Friday, October 8, 2010

October prompt and giveaway

Maybe it's the changing of the seasons.  Maybe it's fiery red leaves on old maples and hot apple crisp after dinner and fleece jackets zipped all the way up against the chill on an evening walk.  I don't know, but I'm feeling a little more awe than usual.  It's like I can feel the planet moving under my feet.  (Not in a terrifying shifting of the tectonic plates, death and destruction sort of way, but in a momentous change sort of way.)  And it feels good.  It feels like adventure and novelty and endless opportunity.

And with all this change swirling about, I've decided to tweak the Friday prompt.  From here on in, the Friday prompt is history.  Instead, I'll do a monthly prompt and it will always involve a giveaway.  Doesn't that sound like more fun? 

So, my friends, today I've got a little sneak peak for you.  It's one of the elements from a new and exclusive giveaway journal page.  I won't be posting the page online, but I will send links to the mystery page to everyone who leaves a comment in response to this prompt:


It's a giveaway that everybody wins!  (Just like last time.)  Woohoo! 

There's just one last thing.  Today -- or maybe it's tomorrow -- marks the beginning of the Thanksgiving long weekend in Canada.  I'll be in and out all weekend with the husband and kiddies visiting family and friends and won't be back in the swing of things until Tuesday, at which point I'll start sending out mystery page links. 

This is the important part:  If you haven't received an email by, let's say, midday on Wednesday, it's most likely because I can't find your email address.  This caused me all sorts of stress last time, so please, please, please, if you would like the links, please make sure that your email address is super-easy to find on your profile or better yet, include your email address in your comment.

Now let's all go out and be awestruck for awhile.  I'll write about my three things in the comments and I hope you'll join me there to add yours!

Happy Friday and Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends!

64 comments:

  1. Three items from a very long list of things that leave me in awe:

    1. Pregnancy and birth -- Looking now at my two daughters, ages 7 and 3, as they laugh and argue and grow and learn, it seems impossible that they began inside of me.

    2. The luminescent, otherwordly creatures that live in the oceans' depths.

    3. The vastness of time and space in the universe -- 100,000 years to travel across our galaxy at the speed of light. Mind-boggling.

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  2. 1. The way that leaves can change color and be their most beautiful right before they die, then come back in the spring.

    2. The power of water in a river.

    3. The unconditional way that I love my children.

    janawarnell(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  3. The kindness of my transplant donor (I have leukemia)I'm in awe everyday. Because of his kindness I'm here today with my kids!

    My children, they leave me in awe everyday!

    My husband, I've yet to see the end of his love for me, the kids and our family... but I'm mostly in awe of his inability to come to terms with change. He hates it, REALLY hates it. (laughs)

    jmjaques at live dot com

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  4. 1. The ocean itself. Beautiful and terrible at the same time.
    2. The innumerable stars in the universe, among them all God still seems to care about small, insignificant me.
    3. Rain.

    linds.hymas{at}gmail.com

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  5. 1. The love of God! He is sufficient!
    2. The unconditional love of my family.
    3. The birth of life!

    jdownings@msn.com

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  6. 3. The Grand Canyon
    2. Lake Superior
    1. A starry night

    lowrym3(at)gmail(dot)com

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  7. 1. Vastness of the universe
    2. The "a-ha" moment that unlocks secrets to baffling mysteries.
    3. The beautiful rebirth of life after devastation - vegetation after a fire.

    ryanpatrickhale@hotmail.com

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  8. 1. The healing that comes from the simple passing of time
    2. The creative potential in each of us
    3. The cycle of the seasons and the beauty that each brings

    emily.wolfe@hotmail.com

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  9. 1) Children- I love how simple and straightforward their minds (and sometimes mouths!) work
    2) Mountains- The craggy peaks that somehow seem fierce and terrifying, and yet benevolent and protecting at the same time
    3) Water- Every stream, ocean, lake, river in all it's glory. It awes me in its gentle power that demands, but rarely gets, respect.

    heatherwilson0506@hotmail.com

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  10. 1) How awesomeness can be found in a huge mountain or the tiniest flower.

    2) The ocean. How the tides work, the animals that call it home. Everything.

    3) The beauty of a sunset.

    Thanks for the giveaway!
    laura11arual at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  11. The miracle of life.
    Children and their zest for life, natural curosity and innocence.
    Fall Trees

    :)
    Email this time! lol
    dana_w_jones at hotmail.com

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  12. 1. My amazing family
    2. Thinking about infinity
    3. Knowing my body made eyeballs!!!

    Sewitpretty1@yahoo.com

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  13. 1. Cicadas. I live in Texas, so summer lingers on, but just the other day I was still hearing the cicadas in the early evening. Some don't like the sound, but it's such a sound that indicates Summer -- AND they're so hard to actually see. I love it.

    2. The intelligence of animals. The other day I was watching the Oprah show on animals. Animals may not be able to communicate as humans, but they have their own voice and their own way of being. I love my cats and I know that they understand me on some level, and I love that.

    3. The peace nature brings. It can be a walk alone in a wooded area; or a stroll along a beach; or just a rainbow in the sky after a rainstorm to let make you aware that there is something out there bigger than you which just wants to give you the sense that YOU ARE.

    -- Gabby (gabbycovey @ gmail dot com)

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  14. 1. The endless beautiful blue skies.
    2. Giving birth.
    3. The goodness of God's people.

    the.k.krew(at)gmail(dot)com

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  15. 1. Everytime it rains (which is rare in the desert) I am in awe of the beauty of it ... and throw in the lightening and thunder and it is amazing!
    2. I love the millions of little bugs. To think that God created each one of them. Just as he created each one of us.
    3. I am in awe of the oceans. They seem to go forever... it would be wonderful to take a boat ride into the sunset.

    Maggie (soyprincesa2@hotmail.com)

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  16. 1. my baby boy
    2. love i feel for him and my hubs
    3. how small the world is

    tk_mccord@hotmail.com

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  17. 1. Even though I love sleeping in, the beauty and serenity of the sunrise does strike me many-a-day as I'm driving to work.

    2. The amazing innate behavior of the chambered nautilus; a thing of beauty as well as an interesting metaphor for human life poetically discussed by Holmes: http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/Chambered.htm

    3. Like so many have said before me, the involuntary and uncontrollable intensity of the love I feel for my family.

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  18. 1. The utter stillness and quietness of our 40 acres in Arizona.
    2. The smell of fresh mowed grass
    3. How flowers manage to bloom in the desert
    I could go on and on. There is so much that goes on in the world that we miss on a daily basis. Just be quiet and listen.....
    lil.iodine@cox.net

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  19. 1. My daughter
    2. The sky, so big and vast... yet so comforting
    3. The simple,symmetrical artistry of a single snowflake. :)

    tambowrites AT gmail DOT com

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  20. the ocean
    sunrise/sunset
    snow

    great prompt!
    bethclary at yahoo dot com

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  21. Fractals like cauliflower, snowflakes, some trees
    Stars, planets, galaxies
    Life under the ocean
    Can I have a fourth? Children

    I have updated my profile to include my email.

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  22. The changing of seasons- it's pretty and pretty amazing ;)

    The sight and sound of the ocean- I wish I could see it more often!

    Love- enough said

    thomas(dot)nancy5(at)gmail(dot)com

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  23. 1. The joy on a chid's face

    2. Sunlight through the trees

    3. The way friends can change your life :)

    tallie_the_pirate@hotmail.com

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  24. I am in awe at the power of water, be it ocean or waterfall, rain or river.

    I am in awe at the colours nature shares as the seasons change (it is spring in Australia)

    I am in awe at the capacity of parents to love all their children as if they are the only one

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  25. 1. God
    2. Life
    3. The beauty of dragon flies dancing in the breeze.

    Josette59@comcast.net

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  26. such a wonderful prompt Christie! So hard to choose only 3...

    1. vivid sunsets
    2. the simply stunning variety, innovation and beauty in the insect world
    3. personal interaction with wild animals (for example seeing a hawk in a tree in my backyard can stop me in my tracks, breathless and amazed - it feels sacred to me)

    now for the really fun part... I am going to go and read everyone's answers!

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  27. Susan.heggestad2@gmail.comOctober 9, 2010 at 10:20 AM

    1. Changing leaves in fall
    2. New plant growth in spring
    3. The changing sounds outdoors from morning to night--something is always talking out there!

    ReplyDelete
  28. 1: The sweetness of cuddle time with my dog in the mornings, especially in contrast to his usual spaz-dog-ness.
    2: The slow journey through season change here at the coast, where I'm more likely to see changing bird populations than changes in leaf color (many if not most of our local foliage doesn't change)
    3: The charm of cool mornings and evenings, with afternoons still hot enough for shorts and t-shirts.
    My email is revanne@hotmail.com--and thanks for the giveaway! I've gotten hooked on your journal pages via oneprettything.com

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  29. Rain. Living in the desert, I've learned to appreciate and enjoy the rain whenever we can get it, and for however long it stays.

    Childbirth. There's nothing like knowing you brought a perfect soul into the world.

    Rainbows.

    nmbailey (at) cox (dot) net

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  30. Watching the seasons change from our backyard, when we find rainbows after it rains and showing my children how tiny seeds can grow into huge flowers or veggies.

    Serra
    ilovemydj2002@yahoo.com

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  31. Hi there - I still haven't gotten the link to last Friday's, but on the upside, I (well, my IT guys really) figured out what was wrong and now I can post from France! I'm at used2bgood@gmail.com

    So, without further ado:

    I am amazed at the way the darkness feels, when I'm a hundred miles from civilization. I thought that it would be scary - I thought that it would have weight, and eyes, and a heartbeat that I could hear but that would vanish when I whipped my head in its direction...but that's just Hollywood. Instead I found that the darkness is weightless, and soft, and brilliant with stars. It goes on forever, and moonlight forgives all flaws.

    I'm enraptured by the way the earth ages gracefully, and I wish that I could learn to do it too. The spring is green, and fresh, and new, and so it is beautiful - the summer is full blown, and indolent, and comfortable in it's warmth, inviting to sit, to stay, to laze the long days of golden sunlight away. Then comes the fall - brilliant in color, and smells, and the air is crisp and makes my lungs expand to their full capacity just to hold the taste inside, while the winter is all sharp edges, and ice crystal clarity, and perfect snowflakes, each one incredibly complex and geometrically wondrous and unique. All different stages of life, but none holding dominance, each with their value, and all with their beauty.

    Lastly, I have marveled (lately no less) at the music that needs no radio, no signal, no internet to play. The magpies that sing for their mates, the frogs that herald the coming frost, the crickets that play every night outside my window. They form an orchestra with the winds, the spaces of silence in between their notes filled in with the rustling of the leaves. I could listen for hours, and no two notes would be the same.

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  32. The rain, how does it keep coming down?
    The massive amount of shades of green.
    How everything just 'knows' what it's supposed to do.
    Laurie
    trailbenders@hotmail.com

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  33. Clouds. They are beautiful!
    Humans. There are so many variations in people that it's breathtaking!
    Pregnancy. With the millions of things that could go wrong in a pregnancy, it's quite amazing that they don't more often!

    lisamerkley(at)gmail(dot)com

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  34. Happy Thanksgiving fellow Canadian(s)...
    1. Love. My family & my cats! Its infinite capacity to grow and expand to include new friends and family
    2. Night Sky. We live out of town and near a Dark Sky Preserve - it is magical some nights to just look up.
    3. Nature. Animals in the woods, plants in my garden,the whole natural world seems magical.
    /Cathy
    calvert{dot}cathy{at}gmail{dot}com

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  35. 1. The little path by my house that I walk along most days - and the way the little forest & creek change from season to season.
    2. An Arizona monsoon/thunderstorm - miss those!
    3. My little dog-best friend to all 6 of us, forgives immediately, excited for every minute of attention you give her, plays with you on demand, but demands nothing when you are busy.

    shjared@comcast (dot) net

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  36. 1. Seasons/weather
    2. Birth/child development
    3. The body's ability to heal

    jchlangley@gmail.com

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  37. 1. Kids
    2. Birth/death
    3. Crisp fall days full of sunshine and laughter.

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  38. 1. The really unusual, take-up-the-whole-sky fiery sunsets that you see about twice a year
    2. The golden-rosy glow of early evening when the clouds are just right. I don't know what causes it, but it's my favorite!
    3. How enormous the universe is and how everything is held in it's right spot.

    hrleonard (at) gmail (dot) com

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  39. Lovely prompt. For me it's:
    1) Autumn colours
    2) Starry nights
    3) Spring bulbs sprouting

    mrskatiemccrae@gmail.com

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  40. 1) That time of day in the evening when the sun is starting to go down and the world is lit in a golden and magical way.

    2) Newborn babies

    3) The power of prayer

    gailvw@comcast.net

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  41. Happy Thanksgiving to you!

    3. Clouds
    2. how blue an ocean can be now that I've seen it
    1. how fiercely we can love

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  42. Three natural things that leave me in awe:

    1. Being in the woods and just listening to the beauty.
    2. The never-ending amount of love I get from my family.
    3. Life/death

    toniamelhorn@carolina.rr.com

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  43. 1 - How you dog acts just like a child, and that you love him nearly as much!
    2 - The changing seasons with all their colors.
    3 - The vastness of the universe!

    megan.white27@yahoo.com
    Thanks for the giveaway! (:

    ReplyDelete
  44. The Great Barrier Reef
    Watching a Butterfly Change
    and
    The Ebb and Flow of the Ocean

    Happy Thanksgiving!
    ejricca@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  45. Seasons
    My children
    That all the beauty around us comes from the imagination of God.
    mmdapelo at gmail dot com

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  46. The beauty of changing leaves
    A cool breeze on a hot day
    Flowers pushing through the earth in Spring

    I love your journal pages! Thanks!
    susieg(at)byu(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  47. 1. The crisp, clean smell of the air on a brisk fall morning.

    2. The view of the world spread at your feet after climbing to the top of a mountain peak.

    3. The sprouting and growing of plants, sown by my own hand.

    :)

    pam{dot}helm{at}hotmail{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  48. My Girls
    God
    babies human and animals I just think they are all so cute :)

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  49. I've been thinking about this for ages now:

    1. eyes - how can they just happen?!?

    2. that we get all our heat from the sun, miles and miles and miles away and that, even then, it's too hot sometimes

    3. snowflakes

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  50. Thank you for the wonderful journal pages you share with us! I have enjoyed them so much!

    1. Pregnancy and birth
    2. the changing seasons
    3. The mountains leave me in awe every time I visit.

    My email is simplicityridge@gmail.com

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  51. this one is easy :D

    1. pregnancy; how can someone be living, breathing off of a woman just by an umbilical cord?
    2. birth; amazing how a child is born and knows exactly you're their mother from the moment they see you.
    3. thunderstorms; the most amazing specatacle ever. i love it.

    my email is m.montelongo87@gmail.com

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  52. 1) How a simple hug can help to ease the pain of a loss.
    2) waterfalls
    3) Mountains

    my email is ewebb@mills.edu

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  53. 1. seasons---love living where we can truely experience all 4
    2. really really big things...intimidating@
    3. the oceans and everything about them

    amlafuria AT yahoo DOT com

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  54. 1. The unadulterated laughter of children.
    2. The consistency, power and unpredictability of the ocean.
    3. How everything that is natural and alive is connected.

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  55. 1. The constant cycle of the seasons. Nature's first green is, truly, gold.
    2. My 3 y.o. son's ever evolving sense of discovery. His observations and conclusions never cease to amaze me.
    3. Another fan of the ocean. I live on the shores of a large salt water body that empties out into and receives from the northern Atlantic. I've spent hours exploring and learning about the wildlife of the seas and marshes.

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  56. 1. The ocean, something about the sound of the waves and the feel of the ocean spray brings my soul to peace

    2. A breeze, can bring so much feeling

    3. The fact that nature is every where.

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  57. I've shared your work with my middle school English students. I tell them that you create such beautiful journal pages because you love to write and you want to pass on your love of writing and sharing with others! Today they proclaimed that they desperately needed another journal page! Tomorrow they will write, relax, and grow closer to each other through their sharing. Thank you so much!

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  58. I'm sorry! I didn't know how to link the above post with my email. I would love to share the mystery page with my students! Thank you!

    nykitews@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  59. The quiet after a fresh fallen snow, crisp morning autumn air, and getting up to look at the night sky when camping away from city lights....amazing!!

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  60. Christie,
    I have just discovered your blog and find it uplifting and inspiring! I will be a regular follower from now on. Three things that leave me in awe:
    1. The anticipation of snow and beautiful holidays :)
    2. The perfect little baby lying beside me, softly cooing in his sleep.
    3. The music of rain pitter-pattering on the windows.

    Thank you for helping stop and admire the awe worthing things around me.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Here's my email for the mystery journal page, I forgot to include it in my previous comment.
    dearmegs@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  62. Three things that inspire me:
    1 - the infectious laughter of children
    2 - pregnancy and childbirth
    3 - the newness of spring, the new birth of the beautiful world around us.
    Thanks for sharing your inspiration with us!! Your blog is wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Three things that amaze me:
    watching my children grow and develop
    diversity of the natural world
    love and generosity of family and friends

    Thanks for doing this!

    jenna at strawnfamily dot com

    ReplyDelete

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