Our 12 year old girl wears a size 0 in the Junior department and is about 5’4″ tall. She cannot wear the typical middle school swimsuit attire. Her body is too long, and she’s just not “in” to the girly girl type suits. She has a teenage style, and that is just not easy to come by without giving up her modesty. I finally found a tankini that is super cute. The bottoms are yellow and white striped. You can find a similar piece here.

It was done! I had found the cutest swimsuit without sacrificing modesty, but alas, I received a letter from church camp stating they only allow one pieces. Even after an emailed plea for help and a suggestion to add a tank top over her tankini I was told it would not be acceptable. Now what?

I scoured the internet… Google, Ebay, Amazon. I even started looking through department stores… JCPenney, Macy’s, Kohls, Target, Walmart…anything!! There was not a SINGLE one piece swimsuit in the Junior department that would cover her body. NONE! I was shocked and furious! What are we teaching our girls? Flaunt it while ya got it? How about treat yourselves with respect, ladies, or no one else will??

I have to admit there have been times I wanted to dress her up like a barbie doll with her flawless little body and live through her, but that is so selfish on my part! She deserves for me to teach her self respect, no matter how much she seems to hate me for it.

Our little girls are having sex at a younger age now more than ever, and they are participating in oral sex and all kinds of sexual activities and not even thinking twice about it! The teen pregnancy rate is through the roof, and we have somehow resigned ourselves to the fact that “kids will be kids.” I don’t believe it! I believe kids need our guidance, and that means we won’t be friends to them. They will push us and want us to back down, but deep down they are BEGGING for us to hold them to safe boundaries! Things have got to change, and parents, it is OUR job to do something.

I did something. I found her a one piece that was cute and modest. Was it her favorite? No. Was it mine? Not really. My job is not to be the fashion police. My job is to help build a confident and beautiful young woman who doesn’t doesn’t feel like she has to flaunt her body to be someone.

Parents! PLEASE Wake up!

To find some modest one pieces for your young lady, check out these places: Delias and Lime Ricki Swimwear.

I try so hard not to do that.

But sometimes I give myself a little pity party so I can dwell on all the things I don’t have…all the promises I am still waiting to see. And then it hits me…what if I were a stranger looking at my own pictures and witty comments? Would I be envious of my own life?

The answer is YES.

Comparing myself to others is a pitfal in its own right, and facebook can certainly aggrivate the problem. I just try to remember that for every beautiful picture I view, there is an aspect to that life that is far from pleasant. So here’s to all the facebookers out there…stalk away, but keep it in perspective!

Okay, I typed those 2 sentences almost 2 months ago, so maybe it is not going as swimmingly as I’d first hoped. Beginning a blog takes a lot of man hours! Especially when I begin reading about “FTP,” creating an email for this blog, having an email control center, creating a photo gallery, etc.

I just want to write down what I’m learning about life, and let people know that I’m weird, too! I didn’t know it would take so much time to get accustomed to this new world. How many webpages do I need access to in order to run this blog? I think I’m just on overload.

I’m certainly not techno savy, but I’m no stranger to it, either. I’m hoping that combination will lead to a realistic look at life with just a hint of modernization.

Okay, so how did this mother of 3 decide she wanted to start her own blog? I mean, doesn’t she have enough on her plate? It happened quite by accident when my husband sent me a blog link comparing different types of mortgage loans (and a lively but fair debate about the Primerica opportunity might I add.) Then Chris Wondra mentioned another blogging guru: Steve Pavlina. I read through so many of his posts and really got excited! Hey! I can do this!

That blog led to Christian’s blog. I was really getting a feel for things…or so I thought!

I began looking for how to’s on creating a blog, and here are some of the places I looked:

-How To Create A Web Site In 5 Easy Steps
-Basic Steps in Creating a Website
-Cost to Build

Then, I realized I could either go with a blog that has free web hosting and less freedom, or I could go with one that needs web hosting so I will have room to grow. I thought, “What am I getting myself into?” But I’m no quitter, so I just kept researching.

Web hosting information:
-10 rules for finding good hosting
-Web hosting geeks

After doing a lot of research, I ended up using godaddy.com for a web host and chose the Deluxe plan because it just sounded right. How do I know that? I don’t, really, but I guess I’ll find out with time.

I also used godaddy.com to choose a domain name and to do a private registration (this is so no one can figure out who I am once this blog blows up!)

I also found that a blog can be set up to make money or for personal use only. I’m not opposed to making money! So I found these options:

-Make Money Blogging
-Adsense *which is explained in further detail by Chris Wondra here.
-Text link ads
-Amazon ads
-Donations (Buy Me a Coffee plugin)

And, what if I do all this and get no visitors? Then what?

-Get Visitors
-Blog Carnival

Okay, there you have it, folks. That is all I have learned. Of course, I’ll be adding little tidbits of wisdom as I find them.

Here goes…I’m about to publish my very first blog post, and it only took 2 months.