’m rarely serious in person.  I write seriously due to my subject matter and the passion I have for it; but in real life…hardly) and I sometimes just want to put up a post that reflects…,well, the rest of me. 

Thus, I decided to start this blog in hopes that it might be an encouragement to others like me.  I’m at stay-at-home Mom to a 9 year old girl (who will herein be called “Firefly” for security purposes) and a 7 year old boy (“Koala”); and wife to a police officer, who is also an Army National Guard officer candidate and a Master’s student at Denver Seminary (who’ll be referred to as the “Officer”).  I live in rural Colorado; but I’m equidistant from an easily recognizable bastion of higher education and the Denver metro area.  And I can see the Rocky Mountains from my bedroom window.  I’m also a student at Denver Seminary, pursuing a Master’s of Divinity; and I’m the poster-child for the need of the grace of Jesus Christ.  I love alpine skiing, hiking, camping, and have summited 5 of Colorado’s 14ners (1 of which is the highest peak in the state).  I am the opposite of a girlie-girl, my house is almost never clean, and I don’t home-school because I’m not a teacher (at least not a teacher of small-ish children).

I’ve come to recognize that, in spite of my utter failure to be the perfect wife and mother, God, in His almighty wisdom, chose to make me Mom to my kids.  Which means that even though I rarely do things the way those put-together Moms do and I won’t have bullet-pointed lists of how to get everything right, He thought it fitting that I, with my quirks and irresponsible streak, should raise these two amazing people to adulthood.  That is what I’m striving to do: raise my kids the way only I can, and to be the wife only I can be, for the glory of our Heavenly Father.  Won’t you join me on this spectacular adventure; if for nothing else, the laughs and reassurance that you’re not doing such a bad job yourself, Mom.             

The obligatory photo of my family, so my until-now disembodied voice in your head has a face to go with it and the monikers I've assigned my family can go with their faces, too.

 

L to R: Officer, Firefly, Koala, Me

at Epcot, June 2012

 

And if you're interested in checking out the more serious side of my personality, you can find me at: Unforced Rhythms, my place where theology meets real life.