Jen, it IS good to have a friend who is asking some of the same questions, even over years and distance. I always find myself going back to the idea of how important it is to know we're not alone.

Lance, thanks for bringing up so many good thoughts. Although it's wonderful to not feel alone, I also agree that it's good to know people who have different views than me. I guess the thing about my particular life is that I know more people with differing views than with similar views, which is why I often feel neither here nor there. That's why finding someone who "gets" me, like Jen and my husband Jason, is so important. 

Regarding a definition for "normal," I think we see it the same way: there's really no such thing as normal, there's only each individual's perception of normalcy. My blog is meant to highlight that irony. There are societal "norms" though--ideas that most Americans gravitate towards, like that a family has a mom and a dad and 2.5 kids, or that devout Christians are anti-abortion and likely to vote Republican. I would love to see this country move away from these assumptions about normalcy, and I would love to see more tolerance and acceptance in churches, too, as you point out. We are indeed just a bunch of imperfect people trying to figure it all out.