More Bloggy Goodness

The Thoughtful Blogger Award is for those who answer blog comments, emails, and make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others' feelings into consideration before speaking out and who are kind and courteous. Also for all of those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping other bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.

Kat passed along this award to me and I can't tell you how much it means coming from her. If anyone is thoughtful, she is. She always leaves such sweet comments, and every once in awhile she emails me directly, too. One of those times, she emailed me to tell me one of my posts wasn't accepting comments and I had no idea. We kind of laugh because we have so many things in common.... from the trials of being the captain of a tennis team to being mom's AND step-mom's. Thanks again, Kat.

5 Questions from Lauren

Also, Lauren had a neat post the other day answering five questions from a fellow blogger. I thought it would be fun to do, too, so Lauren sent these five questions to me. If you'd like try this, let me know and I'll email you five questions for your answering pleasure.

1. What is your favorite thing to do as a family? With a ten year age difference between our oldest and youngest, it's hard to find lots of outdoor activities in which everyone can partake. I guess the most enjoyable times for our family are simple things like going to the pool or playing at the park. It's nice to see the older kids play with Adam and they really have lots of fun together. Another thing we love (though Adam's too young now) is playing Board games. Scrabble and Rummikub are two of favorites.

2. Have you ever had a defining moment that shaped who you are today? I've had a few, but the one that comes to mind most often is my first semester in college. I dropped out two weeks before finals. I was in the Honors program and found myself, for the first time, making bad grades and really hating classes. In high school, good grades came easy and I got by without having to study much. In college, I was suddenly thrown in with the best of the best and it was hard to handle. I also had a really bad roommate in the dorms who got drunk and trashed the room early on, which didn't help matters. Dropping out two weeks before the end of the semester was a big waste, but I re-enrolled right away and eventually grew to find my niche in college. One thing I learned the second time around was to ask for help (from professors, advisers and fellow students) and it made a world of difference.

3. Do you have a favorite book or movie? My favorite book is The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. I first read it in 7th grade and since then I've read it at least five more times. I like it so much because it's about ordinary people struggling not for fame or fortune, but for a good life and something to call their own.

4. What is your favorite comfort food? Oh gosh... I have so many. Right now a big bowl of rich and creamy mac n' cheese sounds divine.

5. Is there a passage of scripture that is particularly meaningful to you? Yes. It's the one in my blog header. 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.