And My Gift to You

I just received a lovely blog award that I was so proud to receive. I received it from the lovely Chelle over at Baby Bean Mom. This woman that I've never met in real life is amazing. She has been constant support to me and even made a BEAUTIFUL vase for me to raffle off to raise money for our adoption. It's amazing how we can become friends with people we've never met. I often wish TX was a lot closer to MN. . . cause I am sure we would be real life friends as well. Thanks Chelle! :-D

This award is not like all of the other blog awards because we all want to not only know about you, but your opinion of your fellow bloggers. So, without further ado, I present you with the rules.

Tell your readers how your journey into blogging began. Be as verbose or shy as you like.
Pick 3-5 fellow bloggers whom you adore and write what exactly it is you value about that person or their blog. The more you write about them the better. This is a chance to really appreciate your blog friends who have been there with and for you through thick and thin.
Let the blessed winners know they have been awarded.

That's it. Those are the rules. Now, before you think you can give the old line, "I don't want to pick anyone to pass this award onto because I don't want my readers to feel hurt if I don't pick them, so consider yourselves all tagged" I want you to realize that excuse tells all of your blog friends that you are wimping out, amongst other things. ;) Don't feel bad that you can't award everyone, the award will make its rounds and eventually everyone will get it. If you feel bad enough, you can always award more than 5 bloggers.

I decided to start this award in December because it is the season of giving and bringing cheer to others. What better way to do that than to let the people in our lives know that we cherish them.

I started blogging back in August of 2008 at a little blog I called Life According to Leah.wordpress.com. (I've now made the blog private until I decide what to do with all of my postings) I honestly cannot remember why I started blogging. I think it was an outlet for me. I was one of those bloggers without a purpose. I wrote about things that were going on in my life, I wrote about my political and religious beliefs, I wrote about my travels. Yes, my writing covered pretty much everything. But still, I always felt it lacked purpose. But now I realize that it was what led me to many wonderful bloggers so when I launched our adoption blog, I already had a following.

Without further ado, here is who I give this award to today. :-D

1. Emily at Our Little Buster. I'm not sure who reached out to whom, but we met because we are both adopting from the same country. (If you still haven't figured out my country of adoption, go check out Emily's blog) Emily and I now email each other and we have so much in common. Emily is another fellow blogger that I just know would be a wonderful friend in real life. Sometimes when we email each other, it scares me how much alike we are. Gosh this world we live in is too big sometimes! I follow Emily's blog on a daily basis and can't wait for her and her husband to get their referral. Although I've never met them, it is so obvious that they are going to make very wonderful parents.

2. Elizabeth from Bits of Sunshine. Elizabeth is one of my few in real life friends that also blogs. Her blog focuses on family life, home schooling, crafts, God, and just life in general. I enjoy reading it because it is so different than my life. I've also enjoyed being able to keep in touch via the blogworld. Once we all graduate high school and move on with our lives, and settle in different cities, it's easy to lose touch with people. So, this has been a wonderful way to keep in touch. :-D

3. Michele from My Life After Loss. This woman has been through more in her lifetime than I'v ever seen. Yet she remains resilient and full of life. And no matter what she is going through, she always makes the time to leave thoughtful comments on my post. And through blogging, I've also discovered that Michele was adopted. It is wonderful to hear the perspective of a grown adult and their views of adoption.

There are so many more, but I'm running short on time and want to get this post published. . . today sometime. :-D