The incredible shrinking blog

I posted here and said it was my 997th post. Then I posted here and it was my 998th post. Are y'all thinkin' that I should've stayed in college and that I really am that pitiful when it comes to math? Here, let me play with your brain some more - this is my 995th post. It would appear my blog is shrinking.

*sigh* If only my butt would do that.

Well, I will dispell this mystery once and for all, before all of my blogfriends plan a math intervention and I end up on a bad cable series.

I have deleted a few posts. And more importantly, I am painstakingly and quite thoroughly going through my blog a post at a time and removing all of the dirty words. And? And I don't even cuss in real life anymore.

What? Was that a collective gasp from the innernets? I believe it was, which is the same kind of gasp I heard when I told Mom, Pops, Tater and yeah, I think even Lori gasped. (If she gasped, it was a twangy, drawled gasp and cuter'n all get out.) (I cannot WAIT to do a podcast with that woman.)

Now, let me clear up a few things. I am still the one, the only Redneck Diva. I am still sometimes immature, sometimes rude, most of the time incredibly cute and always, always a redneck and a diva. I still have moments where I say entirely inappropriate things and I still giggle when someone says "duty" , but I am a changed woman, people. I have been incredibly convicted about my filthy mouth. Even chewing that gum didn't help. I am not perfect and have no agenda to become that way. I don't think I'm better than anyone else and I still read blogs that have cussin' in them. I make it a firm personal policy to not judge people. Ever. Jesus didn't judge me and I have no right to do it either.

.... But I can't ignore a conviction that I feel comes from God. I am living my life closer to Him than I have in a long, long time. I am trying to be a better wife, I am trying to be a better mother, I am trying to be the example that I should've been all along. I am involved in my church and occasionally work with the youth. It's time to walk the walk and talk the talk and the talking doesn't include the f-word. For me.

My kids watch me like a hawk, even if I feel like they never listen to a word I say. Yesterday when I got stung, I didn't cuss. Abby noticed that. Later that night he even commented on it. That right there was all the confirmation I needed to know that I am doing what is right for me and my family.

I am not changing the format of this blog. It's still about my redneck life and the occasional possums we experience on our vast 40 acres of Oklahoma wilderness. It's still going to contain stories about my kids and the insanely funny things they say and do. It will still contain in-depth accounts of trips to Wal*Mart and school parties. I will still gripe about my kids, gripe about my husband and gripe about the size of my rear end. I will still make you feel better about the fact that you aren't a redneck. But if I feel led to write a post about my God and what He's doing in my life I'm going to write it. I won't apologize for that. Ever.

It's a long process and it's going to take awhile. If I run across any more posts that are just impossible to edit, I'll delete them. The blog may get smaller before it's all said and done. It won't disappear, though. I'm sure of that. Just like I'm sure my butt won't disappear either.