Awards, Music, and Other Things

Neno’s Award — Rules and Regulations

1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.

2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.

3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.

4. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.

5. Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.

6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.

7. Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.


It's been quite awhile since an award came my way, and I am pleasantly surprised by this one, passed on to me by my good friend and loyal reader, Hootin' Anni. Thanks, Anni!

The reasons I love blogging are many, which is why I continue to plug away at coming up with posts, and faithfully visiting my friends. Since I had to go private, I have lost many of my readers, but do so value those that still come around and comment. The world of blogging has made my world so much smaller - I love visiting Canada, England, every imaginable state each day and keeping DC up to date on the weather and news from everywhere!

Blog friends have prayed for me and my family with such passion and caring, and God has answered so many of those prayers.

My blog has become somewhat of a journal rather than informative, inspiring, or brilliant writing. But I know it will be great to have this diary of my life as I grow older - I do need to save it somewhere, though, so I don't lose it.

I have met 5 of my blog friends, and will be meeting 4 more in the next month. I can hardly wait to return with pictures and stories about these fun times. You, my friends, are as "real" to me as those I see face to face here at home.

I want to give this award to everyone who is loyal and comes by in spite of the difficulty of keeping up with me, since I have recently discovered that Blogger Follower does not notify you when I have a new post. Thank you all - you are important to me!


My new schedule is to pick up the twins on Tuesday morning so that Kristen can get to school and be a Mother Helper in Care Bear's class (she does Thursdays in Feisty's room, but I have the twins overnight on Wednesday). This last Tuesday on the way to her house, I was able to catch this beautiful sunrise. Since I don't get out and drive to work in the early morning any more, I have missed many beautiful sunrises, so I enjoyed this one tremendously. I especially loved it in retrospect, since we didn't see the sun for the rest of that day, or all day yesterday.










If you've been with me very long, you know that music is of huge importance in my life. I have written numerous posts with music as part of the theme, at least. I am privileged to attend a church where we still sing the wonderful hymns, which are timeless. We also still have organ and piano (I play the organ every other Sunday), and a choir, which DC and I enjoy greatly.

Recently I saw a small notice in our local newspaper about the choral society - they were inviting new members for the Christmas presentation. It is called "The Glory of Christmas" this year, which gave me an indication that it perhaps would be about the real reason for Christmas. I decided to show up for the first rehearsal and see what I thought. I got there at 6, because new folks had to be "evaluated" - not exactly an audition, but a check on part placement. We then went over all of the music, which includes approximately 20 pieces. I didn't get home until 9:45, tired, but so exhilirated that I could not get to sleep.

The next 8-10 Tuesday evenings (and some Mondays) will be spent preparing for 4 performances. I am enjoying it so much so far, after two rehearsals. We are doing several pieces from Vivaldi's "Gloria," which is classical. We are doing around 10 wonderful sacred pieces, and about 5 really fun secular songs. All are challenging, which makes it more fun.

To top it off, I have met a kindred spirit and we are so enjoying singing next to each other, though we don't have much time to visit, since talking during rehearsal is extremely bad manners (and not allowed)!


I heard this song on the radio the other day and it took me back to last year's cantata at church. It speaks to me of the need for prayer for our world situation.

Lord, hear our cry
Come heal our land
Breathe life into these dry and thirsty souls
Lord, hear our prayer
Forgive our sin
And as we call on Your name
Would You make this a place
For Your glory to dwell


Open the blind eyes
Unlock the deaf ears
Come to Your people
As we draw near
Hear us from heaven
Touch our generation
We are Your people
Crying out in desperation

Lord hear our song
Your children worship
As we sing out Your praise
Would You make this a place for Your glory to dwell

Changing subjects drastically, I just have to share this picture with you before I close. I am thankful that these little darlings don't know that their grandma used to bake cookies "from scratch" and now buys cookie dough! It looks and smells as good and is just as much fun to watch!

Memes and Awards

I have to interrupt the regularly scheduled anniversary adventure series to do a bit of housekeeping. I have been honored with two awards, which I appreciate so much. One of them involves a meme. On top of that, I took on the challenge of Hootin' Anni's interview. Wow, did she come up with some interesting questions!

I had to laugh out loud (LOL, you know) with Jessica's comment to me today - that if there was an award out there for the longest posts, I would win hands down. Hey, ladies, they didn't call me "Mouth of Third South" in college for no good reason! I am a woman of many words - ask anybody who knows me IRL.

So - here goes - - -



Honorees are to list 10 honest things about themselves-and make it interesting, even if we have to dig deep! This is going to be a challenge. Thank you, dear Laurie, for this award.

1. My dear husband and I are both eldest children in pastors' families. As such, we felt as if we knew each other very quickly, because we had shared many of the same things in our growing up years.
   
   
2. As Laurie shared, I too am a non-swimmer. I almost drowned at age 10 when I hit a drop-off in one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. I have never since been able to trust the water to hold me up. I love boat rides, I enjoy cruising, I go along to watch snorkelers from the boat, but don't expect me to get in.
   
   
3. I was the tallest girl in my graduating class of 82 students. The class was small enough that they had us process by height instead of alphabetically, so the tallest boy and I led the group.
   
   
4. I was the self-proclaimed president of all neighborhood clubs - clubs which I created. I see a lot of myself in my 6-year-old granddaughter, known here in Blogland as Care Bear.
   
   
5. I asked Jesus into my heart when I was three years old. I don't remember this, but my mom told me, and I believe her. I often wish I had a memory of where and when I accepted Christ, because I could point back to that time and place when Satan makes me doubt. But I have never wanted to do anything but serve Him. I praise Him for salvation and protection from the junk that many people have had to overcome.
   
   
6. But no matter how much I loved Him and served Him, it did not prevent heartache in our family. But He has helped us through it all. So far. I don't expect Him to stop now!
   
   
7. My parents scraped up the money to buy a used piano when I was 7 so that I could start lessons. I began playing for church in our tiny Arkansas church when I was 8 - we had nobody else, so Dad raised his own accompanist. I have been on the piano or organ bench most of my life since then. I'm a very generic musician - meaning what I see is what you get. No fancy chording or embellishments. That's why I love the organ - you can make it sound good with all those buttons! My potential was short-changed when I was 13 and we moved to a bigger city where the cost of lessons was prohibitive for my parents.
   
   
8. I love singing in choir and am thankful that our church still offers this opportunity (and that we still have an organ to play!). Music is a huge part of my life and I remember the day I figured out that I could harmonize.
   
   
9. I struggle every day with my weight. I look back at pictures of when I was much younger and thought I was overweight then - and can't believe how good I looked. I must have had a skewed body image in those days. I'm thankful I didn't fall into anorexia or bulimia, which of course wasn't known of when I was a teen.
   
   
10. I used to think blogging was stupid - can you believe it??
    

Thank you so much, Midlife Mom (my friend Louise) for this beautiful award. I'm not at all sure that I deserve this one, but I certainly will accept it with gratitude.

The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervades amongst different cultures and beliefs.

The Blog contents inspire; strives to encourage and offers solutions.
There is a clear purpose at the Blog; one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs.

The Blog is refreshing and creative.

The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking.


I began blogging in June of 2006 - Kristen, my daughter, pushed me into it. In fact, she set me up, named the blog, then called me and told me to join in and get busy. She gave it the title "Call Me Grandma Dawn" because that was what Anthony, her stepson, called me from the very beginning, when he was barely 2. The theme of grandparenting is a huge part of this blog, but it is mostly my day to day life that appears here on this page. There is no great political or social agenda. In fact, I mostly keep my political opinions to myself. But it has become such an important part of my life and I appreciate all of you. I regret greatly that I have had to go private, but it is better than nothing!

This morning when I visited Hootin' Anni, she had been interviewed by one of her blog buddies. I let her know I'd be willing to be interviewed - she chose the questions. This will be another challenge~~

1. What prompted you to say "yes" to the marriage proposal from your spouse?

We were 25 and 30 when we married - we both had been through some painful relationships. Nothing horrendous, but we'd both been hurt by someone. We had both lived long enough on our own that we appreciated what the other one would bring to a marriage. We didn't go together very long before we knew this was "it." (In fact, we'd been married a few months when DC asked me how long we'd gone together before we got married - I told him 8 months and he said, "That's not long enough!" Too funny! Too late!) We had talked about marriage, had even looked at rings. The proposal was kind of a technicality - we had ordered the rings and when they came in and he got the call, he went over to ask my dad if it was all right (yes, he did - even at our advanced ages!), then proposed on roller skates during the couples' skate as they played "Ebb Tide" with the lights lowered. Oh, it was very romantic! I am not a very good skater and actually ran into the wall with shock, because I wasn't expecting it at that time! I don't think he had much doubt that the answer would be in the affirmative. What prompted me to say "yes?" He was the answer to this girl's prayers!

2. What childhood memory is most vivid in your mind as you blog at this very moment?

This is so tough, because I have so many vivid memories of my childhood. It was a happy childhood with 5 kids in a parsonage with very little money. If I have to pick one memory, I think it will be when my brother, sister, and I played missionary. We had two sets of uncles, aunts, and 4 cousins who were missionaries in Africa. We had this great two-seated merry-go-round in our yard and we pretended it was an airplane. It would take us to the jungles of Africa, where we would land and share the gospel with the chief in his hut. Our whole life revolved around the church. Nothing's changed!

3. With your experiences, have you ever thought your existence as female is less stressful than a male's existence?

Never! I have always felt like I was more stressed out than my husband. Maybe guys just don't talk about their stressors as much as we do.

4. What historical leader, in the world, has captured your admiration most?

I mentioned above in the previous meme that I don't get into politics here. But I was quite outspoken when I was younger. In fact, I thought that one day I would run for office when I grew up. I know there will be those who gasp when I say this, but my first interest in campaigning was Nixon vs. Kennedy in 1960. I became very interested in Richard Nixon and his family. I read his book, Six Crises, and decided that his daughter, Julie, and I could be soul mates. I eventually did a term paper on him in high school, and later met him when he was between political jobs and was corporate attorney for Pepsi-Cola Company. I wrote about this experience here (unfortunately, the pictures I posted were deleted when I had to go private and I overreacted and canceled my Flickr account). When Watergate happened, I was devastated. I won't go into this any further, but that is my story.

5. What influences in life have triggered you to set certain goals? And what are/were those goals?

I have never been a big goal setter, unfortunately. Most of my goals have had to do with my personal appearance, which seems pretty shallow when I write it down.

So - there you have it. Another long post. No pictures to break it up. Sorry, Jess!