It's offically Fall!

My view of knowing when Fall has begun has nothing to do with the calendar, only my datebook. For me, Fall doesn't start when the kids go back to school, when we celebrate the Labor Day holiday or leaves start covering the yard. No, for me, Fall begins when all the activities start. It began last week with a 'Welcome Back' manadory meeting at the elementary school, included a concert and wedding over the weekend and continues with a manadory meeting at the middle school this evening. Throw in dance class and soccer practice and our family is out of the house five evenings a week.

Don't get me wrong, I know that it's our choice to participate in these activities. But just as summer is marked with long, lazy days with nothing pressing to accomplish, Fall is marked with lots of activities and a mind that must stay organized just to keep up. Right now, it's energizing. Check back with me in a month to see how I feel then.

I only just met her, but I like her!

John McCain has announced that his running mate will be Sarah Palin. I just watched her introductory speach and, so far, I'm impressed. She's a wife, mother of 5 with a son serving in the military and an infant. Her political career started in the PTA, so she values education. I hope that other mothers are watching her and hoping the same thing that I'm hoping. I hope that Sarah is as good as her word, that her values reflect the sanctity of home and family, that she can put America first and politics second. We have a lot to learn about Sarah Palin. It's going to be an interesting 67 days!

Irony...

I work as a substitute teacher during the school year. Yesterday, I got my first call for this year. It was for a PE coach. Anyone else find it ironic that my first call was for a PE coach? The person that should represent health and fitness is the first one to call in sick.

I know, I know; there could be a lot of other reasons for someone to call in to work. But that's not funny. A PE coach calling in sick during the first week of school, now that's funny.

Anyway, I didn't take the call. It's not worth it to be the PE coach on a rainy Friday, especially the first week of school.

What does Home smell like?

I heard this question asked at a recent conference that I attened. The speaker's answer was cookies baking. My answer was clean laundry. My mom hung our clothes outside and they always smelled so fresh and clean.

I started thinking about all the scents that remind me of special people. My dad was a printer during my childhood and I remember the smell of ink and chemicals when he arrived home at the end of the day. My grandmother's scent was a mix of outdoors and cooking. And who can resist the intoxicating smell of babies covered in Johnson & Johnson's baby lotion? Memories of Christmas are heady with the scent of evergreen. Puppy breath, anyone?

That brings me to my question today. What does home smell like to you?

Vocab Game for Adults and Students

Here's a fun vocabulary game for adults and students. The best part is that for every correct answer, rice is donated to help end world hunger. Good luck!

http://www.freerice.com

You can play and find out what chelonian means.

Check this out...

My cousin sent me a link to this page. It's beautiful...
http://www.anthology-email.net:80/rain/rain.htm

Bird Watching

I was watching a bunch of white cowbirds the other day. They where meandering across a large yard, pecking at bugs and whatnot along the way. When they came to the fence at the end of the yard, they stopped! The birds looked confused by the chain link fence. I sat there watching them wondering how many times the same thing had happened in my own life. I come to what I see as an insurmountable obstacle so I turn around and go in a different direction. But if I would examine the situation, I would see that I could get over, under, around, through (whatever!) the situation actually quite easily. I keep thinking of the bumper sticker that if God brings you to it, He will get you through it. What's the stickiest situation that you have gotten through?

Prayer needed

Please keep this amazing family in your prayers. I can't imagine how difficult it must be watching your child suffer through all that little Josiah has endured. Yet he is a very sweet and happy child. This family lives sacrificially everyday but they still have a strong faith in the wisdom and goodness of God. To read Josiah's story and Jen(his mom's), Steve(dad), big brother and sister Anna and Gabe, Jen's journal is here http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/josiahkovacevic . Josiah will be having his second brain surgery tomorrow, please pray!

another article trashing trash

Hey all,
Here is another article about litering. I think we have to apply "love your neighbor" to this subject. Be thankful and care for the place God has given us to live. I want my kids to learn to be thankful and to care for others above themselves. What better way to show by example than to care for the gift of life and beauty of the place God has given us to live. It is so selfish to trash the area you share with those around you. I not talking wacky environmentalism. I am talking about basic concepts of Christianity here. Love God, love others. We are wallowing in the pigpen when we could be living in the green pastures. I don't want to go to the beach and have my kids see fast food trash, broken glass, and cigarette buts. Just the other day we walked around Lake Mirror and there was trash in the water and around the promenade we saw cans and Mcdonalds containers. It really took away from the beauty of that place.

Published: Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Global Cleanup Reveals Filthy Shores; 33 Percent of Debris From Smokers
By H. JOSEF HEBERT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


WASHINGTON The world's beaches and shores are anything but pristine.

Volunteers scoured 33,000 miles of shoreline worldwide and found 6 million pounds of debris from cigarette butts and food wrappers to abandoned fishing lines and plastic bags that threaten seabirds and marine mammals. A report by the Ocean Conservancy, to be released today, catalogs nearly 7.2 million items that were collected by volunteers on a single day last September as they combed beaches and rocky shorelines in 76 countries from Bahrain to Bangladesh and in 45 states from southern California to the rocky coast of Maine. "This is a snapshot of one day, one moment in time, but it serves as a powerful reminder of our carelessness and how our disparate and random actions actually have a collective and global impact," Vikki Spruill, president of the Ocean Conservancy, said in an interview. The 378,000 volunteers on average collected 182 pounds of trash for every mile of shoreline, both ocean coastlines and beaches on inland lakes and streams, providing a "global snapshot of the ocean trash problem. "The most extensive cleanup was in the United States where 190,000 volunteers covered 10,110 miles - about a third of the worldwide total - and picked up 3.9 million pounds of debris on a single Saturday last September, according to the report."It represents a general carelessness we have. ... We're the bad guys. Trash doesn't fall from the sky. It actually falls from our hands," said Spruill. The debris ranges from the relatively harmless, although annoying and an eyesore, to items that annually result in the death of hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine mammals caught in abandoned fishing lines and netting. One third of the items found came from smokers: Volunteers cataloged 2.3 million cigarette butts, filters and cigar tips.

More recipes

I found another great recipe site www.myrecipes.com It is searchable by food or diet preferences. It has nutritional information on each recipe. Please let me know if you find great sites like this. Enjoy!

All parents should see this

A good friend of mine sent me this video. I have been really exploring how my words can hurt or heal and this video was another reminder of this. It is by makeadifference.com . Please watch it. We all have people who have made a difference in our lives. This is a very powerful example of the importance of acknowledging this.

meal planning made easy

I wanted to let all of you out there know about a way that I have found to save a little money. I have started planning weekly meals. This process can be tedious . One way I found to make it easier is by using several web programs for help. The first is free it is www.mealsforyou.com . This one allows you to search through meals or recipes and then print up a shopping list, recipes and save the ones you like. Also it has diet friendly recipes and you can search by ingredient. Nutritional info. is included. The next I like is e-mealz.com This one is base on diet, family size and sales at local grocery stores. Meal plans are not custom but the recipes, meal plans and grocery lists are printable. It provides 7 complete dinners. I save the plan each week and if there is a meal I don't like, exchanging is easy. The grocery list is numbered to go with each meal so that any ingredients you don't need are easily eliminated. This one is not free but it is only $15 for 3 months. The grocery cost is kept to $75 for 4-6 people and $35 for 2 people. I usually have food left over for lunch the next day. This type of planning helps so much with my grocery budget and I find that I am only going to the grocery store once a week. Time saved, money saved what more can you ask for! If any of you out there have great resources for meal planning or recipes please let me know. I can use all the help I can get:-)
Kira

This brought tears to my eyes (in a good way)

My Dad sent me this and I just think it is beautiful....

What Love means to a 4-8 year old . . . A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?"




"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."
Rebecca- age 8



"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
Karl - age 5



"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4



"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7


"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"
Emily - age 8


"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)



"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"
Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)


"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
Noelle - age 7


"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Tommy - age 6


"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
Cindy - age 8


"My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."
Elaine-age 5


"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."
Chris - age 7


"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Mary Ann - age 4


"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
Lauren - age 4


"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image)
Karen - age 7


"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."
Mark - age 6



"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
Jessica - age 8



And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
"Nothing, I just helped him cry"


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How well do you know your celebrity gossip? Talk celebrity smackdowns here.

156 Reasons to be Thankful

A friend, Tosha, emailed the following story. She has given me permission to share it with you:

Hey guys, Last Sunday, Sage was dragging her feet getting ready for church. I asked, ordered, begged, threatened, promised, and finally coerced her into getting ready. Her main complaint was that she had no socks to wear. So, on Monday during my lunch break, I walked to the store and bought a few new pairs for her. I suspected that her real complaint was that many of her socks were white rather than pretty. So I bought pretty socks for her. While I was walking back to the office, it occurred to me that I had done this errand more than once this school year. Where were all of those socks?

Last night I was going through Sage's room and I noticed that her sock drawer was full of stuff that did not belong there. I decided to clean the thing out with the hope that I could locate a few lost pairs. Sage & I dumped the drawer and started digging. When we finished, I counted the socks. I was shocked to find that she owns 78 pairs of socks. That is 156 socks!

I was thinking that, even though we hear about how bad the economy is, we are still wealthy. So wealthy that we do not even know how many socks we own. So wealthy that we buy more socks without even looking. I thank God that I do not have to worry that my kids might have to go hungry. They have food. They have clean water. They have socks: 156 of them! I still told Sage not to ask for another pair until college. Even then, I plan to check first.

Queen of the Sock Market Tosha

How do we as a society move ourselves and our children from a heart of entitlement to a heart of thankfulness? I struggle with this for my own children. I want them to be happy and meeting their needs is a step in that direction. But 'keeping up with the Jones' is a poor attitude. If only the line wasn't go gray. Do we need just two pairs of socks? Do we need 78 pairs of socks? What's the magic number in the middle that's sufficent for our needs but not overboard? So here's today's question.... what is an appropriate number of socks?

Up at 2am again!

After a 2 day sleep over with my daughter and friends here I am wanting to sleep but finding myself awake aaarrggg! I suffer from insomnia sometimes so against my better judgement,(you can get some scary thoughts at 2am) instead of sleep I thought I would blog! This last Sunday in the kids church, a teacher mentioned the saying "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me". He was talking about how un-true that statement is. words can hurt immensley. I think about girls who are anorexic because one person told them they are fat and they believed it. Then there's the kids who were teased mercilously and go on to commit suicide. The havoc wrecked on relationships by gossip. Even "good words" can hurt like public prayers that convey way too much information that doesn't need to be said. I had read somewhere that emails are misconstrued 60% of the time. The receiver understands the message in a way the emailer never intended. As many women do, I have struggled throughout the years with gossip. My husband works to curtail a sarcastic sense of humor that some people just don't get. Now my kids and their friends are dealing with the same issues. I was talking with my young son, for what seemed like the millionth time, about his talking back and sarcastic sense of humor (I wonder where he got that from? LOL). I thought about an object lesson we used in church and it really seemed to hit home with him. Think of a watchdog. What does a watchdog do when danger is near? He barks, he growls. What happens if we don't listen to his warning? We get hurt, in trouble ect. We have a warning watchdog inside us that lets us know when we shouldn't say or do something that is wrong. We just have to pause for a moment and listen before we speak. He really seemed to grasp that. I asked him to pray and ask God to help his dog to bark loudly and for him to be able to hear. He needs a Pitbull not a Poodle(thanks Gretchen for that). I think this could work the other way too. On Sunday the kids were asked to think of how God sees them when someone says a hurtful thing. Listen for the watchdog to guard your heart against these types of attacks. Know that the words said aren't the truth as the warning bark sounds out. Hopefully this lesson will stay with my son and with me! I hope I didn't ramble too badly. I have to take kids to school and start my new workout this morning Eeek! I guess I had better try to get a few hours sleep.

Remember the crying American Indian?

Tossing ethical behavior out the window
Forward by Kira Brockman Lipe
This is an editorial by my dad published by his local North Carolina newspaper. It holds true for Lakeland and Polk County too. I have been driving behind someone who casually tosses out their fast food waste out the window. I have been to our local parks in Lakeland especially Lake Parker park and where my children play. I have found and picked up cigarette butts, fast food containers and even old socks. Eww! Most of the litter is just feet from an available trash can. In my yard off Kathleen Rd. I find trash daily, including a broken bottles and even a discarded condom! This is disgusting people. I don’t want to live in a pile of trash. Everyone needs to pitch in and put trash where it belongs. If you see someone littering they should be made to feel ashamed. I am not a big environmentalist, but I do believe that we have been given this earth by God and we should take care of our small portion of it.
Chris Brockman
There's been a lot of concern recently about trash along North Carolina roadways. Neither the concern nor the trash is new. I wrote about it on these pages as a newcomer to the Triangle a decade ago.
In the years since, in all the editorials, letters and news stories regarding roadside littering, I can't remember more than an offhand reference or two to the ethical and moral nature of littering.
The lax enforcement of litter laws, and the use of prisoners to pick up trash on a routine basis, suggest that we consider litter and littering relatively harmless. Ethical or moral analysis suggests otherwise. By not treating littering as a serious breach of the social contract, we put our society in line for much worse behavior.
Deliberately throwing trash along the highway, or failing to pick up the trash that blows out from one's carelessly loaded truck or trailer, exhibits ethical and moral problems with serious implications. The first is, literally, a lack of consideration. It's easy to imagine that many of the soda and beer cans and bottles and fast food bags and wrappers along the road were tossed out without a thought, without a care.
Such inconsiderate behavior is a complete abrogation of the responsibility we have as human beings to think about the harm our actions cause to others. This is amoral behavior of the kind that allows the mayhem of identity theft, the injustice of robbery and the ultimate harm of murder. Just don't think about it, and you can do anything to anyone. Our blinking at thoughtless littering creates a breeding ground for all kinds of anti-social behavior.
A litterer who is aware that his or her action is harmful breaks the most basic and most important of moral restraints: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Few of those who toss trash out their car windows, I suspect, or those whose trash blows out of the back of their trucks, would be happy if someone else's trash ended up in their yards. This would be especially true if they had to bear the burden of cleaning it up.
These people are simply immoral; they know what they're doing is harmful and don't care -- so long as they don't have to bear the consequences. Fortunately, in most instances those whose immoral behavior harms others do get caught and end up in jail or prison. Ironically, it is they who may end up picking up others' trash.
Unfortunately, few people are caught or punished for littering itself, because we just don't take littering seriously.
Maybe the worst sort of litterer is the one who recognizes the ugliness of litter on the public landscape and hates having to pay taxes to clean it up, but still empties his car ashtray in public parking lots and leaves appliances along rural roadsides. This person doesn't have even the self-interest that keeps most of us acting in a cooperative way. This is the person who might drive drunk, killing himself or others. It's the tough guy who doesn't care if he gets caught.
Littering is at root an unethical and immoral action. As such it is highly anti-social and a starting point for much worse behavior. The society that accepts it is in trouble.
We need to recognize and deal with littering as the serious problem it is. Its prohibition needs to be part of a moral upbringing, the subject of Sunday sermons and treated as important public policy -- a matter of consideration, responsibility and self-respect.
(Chris Brockman is an English and developmental studies instructor for Vance-Granville Community College.)
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any manner.

God is always with us

Hi Everyone and Happy New Year! I love this story that my pastor's mom sent me. If you are going through a time that you are in need of God's reassurance I know he will let you know he is with you. All you have to do is ask and then look for Him!

You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc. This is the first time I've ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about.
Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the husband's employer's home. My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house
The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. The husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.

As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband.
He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.

Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.

He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?

Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?

"Look at it." He said. "Read what it says." She read the words " United States of America "
"No, not that; read further."
"One cent?" "No, keep reading."
"In God we Trust?" "Yes!" "And?"
"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!

When I was out shopping today, I found a penny on the sidewalk. I stopped and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. Yes, God, I get the message.

It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful! And, God is patient..
The best mathematical equation I have ever seen:
1 cross
+ 3 nails
--------
4 given