Friendship on the net

Another of my favourite blogs is Restoration Place, where Kathy has posted about a bird she had spotted in their garden. Kathy's blog is always full of wonderful pictures of where she lives and what she gets up to as she Home Educates her family.

I've never met Kathy, although we do exchange the occasional e-mail, yet I would count her as a friend. I feel sure that if she lived nearer we would hang out together, chatting over tea and cake, discussing our faith, our children, our Home Ed.

I've never told Kathy this, but she was an answer to prayer. I don't have many close Home Ed friends. I know a whole bunch of mums who Home Educate that I get on really well with and a couple I would count as good friends but, for one reason or another, it is hard to hook up with them often. I've also had some Home Ed friends who have returned to their native lands (although I don't think that was too much to do with me!) At one point I prayed very specifically for a friend, someone who would walk alongside me on this journey ... and I discovered Kathy's blog. It wasn't quite what I was expecting as the answer.

Sometimes I worry that I spend too much time on blogs but it meets a need for me. By the nature of busy lives, children at home and the distance between myself and my friends, to sit and have an undisturbed catch-up time is very rare. I can read a blog, and post on my own, any time that suits me. Real time interruptions don't disturb the flow of the virtual communication. I can share worries, ideas, joys and experiences.

So when I saw Kathy's post this morning, I knew exactly what I would do if she were there in my kitchen. "Oh yes," I'd say, " I saw a great bird yesterday too. We had a jay hopping around our climbing frame (My middle son especially likes jays.) And I jumped up from what I was doing, grabbed my 'phone and got a shot. Look here it is!"