It's Ba-aaack... Again.. For the Third Time?

Well, I've decided to give it another go. 

Again.

First, I took a break because, well, just because.  Then I started back up and everything was going great.  Until blogger decided to up their rates, which meant I was going from the "free" category to the "you now have to pay" category.  Although the fee was minimal and wouldn't break me, I was stubborn and refused to pay.  That was the second time I took a break.  But I missed it and decided I rather did enjoy doing the blog and gave in to the monthly charge.  But even after paying, I couldn't get the pictures to upload.  After several days of trying and much patience on my part, I finally got frustrated and decided it wasn't worth it.  But (like I already said), I rather do enjoy doing our blog, so here I am again.  In case you've lost count, this is the third re-start.  Maybe this time it will last....? 

While on the topic of  re-starting the blog, allow me to tell you why I enjoy it.  (The two topics kinda-sorta go hand-and-hand). 

I am certainly NOT an expert on anything.  Some bloggers are (well, mostly think they are) experts in some field.  I'm not.  I'm a jack-of-all-trades (would that be "jane"....?) concerning things of the housewife/farmwife/country/mother/teacher sort.  I know what I'm doing and I AM good at it, but certainly don't think I'm THE one to go to for advice.  So, I don't blog because expertise.

I am certainly NOT competing with anyone or any family.  I have read blogs that are done between friends and its very obvious they are blogging to display their newest, grandest adventure and to show that theirs is better than yours.  Nor am I sharing because I want anyone to see how spectacular our life is and make you wish that you could do what we do and be who we are.  Nope.  I certainly don't blog for the competition.

And while I occasionally show step-by-steps on how we do  things or explain a job that we're doing on the farm, I am not trying to be the next Martha Stewart. 

I blog because 1) I like to write and it gives me an outlet.  I would love to write a book, but I don't have the time, resources, endurance or avenues to do it.  So I share stories about our family instead; 2) I like to teach.  Its so fun to me to take a job that we do on the farm and teach about it.  There's so many things that we do that many (most?) people today have no idea about.  So I take pictures and explain the how's and why's; 3) I enjoy sharing the things my family does with friends and family who we don't see often, which is basically everyone except our church family who we see twice a week.

Once upon a time, I used to say that the blog would eventually become a memory book for my kids.  In theory, its a great way to keep track of memories, stories and pictures and promise to oneself to print it all out to have a great memory book for the kids.  In theory.  In reality, that probably won't happen.  The blog will always be on the Internet, but who knows?  Maybe by the time the kids are interested in looking back to the stories, the Internet will be as outdated as the huge camcorder we saw on ALF last night.  At any rate, its fun for me at the present time and I'd like to be the first to say...

WELCOME BACK TO THE VAN ZANTE FAMILY BLOG!!!

Now I have a couple of kinks to work out, but hopefully within 24 hours, we'll be up and running back in full capacity!