I'm Baaaaack! Did ya miss me?

I am finally back, and have so much to share, that I'm tossing out Tuesday Toss-up. We'll get back on schedule next week.

First, let me say, that I have missed you all desperately! Good grief, you would have thought I was going through withdrawal! I took my laptop with me, but had absolutely NO WAY to hook up to the internet. We didn't even have a phone line at the house we stayed at! I just kept walking past my lonely computer ... and I would stick my lower lip out in a pout every now and then. It was hard to be away without access to the world! But I survived. Without my computer. And without technology. Pooh!

It did, however, reminded me of the importance to slow down and enjoy my time with my family and even some special time with God. I love the ocean, and I am always reminded of God's power and majesty each time I see things like the ocean, mountains, desert, forests ... and actually, pretty much everything else my eyes see on a daily basis. It really brings to my mind the words to the song Shout to the Lord: My Jesus, my Savior, Lord, there is none like You; All of my days I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love. My comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength; Let every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship You. Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing, Power and Majesty, praise to the King; Mountains bow down and the seas will roar, at the sound of Your name. I sing for joy at the work of your hands, forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand -- Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.

I get so busy sometimes, that I forget to look around and see the many miracles around me, and praise God for them. Do you remember the Triumphant Entry of Jesus? When Jesus entered Jerusalem, everybody was shouting praises. Some guys (party-pooper-Pharisees) told Jesus to make the people be quiet but Jesus said: "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:40, NIV) The STONES! And ... I'm getting ready to get grammatically correct on you now ... brace yourself ... "I AIN'T gonna let that happen!" The thing I love about praising the Lord is that we can do it any where, any time. It doesn't have to be in "corporate worship" or in the car listening to Christian music... but it can be right in my head while sitting on a crowded beach, or in my car while driving around town. Just looking at what the Lord has created around me ... from the largest mountains, to the deepest seas, down to the itty bitty nails on my sons toes and fingers, I am reminded at how amazing God is. How creative. How powerful. How beautiful. I love Psalm 150. The entire psalm speaks about praising God in his house of worship, under the open skies, for his acts of power, for his magnificent greatness, with instruments, with dance ... but most of all ... "Let every living, breathing creature praise God! Hallelujah!" (Ps. 150:6, the Message). So, that's what I did last week, and continue to do this week. Because ... well ... I'm living ... and breathing ... and I guess I'm a creature. So, Praise God!

Okay ... Moving on ... I am so far behind on all my favorite blogs that I don't know when I'll catch up, but imagine my surprise to see so many comments on my On Vacation post! But even more surprising and even humbling was a couple of emails I received while on vacation ... a couple friends were telling me that they had nominated me for a couple of the Blogs of Beauty Awards! Who knew! In fact, I have a suspicion that a few more than just a "couple of friends" nominated me for stuff. The sad thing is ... I didn't even get to vote for myself because I was away on vacation. The good thing is ... I didn't get to submit 5,000 fake nominations for myself. So, it was all on the up and up. And, while I'm very proud of the fact that I was a Finalist in one category, I can't load up the button on this post! If someone can tell me why blogger won't let me load pictures many of the times, I'd be ever so grateful.

I was actually nominated for several awards ... The most beautiful blog of a non-contemporary design (what a surprise on this one, but all thanks go to Susie at Bluebird Blog Designs for her beautiful blog design); best discussions in the comments sections (no surprise here, because YOU are the ones to thank for awesome comments!); most encouraging blog content (you really think so? hmmmm ... I'll have to work harder on that one!); best humor (how embarrassing when I let you down!); blogger you have never met and would most like to meet in person for a mocha (awe!!! thanks a bunch! I was even a FINALIST! I'd love to meet YOU TOO for a mocha! And for the record, I totally think Barbara at Mommy Life deserves this award, because I would DIE.TO.MEET.HER. for a mocha, wouldn't you? Good grief ... the woman is a MOM OF TWELVE and an awesome author -- one of my heros!). I think that about wraps up the nominations ... I am honored to have been nominated for so many awards, thrilled to have been voted as a Finalist, but most of all, I am honored to be in the company of such wonderful and phenomenal bloggers. Make sure you check out the winners at A Gracious Home -- and join me in checking out all the cool blogs that won and were nominated that haven't been peeked at by either me or you yet!

But -- WAIT -- before you go to peruse some new blogs, let me share with you that I was deeply touched by a personal email I received from the best friend of the wife of one of the men I wrote a tribute for. She happened to stumble onto my blog and found the tribute. His life touched so many, and she wanted to thank me for posting a tribute. Honestly--I got goose bumps just reading her email. Please, if you have a few minutes, and want to post one, two or more tributes, please let one of us know at some-gave-all.com -- it means so much to the family and friends of the soldiers who sacrificed their ALL for us. It really does.

Come back tomorrow, as I plan on sharing an experience I had this past weekend that truly humbled me.

(Did you notice how many times I said "blog," "blogger," or "blogs" in this post? Spell check did!)