Ich Ben Geleibt!

(German: "I am loved!")

I was browsing a favorite blog of mine, and I was delighted to discover that I had actually won a blogging award.  Okay, so won isn't the right word... I was awarded an award...  er, that's a little redundant... anyway, my blog received an award!

It's not anything that a lot of people vote for or anything, but the fact that it's coming from someone I respect and admire so much really means a lot.

I think I'm supposed to pass it on to five people, but I'm not sure how this works and I seriously don't read that many blogs in general, mainly just friends and family, popular people (did I mention this award is for people with under 200 followers?), and a few random people that I decided to follow because they have all boys like me.  So instead, I'm just going to embarrass the person who gave it to me.  :)

(Insert picture of me and Lisa and her family here --when I get back to where my stuff is in storage and have access to a working scanner.)

Lisa is someone I met on my mission in Poland, and though I only saw her a few times on Sundays since they lived quite a ways outside of Krakow, it was so nice having another American/English-speaker to talk to, and it made a huge difference having someone who had grown up in the Church coming to the small branch there.  It was like having a third missionary, one that people knew, respected, and could emulate--since we as missionaries didn't live a very normal life and couldn't show them how a member of this church lived day-to-day.
Her husband, who is Polish, was in the Mission Presidency at the time and traveled a lot, but whenever I had the privilege of hearing him speak, it was like a breath of fresh air.  Everything he said was so doctrinally sound, and made so much sense.  That isn't always the case in places like Poland, I'm afraid. The Church there is relatively young, and the members are almost all converts, so often times incorrect ideas would start creeping in.  As missionaries, part of our job was to make sure only true principles were being taught in our church meetings, and for a young missionary who didn't always understand the language, this was a cause of great anxiety. So you can imagine how grateful I was whenever President Pawlik was presiding. I could relax a little because if anything was amiss, he would kindly set it straight.
I loved their kids too. When we got to the opportunity to teach a bit of primary (and most of the time they were the primary) they were so patient with our weak Polish, and would often translate for us when we didn't know the words.  It was awesome.
Anyway, I am astounded by the strength and faith of this woman. What a tremendous blessing they are to the Church there (believe me, I know), and yet what a sacrifice?  I mean, I can't imagine living indefinitely so far from home and family, going without the things I was used to having around... like peanut butter and rootbeer...
 I suppose there's always some give and take; I mean, I would love to have easy access to affordable fresh-from-the-farm produce, delicious cheeses and breads without preservatives, german chocolate, yummy yogurts and ice-cream, (can you tell I still dream about Polish deli's, even after all these years?), etc. etc. etc.... Seriously though --speaking of taking things for granted-- I spent most of my mission craving things like tacos, and Carl's Jr., and such, only to come home and realize that I could have all those things for the rest of my life, and it would be so much harder to get a good zupa ogorkowa (cucumber soup), or a fresh bulki (bread roll)...  I even developed a taste for Lisner Sledz z sosem cremowy z jablkami i cebula (pickled herring in cream sauce with apples and onions) --and I still crave it!  How weird is that?
However, I definitely don't envy them the socialized medicine.  Maybe I just need to move closer to Chicago --but that would be too far from my family (of course, I probably take their proximity for granted anyway).
I know, I'm such a baby.

To be honest, it would all be way outside of my comfort zone --it was uncomfortable for most of the 18 months I was there, and I seriously applaud anyone who can do it as well and with as good of an attitude and sense of humor as Lisa.

How pleased I was to find that she was good friends with my husband's family, and I found her blog through comments she had left on one of their blogs.  Little did I know how witty and sarcastic and intelligent she is.  I admit I never saw that side of her in the few short meetings we had together (except for the intelligent part), and I wish I had gotten to know her better while I was there, in person.  I guess that's the beauty of blogging!


I've just decided that I am going to pass on this award after all, to 5 people whom I think more people should get to know.

One, is a friend of mine that I got to know in person, and then got to know even better after reading her blog. It's generally a regular mommy-blog like mine, but Sandi often has very insightful things to say.  Find her at Wuv,Tru Wuv.

Then there's my very talented and creative Sister-in-Law, who records all of her crafty creations and ideas, which I think deserve more attention, on her craft blog: Bee in My Bonnet.

Another creative person is my delightful little sister "JerZcow," who often has good ideas, and even has a fledgling etsy jewelry store that I think gets lost among the zillions of other hand-made jewelry makers out there, but has a unique, natural flare. (Hope there's no nepotism rules to this award thingy --I told you, I mostly read blogs of people I am related to.  She also helped me with the German for my title).

Okay, here's one I'm not related to (although I don't know how many followers she actually has because it's not shown, but what the heck...), a writer blogger who's blog I look forward to because it's honest and funny and well written. So here's an award for Kym, at Temporary? Insanity

And finally, the blog of veritable strangers, who's blog I've only lurked around a bit, but they are extremely talented artistically, and culinarily --and I've come to find out that she and her husband are really nice people as well when I actually met them in person last weekend (and of course, I probably looked like a real weirdo when I told them how much I loved their blogs --being a silent lurker and all). So the last award goes to our new friends Robert and Laura. (Be sure to check out their photo and art blogs in the sidebar, they're amazing!)

Hope you guys feel as loved as I do!  Share the love with 5 other lesser known bloggers, if you like, so we can get to know them too!

-Laura