Liebster Award

About a month ago, my cousin's wife who has a great blog over at Little House on the Circle nominated my blog for a Liebster Award.  This is not a competition; the Liebster Award was created to recognize and/or discover new bloggers and welcome them to the blogosphere.  It's actually more like a chain letter whereby you nominate other blogs that have fewer than 1,000 followers, and encourage those bloggers to nominate others.

There are various slightly different versions of the rules out there on the internet, but here are the ones I'm going by:

*Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to his or her blog.

*Display the award somewhere on your blog.

*List 11 facts about yourself.

*Answer 11 questions chosen by the blogger who nominated you.

*Come up with 11 questions to ask your nominees.

*Nominate 5-11 blogs that you think deserve the award and who have fewer than 1,000 followers.  (Please do not re-nominate the blogger who nominated you.)

*Go to their blogs and inform them that they've been nominated.  

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Thank you SO MUCH for nominating me Jeannie!  It has been so cool to be able to get to know you through our interactions through our blogs.  I always enjoy your bits of humor that you inject into your writings and LOVE getting a glimpse into your family!  Thank you for sharing and being open!!!

Here are 11 facts about me:

1.  I am the oldest child and the middle child. (My dad remarried after his first wife passed away, so I have 4 siblings who are older than me, but I am the oldest of "the second batch")  :-)

2.  I have followed in my mother's footsteps by leaving home and moving far away.  My mom came to Canada from Holland, to end up marrying my dad, and staying in Canada.  I moved from Ontario to Saskatchewan, to end up marry my husband and staying in western Canada. 

3.  I love gardening.  I could spend hours just sitting in my backyard enjoying my pond, gardens and the sounds the birds bring to my garden.

4.  My favorite color is green.

5.  I always wanted to be a teacher, but never went to university.  However, years later I have been blessed to become a preschool teacher, as well as now teaching piano.

6.   I love music and when I am home often turn up the tunes which motivates me to get my work done!

7.  I enjoy scrapbooking and card making.  However, I don't take enough time to do either of them.  Some day. . . . 

8.  I hate exercising.  

9.  I have traveled to Holland, Venezuela, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Germany and United States.

10.  I hate to clean house!!!  When I was younger, my mother was a cleaning machine, and now my sister own's her own cleaning business, but my version of cleaning the house is making sure things have been picked up and put away, the floor is vacuumed, and nothing has been moved on the furniture or else you can see the dust rings!  LOL - well it's maybe not quite that bad - but I really do NOT like cleaning.

11.  I wish I could move back to Ontario.  While I am thankful for where I am in my life, if I could change one thing, it would be to move back to where my family is.  I love my family in Saskatchewan, but it is still too cold there for me.  So I would love to move to Ontario to be close to my family there.

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Here are the answers to the questions that Jeannie asked me:

1. What quality do you like best about yourself?

I think the quality that I like about myself is that I am empathetic.  I’d like to think that I try to understand others’ feelings, rather than projecting what I feel onto them.  Having been through many situations, I feel I am a good listener and try to understand the person who is sharing.

2. What have you done, or learned to do, that you never thought you could? 

I never thought I could have gone through some of the difficult situations that I have experienced over the past 25 years.  My husband had an accident that left him an incomplete paraplegic and ended up in a wheelchair, I have experienced infertility and all that goes with it, we have gone through the process of adoption, and I have struggled with depression, panic attacks and anxiety.  I never thought I would be a strong enough person to go through those things – yet God gave me the strength whenever I needed it. 

3. Why did you begin to blog?

I began to blog because I had just come through a difficult time in my life and wanted to share some of the things I had learned going through those struggles.

4. What do you like most and least about blogging?

I love being able to share my journey with others.  I love seeing how God directs different people to my blog and uses what He has put on my mind to encourage others.  I think the thing I like least is the feeling of “having” to write something. When I started, I found it easy to blog almost every day.  But some weeks, I find it difficult to even blog one day.  But I am realizing that it’s me who puts those expectations on myself.  So now, I’ve really been trying to write more what God brings to my mind rather than what I want to write about.  So many times I’ve started a blog only to delete it because it just didn’t feel right.

5. What was your favourite book when you were younger, and do you still like it?  Has it stood the test of time?

My favorite book(s) were the Laura Ingles series.  They have ABSOLUTELY stood the test of time.  My sister Linda gave them to me as Christmas and birthday gifts and eventually received the whole series.  Now, my daughter and son have read them as well.  In fact, a couple years ago we went to South Dakota and did a tour of where the Ingles families lived and were raised.  VERY COOL!

6. Are you active on social media like Facebook and Twitter?  If not, why not?

I am on Facebook, but wouldn’t necessarily say active.  Up until last summer I was active but ended up closing my account for a time.  I found it occupied too much of my time/thoughts.  Now I basically use my FB to promote my blog – with the odd interaction otherwise.  

7. What would you like to have inscribed on your gravestone?

She brought joy to our world.

8. If you could have a famous person (living or dead, real or fictional) as a next-door neighbour, who would it be?

David Foster. . . . I would be blessed by all the music that would be coming from his home!  Mind you I might not want to teach piano if he lived there!  LOL

9.  As Anne of Green Gables said, "Which would you rather be if you had the choice--divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?"

I would say angelically good – since I find it so difficult to be that!!!

10. What would an ideal day look like for you?

If I could describe the perfect day it would be Saturday in July. We would spend the morning doing yard work outside. The temperature would be about 25C.  My husband and kids would be home and in the afternoon we would be hanging out in the back yard.  We have a pond with Adirondack chairs around it, and we would be sitting there watching the kids swim in our pool.  I’d be sipping on a strawberry daiquiri and have steaks marinating ready for an outdoor meal on the deck.   Wow. . . . I am almost there!   :-)

11. What is your favourite piece of music?

Classical would be Claire de Lune – Claude Debussy, Christian would be I Can Only Imagine By MercyMe. 

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Here are the questions I am asking of the people I am nominating:

1. If you could be anywhere else right now, where would it be
2. What do you love about where you are at in your life right now?
3. What has been your favorite or least favorite post that you have blogged about?
4. How long have you been blogging and what prompted you to choose this road?
5. What is one word that your friends would use to characterize you?
6. What is your favorite quote or Scripture verse?
7. What is something you fear?
8. Tell us about an event that changed your life.
9. What is your favorite season of the year and why?
10. Name one person that has been an important role model in your life.
11. What is a good book that you would recommend others to read?

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Thanks again Jeannie for nominating me.  This has been a fun journey and I've enjoyed thinking through these questions and being able to put some of my thoughts on paper.

For those of you reading this, why don't you consider heading on over the Jeannie's blog at Little House on the Circle  I know you will enjoy your time there!!

Have a wonderful summer!!!!!