My First Post!

I'm a little nervous getting this blog started... so many friends have ventured to the cyber-blog world, and I agree with the one who noted it took awhile to share her blog address with others because as it turns out these things end up being so very personal!

So why am I blogging anyway? Well, for one my children are writing more and I wanted to give them a place to share their thoughts outside of our home. And also because I feel like I'm behind the times if I don't - hah! So who knows how much we'll use this, and if anyone will be interested besides the grandparents who want to keep up with us... but perhaps we can be a source of encouragement to others on this journey, as so many others have encouraged us.

I will start by explaining our blog title - La Sopa Smith in Spanish means "Smith Soup". We are a Christan, crunchy-conservative, vegetarian, working on becoming bilingual, homeschooling family, who likes to eat soup. Kind of simple, but if you think of all the different ways you can enjoy soup - all the recipes out there, and especially the ones you create as you go - "soup" is a great way to define us. None of us are biologically related as God has built our family first through marriage, then through adoption. We are all different, although there are lots of similarities between us. But our soup flavor wouldn't be the same without each one of us. It was like God started making this soup in His pot, and it didn't taste just right, so he added another ingredient. And another. And another! And just as a carrot does something wonderful for a soup, think of what would be missing if there was no onion? Or potato? And all the seasonings that go along with it - the life experiences and other family and friends who enrich our soup? So, there we are - Smith Soup. And in Spanish because our goal is to have the whole family speaking Spanish fluently!

Now... my next post will be what I wrote in my prayer/Bible study journal the morning we started school two weeks ago. Which is what propelled me to actually set up a blog in the first place.