Sad day in cyberspace..

Although I've been blogging for a few years, I haven't blogged as much as I have until this year.. maybe  it's just that I didn't have much to say until now.. maybe it's just that I needed a therapeutic outlet to put my thoughts and feelings since I have a hard time talking about them.. whatever the reason.. here I am.

I rarely read others blogs unless they are my personal friends, however, a few months back I started to follow Storing up Treasures.. Courtney is the author and she is so inspirational.. when I wake  up and before I do anything else, I check to see if she's posted anything new.. I look forward to reading what she has to say and admiring the photo's she often posts (she's a beautiful photographer).

Courtney is a mother to 11 amazing kiddos.. she's married to her best friend.. she's an inspirational writer.. she's honest and so real! She talks about her personal struggles with depression, her journey and blessings with adoption, the challenges of raising kids with RAD (reactive attachment disorder), her faith, relationships and everything in between.

I'm not married and I don't have kids but I can still relate on so many different levels. I've learned so much about myself thru her blog (and have written about much of it). One of the things I have struggled with for years is really listening to God.. I am not someone who can sit in silence, meditate and have a two way conversation with God.. it doesn't work like that.. maybe I'm just not a good enough Christian, I don't know.. but I do hear him via different avenues and one of those avenues has been, Courtney's blog.

The other day I didn't get a chance to read her post before I went to work so as soon as a I had a minute, I signed on.. always in anticipation to hear what shenanigans Courtney and the kids had been up to.. and I was not only shocked but at a loss of words to find out, she had written her last post.. she was shutting down her blog.

Now, we have e-mailed a few times but other than that, other than me commenting on her blog and her commenting on mine.. we had no relationship.. no lasting friendship.. yet.. I was devastated. I wrote her an e-mail telling her how sad I was and probably sounding like some freaky stalker! But it truly does feel like I'm losing a friend.. someone who I could count on everyday to make me think, laugh, cry and generally be inspired by. Even her photography inspired me to do better.. as a matter of fact, it was because of her I bought my most recent lens (which arrived in the mail today).

Not having Courtney's blog to visit will be a whole that won't soon be filled but but whatever her reason for shutting it down was, I know it was important to her. Many blessings Courtney and all the best in where ever God leads you!!