OK, Let's Try This Again. . .

I've decided to give blogging another shot, and see if I can do it in a more rational, less all-consuming way. We'll see if I can, but I'm confident enough to give it a shot, anyway. . .

Actually, I've kept up with my blog-friends during my hiatus, and commenting on your blogs is practically indistinguishable from keeping up my own blog. As my comments started getting longer and more involved, I started thinking that I should just post them on my own behalf. We'll see how it goes. I probably won't be posting every day (or even every other day), and I probably won't be leaving quite such long posts as I did before, but that's probably all to the good, anyway.

So - I'm happy to be back in Blogworld. Let's get this thing going, shall we?

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Just by way of review, or bringing some of my newer visitors up to speed, let me do a quick (?) rundown of the Cast of Characters in the Jones family:

Me, Desmond Jones - Recently turned 50. I call myself a serious Christian (God only knows how really serious I am). Over the last 6+ months, I've lost 80 pounds. I was adopted as a child, and have met both my birth-parents (and two half-sisters).

Molly Jones - My wife of 26 years. Also just turned 50, but you wouldn't know it to look at her. Molly and I are the parents of eight children (their 'blog-names' are a combination of their birth-order and sex):

1F - our eldest; getting her life back together after a disastrous 3-year abusive relationship. Gave birth to our first grandchild last winter, but the little girl has been given for adoption.

2F - a college student; currently living 'semi-at-home' and working full-time.

3M - recent HS grad (barely). A 'troubled' kid, but brilliant (genius IQ); gave us an incredible amount of grief from age 13 to the present; moved to his own apartment this summer.

4M - All-American boy. A-student, star athlete, good-looking babe-magnet. All of which presents us with its own set of challenges (especially when it comes to denying his will).

5M - solid kid. Pleasant, good-natured; tends to get a little lost in the wake of his two older brothers, but we're learning not to do that.

6F - the pre-teen. But the teen years are coming on hard.

7M - Another brilliant, volatile kid (but maybe we'll have a little better clue how to help him cope). Earlier, I told the story of his being run over by the neighbor's car when he was 17 months old, but there are no, repeat NO, lasting effects of that accident, which is nothing short of miraculous.

8M - "I'm the baby, gotta love me."

Over the last few years, we've weathered some pretty intense challenges that we never imagined we'd ever face when we were first married (heck, we didn't imagine them when we'd been married 20 years), but the upshot of it all has been on the order of, 'What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger'. We're still here, still married, still raising eight kids as best we know how.

God is good.

Can I get an 'Amen' on that?

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