Well, I finally did it.

I took the plunge.

After a year and a half, I changed up the blogaroo, switching themes and customizing a teensy tiny bit…

Even though I have absolutely NO IDEA what I’m doing!!!

So scary. To prove how little I know about blogging and computer language and function, I backed up my entire blog before I clicked that “activate” button on the new blog theme, for fear that everything I’ve written and shared would disappear from the face of the internet in one fell swoop. But, hooray! Everything is still here, even though the look of things has changed immensely.

I’m still playing with all the details in my secret control panel, my blog lair, if you will, but what you see on the ol’ homepage today is the biggest of my changes, a new header displaying the name of my blog and its new byline (“a journal of life and life abundant”), and a new floral background, both made possible by my amazing friend, Jeni, at Mooseprint Designs. Jeni can read my mind, and created the perfect header after I described to her what I was trying to do, and then, she MADE my DAY by scanning an old table runner of my Granny’s and turning it into a background for my blog. Thus, this pinkish floral backdrop that I adore, even though all those pretty flowers make me a tiny bit dizzy as I scroll down through my old posts.

My Granny was such an amazing lady, and her house was full of all kinds of knick-knacks and “treasures” that she found very beautiful. Many of those treasures would not translate well (ceramic frogs, garden statutes, funny cookie jars), but this sweet little table runner trimmed in old lace is one of my favorite things that she left behind. My Mom uses it often (below, at our May Day party) and it always catches my eye and warms my heart. I welcome this print to my journal, and can’t thank Jeni enough for magically making it appear on my computer screen.

And the other thing I am most excited about with this new blog theme is that, while the previous theme I used was mostly a text-focused blog layout, this one is a magazine layout, and will mesh much better with all the pictures I share.

So why don’t I wrap up this post with a few of my favorite recent photographs?

I once said that, if anything ever happened to me and Mr. Gore, Gideon and Rebekah would be the kind of orphans who would stick together. You know, the ones you read about in Christian fiction who find ways to be together through impossible circumstances? At the time, they were quite little and seemed always to be laying on the couch together watching TV or holding hands from their carseats as we drove down the road.

Admittedly, they have since gone through some major rough patches, him giving her a bloody nose, her scratching him like a wildcat, both of them fighting over toys and saying mean things like “I’m going to throw you in some hot lava” (Gideon to Rebekah) and “I never want to play with you again!!” (Rebekah to Gideon). But then again, they have grown even closer through all this adversity, and I love nothing more than to hear their uncontrollable laughter from upstairs as they play (usually after I’ve banished them from the kitchen).

And quite recently, they have reached a new level of camaraderie, learning that secret language that only siblings can speak and understand, sharing inside jokes that none of us “get”, and my personal favorite, Rebekah has finally been admitted into Gideon’s nonstop world of dress-up and character play. Take a look…

And this is how they dressed up for church last night…

Truly…never a dull moment.

And speaking of “never a dull moment”, as I was typing this post, I felt something underfoot. Something very foreign. Looking down, I screamed with HORROR as I realized that there was a little slimy snake under my feet! In my home office!! Mr. Gore rushed up the hill to save the day, and came in to find me standing in my office chair (I had to stay in here and keep an eye on that loathsome creature)…but I still managed to have my coffee cup in my hand. In between shuddering and screaming, I would take a sip.

I hope your morning has been far more dull than mine. And I sincerely hope you like the new look of “Mrs. Gore’s Diary” (and hang in there…more improvements to come!).