Creative Writer Award

Many Thanks to Julie Dao at Silver Lining for giving me this awesome award! My very first blog award!
Thank you Julie!
I apologize for being so late in my acceptance. In my Lenten fasting from blogging and facebooking, I decided to take mini-Easter Sundays and allow myself some web-time, but my blog has been neglected due to extremely crazy Sundays . . . I wanted enough time to sit down and collect my thoughts before/while I wrote.

So, to accept the award I have to post 10 things that make me happy:

1. My Bible and God, Creator, Redeemer, and Indwelling Spirit, all in one, and holding me up in every moment, with me in the good and the bad moments. Due to a recent mini-storm in my life, I've had reasons to be very thankful for His presence in my life, and to be glad that I have been spending a little more time in prayer, study, and fasting.

2. My husband's wonderful hugs. He knows how to give supportive hugs, fun hugs, tickling hugs, squeezing little hugs, soft hugs, and just right cuddly hugs.

3. My daughter Anna's laughter, and her dancing shoes. She loves to laugh, and make people laugh with her quirky, dramatic humor and she loves to dance everywhere she goes in tennis shoes, ballet slippers, and taps.

4. My daughter Trisha's expressive eyes, and her dancing feet. Trisha's eyes show exactly how she feels, lighting up with excitement and narrowing into anger or sorrow, and she dances on bouncing feet, tapping, jumping, and leaping.

5. My mom's hearing aids. Struggling with "half" deafness all of her life, my mom's hearing aids help her to keep going, and keep communicating, and communication is an important part of her life. She communicates with words, a listening heart, and amazing artwork with paints, pencils, beads, and paper folding.

6. My Dad's hands. Although he has rheumatoid arthritis and he can barely hold a deck of cards these days, my Dad has very capable hands. He has always fixed things with them, and always figured out how to solve problems with his mind, his heart and his hands all working together. I think the reason I can accept God's grace and His handiwork in my life is because my own earthly Dad has such loving, hard-working hands.

7. My dogs. My older dog, Lady, has such a great, happy spirit. She may have sore joints, but she still leaps at the chance to walk, and play. My younger dog, Jumper (often referred to as The Beagle), is persistent, stubborn, and has trained me to keep all food put away, and the front door firmly closed. He loves food, and escaping all boundaries.

8. My cat Emily. I've had three cats before, and love more than I've owned, but I have to say that Emily is the Perfect Cat. She's clean, neat, loves to play with my husband, keeps my feet warm at night, and sits on my lap if she's sure that I'm going to stay still. Occassionally I want her to be cuddly on my terms, but she is a pro at saying "no." I hope my daughters can learn some lessons from her before they get into that teenage dating scene.

9. Hair. I have great, bushy, messy, all over the place hair. Thankfully, there are organizations like Locks of Love that take hair and use it to make wigs. Just yesterday my daughters and I each gave 10+ inches of hair to Locks of Love. I had more than 12 inches taken off, and I am loving my new short, graduated bob. I think I'll enjoy the shortness for a while, and then grow it out again. I mean, why not? I have plenty, and it isn't gray yet.

10. Tea with goat milk and honey. Currently, my favorite drink of choice. I'll take tea with just sugar if honey and goat milk can't be found, but I have this particular mix that I really like, 3/4 cup Red Rose Tea, 1/4 cup goat milk, and a heaping gob of honey. Mmm. Good. But I know it's not the choice for everyone, just strange taste on my part.

11. (Bonus) Food Intolerances. Ok, I'm not sure this fits into things that make me happy, because there are days that my food intolerances drive me nuts. Yesterday, as I watched my kids eat gummi worms for the first time ever, because we finally found some made without corn syrup, I was glad. Really, really glad. I am a better cook/baker, the girls eat healthier, and our family has very good reasons not to do a lot of restaurant eating all because of our digestive troubles. So, food intolerances kind of make me happy . . . in a challenging kind of way.


I would like to give this award to:
1. Emily Ann Benedict at Benedictions
2. B.J. Anderson
3. Tamika at Write Worship
4. Laurel at Laurel's Leaves
5. Karen Lange at Write Now