Honest Scrap Award

Amazing, but true, I've received two blog awards in the last few weeks!
This one, the Honest Scrap Award, was given to me by Emily Ann Benedict at Benedictions Thank you Emily!

However, there is something about being given my first two amazing blog awards while I've been fasting from blogging . . . what is that something? Irony. Is someone trying to tell me that silence is golden and I should be silent? Lol.

Actually, both awards come with the invitation/obligation to list 10 things. For the Honest Scrap Award, I am supposed to list 10 things that people may not know about me:

1. I have certificates from the United States Fencing Association to coach Basic Foil, Level 1 Foil and Basic Sabre fencing. Of course, these certificates are 13 years old, and I haven't practiced, so they are as out of date as I am out of shape.

2. I've had 13 surgeries. Most of my family and close friends know that, but not every friend or every person has been reveled with my scar stories. Most of them are just not that exciting, and most of my surgeries have been to fix my ears. I had three sets of ear tubes, and 4 ear surgeries to patch up a broken ear drum. I've also had my tonsils and adenoids out, one surgery on my right arm and two on my left, and two c-sections. I don't like being put to sleep or needles, but I've learned how to deal with them.

3. I like picking up worms. I think they are cool, wonderfully slimy, and I like how they wriggle, seeking good soil.

4. I took communion before being baptized. That may not seem like a big deal, but it was very uncommon in the church I grew up in for any children to take communion. To be an unbaptized child taking communion was relatively unheard of by anyone, and I'm still surprised to think our Pastor was ok with it. He had to have known, because he baptized me when I was seven. I started taking communion at the age of five.

5. A dog bit me on the chin when I was 2 and 1/2. I still have the scar, if I pull my face to the side and squint, you might be able to see it too. Despite that, I like dogs a lot. I just don't trust those cranky black labs that everyone else thinks are perfect people lovers.

6. Keloid Scars run in my family. Really, the ugly scars I have are not because the surgeons I've had (see number 2) were horrible, but because I have a genetic predispostion to big, ugly scar tissue that continues to grow for up to two years after an incision or injury. The surgeons were actually really talented and tried their best to minimize scarring. My mom has keloid scars, and my Grandpa (her dad) did too.

7. I like to dance around my house when no one is watching. Actually, I dance just about anywhere, but quietly . . . wouldn't want anyone to know that it isn't just my kids that tap dance while waiting in line at a public restroom, or walking the grocery store aisles in a crowd.

8. I used to make up my own songs while walking home from school, or playing outside. I still do sometimes.

9. My first, major, Christian mentor committed suicide in the midst of post-partum depression. I nearly lost my own faith over this, but then God showed up (He never really left), and He gave me the amazing love and grace I needed to return to Him. I still pray for my mentor's daughter. I've never met her, and I don't even know her name, but I know God hears my prayers for her.

10. I like dandelions, and blackberry bushes, even though I know many people think they are weeds. One produces abundant flowers, and the other produces sweet fruit. I would rather grow like a persistent, fruit-filled blackberry bush than any flower that is overly picky about soil and sunshine.

I would like to give the Honest Scrap Award to these wonderful writers:

1. Jessica Nelson at Booking It
2. Julie Dao at Silver Lining
3. Jennifer Shirk at Me, My Muse and I
4. Shannon O'Donnel at Book Dreaming
5. Nisa at Wordplay, Swordplay

Please check out their blogs!