Blizzard Bloghop Tour: Five Alive

Welcome to the Blissdom Blizzard Bloghop short tour, day five. This is the fifth time I will play tourguide on a whirlwind trip through the Blissdom Blizzard bloggers. I’ll post about 10 tourspots a day in no particular order until we get through the list. I am having just as much fun today as on day one! How about you?

I regret that I had to skip a few. If a linked blog was too “edgy” then I couldn’t make it a tour spot. If I skipped you, please don’t take it personally.

That said, help yourself to coffee or hot chocolate. Grab some warm (but still stylish) shoes, and your purse of course, and since it’s a blizzard maybe a matching scarf and gloves, and let’s go hopping.

Our very first stop is at Tales of the Toot, a special kind of mommy blog. Did that sound too “Oprah moment”? I hope not. The “Toot” of Tales of the Toot, is toddler Aiden Cross. Aiden suffers from AHUS which stands for Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome.

Mother Christy has this to say by way of introduction. “I write and reflect on raising a toddler with a rare kidney disorder…and doing it with sass. I am a firm believer that God is in control. I don’t always understand His ways, but I try to rest in the knowledge that he is painting a much bigger picture that what I can see today. He thought my resume was the right fit for this job….so I’m running with it!”

Speaking for myself, I remember wondering what I would do, how I would act or react, if my faith were ever really tested. Then my first son, Scott spent the first month of his life in the NICU and PICU and I had an opportunity to discover the depth of my faith — that God can hold you and comfort you in the palm of His mighty hand even in the worst of circumstances. I really admire Christy, her faith walk, and her family. I am certain that she and I would be BFFs in real life. AND her post on balancing acts made me really appreciate my sister in Christ.

Allow 2 Corinthians 5:17 to welcome you to our second tour stop, the Faith Family and Fibromyalgia blog. Karen and her husband accepted Christ last August and states that their lives have changed dramatically. She claims she is a Proverbs 31 wannabe. She is a mother of two beautiful children. Karen’s blog is very real. She claims she hasn’t found her bloggy “niche” yet but I think she’s doing great. I think this blog will serve as an enduring testimony of living Christ centered life in the face of many struggles. Turkey Lasagne anyone?

Our third stop has us going north to south and beck north again. It’s not exactly Green Acres anymore for Jodi, hubby David, Miss M, Lil D, and the Princess at the next stop on today’s tour. Jersey girl Jodi moved to the south for a few years and became an adopted southern Belle, but then found herself back in New Jersey. She is a Christian who loves homeschool, family and friends, reading, writing, and living life to the fullest. Like my hubby, Jodi is a baseball fan, although I think they would disagree on favorite teams. I really enjoyed the story of remodeling their 71 year old Arkansas farm house.

Romance is the Valentines theme at our next stop. Meet Kathy and Ed who have been in a state of holy matrimony for nearly 38 years. I’m a romantic soul so I really loved reading about Kathy and Ed’s real-life love story and also about their lovely daughter and son-in-law. Ed and Kathy are parents of 3 and grandparents of 2 (so far). Now here’s the surprise. They can all see each other’s houses from where they live. The entire family lives on one 30 acre farm in southern Georgia.

Speaking of 30 acres, meet Janice, helpmate to Shawn for 6½ years and mother to Sam, Sarah, and Andrew ages 4, 3, and 14 months. At the time of this writing, they have been living on their dream 30-acre homestead for less than 2 months! They have an orchard, a pond, two springs, a garden, and a barn-slash-chicken coop. Janice is currently transitioning to a real food lifestyle. I have to tell you I really enjoyed reading every single one of these real food stories and will definitely be back for more.

We are now exactly in the middle of our tour. Halfway done. Everyone together? Good. And we’re hopping.

Our next stop is Melissa and her Crafty Inspiration blog. Melissa and Eric are working on their fifth year of holy matrimony. Melissa also keeps a blog entitled My Journey that is focused on her personal relationship with God and her successful weight loss journey. Her crafty inspirations blog is all about crafty things and I am seriously impressed. I’ve always been more Kitcheny than Crafty. So, naturally, after reading her introduction, I did come back for the chocolate covered peanut butter cheesecake balls tutorial and recipe.

Our next tour spot is further south. Residing in wonderful Alabama, Tyra shares many musings on finding herself in a state of holy matrimony and called to act as helpmate to her crazy, fun-loving, preacher husband of nearly 8 years. Together, they are parents to a boy and a girl, ages 6 and 4 respectively, and they are presently expecting a new arrival! Tyra testifies as to how she came to know Christ at the age of ten and has overcome many struggles in her lifetime. I enjoyed her insights into the topic of modesty that she shared here.

Let’s finish up our tour with a salute to three of our military wives.

Meet Susan, soldier hubby Win, and 2-year-old son Bean Dip and 5-month-old daughter Baby G. Susan recently returned from Italy and is now stationed in “Lower Alabama” which, I should think, is a euphamism for good old Fort Rucker. Susan loves being a mommy, is getting into expanding her cooking repertoire, and is very devoted to soldier hubby. Nice to meet you, Sue.

Next meet Krystel, aka “Mocha Wifey,” aka “Army Wife 101,” 27 years old and originally from Long Island, NY, now stationed in Hawaii with her “handsome, beautiful spirited” soldier husband and two children ages 10 and 5. I have to say that I completely love the picture of the bride in the flowing white dress with a camouflaged veil. Since her husband is also a former Marine, Krystel has a first hand knowledge of a lot of things that new military wives from many branches of service might have questions about. Her mission statement for the blog is one of support for spouses of all branches of service. In addition to videos about topics like deployment and PCS moves, she also has cooking videos that I can’t wait to dig into.

Our last stop today is with Heather at Its Twinsanity! Army wife Heather and soldier hubby Jason are proud parents to six children including 2 sets of identical twins. Heather describes herself as a doula, a Christian, a homeschooler, and a crazy breastfeeding, cosleeping, babywearing, attachment parenting freak, too. Oh, she’s also a mom to a child on the autism spectrum. Most surprising, Heather comes clean about her sick addiction in this post. Soldier daddy Jason is currently deployed to Iraq and Heather is counting the days until his safe return home.

Okay, everyone! That concludes today’s tour. I hope you enjoyed it and I encourage you to visit these awesome, inspiring, funny, and interesting blogs. If you like what these ladies do, don’t be shy about leaving them a comment. Comments are the currency that rewards the blogger’s soul. Happy hopping everyone!