Starting over elsewhere
Topic: Blogging
I'm moving. I am finally fed up with the slow loading, the pop up ads and not being able to load pictures anmore.

How's it going here for you?
Topic: Blogging
Some of you have said that my blog is loading better for you now. Please let me know if you're having problems here.

Pictureless Wednesday
Topic: Blogging
Well I am setting up shop over at Blogger just in case this one does not get fixed. I still have not heard back from the tech folks at angelfire.

The A-list
Topic: Blogging
To the 20 people who read my blog each day.....5 of whom come here as the result of googling topics that I have on my blog....you may or may not be surprised to know the I am an A-lister bloglebrity. (Bloglebrity=blog+celebrity)

Heehee...the criteria for being a celebrity blogger is based solely on how many blogs link to yours. And since I joined several blog rolls, my blog is linked on a lot of different womens' and Christian blogs who are on those same blog rolls. Oh well....a little "pink bling" as Iris, at Sing My Heart called it is good for a girl's soul. =) So I went to Kneda's blog to find out how my blog was rated. Here is my rating:

***The Very High Authority Group [A-List Bloggers]
(500 or more blogs linking in the last 6 months)
In the final group we see what might be considered the blogging elite. This group, which represents more than 4,000 blogs, exhibits a radical shift in post frequency as well as blog age. Bloggers of this type have been at it longer – a year and a half on average – and post nearly twice a day, an increase in posting volume of over 100% from the previous group. Many of the blogs in this category, in fact, are about as old as Technorati and we’ve grown up together. Some of these are full-fledge professional enterprises that post many, many times per day and behave increasingly like our friends in the mainstream media. As has been widely reported, the impact of these bloggers on our cultures and democracies is increasingly dramatic.***

I might begin to get a big head if it weren't for my actual sitemeter counts that show my faithful 15. ;)

I don't know what to think!
Topic: Blogging
I have been seeing a little award going around the blogosphere lately in which bloggers honor other bloggers who make them think. Who woulda thunk I would get one! Thank you to e-mom. She is the owner of Chrysalis, one of my favorite blogs.....which is really more of an e-zine, with interesting articles and ideas on a huge variety of topics, all centered around the Christian world view. I appreciate e-mom and her work there so much. In fact she will surely be one of the five bloggers that I nominate.

As a cyber prize, e-mom sent me a white phaelenopsis orchid. Here it is:



Chrysalis has a wonderful article on Jerusalem in Jesus' time. I've been remembering and thinking about Israel a lot lately, this being Passover week and all. We're doing a seder meal at church on Thursday. (I'm making matzo ball soup.)

Here are the 5 blogs I would like to honor for making me think on a regular basis:

1. Chrysalis, a fine e-zine spot on the net. e-mom regularly posts articles by herself and others on really interesting and relevent topics in regards to Christianity. She asked me to choose someone else since she has already been honored with this by several others. But she deserves it and I want to honor her.

2. Here are 3 blogs from women who are currently serving on the foreign mission field. I learn so much about the culture they are living in, life as a missionary family and ways I can support them in prayer!

.....Following an Unkown Path is written by Amanda, who is a single American woman teaching at a college in Taiwan, China. She talks about her students, living in China, and working in a church there. She seems to have great joy in serving the Lord there.

.....Joy in the Journey is a beautiful blog about a young mother and her husband who are missionaries in Indonesia. She just had twins and they are in the U.S. until later this year for the babies' sake (they were premature). But I hope she reappears to blog more regularly some day. I love to read about their life and work there.

.....Blackpurl's Knitpickings is my friend, Alida's, blog. She and her husband work with the substance abuse epidemic in Russia. They are currently home on leave, getting their son settled in to live in the U. S. and go to college here. I got to meet her and one of her sons as they came through Phoenix. It was wonderful to meet her and I know they will appreciate your prayers as they continue their travels here, then go back 'home' to Russia to continue the work.

(heehee, I cheated by putting 3 in one catagory so I could show you more than 5 blogs....don't tell!)

3. Veritas is a blog my husband writes. Veritas means 'truth' and he loves to teach/preach and live for truth as he serves God as a pastor here.

4. Seek Joy and Live Love is currently the name of my daughter, Hannah's, blog. She likes to shake things up and ponder deep thoughts and social trends and change that needs to take place. It is fascinating to read what goes on inside the mind of a fervent Christian college student as she makes her way and is deciding how to respond to today's culture and church.

5. Adventures in Mercy is a blog written by Molly, a truly thinking woman I met on a stay at home mom's forum. She is making her way out of some very legalistic and extreme fundamentalism. It is amazing to see her thoughts and transformation as she worked through this change in her life. She is currently beginning college courses to further her education, so she is (sadly for us) closing down her blog soon. But I encourage you to take a look at her sight and glean what you can while it is still there.

Wow, I did it! I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I do.

You do not have to be nominated to nominate others for the Thinking Blogger awards. Go here to see the rules.

Spring Break
Topic: Blogging
Sorry I haven't posted much lately. This is spring break week for all my kids, even one home from college, so I will probably be scarce for a few more days!

Ultimate Blog Party
Topic: Blogging

Click the button to go over to 5 Minutes from Mom, where twin sisters, Susan and Janice, are hosting a week long party. The purpose of the 'party' is to build more of a community feeling among Christian bloggers. Playing along will get your blog more traffic, help you to get to know other bloggers and explore blogs that you may not have noticed before! I have been exploring already from the links on the party sight and will continue as I have time this week. ***Remember to leave comments on the blogs you visit to encourage the owner of the blog. Just say hello or write some comment about something on their blog.*** Mine is a 2 step comment process, so make sure you confirm your comment!

If you are new to the nest here, WELCOME! (and if you have been before welcome too of course!) I am a 40something pastor's wife, with 4 daughters, a wonderful husband and am learning to live in a big city again, after living in a small mountain town for 9 years. We moved to Phoenix, Arizona, my hometown, a year ago and we are all finding our niche' here in this huge desert city. Our church is in an urban area, filled with apartments, international immigrants and any segment of today's society that you could name....it's all in our church neighborhood. We have often described it as coming to a mission field. We have many opportunities to reach out to our community and become part of it, so pray for and with us that we will continue to follow God's leading in reaching out to the people here.

On the home front, we have one fourth grade home schooled daughter who is 9, 2 teens who are in public high school after years of homeschooled life, and our oldest is 19 and attends a state university in another city, 2 hours away. The past year has been a learning experience also for us in helping to care for my father, who had severe dementia and then passed away in August. Then with major surgery for me in October, it really looked like a stress filled year for us.

On a stress indicator test I took last Fall, my stress level lookedto be very high and in fact, I should have been receiving mental health care by now. ;) But God has given us peace that is beyond comprehension every step of the way and we are doing very well, feeling at home here, loved, supported and needed.

I've been blogging now for a little over 2 years and enjoy practicing a story-telling type of writing. I love to tell stories of people and events that I experience or see experienced along the way. I see humor in everything and I also see God's hand at work, showing me His truths and teaching me a lot through mentally and tangibly processing what is going on in my life or in the world around me. Come to think of it, writing this blog is probably one of the tools God has given me to help me to deal with the stress of this past year. I usually quickly process things in a very simple way in my head, then move on. Writing helps me to look deeper and learn more from this journey I'm on. Kinda cool....

I also love photography, humor and cooking, so you will see a lot of those things here too. I hope you'll be back. =)

And now, let's jam, and turn our hearts toward the main thing:

Hello east coast!
Topic: Blogging
And the Chris Tomlin concert tour keeps moving along. They are on the eastern leg of the tour right now, as evidenced by the hits on my sitemeter.

It is cracking me up how people go home from that concert and do what I did after the concert: immediately get on the internet to find all that information for themselves. Here's the post they are looking at when they search:

How Great is our God?

***So everyone wave hello to Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Indiana!****

Referrals
Topic: Blogging
I have been finding some new websights lately and want to share them with you in case you need some inspiration or maybe a laugh. =)

My friend, Crystal has a video up on her blog this morning. It is for parents, but it's a big (huge) social statement as well as parental reminder. Please watch it. I found it here, on Youtube too. It is a little raw and rough to watch, but I think the message will stay with you.....it's worth a watch and less than 2 minutes long.

There is a 'place' here in cyberspace called Bloggityville and once you find yourself involved, it is hard to put into words the community you find there. Christian women bloggers are rapidly growing in number and have a distinct (and sometimes hilarious) voice out there! I quickly recognize the names of bloggers I've seen in comment boxes, encouraging each other and giving shout outs on their own blog to advertise a new blogger sister out there. I will be trying to put more of my regular stops up on my sidebar, but for now, just a little newsy thing. And my own Phoenix church girls will LOVE this.

Beth Moore has a blog! It's called The LPM Blog and she is a blogging sista if ever there was one. She and her daughter Amanda blog almost daily and they are seemingly melding right into Bloggityville. Go and welcome them. Beth has been given a powerful ministry from God and if you've never done one of her Bible studies, why not!?? Here is the main website for Living Proof Ministries.

E-mom has another very good set of articles this week on Knowing God's Will. Go on over to Chrysalis to check it out. I was really moved and challenged by e-mom's own testimony of listening to God's leading in her own life.

And now, here is a very silly website. I hope there is nothing too off color here *in way of disclaimer*, but so far it has seemed ok to me. I've been going there and just listening to him ramble on in the background while I surf the net. It cracks me up! So go here for Clearification.