and the winner is...

Me! Little 'ol me!

Dianna and Jen both gave me a Smile Award! I have to admit, I'm not sure I know what that is, but no matter. I won something! Woo!! Thanks, peeps!

Dianna's blog has long been one of my favorites. She has a perspective on things that is at least as skewed as mine and she has three of the most adorable girls in the world living in her house. Plus, one of her daughters might be in love with my son, and it's not the one that you think.

Jen's blog is one that I found much later in our process to bring home Bex. She's a nutritionist (or is it a dietitian? my sister is studying to be one of these in college and I never get it right. urgghh.) and has interesting things to say on the baby feeding front. Plus, she's quirky and fun and our kiddos share a birthday! Okay, not the same year, but the same day. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Seriously, chicas, I thank you!

Characteristics for the Smile Award:

1. Must display a cheerful attitude. Um... you guys read my blog, right? It's not always sunshine and roses around here.
2. Must love one another. Oh, I do. I love you all!
3. Must make mistakes. Check! When I make a mistake I do it up right!
4. Must learn from others. Hmmm. I certainly try.
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world. OK, this is where I get hung up. I mean, I guess I'm a positive contributor, but it's not like I'm saving the world here.
6. Must love life. Would it ruin it for you to know that I've seen a lot of therapists and was at one point being treated for clinical depression bordering on manic? I'm fine now, but that sure wasn't pretty.
7. Must love kids. I love mine! LOVE. HIM. All the other kids in the world, well... that depends.

These are the rules for The Smile Award:

1. The recipient must link back the the award’s creator. Not to be disparaging here, but are we really following bunch of rules put together by a teenage girl? Nobody, and I mean NOBODY should have ever followed any rules I came up with during my teenage years.
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award. Fine. I'll comply.
3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself. See below.
   
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award. That's not up to me to decide.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient. Sheesh! Enough with the rules already!
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others. Right. Because somebody is gonna give me an award and I'm gonna manage to keep that to myself.
7. You must thank your giver. See top of post.

The problem now is naming five blogs that haven't already been named. Hmmm...

It will come as no surprise that I don't do so well with the rules. So, again, thanks for the nomination ladies, but I think I'm about to spend some time in the naughty corner for this one.

I'm gonna name five blogs, maybe more, that I LOVE. Some adoption related, some not so much. Some have already received the award, others simply won't care about it. (Though, I question how anyone could manage not to care about an award!!) If the recipient wants to say they received the award then, hooray! You won an award! If not, no offense will be taken.

• Shannon at Finding the Joy in the Journey. They were on the road to a VN adoption but found themselves unexpectedly preggers. Her blog is fun and uplifting and if you feel like a good cry, go check out this post about her Daddy. Sniff.
• The Lawyerish blog. I love her writing style and wit, but be sure to read the comments left by others. Those are usually the icing on the cake. Especially on this post and this one.
• Chuck at Lucy & Eli. Because the photos always make me feel like I'm there.
• Erin at Stepping Stones. In addition to being a mom and a blogger she is also an amazing photographer who is not so patiently waiting to bring home her newest muse. If you live in the DFW are you should definitely schedule a session for some awesome pics!
• Laurie at Pho for Five. How she has the energy to chase three kiddos under two I will never know. Plus she has really cool giveaways and other fun stuff for her readers in addition to insightful commentary on adoption, parenting, and life in general. (I'm sure she has been mentioned a million times but just in case you don't read her blog already, you should.)
  
• Reagan at Controlled Chaos. A real life friend since junior high (you are trying to imagine our hair right now, aren't you?) and a generally awesome chick.

Of course, there are the bazillion and eighty others that have been mentioned by everyone else already, like Rachel and Christina, not to mention the other 96 blogs in my GoogleReader list or all of my pals with private blogs that it does no good to link to.

And my awesome Vietnam travel mates, Erin and Leslie!

And my real life support group, the VietMoms (see their links in the sidebar).

And do you people read Smitten Kitchen? OMG. Look at the food. Look. At. It.

There. That should keep all of you from being productive for a good half hour or so. : )