Liebster Award!

Oh my goodness gracious! Sweet Mary, mother of Abraham Lincoln! Kimberly over at The Simplicity of Being Curious nominated me for a Liebster Award! I am seriously so honored...this blog is tiny, tiny so it means so much to me that people enjoy reading it. Thank you, Kimberly!

So...onto the rules for the Liebster Award:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves. 
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!
6. The people you tag need to have 200 followers or less. This award is to get the word out about new bloggers and celebrate getting started!!

Eleven Facts About Me

1. I only like flat pop.
2. I am the youngest of five girls. 
3. I learned two critical things from my father: how to watch football and how to be an opinionated, intelligent woman. 
4. My favorite book is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. 
5. I discovered my love of fundraising as a sophomore in high school, when a random teacher pulled me out of the hall and asked if I had voted for a student club yet. By the end of the day, I was secretary of our student philanthropy club and the rest is history.
6. My favorite teacher's nickname for me is Maggot. He even shouted it at graduation.
7. I went to a college that was smaller than my high school.
8. I am obsessed with doing different voices and love impersonating people. 
9. My ideal day would be time with my niece, Emma, and then time at the beach and/or reading. 
10. In the true colors personality test, I am an "orange," meaning I act on impulse, love adventure, and trust my first instincts.
11. I once drove across the United States. By myself. Still not sure what I was thinking on that one. 

Questions that were asked of me...

1. What was the most influential moment of your life? Probably when I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It reinforced the beauty we have in the Lord in that He allows us to make our path, and gives us free will. It was so inspiring.

2. If you could only have one, what vanity product is a must keep (i.e. blush, make-ups brushes, hair product, spandex :P)? Gotta have my mascara.

3. What is your favorite read and why? Again...East of Eden by Steinbeck. It's his exploration of the battle between predestination and free will.

4. What was your dream job as a little kid? I wanted to be Diane Sawyer. I thought she was the most intelligent, classy woman I had ever seen and that it was so cool she got to travel the world and interview all these people. I was also obsessed because apparently she used to only see her husband once a year because of their demanding journalist schedules. When I was little, I was convinced that I never wanted to get married because it was too claustrophobic...she helped. ;)

5. What is your favorite quality in a person? I think a person who understands and embraces the quirkiness of both other people and life. 

6. Which of the blog posts that you've written is your favorite (post that link)? =] This is hard, but I'm going to pick Overcome the Lies. It was a very personal post for me about growing up, finding God and living the Truth.

7. What is your favorite quote? 

8. Who is your celebrity crush? Khloe Kardashian. We are both level-headed people from crazy families who like to keep it real, and always speak our mind. Also: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling and Ewan McGregor.

9. If you could have dinner with anyone (alive, deceased, fictional), who would it be and why? Scarlett O'Hara. I think she is one of the strongest female personalities, and I would love to eat with her and hear her talk about all the crazy people in her life and how she fought so hard to retain what she wanted.

10. What is one thing you wish you were better at or wish you had that talent? I wish I could sing.

11. What is one goal that you have for your blog? I want to grow the number of readers I have, while not sacrificing the quality of my posts for quantity of readers.

Allllright...now...the 11 questions for the people I nominated for the Liebster Award: 

1. If you could be a guest character in any TV show, what show would it be and what would your character do?

2. What is your favorite book?

3. How would you describe your personality in three words?

4. What is one goal you have for yourself this year?

5. Describe one influential moment in your life. 

6. If you were on the Bachelor/Bachelorette, what ridiculous date would you plan and how would this help you determine whether they are a good spouse or not?

7. What is one skill/talent you wish you had but currently don't?

8. Name one song that always gets you pumped up and ready for life.

9. What is your favorite post you've ever written?

10. What is your favorite holiday and why?

11. If you could be a little kid again for one day, what would you do?

I nominate:

Lauren @ LarushkaBabushka

Juliann @ I walk the line

Katie @ JD's Wife

Mary Lauren @ headed somewhere

Ashley @ The Story Project

Meg @ Six One in Heels

Katie B @ Time of your Life

Heather @ Fiery and Opinionated
Wine and Summer
Amanda @ A Beautiful Mess
Rebecca @ Forever After Undecided

Overwrite the Lies

Today I'm linking up with the women of the Overwrite the Lies project--a week-long social media campaign to help combat the young lies women listen to in their heads, so they might hear the truth written in their heart.

When I was in high school, girls went through a phase of calling each other a lot of negative words 'playfully' disguised as nicknames. Slut. Whore. Bitch. Anyone who has been a girl knows what I'm talking about. Girls try to say it as a joke or a passive-agressive commentary, but it still stings. It's not true. It's a lie, but it gets in your head. And your heart.

Especially mine. When I was in sixth grade, I learned that I was what I like to affectionately call a doorstep baby. My birthmom had left me on my dad's doorstep without so much as a see you later. I grew up in a loving home with devoted parents and four beautiful sisters. I was never treated any differently than any of them, and the circumstances of my birth were never dwelled on. But in high school, doubt, fear and evil crept into my mind. I started to wonder. What was the role of my birthmom in my life? Did I inherit anything from her? Would parts of my life be out of my control, simply because they were her genes? The names girls threw around carelessly in highschool--slut, whore, bitch, tease--they were all things I had once heard said of my birthmom. Was I destined to turn out like her--a bitch?

Through the grace of God, it was at this time that my junior english class was reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden. The story works its way through two brother's internal struggle after they learn their mother is a prostitute. One fears that much like the Old Testament says in stories of generations of offspring being cursed due to one ancestor's sin against God, he is condemned to be a sinner like his mother. The other finds his answer in the grace of Jesus and one word: timshel. This is the original word in the Bible, located in Genesis, that gives the first sign of the most defining characteristic of our relationship with God in comparison to other deities: free will. I've posted a short clip of the passage below:

Samuel said, “[...]Why is this word so important?”

Lee’s hand shook as he filled the delicate cups. He drank his down in one gulp. “Don’t you see?” he cried. “The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’ Don’t you see?”

“Yes, I see. I do see. But you do not believe this is divine law. Why do you feel its importance?”

“Ah!” said Lee. “I’ve wanted to tell you this for a long time. I even anticipated your questions and I am well prepared. Any writing which has influenced the thinking and the lives of innumerable people is important. Now, there are many millions in their sects and churches who feel the order, ‘Do thou,’ and throw their weight into obedience. And there are millions more who feel predestination in ‘Thou shalt.’ Nothing they may do can interfere with what will be. But ‘Thou mayest’! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win.”

(For a longer snippet of the novel, please click here).

And in those paragraphs, in the words of the Lord, I found the truth over the lies. Because our God loves us, trusts us, and wants the best for us: He has given us free will. The choice is ours. Jesus died to break the rules of the Old Testament and continue this free will. We can be great, or we can fall. But we are not predestined to either one.

The beauty of the Lord is this: He doesn't just take your sins away. He takes whatever shame, sin and ugliness you may have in your past and turns it into something beautiful--something for His glory. I never in a million years would have thought I would have once been a camp counselor using the story of my birthmom for His glory, or blogging about it to strangers on the internet. But that's what the love and forgiveness of Christ can do. I no longer feel trapped, scared, hopeless, helpless, abandoned or ashamed. Because I have found the truth.

So, since this week is focusing on overwriting the lies we hear, let me wrap up with this:

I am my mother. 

I am my father.

My path is set. 

Once I've fallen, count me down.

The choice is yours: timshel.