Year-End Faves: Friends' Blog Posts of 2007

I love blogging. I love that it keeps me connected with friends near & far, past & present, in such an easy and fun way. Not to mention it gives me such incredible insights into their souls! I have learned so much about the people I love and people I'm becoming better friends with through the blessing of blogging. There is so much wisdom to be found in their words! I chose six posts that really stood out to me this year, and selected a quote from each one to whet your appetite. If you have not already visited these folks' pages, grab a tasty beverage, sit back, and enjoy. You won't be disappointed.

1. Jen's writing is always amazing, but I found particular joy in this post, Days of Awe. Here's a quote:

God has a big box of sticky notes waiting for me, I know. Just because I haven’t wanted to listen, that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t have things He’s been wanting to tell me.

2. Brie sees beauty in the everyday. Right now she's living in the Big Apple, and I'm enjoying the opportunity to live vicariously through her as I read her blog. I loved this post, hitting the mark. In it, she says,

the good news is that the coach is the best around, and he doesn't give standardized tests. he has the time, energy, and support from the Upper Administration to craft specialized tests for each player, designed to reveal what's lacking, challenge to a higher level, and reward where the hard work has paid off. He's good like that.

3. My friend Pam is serving the Lord and the people of Nicaragua. She's about halfway through her assignment. I love to read about what she's doing, and even more about how it feels to be wholly used of God in the mission field. This entry (introspection) made an impact on me.

... a deeper part of me recognizes that this cloak of stability and "normalcy" that I cling to as a future dream is not a full answer to my desire to find a place where I truly belong.

4. Jenny wrote a post entitled "siblings" about her children that really touched me.

And I wonder how we cultivate transparency, understanding, love, and REAL friendship among our kids.

5. My brother in law, Bob, wrote this post after he visited us in our new town. I thought it was something special. I put a copy of it in Eli's baby book for posterity.

The first thing you will notice about Eli is his eyes. I feel like me and Eli bonded in the way only an uncle and a 4 month old nephew can. To ensure our bond he made sure to mark me with his industrial drool.

6. Jan describes her first marathon experience so well, you feel like you're right there next to her throughout the entire thing. If there was ever a blog post that inspired me, this one is it.

I tried to embrace everything as it unfurled...not really knowing what to expect. I did not expect the pain nor did I expect the power of whispered words from fellow runners..."Come on. Just a little further," words that were repulsive coming from the crowd of on-lookers, but full of hope and promise when spoken from fellow participants. I did not expect it to be an act of worship....

And one more shout out, just because I thought it was so funny. Read this, then this.

Dawnomite's Year-End Faves!

It's that time of the year! No, I'm not referring to Christmas and all that fun stuff. I mean year-end lists! To celebrate a great year of blogging far & wide, I'm going to be posting favorite lists of movies, music, tv shows, books, blog posts, photographs, & web articles I enjoyed this year, as well as list other random things. I'm a sucker for a good list. Aren't you?

i'm published!

well, virtually. i wrote a guest blogger post over at The Mom Crowd. check it out!

evaluating the NaBloPoMo experience

i've been meaning to post a few thoughts about National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), which, in case you missed it, was simply a challenge to post something on your blog every day for the month of november. and there are two days left in the month.

i first heard about it in another friend's blog, and i thought, hey! cool. now i can blog every day and have a "real" reason to do so. (as if my other reasons are invalid, like blogging for personal expression, blogging for fun, blogging as a creative outlet, blogging to communicate with family & friends, etc. sometimes i think i need a reason to post what i want to rather than just do it and have fun with it. it's not like it's a graded assignment. but "why blog?" is a different topic and i'm not going to go into it now.)

i learned something about my blogging self the first week in: when the job is to post every day, my creativity gets stilted. there were a few days when i'd sit at the computer for over an hour looking for a topic to write about that tickled my fancy. i even googled "memes" and scrolled through dozens of prompts trying to be inspired. then i'd think, "well, that's a good topic, but there's probably a better one! let's keep looking!" like it was my last blog post ever. then the kids would wake up from their (sometimes simultaneous) naps and my window of blogging time would slam shut. "shoot! i guess i'll post something about candy!!" yeah, that's brilliant! and that was only DAY TWO! :)

i have discovered through this process that it'd be more fun if i had approached it with a goal or plan in mind before it began. you may have already read that i prefer to be organized in the nerdiest of ways (visions of monica geller with her label-maker dance through my head). maybe blog about family on mondays, and movies on tuesdays, photography on wednesdays, you get the idea. or post 30 different "favorites", one for each day. there are a lot of creative ways i could have approached it. but never having done it before, i just jumped in without a map, and did the best i could. there's nothing wrong with that method either.

i look forward to blogging as frequently as my creativity or impulse tells me to, which is still pretty frequent (2-3 times a week). i'll post when i have an idea, rather than look for something to post about. the burden of obligation will no longer be there (blogging will not be a daily "duty").

next year, will i do it again? i don't know, maybe. probably. and you should too, just to see where the experience takes you. i'm sure i could have gotten more out of the experience if i had engaged in the NaBloPoMo community more, and if i had had more time in general. the whole thing seems like an unwritten chapter out of Writing Down the Bones, a really cool book by Natalie Goldberg. you talented writers out there know exactly what i'm talking about.

cheers to all of you who participated, and to you, dear readers, for skimming through and commenting on some of my posts this past month. it was fun! (i don't mean to make this sound like some kind of farewell post to my blog, 'cause it's not! never fear!)

find my peace

The following is my submission for our church's annual Advent devotional book.

I do the middle school girls’ Bible study for Wednesday Night Alive at my church, and my faithful attendee is Lily, a sixth grader. I love that girl. She didn’t know me at all that first day, and now she shows up without fail and spends an hour talking about scripture with me. My hat’s off to her. She has no choice but to pay attention and discuss things with me, and she’s a great sport about it. I’m proud of her and happy that I get to spend that time with her. Recently one of my lessons touched on my favorite verse in all of scripture:

Hebrews 4:15-16
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Lily and I spent time discussing Jesus’ (our High Priest’s) temptation in the desert; how he fought back the devil with the power of memorized scripture; how the devil was preying on Jesus when He was physically weak; how Satan has no pity for us when we’re down (1 Peter 5:8); how we’d be utterly and totally lost if Jesus had, at any point, given in. His refusal to worship the devil allowed him to continue on in his mission to die on the cross for our sins. Thank you Lord!!

I like to wrap my head around the fact that before Jesus came, believers couldn’t directly talk to God. Jesus is what bridges us to God the Father; his death makes us sinless in God’s eyes. And I think of those old priests who went in to the Holy of Holies on the believers’ behalf; only they could go in, and even then, it was only like once a year. Can you imagine? Believing in God and not being able to just talk to Him whenever you want? When Jesus died, the curtain was torn and everyone was given an all-access pass to the Holy of Holies. That is a privilege! O how I take it for granted.

I’m tempted a lot. I mess up all the time. My soul is clean only because Jesus forgives me. What a tremendous comfort it is to me to remember that Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin”, and because of that, He knows how I feel. You bet I’m going to run to His throne in confidence, resting back at his knees, soaking up that mercy and grace that He has for me in abundance. Thank you Lord, for coming to this earth and saving us. More than that, thank You for knowing how we feel.

“O how I would have despaired
If You had not come found me there
I can lean against Your throne and find my peace

Find my peace…”

~ Jennifer Knapp, Peace

NaBloPoMo day 1