Hi, friends. For a while, I didn’t make awards posts; though I’m always grateful to receive nominations, I grew lazy with them. I realized I should make award posts because I enjoy reading them, so I’m sure others do, too. I apologize to anyone I incidentally snubbed by forgetting about their nomination.
Sunshine Blogger Award
The Sunshine Blogger Award is peer recognition for blogs that inspire positivity and joy.
[Also, it’s a way to say, “Hey! You’re awesome. Keep it up.”]
A new blogging friend, Dee at Sealed in Christ, nominated me for this award. Thanks, hun!
Q: Who is your best friend and what do you have in common?
A: My best friend is my boyfriend. We’re both obsessive with our niches [Me: blogging and reading, Him: movies and music]. We’re both overall responsible and level-headed. We’re both food-loving homebodies. We can talk to each other for days. The biggest thing we have in common is that each of us is crazy in love with the other. (cue the “aww’s”) ♥
Q: What is your favorite animal and why?
A: I like owls because they symbolize wisdom and intelligence. I’m a nerd, so there ya go. Manatees are also fat and adorable. 🙂
Q: Words of wisdom for someone?
A: “Listen more than you speak. Ask others’ about their lives rather than always talking about yourself.”
Q: What is the book that you would recommend everyone read?
A: The obvious answer is the Bible, but if we’re talking secular books…probably To Kill A Mockingbird…or, taking it back to middle school, maybe Shiloh…gah, I can’t answer restricting questions about books. I chose TKAM and Shiloh because they stir the heart and force the reader to empathize with a victim. The most memorable and touching books tend to do that!
Q: What is your favorite thing to do on a daily basis?
A: Read–scripture, a fiction book, y’all’s blog posts, etc. I’m currently reading Oliver Twist, btw, and it’s great so far.
Q: Where is your favorite place to go and why?
A: At the risk of sounding like Mrs. Goody Two-Shoes…church. I love church activities, and I love my church family, too.
Q: What is one word that describes you best? Explain.
A: Fighter (mentality, not personality). I fight the progression of my disability through constant exercise. Aside from a brief period of stupidity in college, I’ve always fought for excellent grades. I fight with myself in a sense to continuously improve my blog posts.
Q: If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be and why?
A: Fatigue is a huge plague for people with Friedreich’s Ataxia, so if I could change one thing in my life, I’d choose to have lots of energy!
Q: What do you consider to be the priority of your life?
A: On a psychological and emotional level, my faith journey…on a practical level, maintaining strength and abilities
Q: Tell us your favorite author and why.
A: C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens, Edith Wharton (you know I can’t pick just one)…in their genres, these authors are intellectual yet witty.
Q: What is one thing that you wish everyone knew about you?
A: I never cry on purpose. Trust me, I’m just as annoyed as you that my brain makes me cry over silly things.
Nominees:
- Family to the 5 Power! @ Tales From the Mama Duck
- Matt @ Jesusluvsall
- Sullivan @ The Sullivan Spin
- Blue Ink Writer @ A Pensieve View
- Tim McGee @ Reflections from the Pew
- David @ Dadability
- Ryan Stroud @ On the Radar
- Steven Colborne @ Perfect Chaos
- Suziey Bravo @ Of All the Books in All the Libraries
- Penny Wood @ A Southern Belle with Stories to Tell
- Lady Emily Rose @ Knight of Angels
Rules:
- Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link back to him/her.
- Answer the 11 questions provided by the blogger who nominated you.
- Nominate 11 other bloggers and ask them 11 new questions.
- Notify the nominees by commenting on one of their blog posts.
- List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo on your post.
New Questions:
- What is your favorite book or movie and why?
- Where is your favorite place you’ve traveled?
- How would you summarize the focus of your blog?
- When and why did you start a blog?
- Do you have a religious faith? If you are a Christian, do you identify with a denomination?
- What is advice almost anyone could benefit from?
- Where do you live, and how is the weather today?
- Do you have a college degree or a certificate, and if so, what was your field of study?
- Apple or Windows?
- What is a nostalgic cartoon, toy, etc. from your childhood?
- Who from fiction or reality, past or present, would you most like to have a conversation with and why?
Random Acts of Kindness Award
My friend Matt at Jesusluvsall nominated me for this award. He teaches English as a second language and blogs about his interactions and observations about his students and God’s love. Check out his inspiring blog.
A Story About Kindness:
(Rant) Throughout my college years, my mobility struggles were endless. Limited parking…students and staff sharing a.k.a. fighting over handicapped spots…the office of accessibility being located in the least accessible building on campus (I’m not joking)…fighting senseless bureaucratic rules in various contexts from testing to choosing classes…I could write a book about it, but suffice to say, people like myself fall through the cracks.
Anyway, the elevator in one of my class buildings broke. My class was on the second floor, so I was basically SOL. I needed to make up a test and had studied hard for it. I can’t remember how, but I ended up sitting downstairs with a rep from the accessibility office. I told him that I wanted to take this test and I could walk up the stairs with some help, but he insisted that I wasn’t allowed to do so for liability reasons. After talking in circles with the rep for several minutes, I got so upset that I fled to the bathroom in tears.
A girl in the bathroom gently asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I need to go upstairs, but no one will help me!” I wailed pitifully.
So this random girl came with me to the stairs, recruiting one of her friends in the downstairs lobby along the way. Thank the Lord they just happened to be nursing students. The girl from the bathroom walked with me while her friend carried my wheelchair. I took that dang test, too, and made an A.
Later, my entire class helped me walk back down the stairs.
My heart was full that day and in so many instances where a stranger offered to share my burden. Where university staff FAILED handicapped students like me, fellow students and instructors helped me get by with random acts of kindness.
[The elevator was broken for over a week.]
Nominees:
- Michael @ Jesus Quotes and God Thoughts
- Believe4147 @ Meeting Jesus
- T.F. Thompson @ Hard Time Ministries
- The Devotional Guy @ A Christian Living in 21st Century America
- Matthew Winters @ Honest Thoughts from a Pastor
- Jessy @ Faith and Books
- Agent X @ Fat Beggars School of Prophets
- Any of my followers with a story about kindness worth sharing
Rules:
- Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link back to him/her.
- Share a paragraph of something that impacted your life in the way or receiving kindness or extending kindness.
- List the rules and the Random Acts of Kindness logo in your post.
- Nominate other bloggers.
I hope you enjoyed this light post. No pressure to the nominees; I tried to pick a variety of people who seemed more likely to participate in the fun. If I nominated you for one but you’d rather do the other, feel free.
Thanks for reading!
Retrospective Lily 
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