So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye!

So, those of you who have been reading for a while have probably noticed something different about Joyfully at Home lately...

It's pretty quiet around here. 

I used to blog every day, and it was because I never seemed to run out of things to talk about. I thought in blog posts ("Oh, my goodness! I can't believe that just happened! Say, that's a good way to teach this lesson...") -I talked in blog posts ("So, girls, what do you think about this topic? How can I tackle that on the blog?") -I even dreamt in blog posts ("Someday, I'd like my future family to be like this... I should get on my blog and tell the world about it.") ;-)

And now, well... I think about the American Government test that I am studying for (and being eternally grateful that I didn't opt for that political science major I once considered -big mistake)! I'm thinking about English students (very giddy after my first tutoring sessions -this is going to be fun)! I'm thinking about my book (which is off to the presses as I write this --next month is fast approaching). I'm thinking about my siblings and siblings to come (maybe we'll break the chain of boys around here). I think about the novel or the short story I'm working on (why can't I write like Mildred D. Taylor? I mean, just like her??) And I'm thinking about the Lord, and all that he's been teaching me lately, how he's been using events in my life to draw me closer to him. 

And this blog has crossed my mind intermittently, especially as I've been writing Joyfully at Home that book that will be an expansion of the Ways to Stay Joyful at Home and Joyfully Content series, as well as the thousands of questions we "stay-at-home" daughters are often called upon to answer. I've been thinking that it will be neat to have my words bound in print, set in stone --

And I think that, since they'll be so beautifully bound, perhaps now is the time to give my bow and head off of the stage of blogging (to thunderous applause, ladies, please).

This decision has been brewing for quite awhile -as I turned down certain speaking engagements and interviews and started to realize that I was blogging because I had something to specific say: I wanted to encourage likeminded young women, to let them know that they're not alone -there is a girl out there who knows what it's like to trip over her own feet, run into walls around cute guys, and laugh hysterically at ridiculous inside jokes -she knows what it's like to get those weird questions about why she's still living at home, or why she doesn't date, or why she voted third party in her very first election -she knows what it's like to have a huge vision and huge dreams that are hugely undervalued in this day and age: she "just" wants to serve her family and to love them with all of her heart, and to offer them everything she has to give.

And I've said that, I think, for the past two years. And now that I've written it down in my book, I have this dry-mouthed feeling: perhaps I've said all that I set out to say. I don't want to be Jasmine Baucham, author, speaker, and ringleader of the subversive stay-at-home daughter movement (mwahahahahaha!) --I just want to be Jasmine Baucham, English literature nerd, spinster, and ringleader of those wild and crazy Baucham kids (mwahahahaha!) I'm Jasmine, the girl who has so much to learn, and is looking forward to all of the lessons the Lord still has to teach her... definitely not Jasmine, the girl with all of the answers.

Here's a little secret for you: I am an introvert. No, really. I don't do well with a lot of attention; positive attention gives me hives ("I don't know everything! Stop asking me questions!") and negative attention gives me a rash (people can be cruel, and I can be a pansy). I am looking forward to stepping off of the stage and the platform that blogging has given me and concentrating simply on practicing what I've preached for the past two years and living joyfully at home.

I'm seeing this book as the culmination of my blogging adventure, not the beginning of bigger and better things. Maybe fifteen years from now, when ya'll are all grown up with families of your own, you'll remember the blog you used to read by that girl who wrote that really encouraging book that you bought ten copies of (hint, hint!) --and you'll wonder what happened to her.

That's really all the fame I need.

I don't want to save the world -I can't; but if this blog has given you a glimpse into the life of a girl who is desperately in love with her Savior, and if that has encouraged you in any way... to him be the glory. And as I step away, may he be glorified as all of us continue to serve him out there in the "real world," which is infinitely more important than the blogosphere.

So, adieu, dear readers. This is not my last post. I will make sure to let you know when my book is available! My blog presence may become a bit like my dad's: an earth-shattering revelation here and there. It just seemed wrong to disappear without warning. ;-)

Thank you so much for reading and for commenting, for your emails and for your prayers. I would still love to hear from you -joyfullyhome (at) gmail.com -and, should our paths ever cross in real life, come on up and say hello (I'm way cooler in person than I am on the blog -seriously).

Please remember to seek Christ above all else -to let your love for him and his truth guide you in every decision, and never to be ashamed of the truths of his Word.

Now let the wailing, sackcloth and ashes, and gnashing of teeth commence...

No, really --feel free to shed a tear or two so that I at least know you'll miss me. ;-)

With so much love,
Jasmine