Beginning the Year with An Abundance of Gratitude

2013 begins with an abundance of gratitude on my part, both for personal blessings and for blogger blessings.  Since beginning with WordPress this year, I have been overwhelmed with the wonderful people I have met.  To right the wrongs of the world, we need look no further than to our bloggers for large and pure ideas, for inspiration, and for assessing where we want to be with our lives, as well as living with each other and the planet Earth in harmony.

Just in the past few days, I’ve been gifted with new blog award nominations, which shows me I have connected with other bloggers, and for this, I am so grateful.  There are so many wonderful and amazing bloggers.  I find more every day.

Rather than focus on the awards themselves, I want to speak about the bloggers who nominated me.  And then I want to pass on these awards to a few special bloggers.  I want all my regular peeps to know that I mean YOU TOO.  That’s because each one of you offers something special to me and enriches my life more than I ever thought possible.

Gegebearbear (aka Jill) at Two Rights Attempting to Make a Left, a blog for herself and her hubby Barry,  is such a fantastic lady.  Both Jill and Barry have had their lives drastically altered by serious illnesses they have endured.  Jill writes about their experiences with grace and generosity and warmth.  Jill nominated my blog for the Super Sweet Blogging Award and Blog of the Year Award.  She herself is so deserving of these awards.  If you haven’t yet visited her blog, I hope you do so as fast as your fingers will travel.

The wonderful Terry at terry1954 inspires me with her sincerity and heart-warming stories, including those about her dear brother Al, and with her commitment to blogging and the blogger community.   Terry lets us into her world, and with that gesture, she enriches the lives of all her readers.  Terry nominated me with the Very Inspiring Blogger Award, which she herself truly deserves.

I’d like to pass on these three awards to others, including the two special ladies above.

Gegebearbear (aka Jill) at Two Rights Attempting to Make a Left.  Jill shares her life with Barry and their daily struggles and triumphs.

Terry at terry1954.  Terry tells inspiring stories and shares what it’s like to have a loved one with a debilitating disease.

Christina at The Diarrhea Diaries.  Christina’s blog is about having Crohn’s disease, but it’s a revelation for anybody with chronic illness or close to somebody who suffers from chronic illness.

Dawn at Dawn Revealed.  Dawn is an environmentalist and surfer and adventurer who writes beautifully.

Teresa at Writing Into Radiance.  Teresa’s beautiful blog is all about poetry.

Julie at jmgoyder.  Julie writes heart-breaking stories about her husband and son.  And about her baby peacock.

Elizabeth at The Daily Creative Writer.  Elizabeth writes wonderfully about all things writing–a great source for writers.

Ruth at retiredruth in the 50s and beyond.  Ruth seems to write directly from the heart(h).

Lynne at freepennypress.  Lynne offers good writing and a sweetly sophisticated blog.

I so wish I could nominate more, but this holiday time crunch has “done me in.”

Nominated bloggers:  there is a Facebook group for recipients of the Blog of the Year Award.