Paying it Forward

My mom recently awarded me the "Thinking Blogger Award". The idea is to award five people and then "pay it forward" by going on to award five more people. I feel honored to have been given this award, but I am faced with somewhat of a dilemma. There are so many blogs that I love to read and I have been blessed to have met so many wonderful people throughout my blogging time. To have to narrow this down to five people is very difficult. But here goes:

1. I would first like to pass this award onto someone who is very dear to me. I have known her my whole life and when I was younger, we spent a lot of time together; playing when we were younger, and as we were older writing "snail mail" back and forth to eachother talking about the typical teenage things; boys, music, school, boys, doing makeovers, boys....you get the idea. We had many "kool-aid" chats in my cul-de-sac late at night while she was visiting. She is a fellow blogger and I love to read her because not only is she greatly funny and tells stories in only a way she can, but she can also make you think. I present the first "Thinking Blogger Award" to my dear cousin, Karen of "The Big Trade-Off". I love you, Karen!

2. I'd like to pass my next award along to someone I have only recently met through the new community of moms I am a part of "Moms of Grace". She is a young mother of three, one of whom suffers from Mitochondrial Myopathy and autism. You may have read and heard about her daughter throughout blogland: Emma Grace. Heather and Emma's story touches me and gives such hope. Heather is a true follower of Christ and has the utmost faith in Him and I feel priveledged to "know" her and be able to pray for her little girl. She inspires me and definitely makes me "think". You can visit her at Especially Heather.

3. I'd like to pass #3 onto someone who I have been following since around about my 125th post. I found out about her when she posted her 200th post. She had a "revolutionary" idea to commemorate her 200th post by attempting to get 200 comments. She succeeded and I decided to copy her and attempt to get 125 comments for my 125th post. I have followed her ever since and I am so happy I have. Her husband has been going through some health problems and she just recently started a new job and she is another person I admire greatly in her ability to just keep going! I think she'll inspire you, too. Her name is LaLa and you can find her at "Insight to LaLa's World"!

4. #4 goes to someone who I have been reading for quite some time, however to be completely honest, I'm not quite sure how we found eachother. But she always has something thought provoking to say, and she can also be very funny. I enjoy reading her and she is also responsible for making my cool header picture look like a cartoon! She deserves to be read because she has such great thoughts and conveys them in the most creative ways. Go read Yellow Mama at "OneStepUpFromStupid"!

5. And last, but not least, I would like to pass this award along to another person near and dear to my heart. She is an inspiration in the truest sense of the word. She has been through a mountain of stuff in the past few years. She has traveled the world. She has gotten two degrees. She worked and went to school at the same time while supporting herself while her husband was away. She lives thousands of miles away from her home, but it wouldn't feel like home without her here. She has given someone I love very much her unconditional love and stood by him through thick and thin. She has honored her wedding vows to the utmost and I am proud to call her my sister. The last award I am giving goes to my dear sister-in-law, who you all know as Sema of 28 Celsius.

And that concludes my part of this wonderful awards ceremony. I don't even know who started it, but it was a beautiful idea. I love everyone of my friends out in blog-land and everyone I read deserves this award!