Top Ten Tuesday: Just A Few Blogs I Enjoy

This week I thought I would share about some of the blogs that have really encouraged me these past months. So here is the list of 10 of my favorite blogs (in no particular order, and by no means all of my favorites).

1.
This blog was started by a friend of mine from church. Her name is Janna, and she also blogs at The Adventure of Motherhood. Her blog was what initially got me thinking, hey I could do that! She has been a great encouragement and inspiration to me from the start, and I am just loving her new blog Mommy's Piggy Tales, which is all about recording your youth so that someday your children and grandchildren can read about it! We are just over half way through the first 15 week session now, but there will be a new session starting in October. I encourage everyone to contact Janna and begin recording your memories in October, I am even going to do it again, which is funny because I didn't think I could make it through this first one, but it has been such a treasure to me each week!!

2. Many of the things Kristen has written about have challenged and convicted me. I want that American Dream too, but do I want it more then I want to serve the Lord? She also does a lot of fun giveaways. So stop by her blog and I encourage everyone to read specifically her post When Jesus Isn't Enough.

3. Marsha is the mommy behind this blog and she is a true treasure. It is hard not to feel like God is against you when you lose a child, but she has pulled through and found comfort in the Lord in the midst of terrible tragedy. It is an encouragement to me to know God can get us all through any trial as long as we look to Him, He will never forget us, but always love and comfort us.

4. Everyday Adventures. This is a blog I have only been reading a very short time and already I feel refreshed by the topics Charissa shares on. She reminds me of things I need to keep on top of in my walk with the Lord. Her words seem so on point with how I often feel myself!!

5.

I love the title of Kathryn's blog! So witty and so true! As Christians we should be 'singing in the rain', we should be joyful even in times of trial, and Kathryn's writing wonderfully reflects the title of her blog. And as another military wife, it is good to be able to share and encourage one another, as not everyone can understand the struggles that are unique to military life.

6.
This is another new blog for me, but what a wonderful idea, and so far I am enjoying what I read. Kathryn of Singing through the Rain also does one of the bible studies on this blog. Basically they have 5 different bloggers who each are going through a bible study one day a week! I encourage everyone to go check it out!

7. Of Such is The Kingdom. This blog just celebrated it's 1st birthday! It has been a joy to read about Olivia's childhood, and also her child's, as we have shared with each other and other women on Mommy's Piggy Tales.

8. Ordinary Inspirations Traci has wonderful insights and wise words on so many different topics! It has been a pleasure and inspiration to read about her views and God's truths as she presents them, as well as her many informative posts and reviews of products. One post I found particularly good was about change, something I myself do NOT like, but her words are very true, we should not be like gross stagnant water!


9.
Cameron is another mommy blogger who is doing the Mommy's Piggy Tales with me! She has some great views on many topics as a mother and awesome tips for new bloggers!
And she is also very respectful of others views and choices, especially in caring for your child, check out her post Let's Hear it for the Parents Who FEED their Babies!!

10.
I have been trying out a few of SnoWhite's recipes, and so far so good!! I am constantly looking for quick and easy, but yummy meals to make for our family. One of our recent favorites from SnoWhite's many wonderful recipes- Ham & Broccoli Shells- which just also happens to remind me a whole lot of a pasta dish my mom and grandma used to make with ham, broccoli and spaghetti noodles! We have had this once a week now for going on our 3rd week!!

This post is linked to which is hosted by ohamanda, another great blog I might add!

Blog Bash Challenge: 'Life Song'

So the next challenge for Blog Bash, hosted by Not Your Average Teen, is to pick a song that is your 'life song'. Its hard to find one song that I would say is my 'life song'. I mean there are so many wonderful songs that speak to me in so many different ways and I connect with each one on many different and intersecting ways. I originally wasn't going to bother with this challenge, but then I was listening to some music today and one song in particular struck a cord: "Legacy" by Nichole Nordeman. It also fits in with our church's theme this year, which is making a difference. I have always grown up wishing I could make a difference.

I want to leave a legacy, how will they remember me? Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough to make a mark on things? I want to leave an offering. Child of mercy and grace who blessed Your Name unapologetically. I want to leave a legacy. ~Nichole Nordeman, Legacy

I want to get to heaven someday and have God say to me "Well done my good and faithful servant." I want to stand out for Him, and have an impact, it is the deepest desire of my heart to proclaim Him. And I believe blogging is an outreach that gives me that opportunity.

Blog Bash Challenge: Rekindle

So the Blog Bash I am participating in this week, hosted by Not Your Average Teen, has challenged everyone to write a post rekindling our memories from high school. Funny enough I can't think of any particular one I want to share, yet I know in a few more weeks I will be writing about them for Mommy's Piggy TALES, and so far they have flowed very well from even younger years for that!

Its hard for me to think of many really happy, 'stand out' moments from high school. Not that life wasn't happy, just very normal and routine. I was not popular but I had enough friends for me. I loved going to youth group though I often felt like a joke there, the one everyone made fun of- I know they all still cared, I was just an easy and naive target and 'teens will be teens', right? I had a job from pretty much the 2nd month of my high school experience- which just to clarify was sophomore through senior year in my school system. In a very overcrowded district, the freshman were with the 7th and 8th graders in the junior highs. Due to my job I had little opportunity to be actively involved in extra curricular activities. I did choir, which was an elective class, all 3 years and an extra ladies jazz class my senior year.
Choir was very bittersweet for me. Though I generally liked our teacher, I was frustrated that he seemed to play favorites and I was not one of them. I am not sure what he actually thought of me, but I always felt he was disappointed in me somehow, like I wasn't quite good enough. I tried out for every solo I could, as well as, to be a part of the 'top' jazz group called the Highlighters my senior year, and he never once gave me a second thought for any of them. I know at least for the Highlighters, he knew it would be difficult for me to put in the extra after school hours the group required, though I told him I was determined to work it out. I had to settle for the beginning jazz ladies group he was also teaching. Otherwise, choir was fun, I loved to sing and felt I was pretty good at it though nothing 'special'. As a choir we regularly went to competitions, which were experiences I will never forget. They got me out and away occasionally when otherwise I would've stayed home and went to work. My junior year we even travelled the West Coast, stopping at a college, and Disneyland, were we sang for an audience, over most of spring break!
Outside of choir, I briefly was part of French club. I would go if I didn't have to work and could get a ride home during my sophomore year, then junior year I was supposed to be the VP but due to my peers dislike of me, they kicked me out for what I felt was unfair reasoning. That was the last year I took French.
My 1st year in it I had an awful teacher, though I was a favorite student of Mr. J. He taught very elementary French, and most of the students made fun of him though I was the exception- probably why he liked me. I remember having to turn in this big packet of past worksheets (all already graded), but he gave an additional grade for reasons I didn't know. When he had everyone turn back in the packet of their work for the month, (I was never a very organized student) so I couldn't find everything. I told Mr. J I had forgotten it when he asked me to hand it in and his reply was simply "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you deserve an A!" I was astonished! While I was thrilled as a student, I totally disagree with that method of teaching as an adult. Even then while happy with the grade I didn't quite agree, feeling it was wrong. Grades should be earned, not given based on favor without merit. Either way, he did not prepare his classes of students for the 2nd & 3rd year French teacher, Ms. F, who was quite difficult. She insisted we only speak basic French in class, which most had barely learned from Mr. J. And I barely made it through my 2nd year before I decided I was done! Plus 2 years was our required foreign language credit, so I had earned it and had no desire to continue.
Well those are some brief memories from my ordinary high school years. I don't want to say too much more because I will be posting about it for Mommy's Piggy TALES soon in much more detail!

To view the rest of my Mommy's Piggy TALES posts click here. To view my Blog Bash intro click here.

Blog Bash: The Crystal Behind Crystalized Reflections

Part of blogging, I have discovered is community. In fact it's a HUGE part! So I am putting in my effort to be seen and heard!! I am attending a Blog Bash hosted by Not Your Average Teen.

Growing up, I myself was 'not your average teen'. I was the oldest of 4 girls raised by a single mother. I was the responsible one. And if my mom had let me, I would've been the boss! I had a job early in life, but also made church and God a priority. I grew to have a love of writing as well from an early age, and one of my first bits of poetry was something I wrote about God and His love and mercy, then I read it in front of my small 'country' church. (I am not sure my old friends would consider it a country church, but after the churches I have now seen, I know that's exactly what it is!)
I graduated high school in 2003 having very little idea about what I wanted to do in life. The only things I did know were that I wanted to help people, I felt God had gifted me with compassion and I wanted to share that with the world. And I also was sure I wanted to be a wife and mother. Since I was at a loss as for what to do in college, I decided to start with what I did know I wanted: a husband. And God had brought me just that.



I met Jon in March of 2003 during my senior year when a friend from his boat invited him to our church. I asked him to take me to my prom in May, and in July he asked me to be his wife (with a little prompting- I am not very patient!). By December we were married- again VERY impatient- and we had a year left before we would face our first military move. During most of that year I was very anxious to get pregnant, and after 10 months I saw those 2 pink lines confirming my hopes, finally! Sadly though, just after our move to the East coast, after Christmas and our 1st anniversary, I had a miscarriage. But I didn't let it keep me down long!
By Mother's Day I was again pregnant with my now 4 year old daughter. Natalie is an interesting child, a drama queen like her mommy, and a silly goose like her daddy. She is also very smart if you ask me, and I am not sure who exactly that came from. Each day with her is a completely new adventure as I never know what will come out of her mouth next- sometimes for the better, others for the worse!



As we approached our next move, an even bigger move, overseas to Guam, we had planned to wait on a 2nd baby after another miscarriage shortly before the move. But God thought otherwise when He blessed us with a surprise baby, that we discovered just a month before we made our long trip to our new home. Zachary joined our family just a month and half after Natalie's 3rd birthday. He is fun and tender hearted. I take much joy in hearing his giggles each day, and comforting him when he falls (which he currently does a lot of as he begins to learn to walk). He still surprises me often with how smart he is for his age and how perceptive also.



I am hoping in another year to go back to school to get a degree in psychology. I am now interested in the field of social work or possibly a school counselor. That may change though as I am also longing for a third child, though we are currently planning to wait until we are back in the states and closer to family. We have 1 more year officially left on our little island of Guam, as we await approval of an extension for an additional year. Though I am not in love with the climate, I do love the people here!
Well that's me in a nutshell!

I am also supposed to answer 5 questions about myself as a blogger:

1. Why do you blog? I blog because I enjoy writing. When I was 12 years old one of my half brothers got in contact with me, he sent me some of his poetry. I wanted to be able to write as well as he did. In junior high and through high school I wrote my own poetry. I found inspiration everywhere I looked and the words just flowed through me. Until recently though, I have been in a sort of writer's block. I was so busy being a wife and mother, I let myself slip through the cracks and rarely got around to one of my first loves. Then I began reading a blog belonging to a friend of mine. She wrote about motherhood, and I again longed to have the words flow through me again. So I started my own blog! I want to be able to use the trials and the triumphs God has placed in my life to help other women. What better way then through a blog! I am also beginning to really get into it and enjoy the community in it. I am a stay at home mom and I don't have a car to get out much, so the social aspect keeps me in touch with the rest of the world when I sometimes feel out of touch!

2. What do you blog about? Everything and anything! I blog about what has happened to me in the past, good and bad. I blog about my faith. I blog about being a stay at home mother. About being a Navy wife. I enjoy occasionally sharing a bit of poetry or creative writing. Someday I may also blog about cake decorating, it is a more recent hobby I am endeavoring at. I blog about life!

3. What do you find you get the biggest reward from blogging? My biggest reward is the comments I get. I am encouraged to know others are reading and enjoying what I share. Even when someone doesn't leave a comment, the thought that somehow what I wrote might help to encourage or lift up someone else, is in itself encouraging to me. I may not ever know how God will use some of the things I write, but I don't doubt He will use them and I long to serve Him.

4. How long have you been blogging? Only a short time. I began a blog under a different title last year, but I somehow felt like I was held back. I didn't quite know how or where to start with my blogging. Then last month the same friend whose blog encouraged me to write again, started a series about recording our youth. I started writing for her series and just haven't stopped since! I feel much more confident in it now then I did originally.

5. Let's hear the story behind your blog title. Well I wanted something clever and witty, but it seemed all the good ones were already taken! I also wanted something not to specific, I didn't want to limit myself to only writing about baking or poetry or motherhood (not that that seems to have stopped any other blogging mommies I have run across- good for them!). So I started playing with my name. And it just sort of came to me from there as I browsed through a thesaurus. Crystalized I derived from a play on my name, reflections was a synonym for thoughts. My husband loved it and so did I, so it just stuck! Then I got my little subtitle: Seeing Life through a Crystal, obviously from the meaning of my name- a clear (and brilliant) rock. I just love playing with words like that!

Teach Me Tuesday: Writing Tools

While I believe most know how to use this wonderful invention, I wonder how many truly do. I find it to be an invaluable tool as I write. It is the Thesaurus.
I would be willing to bet that anyone who enjoys writing, and does it regularly, keeps a dictionary beside them on their writing desk (or in my case on my end table nearest where I usually sit to type on our laptop). But how many people keep a thesaurus within reach? I don't dare to guess, as I know few writers, but my hope would be quite a few.
With a thesaurus I am able to sit here and write my poetry, stories, and even my blog with what I hope would be an air of grace about them. I hate to be too repetitive, constantly using the same word over and over again throughout a piece. I personally find it dull to read something that has been written like that, and would quickly loose interest. But as a sometimes sleep deprived mom, I find I need help to find a variety of words that can all be interchangeable to a point. It also gives more specification in writing as readers have a chance to more clearly grasp at what you want them too with each additional descriptive word.
For example, did you know that if you looked up 'disaster', you will find 44 other words to possibly suit your need! Some are more specific to a particular type of disaster: casualty, rainy day, and bankruptcy; and some would work generally: catastrophe, calamity, and tragedy.
It also words in the reverse. Think back to those old lessons in elementary school, do you remember the term 'synonyms'? how about 'antonyms'? While the synonyms are words meaning the essentially the same thing, antonyms are words meaning the opposite. So if you need a word to describe the exact opposite of 'variety', you could look that up in the thesaurus and find the options 'equality' or 'similarity'.
Of course you must also know the meaning behind those words, so a dictionary is another necessary implement to keep on hand (if you don't already!). Another one of my personal favorites is a rhyming dictionary, but that one is more for fun! I use that if I am writing a poem and I need a rhyme, though most of the poems I have written do not actually rhyme anyway. Still I think it is something that will be fun to use as my children grow and marvel at the amusement a good rhyme will bring.
Overall I find these treasures to be such gifts to me as a writer. A dictionary and thesaurus are my paint sets; Words are the colors of my art form. I love to use a variety of vibrant and brilliant colors as I paint my word pictures; a dictionary and thesaurus allow me to do so!

What have you learned this week?

Blog vs Vlog- My Opinion

Take it for what it is worth but this is my opinion of blogging verses vlogging.

I have never vlogged so I can't speak from personal experience, but I have watched a few. There is nothing wrong that I can find with vlogging, and for some it is easier to talk about it (quicker I should guess and no need for spell check or much worry about written grammar!) then to write memories or opinions out into written words.
Personally though, there is nothing for me that can beat the thrill of expressing myself on paper, or screen in this case. I love spending the time to search for just the right word. Something that will paint vivid pictures in the minds of my readers, but leaving just enough to the imagination to stretch it out and leave the reader wondering just a bit. I feel so much more creative in my writing then my speech, put on the spot to give my thoughts, I often can't keep them all straight. Even in prayer, I prefer in my own quiet time to record my prayers in a journal as it prevents my mind from wandering when it should not be, like a kid in a shopping mall!
Other superficial reason I find blogging far superior (as my choice) to a vlog, is I can do it in my pajamas! Being a stay at home mom, with often no car during the day, I spend a good half of my waking hours in my pajamas, or 'house clothes' as I sometimes call them. Occasionally even the whole day will slip by me before I have found the time to actually throw on a pair of blue jeans to replace my very comfortable though less fashionable Eeyore pajama pants! And not to mention that I seldom take the time to wear the makeup which I most certainly feel inadequate without, despite Jon's constant musings to me of my beauty.
Well that pretty much sums up my stance on the matter. Of course it is a personal preference and everyone I have watched vlog, do it well, and obviously prefer it! To each his (or her!) own! Who knows, maybe one day I will try it and find it isn't as bad as I first thought!
What do you prefer, and why?