Who Are You Guys?

Hello people out there reading our blog. Recently we've been using statcounter.com to track how many people are reading our blog. There's a lot of you! The statcounter also tracks other details like location and referring page. The odd thing is that some of you are reading from places where I don't think I know anybody, like Moscow and Helsinki and Poland and Alabama. And there's links to our blog from sites I didn't even know existed.

Frankly, it makes me feel a bit creepy and nervous to post things lately because I'm not sure who's reading now. I don't think I'm ready to make the blog private just yet--I like sharing it with people who are interested. But knowing how many people are anonymously reading makes me feel oddly disconnected from human connections and reality. Feels kinda like when I thought it would be fun to get up with Graham in my arms and run that silly race with the Indian flag at the India-Pakistan border ceremony. And it was fun . . . until I sat down and realized that thousands of people had watched me and laughed at me and wanted their picture taken with me later. And then I watched the video Rich took of me, and was totally mortified. Okay, so blogging isn't quite that mortifying, but sort of. It's just that when I first started blogging I knew just my family and a handful of friends were reading, and that was fine. Now that it appears to be a boatload of strangers, I'm not so sure about it anymore.

Anyway, I'm on a new crusade myself to leave more comments when I read people's blogs so they know I'm there and so I make more personal connections. I invite ya'll to do the same. I'd love to know who you are and what you think of our blog. And that way if we do decide to make it private, we can be sure to invite you.

Currently the boys and I are in New Zealand with Gurney grandparents soaking up the sand and the sun outside their door. Heavenly. Would be perfect if Rich were here with us. But that darn job that makes this all possible unfortunately requires him to actually work every day! I'm grateful for his hard work.

Today we went to a beautiful and wild surfer beach west of Hamilton called "Whale Beach" where the waves were giant and the black sand like quicksand. Isaac and Russell finally caught onto the wonder of the waves (Graham was hooked from the start) and were giddy with the water knocking them over. We hadn't planned to get in the water because we were in skirts and pants from the temple (that didn't happen . . . it was closed). But before we knew it, the ocean had other plans, and we were all wet and had to ride home two hours in our underwear! The McDonald's drive-thru people are probably still laughing!