The Liebster Award

So this post is a little different than the usual… It’s a celebration of being awarded The Liebster Award!

Liebster is a German word for “dearest”, and the award started about five years ago, by bloggers for bloggers as a way to spotlight smaller, new-ish blogs.

Thank you, Carol Graft of https://carolgraftblog.wordpress.com for nominating me! I met Carol at the Breathe Writing Conference this fall. She was a writer before her family took center stage; now she says she’s polishing off the rust. I admire Carol’s easy way of conversation, her quiet encouragement and promotion of others, and her ability to connect with other women. (Maybe I was even jealous!) As I get to know Carol better, I’m cheering her on in her writing journey.

Carol asked me the following questions:

1. What motivates you to get up every morning? The same thing that helps me sleep at night and the thing that sustains me through each day: God’s unfailing love. (The blaring alarm to get the kids to school Monday through Friday is also good motivation.)
2. What is your favorite post and why? That’s a lot like asking which piece of my heart is my favorite and why? How do I answer that?

   

3. How and where do you pray for your most pressing issues? (e.g.- you write them, sing them, share them with close friends, do them early, or late at night…) Immediately, if I’ve got my brain on straight. Outloud, in the car, silently, with whomever is there, I’ve written them, texted them, sometimes they even turn into songs – kinda depends.

   

4. What is one piece of advice that you would give to a new blogger just starting out? I’m stealing this brilliant quote from Crystal Stine: “Feel all the feelings. Then write anyway.” I’ll raise my teacup to that!
5. What book (besides the Bible) has inspired you and how did it do that? 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp awoke my desire to write.
6. If you could give someone $1,000,000 who would you give it to? Possibly Compassion International. I wholeheartedly support their mission, and it’s amazing how far a little love can go.

   

7. If you had to pick a bible verse that serves as a mantra for you at this point in your life, what would it be and why? My current favorite verse is Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It’s life-saving, life-changing news in 13 words.
8. Given the choice of anyone in the world whom would you want as a dinner guest and why? You’re making me squirm. A lot. I’m hesitating to even publish this post because of this answer. *Deep breath* The honest truth is I’m not big on dinner guests. Before you shoot me, let me explain. It’s probably some horrible character defect, but I hate cooking. Food prep STRESSES me out. Dinner guests and enjoying someone’s company are not synonymous for me, if I’m the one cooking. My husband usually cooks, and this is not a problem in our marriage. However, when dinner guests come over I feel compelled to cook. Because from an outside perspective, the stay-at-home mom who works part time from home should be the cook, right? And it’s obviously not good enough to simply live the way we live in front of other people, because…why? I don’t know. So once in a great while I’ll love people so insanely I’ll actually invite them over for dinner, and I’ll actually try to cook. (And clean, and all the other stuff that goes into having dinner guests.) Which causes my stress levels to soar, which exhausts me, and sometimes even results in resentment. Again, I’m not saying this is right, I’m just telling it like it is. (So, if you’ve ever come over for dinner and we had take-out, it was because I wanted to skip the stress and enjoy your company. And if I’ve ever cooked for you, consider it the ultimate sacrifice of love!)

   

9. If you could have someone from history over as a dinner guest -who and why? Um….see above? Maybe I could time travel and meet them somewhere…
10. Where are the top 3 places you want to visit? I’m not picky. Close your eyes and point to the map. Ideally, there’d be some measure of safety, few to no bugs, a camera so I can snap pics (or something to sketch with), and my family.
11. Describe your overall inspiration for your blog. Head over to Why Look Up: https://lookupsometimes.com/why-look-up-2/ and Look Up Sometimes: https://lookupsometimes.com/2000-miles-1-painting-3-life-changing-words/ My tagline is: nurturing Son-followers to embrace grace. The sunflower is my logo, and if you say “Son-follower” outloud… 🙂 Sunflowers have this crazy-cool thing they do called heliotropism that means they grow toward the light. They actually track the sun’s movement during the day! I want to follow the Son of God with my life, bask in His Sonshine, grow toward the Light of the world, and nurture as many fellow Son-followers as I can along the way.

In 150-300 words, tell about your favorite blog :

My favorite blog is Ann Voskamp’s http://www.aholyexperience.com . I encounter God through her words bleeding across the page. It’s His blood that cleanses us, right? And if He lives in us, maybe figuratively spilling a little of our own, via words, could bring some much-needed balm? I can’t count how many times I’ve needed the exact words Ann has shared. Words that reached in, grabbed hold, and lifted me up. That’s what I hope to do for people. Ann’s words – her blog, her books, her comments to people on social media – all pulse with life. Even though Ann is insanely famous, she treats every single person as though she had time for just you. Before I knew better and had only read a few of her blog posts, I sent her some scribbles – and asked if she’d consider it as a guest post. (Just shoot me now.) She actually responded – with extreme graciousness. A few months later, I wanted to send her a few lines that had moved me, in hopes of encouraging her. Sure, me and all her other zillions of fans. I still emailed her, and she or whoever helps with her email responded again. No words, just a link to the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, which I later joined. Ann played a huge role in starting me on my writing journey.

10 Random Facts About Myself

1. I grew up on the West Coast.
2. I am completely uncoordinated in all sports.
3. I once didn’t win a coloring contest because the judges thought my parents colored it.
4. I painted for an art gallery one summer. Sounds glamorous, doesn’t it? Actually, the gallery suffered a fire, and I was hired help to paint exposed pipes and spackle and sand until my eyes went bleary.
5. I was once a licensed real estate agent.
6. I participated in a community production of Fiddler on the Roof as both an extra mama and a male Jewish bottle dancer. Costume change!
7. I broke my arm doing a cartwheel when I was four.
8. I’ve sung in a recording studio called Dead Aunt Thelma’s.
9. I only took calculus in high school because all my friends were doing it. (If everyone jumps off a bridge…)
10. I’m a Type 4/2/1 or 4/1/2 in the Dressing Your Truth energy profiling course. It’s like a personality test but more amazing. (It’s also free: https://my.liveyourtruth.com/dyt/home/ I’m not reimbursed in any way to share this – it’s just a resource that’s changed the way I think about and relate to people. Note: It’s a helpful tool, not a site to derive your core beliefs.)

I Nominate the Following Blogs:

• Rebekah Love Dorris of https://www.morethantheancients.com. Rebekah and I met in the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild two years ago and have formed a precious friendship. Rebekah has a gift for encouragement, for sharing scripture she’s memorized (the woman is a wealth), and infuses a splash of humor into her writing. She’s also a graphic designer and created Look Up Sometimes’s sunflower logo.

• Charity Lee Jennings of http://www.bamboosketches.com. Charity and I also met in the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild and have formed a treasured friendship. Charity blogs about life as a Canadian in China. Her stories are unique and fresh. She’s recently added Mandarin Minute podcasts that teach the listener a few Chinese words in a couple minutes. Charity is also an artist and showcases her original art on her website.

Note: If you are nominated and choose to accept it, the rules can be found HERE and more general info about the award can be found here HERE.