The Effects of A Blog

This is a little unorthodox for the "adachef" blog, but it needed to be expressed. Every day I check my sister-in-law, Stephanie Nielson's, blog. The moment the page loads, I take a deep breath and have to remind myself that "my life is good". Then, I proceed to read on. I delight in hearing the silly stories about the children and "David the Snail". I laugh heartily when I see pictures of the kids on the trampoline or photos of family members together. I have shed more than a few tears when I read about Stephanie breast feeding my dearest nephew or when I read her "proud list". All of these blog postings have brought me a lot of emotions but the most frequent emotion(s) seem contradictory. The emotions are: encouragement and discouragement. As a single person, with an non-existent amount of men like my brother (aka Stephanie's husband) in my life, I feel a lot of frustration. When I read Stephanie's blog, I get discouraged with the male population that surrounds me here in Rexburg, Idaho. Granted, there are some nice fellows but I have yet to meet someone who meets my expectations. I grew up with men that were, and are, constantly on the go. Forever working with their hands, learning, serving in the Church, loving their children, loving their wives, providing more than sufficiently for their families and so on. The men in my life are splendid sons of God and I love them. I don't think it's useless or too much to ask to marry someone who has these qualities. When I read Stephanie's blog entries about her wonderful, hardworking, considerate, loving, "hot" husband I can't help but feel . . . could it be, jealousy? That's doesn't seem to be the right word. After all, her husband is my brother! However, I feel this surge of longing for the contentment and appreciation that she experiences with her man. Don't think I'm being naive. I know that Christian is not perfect. No one is, but I admire that despite his faults she is able to fully love him with a love I have rarely seen. I guess this is where the encouragement comes in. I am encouraged to know that I will not settle. I know that because I am Russell's daughter. I am Peter's sister. I am Christian's sister. I am Stephen's sister. I am Marcus's sister. I will not settle because I have sisters that married David, Clint, Jay, Bryan, Mark and Josh. Each of these men in my life have shown me what I will someday have if I keep trying my hardest to be who I want to be most in my life. A patient, hardworking, righteous, kind wife and mother. I'm so grateful that I have a mother, sisters and sisters-in-law that teach me how to do that. I would be lost otherwise. Thank you, my beautiful family!