Take Root and Write

vLoG mE BaCk

vLoG mE BaCk, what could that mean? Well it kind of happened by accident. I decided to break out and do my first official vlog this weekend. Do I change the name of this column to a Vlog in a Blog now? Yeah, we wont go that far! Vlogging is when you get out your webcam and hit record while you talk about, well, whatever you want. Just like in your blog you get to choose what to say. But of course in vlog, the 'v' is for video, so it's more than words you need to think about. (good lighting can make you look just marvy!)

When I sat down to record my vlog, it was really on a whim. Lori, my wonderful new friend over at Lori's Reflections and her book review site, Loris Book Reviews set out to do hers. She posted it over on FaceBook and I was inspired! That night I sat down and just hit record on my MacBook.  (Hint: If you cannot see the video embedded below, here is the link...  First Vlog

Why I Love My Hubby

I was tagged by one of my wonderful Twiends (Twitter friend) Daisy from over at Dr. Mommy Chronicles. Her friend, Arika over at They Call Me Mommy started this really cute meme and Daisy tagged me to join! I love a good meme and this one is about husbands, so love that.

Here are the rules:

Grab the graphic and insert with these rules, in your post.
Give at least 5 reasons why you love your hubby. List more if you want.
Tag 5 people (or more) to play along and link to their blogs in your post.
Then visit those women’s blogs and leave them a comment on any of their posts.

Now that I have shared the rules, it’s my time to share my reasons:

5 Reasons I Love My Hubby

1. My husband Jose, he puts me first. (Well, second~ God First)
2. I have not seen FireProof yet, but from what I have seen so far He is the man AFTER the book. He does all the little and big things effortlessly and with out a second thought and actually comes up with all of it!
3. It takes just one hint or phone call of 'Honey, I need Chocolate',.. I WILL have chocolate in my hands with in hours. He does know the power of Dark Chocolate!
4. Jose has always been an awesome father. Starting as a single man at 22 raising his 3 year old son on his own until we met and married when he was 9. Then as the daddy of our 14 (oh my golly almost 15) year old daughter. Never have asked him to spend time with either, He is a huge part of their lives in every way. And it shows in their relationship.
5. He is the Spiritual Leader of our home. Our actual first conversation was about guidance in my walk with The Lord and what He was doing in my life. He has been there for every talk since then!
6. He has stuck with me! Oh my have I been a handful! All the craziness that makes up me, he finds the patience to endure.
7. He is the most absolute positive person I know. He can change his state of mind in a moment, bringing it back around to line up with God's Word and the Renewing of Our Minds.
8. He gives me space. Never tries to put me in a box, always supports my ventures.
9. I love Jose for who God made Him to be, my hubby! 19 years in December!

OK! A little more than 5 but couldn't we just go on and on!
Now I am supposed to tag 5 people to play along, so here they are..

Julie at The Surrendered Scribe
Danielle at My name is Danielle this is my Website
Tara at Destiny Driven
Carol at Sheep to the Right
Mid at Mid's Point of View

This meme came at a great time as we are fixing to have a brand new column here at Take Root and Write! Marriage; Striving for Oneness. Keep a look out!

Wordle! How much fun is this!

Ok, so am I behind ?? I learned of "Wordle" today. This is one of simple things that you just can't get enough of. So what is it?

Directly from Wordle...

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

I found this new toy through another new toy I have been doing for about a month now, yeah, way late on this one, "Twitter." Back to that later in the post!
You don't need a website to enjoy "Wordle". You can use any words you want. Like maybe type in all the consequences for your teenager if they don't get their chores done! HA! Oh, my girlie, I don't need to do that to her. I used Wordle for our site here, Take Root and Write. You just type in your website address, and Wordle seeks and generates a very cool cloud of your most frequent choice of words on your site. I was very pleased when I saw the cloud it generated for us! You want to see?

So! You see the biggest word?? Yes! God! I love that it did not pick up like our TRW writers team names. This is strictly from the posts themselves. You can play around and adjust the colors, fonts, layout direction, language, lots of customization!

Invisible Illness Week Sept 8-14th

I wanted to bring awareness to Invisible Illness Week during September 8th -14th, 2008. I will be posting that week here at Take Root and Write either in my Blog in a Blog or in our "On Our Minds' Category.
I am asking any of our writers who deal with any kind of Invisible Illness to make a post that week as well.
Our Women's Community, Christian Women Take Root will also be using our blogs inside the group to share and bring awareness. It would probably shock you to find out how many around you deal with an invisible illness. Let me share some from the Invisible Illness Blog.

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is held annually in September and is a worldwide effort to bring together people who live with invisible chronic illness and those who love them.

A few ideas to write about:

Remember that not all of your posts have to have the “it’s so not fair” tone. Write your “best advice” to others who feel invalidated.

How have you learned to get past the remarks people have made?
Don’t forget families and what they also cope with when one of their members has an illness.
And how is it being invisible easier/more difficult for them?

For example, if Dad’s illness is invisible, does your son have to cope with his friends wondering why his Dad never participates in the father/son baseball game?

Remember caregivers. Any thanks, thoughts?

Remember all the aspects of living with invisible illness. Being a parent, a spouse, an adult child (who is maybe a caregiver too), a neighbor, etc.

Don’t forget about all the kids who have illness too!

Cancer can be an invisible illness, as are things like eating disorders, mental illness, autoimmune, chronic migraines, and the list goes on. You know if you deal with one.

Got others? Share them!

I pray you will take a moment out to share a post on your blog. I am leaving you the Badge you will use for your actual post and the code that goes with it. The last picture/badge is one you can post on your Blog sidebar to show/ bring awareness before hand. So others can see and then decide to join as well. We will have the Sidebar one up on TRW through Invisible Illness Week.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for my husband, Jose. Who has been incredibly patient with me while TRW and CWTR has consumed my every moment. He allowed me the time and freedom to pour myself into what I knew only God was showing me the way to do. I am thankful to my hubby that has done nothing but encourage me and support me in every way during this journey. Be it through his words, his ignoring the laundry or dishes that have piled up... on occasion or letting me sleep in till afternoon, after working till pre-dawn hours! Never a complaint, never a discouraging word uttered from his lips. I love you Jose! My Man!

I am thankful for my girlie. As she too has paid the price as her summer days have been mom on the computer. She has been so patient and waited for me to take time when I have needed it at this very beginning of our journey here at TRW and CWTR. We have soooooo enjoyed our 'nocturnal' lifestyle though the last few months. She stays up with me and we have had many, many pre-dawn talks as I tuck her in and then head to bed at 4-5:00 in the morning. She is 14 by the way. Yes, we still tuck in, and yes, I am so thankful for that as well. I thank God everyday for the relationship we have. She's my girlie!

Meme? Let's get ready!

Here we are in my, 'Blog in a Blog'. During my journey of watching the vision God gave me for Take Root and Write, I have had the most marvelous experiences. One of those experiences was the discovering of 'Memes'- rhymes with themes. Do you know how many christian women are out there in cyber space blogging away the most sincere, heart felt, outpouring of life itself in their blogs? Some how these wonderful women of God made the world wide web feel warm and cozy. Like you could literally pull up a chair and sit with them. I was so blessed. Where had I been the last 4 years?

I hope My Blog in a Blog gives you a taste of what some of these inspiring women are creating and sharing, while also connecting with other christian women. It's a beautiful thing! So we will take a look at the world of Memes. First I want to explain what a meme is.

Meme's are usually assigned to a certain day of the week. So all know what day it regularly falls on and you can plan on writing in your blog for that day. Meme's are really based on a theme. Like marriage, or thankfulness, scripture, photos, something funny... is endless. It's an idea, then shared, then spreads. The blog that creates the meme, then is the Host of the meme. You have to go to their blog, grab their code for their meme picture (which all have one). Along with the pic, comes a code. Don't get nervous here. I know 'code' makes you want to run! When you add the pic code to your blog, it will show up as a picture but also, if you or someone visiting  your blog were to click on the picture, it would take you back to the Host blog. Very cool. You can then leave a link at the host blog, a link back to YOUR blog this time.
Confused yet? Well, I am going to get you ready for our first meme.

We are going to start with a meme I feel is perfect for me to start with after this whole journey of starting TRW and CWTR. It is from, Iris's Blog called Sting My Heart. Her meme is called, Thankful Thursday. I am sending out my post now so we can actually do it together on Thursday this week. You can do it on your own blog if you have one. You can also come join our Members Area- Christian Women Take Root, where there is already over 100 christian women gathered together! You get your own blog inside with a lot more. So no reason not to participate! It is free of course and you are surrounded by all christian women.

Here is the info from Iris blog about Thankful Thursday...

Intro: Blog in a Blog

Well, It's just what it says! I have had so much fun reading and looking at all of the many, many, many christian women's blogs out there on the web, that I have to join in on the fun! I will ONLY be participating in my favorite memes that I have found. I will share some other goodies as well! Want to start your own blog too? Hit the Computer Coaching column! Or join our members area where we will teach you how, and you get your own inside there anyway!

By, Noelle Mena
Column Posted RANDOM/ Group also in CWTR Here.