Oh, as I live and breathe, children make me laugh. Out loud. Right now, I’m laughing at three of
mine. The twins, Love and Faithfulness are announcing who they are. Faithfulness
is repeating, ‘I’m a boy. I’m a boy’. Love, just said, ‘I’m a princess.’ Thinking.
. . No, ‘I’m ballet’ (not a ballerina—mind you, but ballet). Standing with her
hands extended straight to heaven and turning in a circle, she looks more like
a one girl wave than a ballet. You know the kind--picture doing the wave in a
stadium, only by yourself, so you gotta go ‘round and ‘round and ‘round. Smile.
The other, Kindness is composing a song on the piano. Ouch. I think
original composition must be more difficult than basic piano. The other two, Goodness
and Self-control are hiding. Outta sight usually means mischief (note to self).

Which reminds me—WELCOME—and in the spirit of Love and Faithfulness--
I’ll announce who I am-- I am Gooseberry. Which explains the blog-name,
right? The “inTN” part is of course, self-explanatory—any guesses as to my
state of origin? Did you guess Tennessee? Er . . .Err. . .Error. My state of
origin is the womb, I guess or ‘the heart of God’ --perhaps that’s more
theologically accurate. Yucca, yucca, laugh, laugh. My humor also wanes when
I’ve been at home with the fruit too long. I’m a fruit-loop!

Seriously,I am so excited to dedicate this space to exploring what it means to listen for the voice of Jesus and follow as He leads. Along the way, we’ll probably talk homeschool (‘cause
we do that), weight-loss (hopefully mine), and a myriad of other interesting
topics; but primarily I hope to journey with you as we follow Him together.
Perhaps we can be like the original twelve. Okay, not realistic. . . though I do believe we can do what God has ordained before He spoke the world into being for a bunch of 21st
century, affluent Christians inhabiting our towns these days. We can journey
together. I hope you’ll not just read (though I hope someone other than my Mom
does that, ‘cause I’m not sure she is adept enough in computer technology to
leave comments), but I hope we can link up and share the journey. Truly though, I am a beginner-- at whole-heartedly following Jesus and at blogging. You see, to be a Christian for 30 years or so, doesn’t necessarily make one a follower. I’m afraid, like so many here in my comfortable, Western, ‘have-it-your-way-right-away’ lifestyle, I’ve devoted more time to amassing mountains of theology than to taking up a cross and following the One I claim to love. (Though man, I do know what I believe). And by-golly it is orthodox, with a capital ‘O’. But Jesus
didn’t ask me to be sure of my theological orthodoxy to usher in His kingdom.
He asked me to take up a cross and follow. So that’s where I am these days.
Wanting desperately to follow the Living One. He’s still breathing life into
anyone willing. . .to . . .follow. I do hope you’ll join me. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll learn some technology skills as we go along, ‘cause I got my eye on some blogs I dearly hope will ‘like’ me enough to put this blog in the favorites column. Smiling!

*Until tomorrow, “May you follow so closely that you are covered in the dust of the Rabbi”.
(paraphrased from an ancient Jewish prayer)

**Come back tomorrow and I’ll introduce the “fruit” and tell you why I’m a gooseberry!