You’re awesome

It’s been ages since I’ve received a blogging award. Back in the first few years of writing after launching Mama’s Empty Nest, several awards from fellow bloggers came my way.

Some bloggers don’t accept these peer awards, and while I certainly respect their decision, I think that if someone takes the time to read my blog and wants to gift me some kind of accolade, I should be gracious and accept it.

Recently, a new and lovely reader/fellow blogger from South Australia, Lyn Durante, nominated me for the Awesome Blogger Award. I had to place that nomination on the back burner of my blogging routine due to some time constraints, but I didn’t forget her graciousness and wanted to publicly acknowledge that. Thank you, Lyn, for thinking so highly of my blog!

According to this new friend, the Awesome Blogger Award was created by Miss Maggie at Dreaming of Guatemala. Here’s her description of the award straight from her blog:

“This is an award for the absolutely wonderful writers all across the blogging world. They have beautiful blogs, are kind and lovely, and always find a way to add happiness and laughter to the lives of their readers. That is what truly defines an awesome blogger.

Here are the rules of the award: 

• Thank the person who nominated you.
• Include the reason behind the award.
• Include the banner in your post.
• Tag it under #awesomebloggeraward in the Reader.
• Answer the questions your nominator gave you.
• Nominate at least 5 awesome bloggers.
• Give your nominees 10 new questions to answer.
• Let your nominees know that they’ve been nominated!

And now it’s time to answer the 10 questions Lyn gave me.  Questions are in bold print; my answers in italics. 

• What’s your most favourite book? My first answer would be my copy of God’s Holy Word, the Bible. It’s my go to book every day and I’ve written notes and thoughts in it along with many, many highlighted passages that mean so much to me.  I’d have to say my next favorite book would be the historical novel, Gone With the Wind. Other than the Bible, I think it’s the only book I’ve read and re-read several times.
• Who for you is the most influential person? That’s a hard one to answer. Not just one person stands out. My parents were influential and my husband has been as well. One of my prayer warrior friends also comes to mind. Another is someone I’ve known all my life, who was a college professor/adviser of mine, and now is simply my friend.
• What is that one legacy that you want to leave to the world? In a way, I think my blog is a legacy that I want to leave, and if I ever get around to finishing that novel I started writing, that too could be a legacy. But probably the most important one is a compilation of family stories I want to leave for my children and grandchildren.
• How do you want to be remembered? I want to be remembered as someone who gave folks a reason to smile. Someone who was kind-hearted and encouraging, a person who shined a little light of inspiration in the world. And I also want to be remembered as a person of strong faith.
• What makes you happy? Oh goodness, so many things! My little grand-daughters and their smiles and laughter. My husband, my family, my friends. Writing this blog. A real honest-to-goodness handwritten letter received in the mail. Blooming flowers in the garden. Sunshine. A cool, crisp fall day. The first snowfall of the season. The aroma of freshly-cut grass. Birds singing. Comments from readers on my blog. There’s so much to be happy about!
• What is your favourite food? Hands down, it has to be pizza. Not healthy, but definitely yummy.
• Which country or place do you want to visit next? Well, visiting all 50 states here in the USA is on my bucket list; I’ve been to 32 and am adding three more to the list soon, so I’ll have 15 more to go.  As far as another country, England, land of many of my ancestors, is where I’d like to go.
• What is your all time favourite song? I have many favorites ranging from oldies songs to Christian contemporary music. Some of my favorites include: “Somewhere over the Rainbow” by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole; “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz; “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me; “I Will Rise” by Chris Tomlin;  but an old hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” always resonates in my heart and soul.
• Your favourite movie or genre? My favorite movie genre is probably romantic comedy. I’m a happy ending kind of girl.
• What inspires you? God’s Word inspires me.  Photography inspires me and often a photo creates that spark of inspiration to write a blog post. Quotes also inspire me and I keep a notebook chock full of them.

Now comes the hard part, nominating five bloggers, because there are so many wonderful bloggers out there in cyperspace.  Several of the blogs I follow have chosen to be award-free, so I know while they are appreciative, they will not participate.

So I’m going to deviate a bit from the rules (yikes, a rule breaker I generally am NOT!) and nominate four and ask you, my readers, to help me out by nominating the fifth blogger for this award. You can even nominate yourself if you’d like! My nominees are:

• Mother Hen at Words Like Honey
• Dianna at These Days of Mine
• Faith/Love/Soul
• Robyn at Believe
• You or your favorite blogger!

Here is my list of 10 questions for the nominees: 

1. Why did you begin to blog?
2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
3. Do you enjoy rain and why or why not?
4. What aspect of your life would you change if you could?
5. What is one food you just can’t resist?
6. Would you rather hold a hard-back, paper paged book in your hand to read or do  you prefer an e-reader?
7. What genre of music is your favorite?
8. What is the best feature of your best friend?
9. Have you ever had a dream come true and what was it?
10. What does the view outside your window look like today?

Whether you pass the award on or not, if you are a fellow blogger and loyal reader of Mama’s Empty Nest, I think YOU are awesome!

©2017 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com