Best of 2009 (continued)

Here are a few more Best of 2009 picks, as organized by Gwen Bell.

December 5 - Night Out - in downtown Manhattan, at a burger pub, with Melinda and Tyler, celebrating Tyler's birthday.  And later eating ice cream and then walking through Times Square, marveling at the neon signs, buildings, crowds, and energy of New York City.

December 6 - Workshop or conference - On National Scrapbook Day in May, I went to an all day crop organized by Scrapshotz in Calgary with Heather and that was lots of fun!  I got some pages done about our trip to Poland.  And in April I went to the International Reading Association conference, a perennial favourite of mine,  in Edmonton.  I love a day devoted to children and reading and books!

December 7 - Blog find of the year - I've followed a lot of blogs but if I could only read one each day, it would be Holy Experience, written by Ann Voskamp.  That girl has a gift with words and her camera, she lives on a farm, and her faith is a living, breathing daily reality.  She truly is an inspiration - I know she's shy about praise but God is using her in mighty ways!

December 8 - Moment of peace - early morning Bible reading when the sun shines in our bedroom and my day starts calmly, focussed on Him.

December 9 - Challenge - driving through Kenya and Tanzania, watching the women and children walk collecting water and firewood - and having children call out to us as we passed by in our safari vehicle, "Water, please."  And now coming home to so much of everything and sometimes seeing it being wasted or not appreciated.  This is still on my mind most days.

December 10 - Album of the year - Christmas music:  Andrea Bocelli "My Christmas" -  Christian album:  "CompassionArt (Creating Freedom from Poverty)" - 12 artists inspired to write and record an album with all proceeds and royalties going to help the poorest of the poor- from the album cover.

Best of 2009

Today I stumbled across a new blog written by Gwen Bell and discovered that she's hosting the Best of 2009 blog challenge.    It's a look back at the year with specific questions for each day in December.  
I'm starting late so I'll try to do a few days at a time to catch up.  Please, please consider joining her community - the prompts are great.

December 1 - What was your best trip in 2009?  I had 3 wonderful out of province trips this year and each one was special.  In June I flew to Nova Scotia,  met Samuel and spent a week cuddling him and being pampered by our friends Linda and Edward.  In July we flew to New York City and spent another week with Samuel, Melinda and Tyler.  And then in October we spent a month in Africa - an amazing time in Kenya, Tanzania and Eqypt.  It was a very good year for travel :))

December 2 - Share the best restaurant moment of the year.  Hands down, it was the meals on the Nile Adventurer while we cruised in Eqypt.  De.li.cious!!  Sandra and I enjoyed every bite, I think, and we enjoyed the company of other travelers around the dinner table too.

December 3 - An article that you read and reference / talk about - From the November issue of Reader's Digest, an article on H1N1 and how to help your body stay strong and healthy.

December 4 - What book touched you?  From book club, I think it would be Still Alice (the story of a 50 yr. old woman who is struck with early onset Alzheimer's disease) by Lisa Genoa.  Heather read it and I passed it to my sister too.  I think of it often.

This is a great exercise in recall!!  Please let me know if you decide to join in.