Rabbit Trails and Detours

New times require new blogs.

My original blog, AnnaSophia--God's Miracle has been a wonderful tool to keep family and friends updated on my daughter's medical journey.  AnnaSophia was born with life-threatening heart defects which eventually led to her need for a heart transplant.  Over time, the blog evolved, containing not only medical updates, but updates on the entire family.  I wrote about my very personal thoughts as it related to watching AnnaSophia struggle to live and the challenges that our family faced. 

As our lives began to settle down, I became passionate about letting the world know that congenital heart defects (CHD's) are the number one birth defect in the world.  It kills more children than all childhood cancers put together.  I needed to let the world know about CHD's like I needed air to breathe.  AnnaSophia's blog will continue with updates about the children and, of course, information about congenital heart defects, but sometimes I've felt the need to write things that are "off topic".

That leads me to Rabbit Trails and Detours.

Rabbit trails typically have a negative connotation.  Most people see these paths as a waste of time, but I am optimist.  I love rabbit trails! Well, let me clarify.  Most people don't like being led away from the topic at hand, only to realize that it led them nowhere.  What I love are the unplanned little mental meanderings that lead me to new information, unexpected enlightenment or simply a wonderful laugh.  Rabbit trails are those thoughts that temporarily take over my mind, steering me away from my current thought process to an unexpected little mental vacation.  Sometimes there is treasure at the end of a these paths, and no matter how hard I try, I find myself hopping happily down a rabbit trail.

Detours.  Life is full of them.  We might have an idea of what our life will be like, but then there are circumstances that temporarily change our direction.  Sometimes detours take us down a different path, but to the same end.  Other times, detours can change the entire landscape of our life.  I've found myself taking a detour from what I originally envisioned my life to be.

After 15 and 1/2 years of marriage, I find myself walking down the path of divorce.  Divorce is the death of a marriage.  Death requires grieving, and I have grieved...deeply.  Divorce can be like an all-consuming wildfire that devours everything in its path.  So often I find myself trying to quench the flames of destruction, protecting my children like some crazed mama grizzly bear. 

Even though this is not how I envisioned my life to be, I have confidence in knowing that God knew this would happen.  He's led me through worse times of pain and uncertainty.  Like a forest that has been burned by wildfire, there comes a time when new growth appears and the soil is richer.

Divorce has caused me to re-evaluate my life and look at my future differently.  My goals are different now.  My reason for living is different now than when I was married.  My hope for my children is that God will take their wounded hearts and heal them.

Rabbit Trails and Detours.  A new blog for my new life.  My desire is that we will find treasure down our rabbit trails and companionship on the detours.  And please, if there is a rabbit trail or detour that you would like to see me write about, please let me know.

Blessings.