Other than hurricanes dead-heading (no pun intended), what else is going on?

Although it seems hard to believe, the earth is still spinning and regular life is still ongoing even though there is a hurricane out there.

There are a lot of things in life I didn't get around to this week, and hopefully that's just a "yet" but I acknowledge some things will have to be dropped.

Here are a few that won't:

1. A big heartfelt thanks to Chani for awarding me the Blogger Reflection award.



This award should make you reflect on five bloggers who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, and have been a Godly example to you. Five Bloggers who when you reflect on them you get a sense of pride and joy... of knowing them and being blessed by them.

Even with the blatant abuse of the word "impact" and the nebulous wording of "Godly example" I find this a lovely award. Even lovelier is what Chani wrote

Julie and I have very different cultural perspectives. She is also far brighter than me. Just the same, I am inspired by her absolute fearlessness when it comes to staring straight into the eyes of some of scariest ethical demons. She walks through the labyrinth and comes out the other side, with the results of her examination in her palms, offering it to the rest of us. She uses her superior intelligence for the betterment of us all, not just herself or her own personal aggrandizement. She recognizes it as a gift to be shared, not a battering ram to exert power-over others. She is never condescending. She always makes me think. And she forces me to keep my mind open.

Sometimes being a Scorpio is a real burden. LOL Just kidding.

It often worries? frightens? disturbs? me how frequently people use language to depict me as some sort of warrior of ideas and words. When asked to describe me, 'scary' and 'intimidating' are usually the first two words to pop into people's minds. Gut ping and heart pang. While I do not disparage myself or my abilities, I also recognize that my sort is not that revered. So when someone mentions my strengths without even a hint of backhanded compliment and in fact holds them up as admirable and positive, I'm flattened in gratitude. It's this sort of thing that allows me to keep perspective in the face of the rest of it.

Thanks Chani.

Because I like this award so well, I am going to pass it along to a few people...

A. Gwen, just because (a) it's true, this is something that definitely describes her and she also has uttered the word God on her blog. And not in a "save me from a hurricane" sort of way, plus (b) I'm just so grateful she's back from Mexico.

B. Kaliroz, because someday I'm going to be able to be more eloquent than AMEN after reading her amazing posts.

C. Citymama, who has been famous and super cool for a very long time but who I only recently really discovered and who wrote a post recently that rocked my world.

D. Whymommy, for the same reason as Citymama. She mixes strength, humanity, wisdom and insight into a post package that has me always nodding along, reaching deep, and finding something useful to walk away with.

E. Kyla, because she is Grace personified, without being annoyingly so...she pulls it off and makes you love love love her wonderful human self.

Congrats you guys...and seriously, if you are in my favorites, you know this means you too, even if you weren't in the list of 5. It's my belief that this award will make its way around to each of you, and that's why I'm stepping outside my comfort zone and am passing it along specifically to people. I ask each recipient look around and make sure this keeps getting passed along until it reaches everyone it should.

2. Cecilieaux added some good contributions to the Rainbow Connection week. So go take a gander at Shavings Off My Mind, and scroll down through the week.

3. After discussion the other day, I added a review of Stardust to my review blog.

4. I'm behind on commenting. Sorry. I don't know when or if I'll catch up...things are a little crazy here, and the usual amount of busy. I'll do my best.

Errr...seemed like there was more but I've been interrupted and lost it. If I recall, I'll come back LOL. Oh yes, right! One teaser: there might be some big, exciting travel plans in my future.

Copyright 2007 Julie Pippert

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