Becoming Sister Goff: I thought today I would update my blog, you know, the one I started 2  years ago...and then life happened.... Life is still happening. I think it's slowed down enough for me to catch my breath. But, I want a fresh, clean start (on the blog, at least).

I am Sister Goff. I am myself. I don't want you to think there is something implied in the title that I'm trying to be someone different than I am. And, please don't think that by using my husband's name instead of mine that I'm trying to lose my identity. Anyone who knows our family knows we're all pretty independent. Maybe it's wondered if we spend time together as a family, we are all off on our own projects: I travel for work, Bro Goff is out helping the missionaries from our church and the kids...well, I don't know, where are they today? But, the wonderful thing about family is the blending of ourselves, which makes us more the persons that we are, instead of all blending into different versions of the same person.

Who am I? At 20, I had a life plan for myself. I'd get married, raise children, make wonderful meals and handy, beautiful crafts. I think I did some of that right. By 35, however, the marriage did what so many marriages do, it ended, and ours ended pretty badly. I had spent so much time trying to figure out what I needed to do to make him happy that I forgot how to be the person that I wanted to be. A few years later, I found myself in Basic Training. I had joined the Army Reserve at 37! What a shock. But, I learned a lot about myself; mainly that I can do anything I want, if I try hard enough. And, I became a little too independent. I spent a year in Iraq, and saw the kids when our schedules would allow. But, I found more and more I was finding my identity in my role as "career-woman" instead of as a well-rounded version of myself.

I don't think I realized how true this was until last year when I met and married a wonderful man. Our lives were busy, but we made time for each other and penciled in a wedding date between everything else going on in our lives. And, life changed...a lot. I moved to a different town, my kids' dad lived 1/2 a mile away and now I was going to be 25 minutes away. This was hard. I started a new job. We had a set of missionaries from our church move into a newly-converted bedroom, which means a rotating set of new faces in our home. Tragedy struck our family and our 2-year-old grandson came to live with us...neither of us had been full-time parents to a toddler in over 12 years! We were out of practice! Then, the holidays came, with all the adjustments it takes when blending traditions. And, this spring, one of our adult children came home after 10 years away, adding a new dynamic to the mix.

I had become used to being a single woman, going where I wanted to go, eating at whatever restaurant I felt like, buying whatever I felt like buying. Living for others wasn't something I was used to. I was selfish. And, I wasn't living with a purpose. My purpose, the purpose for this blog, is to share my talents to make others' lifes better or easier. Whether that is making an incredible, but incredibly easy, meal for my family, making my home a comfortable place for visitors, sharing an uplifting thought with a friend, or maybe just sharing some time?

I have found, over the past year, that the things which truly make me happy are the things I do to show love for my family. When I first got married, I had to remember my way around a kitchen. I moved in all my crafts, dusted the dirt off the boxes, and stored them, forgotten in the upstairs closet. I love finding recipes that my stepson will love. I love cleaning up the kitchen after said meal, knowing it makes my husband happy to be there and we can have anyone over anytime and they'll feel at home. And now, I've gotten out the crafts again. Starting with making a crib blanket for the grandkids' crib that matches the quilts on the guest bed & making myself some fun, new aprons to replace the old, dirty, plain one I use when cooking and cleaning. I love being at home. I love being part of our large, extended family. I love being a woman and creating a home where our family can share holidays. And that, is the woman I am becoming.