I was nominated for a Liebster Award!

Liebster Award

I was nominated for a Liebster Award! I was nominated by Amy from astoldbyamy.com. Thank you, Amy! You should check out her blog! She is real, genuine, and encouraging. Her blog is great for young mothers, travel and missions, home and family life, and other life thoughts. You’ll enjoy getting to know her.

Also, keep reading to read my answers to the questions she gave me. I hope you’ll get to know me a little better through this award process!

What is a Liebster Award, you wonder?

“The Liebster Award 2016 is an award given to bloggers by other bloggers. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.”

How Does It Work?

The rules are pretty straight-forward. Once nominated, each nominee must:

Thank the person who nominated them in a post on their own blog
Answer the get-to-know-you questions asked by the blogger who nominated them
Nominate 5-11 of their favorite small blogs
Ask their 5-11 nominees 11 get-to-know-you questions of their choice
Notify their nominees via Social Media

Now to answer my questions:

What motivated you to start your blog?

I’ve always loved to write, but always kept my writing mostly to myself. Those closest to me have always encouraged me to write a book one day…and that’s still a dream, kept in a backroom, laying on a shelf, waiting to be dusted off at the appropriate time. But, when I started this blog about a year ago, I had many thoughts running through my head about life, life changes, daughters growing up and leaving home, spiritual changes happening inside of me, and I just felt that I had to start sharing and getting this out of me. It’s good for me. It helps me to get my thoughts down on paper (okay, that’s a metaphor, I guess). It helps me to think, clarify things in my own head, understand myself better. And I hope it can be encouraging to others also.

What is one thing you couldn’t go a day without?

Time to myself. I need it. Don’t get me wrong, I need people and activity also. But too much of that, and I’m drained and worn out. Alone time refreshes me. It helps me to gain perspective and peace, whether I’m writing or praying or just sitting quietly or listening to music or doing yoga.

What is your favorite holiday and why?

Christmas!!

It’s my birthday month. It’s extended time of off from my normal routine. It’s cold and snowing (hopefully!). It’s family time, and decorations that make the house warm and sparkly, and happy music playing in the background, and delicious treats like monkey bread and Italian wedding soup and Spritz cookies and eggnog. It’s singing and playing games and doing random acts of kindness. It’s advent devotionals each day with my children. It’s sleeping in the living room on Christmas eve, talking and laughing and anticipating the day ahead.

If you could take your dream vacation, where would you go?

Scotland!

Ever since I’ve read as many George MacDonald books as I could devour, and read his descriptions of Scottish villages, and countryside, and the highlands, I’ve wanted to go! Take me north on my vacations (the rest of you can have the tropics, if you like)! Perhaps I’d also swing by Iceland. Oh, and part of this trip must include a glimpse of the aurora borealis!

Who is your hero?

My husband…he’s the best! He cooks and cleans up messes. He’s a caring, nurturing father, who is close to his daughters. He’s open and vulnerable. He reaches out to everyone, striking up conversations, finding ways to love and give as I never would, being the introverted person I am. He’s overcome a tremendous amount of childhood abuse and neglect, rising above it and turning it into a gift as he relates to others. He loves God and loves me. We share and we laugh, acting goofy and then turning around and solving the world’s problems together, every day. He’s my friend for life!

If you could give one piece of advice to teens today, what would it be?

God loves you. Just the way you are. All of you. You are worth so much!

Coffee or tea?

Coffee!!

If you could invite one person from any time period over for dinner, who would you invite, and what would you cook for them?

This is a hard one. Can I just have dinner with my family, please, and we’ll have Haystacks? (What are Haystacks? A rice-based dish where you put on the toppings you like….chili meat, cheese sauce, mushrooms, onions, peppers, broccoli, fritos, hot sauce.)

Or maybe I’ll have George MacDonald over, with pork roast, potatoes, green beans and carrots in the crockpot. As we’re eating our hearty meal, we’ll discuss the heart and character of God. George was very influential in helping me to understand God’s true nature of love. There’s much I’d like to ask him about this.

What superpower would you choose if you could have one?

To become invisible when I want to. Perhaps it would get me out of an uncomfortable situation. Perhaps I could spy on people or situations I’d like to know more about (yes, I’m nosy).

What are you most looking forward to this summer?

I’m leaving for Jamaica with two of my daughters this week, for 2 weeks. And I am so excited! We are going to Maranatha School for the Deaf in St. Elizabeth. My 19-year-old daughter is studying at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., to be a deaf interpreter. She has wanted to make this trip for awhile, and so my 11-year-old daughter and I decided to join her. We are going with Partners in Missions from Virginia Mennonite Missions. We are looking forward to supporting the children at this school. We’re bringing along crafts to do with them, jump ropes, UNO, and other games. We are also looking forward to seeing the beautiful blue sea and green mountains and white waterfalls, hearing the native accent, smelling the jerk sauce, eating tropical fruits, and learning how to sign and connect with the people.

What is one of your favorite memories?

When I was 10, my family took a 6-week trip around the United States. It was my mom and dad, my 3 sisters and me, with a big van and a pop-up camper. The van had all the back seats removed and an orange-and-brown couch set inside for traveling comfort. It also had a big sunset painted on the side of it. (Yes, folks, this was the 70’s!) But, what great memories. Stopping to see friends and relatives, spending a week in the Rocky Mountains at a Mennonite Church Convention, seeing Mesa Verde and the Grand Canyon (okay, I didn’t actually see it because it was 115 degrees out that day and I was a grumpy preteen who didn’t want to get out of the air-conditioned car), and the Redwoods, and Yellowstone’s Old Faithful, and Glacier National Park and the Canadian Rockies. Oh, and the Corn Palace and the Gateway Arch and Hoover Dam and Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. What a trip!

My nominees:

You should check each of these bloggers out! They each have unique blogs that cover a variety of topics!

My Questions To My Nominees:

What topics do you cover in your blog and why do you blog?

What is one thing you are passionate about?

What is your favorite season and why?