Crazy quilt by Granny Irwin, Museum of Appalachia
(not the one in my hometown)

In the history museum in my hometown hangs a crazy quilt--a haphazardly beautiful collection of colors, shapes, sizes, and textures pieced together with a little extra embellishment to create something wonderful. I don't remember being fascinated by it as a kid, but it obviously stuck in my memory since that image is what rose to mind when contemplating the life God has called me to.

Setting out as an adult, I wanted my life to be a comfortable repeating pattern of familiar people and places. I wanted a "forever house" with neighbors and friends that I'd know for decades. I wanted overlapping social circles where I saw the same people around town and my life continued to revolve peacefully around church and school or work. And God laughed. And handed me something haphazardly beautiful instead. Even before Handsome joined the military we moved every 1 to 3 years. My life has been and will be full of many different places and probably hundreds of friends and acquaintances. My preschool daughters and I already talk about what our "next new house" might be like. And with all the groups of friends and acquaintances I'm involved with (church, homeschool group, library, the Y, neighborhood, other milspouses) those social circles only occasionally overlap. However, my attitude until recently had been one of resignation and "dealing with it" instead of embracing this lifestyle and focusing on the joy in the people and places I have now. I'm not naturally a huge fan of change and particularly uncertainty, and I know I'll be sad to leave our current home and friends (repeated for every move), but the image of the crazy quilt has given me a refreshed perspective.

So that's the name of the blog, but the blog itself is going to be more of a commonplace book--a record of and thoughts on books I'm reading, hobbies I'm pursuing, possibly movies and TV shows, quotes I like, etc. I've chosen to start recording all this for two reasons. First, I've felt recently as if I didn't have anything that was mine anymore; everyone else's needs and interest are always a first priority. (I mean, really, I don't even get to pee by myself anymore!) But when I stopped to think about I actually had a number of things that I manage to squeeze in just for me. I'm hoping that taking a moment to record some of it will bring those things more into focus and help me have a better attitude about the balance of life. I also read two things lately that made me think keeping a commonplace blog might be a good idea. The first was an article about quality of life for working versus stay-at-home moms, and one of the stats it mentioned was an incredibly low percentage of SAH moms who said they learned something new almost everyday. A commenter wondered if that stat would ring true for homeschooling moms as well. (I think not.) A homeschooling book I read recently (The Joyful Homeschooler by Mary Hood) actually talked the importance of homeschooling parents letting their kids seeing them pursuing their own studies and interests. I'm hoping this blog will remind me to do just that. So here it goes.