The Liebster Award

What Wonder Comes When We Least Expect

April 13, 2013

What is the “Liebster Blog Award?”

The Liebster award is given to up and coming bloggers to encourage them to continue their work. What is a Liebster? The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

It’s an award that was reputedly started in Germany in order to give smaller bloggers recognition for their hard work. You receive this award from a fellow blogger that feels your blog is both worthy & important to them. If you receive this award, there are two rules.

1. You must award 3-5 other bloggers with the award. In this case, it is five.
2. The bloggers awarded must have less than 300 followers.

Participation is completely voluntary and is not limited to any genre or writing for that matter. Basically, the blog can be about anything and simply has to be one that you feel is worthy and that you would like to give recognition to by passing it on.

I am honored to have been nominated by http://sandyshopefulroom.com/ , it was a lovely surprise to be seen as a blogger worth nominating.  Thank you again Sandy’s Hopeful Room.

In the rules of the award I am supposed to nominate 3 to 5 other bloggers but because I am an intermittent blogger I really don’t follow that many. Also this requires a bit of time and  writing and I wouldn’t want to force anyone to do something they are uncomfortable with.  Therefore I am going to nominate 3 for the award and if all they want to do is accept the nomination as Honorary that is just fine with me. I did some research and found you can accept this as an Honorary Liebster award. So I am accepting this nomination for the Liebster award but leave it open to other to accept as honorary or at whatever level they feel comfortable with. Below are the rules for both:

Here are the rules for receiving this honorary award:

1. Accept the award with a statement of gratitude
2. Post the award on your blog

If you choose to follow the complete rules here they are:

1. Answer the questions the person has posted for them
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 5 to 10 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. Post the award on your blog

Some Interesting information about me;

1. I am a 66 year old perpetual student
2. I have just completed my second masters degree, a Masters of Divinity and am discerning whether or not I am called to ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
3. I am graduating from the School of Theology and Ministry, Seattle University on June 16, 2013
4. I love to read.  I am currently reading Gracias by Henri Nouwen, Written That You May Believe by Sandra Schneiders, and (for about the 10^th time) The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
5. I love to sit in silence and listen for the word offered me by the All Surrounding Presence
6. Life for me is simply one big adventure that I dive into with all I have
7. I love visiting our grandchildren in Boston, 4 year old Amelia and 6 year old Liam, for they bring me great joy in their discovery of life.
8. I love playing with my two parrots, Green Cheeked Amazon George, and Cherry Head Conure Cuddles (also known as Carlos the South American terror) and our beautiful dog Fred.
9. I love to travel with my husband John to new and amazing places
10. I love to cook and watch others enjoy the food I prepare
11. I love my friends, all of them, from the youngest to the oldest for they enrich my life in ways I cannot explain.

Here are the answers to the questions Sandy has asked of me:

1.      Who is my mentor?

My mentor, or I should say mentors, are those who model the best of who they are in life.  Three of my mentors are my pastor who has shown me what compassion is; my Regional Minister who has shown me the true meaning of courage; and my husband who has shown me what it means to love and be loved.

2.      Who is your favorite author?

Now this is a hard question for I have many favorites.  I currently have 4 that I am enamored with:  Joyce Rupp, John Phillip Newell, Henri Nouwen, and Brian McLaren.

3.      Where did you go on your best vacation and why?

Last December I went on a cruise in the Caribbean.  I love cruises they have only as much activity as I want to engage in and a great deal of space and time for meditation and contemplation.  The cruise to the Caribbean gave me the opportunity to meet people of another culture and discover their kindness and generosity and offer my gratitude.  Our time in Caribbean was a time of engaging creation in unexpected ways.

4.      Do you have a motto you live by?

Micah 6:8

5.      If you could be anyone in the world (alive or dead), who would that be?

I’m not sure I could be anyone other than who I am after all it has taken me 66 years of errors and successes to get here.  If I were anyone else I would not be who I have become and therefore probably not answering these questions.  If anything intrigues me at all it is who I might be if I were born 1 or 2 hundred years into the future.  It would be interesting to know how our world, society and culture will survive these tumultuous years.  I guess I would really want to know if we a people have grown spiritually or have we given away our humanity.

6.      What is your favorite movie?

Now this is a difficult question, as I am not much of a movie person but if I had to choose I think the Princess Bride is one of my favorites.  I like movies that are light and escapist or provide me with something to think about.  So I also like The Lord of the Rings because it gives me insight into what it means to faithfully follow ones task even if you haven’t actually chosen it.  I also love science fiction because it offers today’s issues in new settings that helps me to see them from a different angle.

7.      Newspapers, Internet News or Television News?

I am a hard copy, paper reading, and book holding in my hands kind of person.  The electronic media leaves me a cold so the newspaper I like is our local paper, The Everett Herald, from Everett Washington.

8.      When do you do your best writing?

Five minutes before it’s due.  Well not quite that bad, but, I do often wait until the last minute to write something.  Although I once wrote a homily for Morning Prayers on the bus in route to chapel and it turned out to be one of my best.

9.      Morning person or night person?

I am definitely a morning person.

10.  Name one news story that fascinates you right now.

I am currently struggling with all of the issues associated with gun control. I do not understand our countries fascination with weapons and am trying to come to grips with the violence guns, and all weapons, have on our society.   I am mortified and saddened by the violence against innocents that happens every day and I am confused by those who claim that more access to violent means will make it all better.  No one has given me a satisfactory explanation for any of this horror.

11.  What would you want to do if you knew you had one week to live?

What would I do, well I think I would take the time to hold my family in my arms one more time and then sit and watch the sunrise over the Cascade Mountains and set over Puget Sound.  I would listening to my dog and birds play, the song sparrows at the feeder and the Jays squabble.  That would be my last sounds here on this earth.  Then I would open my arms and let the new adventure begin.

So here are my questions for you:

1. If you could choose anywhere to live where would it be and why?
2. What is you favorite piece of music?
3. What is your favorite book?
4. What period in time would you most like to live?
5. What would be your ideal purpose in life?
6. What task is your least favorite, ever?
7. What world issue are you current struggling with?
8. Name one or two people who have been mentors in your life?
9. If you had to live today over in what ways would it be different?

I am nominating the following Bloggers:

http://cloakedmonk.com/

http://justbetweentheridges.wordpress.com/

http://followingmypathatplts.wordpress.com/