An award?

I never knew that there was a beautiful blogger award until recently when my lovely friend, Molly, nominated me for one. It's a sort of pay-it-forward type of award that goes as follows:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for the award
2. copy the award and paste it on your blog
3. link to the person who nomiated you for the award
4. share 7 interesting things about yourself
5. nominate 7 other beautiful bloggers

Thank you Molly (who takes the most amazing photos and is the person who inspired me to start a blog)!!

7 interesting things:

1 - I have been procrastinating on paying this award forward because coming up with 7 interesting things about myself just seems like a bit of a stretch for me right now.

2 - I used to tell peple I was adopted to see if they would believe me (all my siblings have blond, straight hair & blue eyes); most people did.

3 - I still miss Palau every day. I love having running water, working lights and walls; but, my heart is in Palau.

4 - I slept on the floor last night in the dorm study room under a pile of blankets because I couldn't get warm enough to fall asleep in our bed ... the logical thing for most people would have been to cuddle up to their spouse. Not sure what I was thinking with that one (& neither was Jason when he found me this morning)

5 - It looks like we'll be living in Shanghai for a 2nd year - a big step for us since we've lived in 3 countries in the less than 3 years that we've been married. We've seen a contract with our names on it for next year & are awaiting the proper channels it is supposed to go through before we can sign. I didn't expect to like China enough to want to live here very long. It has exceeded my expectations by far.

6 - I'm reading Three Cups of Tea right now. This incredible story of one selfless American man creating a different life for Pakistani children through education and the many people who have helped him along the way has left me in tears many times.

7 - I have been feeling a little directionless lately. This is an awesome job that I really enjoy, but on most days it's not super challenging or inspiring. I feel like I need a new hobby or something. Trying to volunteer in Shanghai has been a challenge. It seems only non-Chinese agencies allow volunteer assistance and the few that are here tend to be flooded with volunteers. So, I've been brainstorming about what I could DO. Last night, I told Jason perhaps I should become an acrobat. What do you think?

And, my blog nominations are:

1. William - Peace Corps buddy who writes incredibly well and has a passion to help the less fortunate that inspires me.

2. Kim - Friend from an LA Bible study who introduced me to the wonderful apartment in Montrose that I got to live in. Beautiful woman with a beautiful family.

3. Amanda - College acquaintance who hasn't posted in quite some time, but writes beautifully.

4. Jen - Jason's cousin-in-law who I've only met once, but who I'd love the chance to get to know better. They adopted a beautiful girl from China & put our first Chinese money in our pockets last summer.

5. April - my amazing cousin/chef and who is a ton of fun just to be around.

6. Megan - a college friend who lives in D.C. and hasn't posted in a while ...

7. Kim (#2) - living with her adorable family in the rugged beauty of New Zealand & just added a boy to their family.