Okay, I promise I'm not conceited and think this is a site for the ages, as in, this is a site to beat all sites.  What I mean is...

This better be a site for my ages, because I'm not sure I can convince my husband to do a joint website venture with me ever, ever, ever again.  And, I don't think I could ever pay another web designer enough money to put up with me.  :)

Before I tell you anything else about the site, I have to thank him immensely for his 50+ hours of work.  Honestly, I think it was even more than that, but I don't want to dwell on it, because then I feel really guilty.

Several months ago, when I told him I wanted to start a blog, his first question was, "What do you want it to look like?"  I told him that I really didn't know, because I didn't even know what the blog would be about.  It would be like choosing your bread/bun/croissant before you decided whether you were going to have a hamburger or chicken salad.  The meat is the important part.  The bread should compliment.

Once I figured out that my only option, really, was to write about myself, I told him I wanted the site to represent me.  I showed him a few sites I liked, and he spent about 20 hours and built Site #1.  It was really pretty and feminine, and I liked it a lot.  But it wasn't me at all.  It was a quiet genteel woman.  It was soft and delicate and...it just wasn't me.

I think I irritated Mike when I told him it wasn't right.  I know I irritated him when I made him scrap it.  My guy...he's pretty amazing.

So we went on a quest to describe me in a visual image.  Ha!  Try it sometime.  Try to create a visual image that communicates what you're all about.  It's HARD.  We went through a ton of different ideas: a girl in a bathtub, ice cream cones, oranges, funky retro patterns, feet in the grass, legs swinging off a bridge...  We searched through hundreds of pages of photos and images.  Nothing clicked. 

I'm a lover.  I'm a fighter.  I'm silly.  I'm sincere.  I'm loud.  I have pretty solid opinions.  I'm traditional, but I have no problem pushing boundaries.  I don't mind being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, but you better not tell me what color to paint my toenails.  I love fiercely.  Some people return that sentiment.  Others return the opposite sentiment.  I'm a dreamer, but I get scared.  I'm fairly bold.  I talk a lot.  I have a busy mind.  I'm a wife.  I'm a mother.  I'm a daughter.  I'm a sister.  I'm a friend.  I want to please God.

So put all of that in an image.  I dare ya.  :)  My sister-in-law, Kim, took the dare, and, together, we came up with the idea.  She made a quick mock-up for Mike to work from, and you see it here today.  (I think I just needed another girl!)  Way to go, Kim!  Thank you for understanding me!  And thank you for using your gifts to bless me.

I'll start with the banner.  The pictures of girls dreaming in the grass connected with me.  I have big dreams, and I love thinking about what God might do in my life in the future.  However, the pictures were all wrong.  The grass was always a brilliant green, and the skies were always so calm and blue and peaceful with big puffy clouds floating by.  When I sit down to dream, that's never what it's like for me.

My mind is busy and full and constantly jumping from one point to another.  It's rarely calm.  I wanted to convey that aspect of myself.  Intense...that's a good word.  I think I scare people off sometimes, and I don't mean to.  I'm just intense.  I can have a good laugh, but I would prefer to really get to know you.  I want to do life with you.

I guess that starts with letting you know me.  :)  So here it is.  (I'm sorry this is so long.  Believe me, over five weeks of thinking, planning, searching, etc... takes a long time to sum up.)  :)

I chose a younger looking silhouette, because I feel very young.  There are a lot of times where I am still very shocked that I'm old enough to be married with a child and another on the way.  There are days where I can't believe that Mike is going to have a "real job" in a month or two.  I mean, we're going to be real adults.  No more school.  Whoa...  So I still feel like that girl.  Depending a lot on God, not a lot on myself.  Her hair is down instead of in a ponytail, because she is mature.  She's not just rolling around in the grass to play.  She's really contemplating where she's supposed to go next.

She's on her stomach, because she's ready to go.  As soon as God shows her the direction, she'll be off.  She's not lounging on her back dreaming for fun.  She's waiting on Him: content, comfortable, but ready to go as soon as He says.

Her horizon is full of the things that are important to her.  It is full of bright, bold colors.  She doesn't want to fade into her background.  She wants to shock people.  She wants to make them slightly uncomfortable.  She wants to spur them on to seek more and reach higher and go farther...

But she's not hard.  The colors may be bright and bold, but the things of her life, the stuff of her days, are the things and the stuff that everyone can relate to. 

She is leading her two children higher, closer to God.  She's seeking the path God wants for them and doing her best to stay out of His way.  (The butterflies.)  She is inextricably linked to the man who makes her heart beat.  The man who still causes flutters in her stomach.  The man who has made her most important dreams come true.  The man who loves her forever, no matter what.  Her marriage is the brightest part of her life on Earth.  (The hearts.)  The background is messy with paint splatters, because her life isn't always perfect and ordered.  She struggles, she hurts, she gets angry.  Sometimes it's messy, but when it's viewed altogether, it is always beautiful.  She is blessed.

She loves to communicate.  It doesn't matter if it's through words or music.  (The script and the music score)  She wants to connect with everyone around her.  She longs to have the words they need to hear, the song they need to sing.  She wants to make deposits into people that will lift them up and and lead them toward the One who can do more than they ever imagined...more than they ever hoped for.

And in the middle of it all, is the One.  His Name is I AM.  She is his daughter and his bride.  She takes His Name as her own.  She trades her connections to this world in order to be identified as one of His.  Everything in her life flows from Him.  He is the center of it all, and her life flows out of who He is, who He was, and who He will always be.  (The radiating swirl flowing out of the words I AM in the logo.)

If you get the symbolism of that last paragraph, you can skip this next portion.  However, if that last paragraph was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to you, this is what I mean:

I am a Christian.  I believe in the one and only God who called himself Yahweh, which translates into I AM.  He sent his only son(Jesus Christ) to make up for my mistakes, so that I could have a relationship with Him.  The Bible says that I am a daughter of God and a bride of Christ.  In this world, when you are born, you take the name of your father.  When you get married, you traditionally take the name of your husband.  You identify with your family. 

Since I am a daughter of God and a bride of Christ, I didn't think he'd mind if I adopted his name.  I want to be identified with Him.  So I become Lindsay I AM.  I choose to connect myself with Him.  I am not perfect in this.  I am still learning.  I definitely don't have it all figured out.  My greatest desire, however, is that, for the rest of the time I live on this Earth, I am constantly trying be a better representation of Him.  He has given me all that I possess, everything that is dear to me: my life, my talents, my love, my family, my friends.  The least I can do is live for Him and try to make him proud.

I hope that doesn't scare you off.  If you don't know God or don't choose to follow Him right now, please don't go away!!  Please!  I'm just a normal girl.  I promise.  I want to connect with everyone.  You don't always have to agree with me.  I probably won't always agree with you.  :)  It's okay.  We can still be friends.  Please just don't leave yet.  Don't judge me because I'm a Christian.  Stick with me until I really make you angry.  Then you can leave.  :)

So, I think that's about it.  If you have any other specific questions about the design, feel free to leave them here, and I'll answer them.

Oh!! and I included a picture of myself, just because it's a personal thing for me.  I always create a mental picture of the person who's talking or writing to me.  Then, when I meet them in person, if my mental picture doesn't match what the person actually looks like, it always throws me for a loop.  :)  So, even though I'm not a huge fan of what I look like, I wanted to help any of you who are like me and need to see who you're communicating with!  :)