Blog issue resolved!

After many attempts at unsuccessfully trying to resolve the blog problem, our good friend Alex Begin immediately identified the problem as the background image, which was taking forever to load. I'm still not sure what changes Google made to it's Blogger program that triggered this sudden slow down; but the issue is resolved. The background is now a simple white, but the blog loads immediately and will allow continued posts. So Deo Gratias. Thanks also to Christopher Blosser for his many related tips, which helped perfect the new format.