....ality?

I'm the last person to talk about accurate spelling...grammar...sentence structure....and as you see I usually utilize  ...  in the place of whatever proper grammatical structure should exist.  |I once had an employer who literally drove me round the bend by nit picking every grammatical error in my 9 - 10 page reports and especially the use of "However" which I can no longer remember...I was just staring a new job which required lengthy assessments, containing the results of certain tests and how they related to each other etc.  I was concerned that my assessments be accurate and "diagnostically" correct, however (!) this gentleman spent hours pouring over the documents i had spent hours writing (sometimes until the wee hours of the morning) and he returned them covered in highlighter, with comments like ..."please leave your mystery writing skills for your spare time unless you wish to save on daycare costs and spend more time with your son!"  This because I left out the middle initial of a Physician in the first sentence, and you had to wait until you turned the page to find it in it's entirety on the second.  This went on and on, and I repeatedly asked him if the "content" of my reports were satisfactory which he smilingly stated they certainly were.  After 3 months of this, as the commenting and highlighting continued I finally broke down and quit!  I just couldn't take it anymore. Anyway, that's not what's getting me going now!!!!
I am watching CNN (it's not Rick Sanchez show yet...I have to turn it off when he's on!) and they are talking about the oil slick approaching the coast, and the mystery surrounding why the automatic "off" thing didn't drop down.  The journalist began to talk about the potentiality of this disaster...I'll say it again...the potentiality of the disaster.  Every sore muscle in my body tensed and I lunged for the remote control to mute the dreaded words...Potentiality ?...Come on people...it's not a word..something either has the potential to damage or it doesn't have the potential...there's no 'ality required...I don't understand the current trend to add "ality" to everything...like...Functionality? It's either functional or it's not functional...or maybe it's functioning is going to change...leave the words alone people!  Those words and all the other poor words that you now seem to feel need the benefit of "ality" on the end to work, were really just FINE before you messed with them! In fact people with normal brains have been using those words without "ality" for hundreds and hundreds of years...you're shortening every other word in the universe but these words....these words your have to slaughter...you have to force them now to drag around those extra three letters wherever they go!  It's wrong people....Really Wrong!!!!................ okay...I'm better now!

The desecration of beauty/ Tiger Woods meets William Blake

I have to say I am sick and tired of male public figures standing in front of microphones making declarations of infidelity to their wives, and sharing way too much information with an air of finality that casually dismisses the depth and breadth of  the damage they have done to their families.  I want to slap them silly!!!! but of course I couldn't and wouldn't do that so I will preface the following stanza's with an apology of my own...
to William Blake...sorry William but I had to do it!

Tiger Tiger burning bright
In the driveway late at night
What mortal sin or roving eye
Could cause that model's fearful cry

In what local rooms or bars
Did your "illness" make it's scars
On what Sponsor's cards did you
Consume so much, but tell so few

And on what shoulders, from what ear
Could your lies find solace here?
Do you think us all so weak
That we will swoon when 'er you speak?

What the handcuffs? What the chain?
"In what furnace was your brain?"
What the love? What the trust?
You sacrificed it all for lust

Tiger Tiger burning bright
on the stage with glaring light
Will your humbled words be true?
Or will this poison follow you?

My advice ...Hope for healing....watch for truth!

Tiger Tiger by William Blake 

Renovating your Blog should never be approached lightly!

Sorry Angela...I can't seem to get my sidebar back on that other template, iteeps migrating down to the bottom of the page and although I have pleaded for Blogger help so far I'm up to my eyeballs in xml code and widgets that don't work and I desperately need my sidebar.  I promise not to plaster CNN links all over though!!!!! Deal?  Since you are my main reader and advocate I think I'll write about you next!!!!! Keep reading!

Confessions of a "dead beat" sponsor

I tell everyone I can that they should sponsor a child.  It doesn't matter what your circumstances are, there really is no good reason not to do it...and if everyone in the "developed" world (interesting term that isn't it) sponsored a third world child and thereby a community, just think of the impact that we would have on the world!!!!It would be so HUGE that everything....everything would be forever transformed.  How exciting to be a part of that! We sponsor a young woman, and a little boy, the boys have been 3 in succession, but the girl has been a constant in my life for about 9 years now. When I first had the privilege to sponsor Ncube in Lusaka, Zambia, she was just a wee little girl, all shy, but smiley in her picture.  She has a large family and had lost her brother to sickness.  I would write to her often, send her fun little things and I once asked her what her name meant and she told me..."why are we dying".  It was as casual as anything in her letter, no drama, nothing pathetic about it.  I found out that in impoverished areas in Africa, most children don't live past the age of 5 years. She had just beaten the odds, and we took great pleasure in watching her grow, and seeing her drawings, and reading her letters.
Then I became ill, and my letters became fewer.  It was because I just couldn't physically pull it together, and emotionally I was a wreck to the deepest degree.  I felt incapable of being authentic with her, and also very guilty about even being in a struggle considering the monumental struggle that is her life...I just couldn't say anything...and so I stopped.  It's so sad, her letters became fewer, her pictures smaller, no smile in her last photo.  She's a woman now! A beautiful young woman, and sometimes I think that I could explain it all to her now.  Most of all I'd love to tell her that it is she who has most inspired me whenever I've felt so low that I don't want to get out of bed or even go on.  That her strength, her courage and her faith have truly impacted my life.  It's interesting how God works though isn't it...I thought I was helping her!!!

Good Day

I had the best day that I've had in such a long time that I won't even hazard a guess...lets just say way in the past, back even before I can't remember anything, but more recent than what I remember about the past!!!Anyone who has difficulty with memory will understand what I just said...and as for the rest of you...don't laugh too loudly because it's going to come to a theatre near you before you blink!!!! I woke up with minimal pain, and got Matt off to school with no problems, then showered (which is work for me and usually wears me out) and headed into town for an appointment. The day was sunny with just enough breeze to keep the black flies at bay, and I had already decided that after I picked up some groceries (you heard right...I'm on a roll) I would take the dogs out back through the woods.  On the way home though, I put in my Hall and Oates CD and found myself volume blasting, singing at the top of my lungs, laying down the beat on the steering wheel, and waving my arms up in the air through the sunroof (when safe of course).  I reached Athens way too soon, and being the small village that it is I didn't feel that it would be entirely appropriate for me to continue this behaviour all the way home so...I didn't go home!!! I drove down to the lake and through some back dirt lanes until my vocal chords were straining, and my ability to hold a note longer that 3 seconds had failed.  So I went home and took out the boys. Well they were ecstatic since I'd spent almost a week in bed, and off we went, peeing on every blade of grass and tree root for the first 15 minutes and then "the run" begins.  Of course I start to get sore, but you have to see Dudley's face as he tears off, his long thin body on those short little legs, and he's smiling....I'm totally serious, he smiles! You can't beat that! We go through a wooded trail, then out into a wetland, where the turtles scurry back off their tanning beds as we pass, and the beaver slaps it's tail in annoyance at out trespass!  Then there an apple orchard, which in a few weeks will be the most glorious place to be...I could sit out there for hours.  All of a sudden as we came past the old railroad tracks there was a flurry in the wind of pale petal like flutterings, and it caught me by surprise as I scanned around for the source.  A bush, a small tree....no...the petals were flying not floating, and sure enough the closer I got, and the more central I became inside the flurry I realized that they were tiny "common blue" butterflies!  Hundreds and hundreds of them!!Then Mourning Cloaks flew by, and a black swallowtail and a part of me flashed back to being 10 years old with my Rose's Lime Cordial, a net, and some killing jars, riding my "no speed" bike with the jars rattling in the basket, on my way to pick up Jane Thurley for our daily butterfly hunt!!  I learned allot from those summers by the railroad tracks, back in the days when you could be a kid and ride around until the lights came on without a care!  So what a day...I'm feeling it a bit tonight but I don't care..after Matt went to sleep I was watching "Whale Wars" and one of the guys in passing mentioned a quote as follows...

Below 50 degrees south, there is no law.
Below 60 degrees south, there is no hope.
Below 70 degrees south, there is no God

While I was trying to find the quote I stumbled on a blog by a young man who is basically travelling the world by foot, by rail, by plane (he flies) and by boat (to the Antarctica!!!)  He has some amazing photographs, and one in particular of an iceberg.  I was trying to imagine what it must have felt like to stand there and be surrounded by such incredible beauty!!! It made me happy for him...glad that there are people who are living large...my "living large" is different now, but I am truly blessed.  I put in a link to his site if you want to check it out.A Passage to...

Changes

As you see I have made some changes to the blog, and now I have changed them back!!  It will take me some time to get all the gadgets floating in the right spots and the right distance apart so be patient with me as you know I'm no techy!!! This will be fun!  Let me know if you prefer this simpler version or not. Thanks

Doting on Dickens

You may not know this, but people with "Fibromyalgia" suffer from something call "Fibro Fog", which sounds quite nice, and fluffy...like being on a cloud for a mini vacation, or wandering around in those brightly lite tunnels towards the shiny star of death...but it's not at all like that!...I would describe it as having a white hood put over your head and being asked to negotiate walking on the edge of the Great Wall of China, while sysimultaneously being asked to solve math equations every 5 seconds and quote Shakespeare every 5th step throughout this ordeal.  Since I may not know you, this could be a completely the easiest thing in the world for you to do, and therefore I congratulate you forthwith and relay this as my ineptitude alone!  If there are any other readers who might find the above activity a bit taxing, well I tell you in all honesty that when I am in a so called "fibro fog" I try not to leave the house, as it can be dangerous and humiliating.  I try to stick to the humiliating because people say that "laughter" is the best medicine, and sharing laughter can be contagious and therefore good for everyone.  Of course this requires a certain reckless abandon, and knowing that a trip to one of my village stores has the potential to become "the joke of the week" and I don't mind that.  My girls at Swan's and Lainee's take extremely good care of me, and help to guide me through the muddle which is my brain on fog.  They help me with my keys (where are they) my purchases (you got milk yesterday!) my change ( come and get your cash back)...If it weren't for these great women I would be broke;have 20 bags of milk in the fridge;and be wandering around the village looking for my car!!!!  I couldn't get that help in Brockville, they would look at me strangely and wonder how I escaped the local Psych hospital, and whether they should call someone to pick me up!!  All that aside, I promise you something about "Dickens", so here I go! When one is in a "fibro Fog" there are few things one can do effectively, and indeed safely, until it subsides. Watching complicated movies with more than 2 characters is frustrating, and reading (which I have always loved) is also a challenge.  But a few years ago, a publishing company came out with these pretty little matching books of the classics (not all the classics unfortunately) and I picked up a couple of titles to read when the fog cleared!  When I picked up Great Expectations and began to read the Prologue by Dickens, I was hooked!  I remember going to the doctors office, and I always bring a book because you spend 45 min minimum waiting in the reception area, followed by another 20 - 30 minutes in the office.  Anyway, I was engrossed in Great Expectations when my doctor walked in and asked if I was being forced to read this book!!!! I tried to share all the wonders of Dickens writing, and his wonderful wit and humour, but he was not buying it!  The funny thing is that yes, sometimes I can't read, but the language and the flow of this brilliant writer overtakes me, and I'm lulled out of any resistance, and into a linguistic dance.  I laugh out loud, because he is so funny, and the depths of the characters are such that you cannot forget them, which happens for me in regular writing and I have to go back and re read to figure out who this character is!!! Exhausting".   I'm just beginning "little Doritt" and looking forward to every minute of it!  So I just want to tell all my other fellow sufferers of FF to pick up Nicholas Nicholby, or Great Expectations and give Dickens a try!

"Out" of Africa

For many many years when anyone would ask me where I would like to go in the world, my response was quick and simple..."Africa".  I've had an emotional love affair with this continent for ever. Characters like Elspeth.. movies like Born Free, Out of Africa and the whole never ending plight of the African people.  It is only recently, in the last 3 years or so that I realized that I could never go to Africa.  Not because I'm sick or that it's too expensive...those things both being true, but not the deep down truth of the matter...I couldn't go to Africa, or even be a missionary because it would most certainly break my heart and I would never recover.  I know that sounds silly and almost immature, self absorbed even, and often since I've had this realization I have scorned myself in those very same regards.  But now I don't.  Since the dawn of the Internet it is much easier to research all sorts of peoples experiences, and since I've been ill I have more time to read them.  But for me truthfully it's only been since January of this year, and starting this blog that I've afforded myself this very selfish activity of blogging!  I don't really have anything much to say, and I'm insignificant as "blogger authors" go, very little influence.  That aside I'd like to raise the issue of the silent observer, or chained activist.  So many individuals who have made it their purpose in life to raise awareness about an issue of inhumanity, either don't survive it at all, being killed during their expedition, or are slowly tortured to death by the apathy of humanity as their cries fall on deaf ears.  If you get a chance to read Kevin Carter's story is devastating...the young photographer wins a Pulitzer Prize for "want a meal" shown in my previous post, and then the world basically says "Wow that was a fantastic picture, did the girl die? did you see her die? did the vulture eat her? Oh........what's Britney Spears doing today?" and there you have it...the reason why he, and countless others can't go on after witnessing "it"....but the "it" isn't what we think....no...the "it" isn't the death; starvation; disease....nope.....the "it" is us....that's what they (those who are our witnesses to human tragedy) can't live with anymore....they can't live with the fact that if you are not one of them then you are one of us. They find it impossible to be in kinship with those who have truned their backs on the death and the disease and the dying...turned the page, changed the channel, closed the book....and have done nothing. They are left with this image and experience in their souls, and they carry "it" around with them for us...hoping that we too will witness their burden and be motivated to act....because these ongoing tradgedies are all preventable...they are not God ordained....the starving can be fed...the diseased water purified...the malaria treated along with the leprosy and dysentry...it can be done...it is being done.  Ministries all over the world are sending help, but the need is so great that they struggle under the burden.  Can you imagine...and I mean truly imagine...being in Africa, feeding the thousands...many many many people come, and you run out of food...but not out of people...a small child comes up to the big empty bowl with her brothers and they stick their fingers in to get any last drop to ease their bulging bellies.  How do you explain to them that "the world" doesn't have enough money to save them...but wait...that's a lie...how do you explain to them that their lives just aren't as important as the space program, or the Olympic Games, or even a daily coffee at Starbucks!

Sit that child down on your knee and explain that to him/her!

THAT'S WHY I CAN'T GO TO AFRICA

it would kill me.

What must The Children think?

Falling on deaf ears
Falling on deaf ears
How loud must I scream
And still nobody hears

My heart is pounding so hard
I can see
But you must not know
Or you would save me

Falling on deaf ears
Falling on deaf ears
I would try to shout louder
But my throat's full of tears

The Jangaweed's coming
I hear the foot falls
The Devils on horseback
Death coming to call

Now the silence is deafening,
Just the burning of wood
If you saw this...the bodies...
You'd protect me, you should

If you saw this you'd save me?
People say that you will
But the ones that keep coming
Are the ones who will kill

I'm just a child
But I know this is wrong
I'm struggling to live
Why does it take you so long...

When are you coming? Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a starving toddler being "stalked" by a well fed vulture.Photographer Kevin Carter committed suicide at age 33 the picture is entitled "wanting a meal"

GEORGE CLOONEY IN DARFUR / ROSARIO ARIJON SUPPORT HIM

Okay, so as you can see I've been pretty riled up about Darfur, and have been searching the Internet for some more positive news about any action being taken to stop this Genocide.  As you may, or may not know, the killings in Darfur have been declared "Genocide"  by President Obama, It was this missing declaration which delayed action in Rwanda.  Under the Geneva Convention in 1948, by law Nations must intervene when Genocide is decided...
"The Genocide law of 1948 states that...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2[3]" Wikipedia
 Okay, so armed with that declaration, then you might think that the International community would take arms and stop the slaughter...right?  WRONG!!!! Why?...well all you have to do is turn over your dishware, check the tag on the back of your shirt, or look at the bottom of the glass you're sipping from....Yup! 

This Genocide is made in China

China of course! China is a super power now in the Global market, and this "power" carries a lot of weight with those powers that are in their back pocket...China practically owns The United States of America...apart from all the exporting and importing; the many North American businesses that they either own outright or at least control, then there's the debt! If China were to call in their loans the U.S. would be bankrupt.

It makes sense that the U.S. doesn't want to "rock the junk".  So when the cat's out of the bag about Genocide in Darfur, that the mass killing of Black Africans by militia groups is being paid off by the Arab government...then all the great nations gather to decide what comes next, and we need a unanimous commitment...shouldn't be too hard right?  Not!  China's got a great deal going with Khartoum...and they get all their oil from them.  On the side, China also supplies them with weapons to help the Sudanese miltia that are killing those darn Black Africans who want their share of the wealth that the rest of the country is enjoying.  But they are just "Black Africans" and the Arabian led government wants them out of the way, so China is helping them do it. Therefore the UN is likely not going to get a vote to intervene from China!!! So much for democracy!!

So far, the only thing that has happened to help the Black Africans in Darfur is that some individuals who have participated in the killings are being arrested and tried in the Hague, the International Criminal Court... Meanwhile the genocide continues.

"The International Criminal Court (French: Cour Pénale Internationale; commonly referred to as the ICC or ICCt)[1] is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression (although it cannot currently exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression).[2][3]" Wikipedia

When I found this video of George Clooney, I couldn't find a single comment to reflect acknowledgement that anyone had even read it!!!  What does it take?

STAND CANADA - DO SOMETHING NOW

We have a huge opportunity in our hands right now. 
We can shake our heads in dismay about the atrocities of the Holocaust and the SS Death Camps...we weren't there...what could we have done?
We can consider the annihilation of the Armenian people..it was so far away...we weren't sure what was happening!
Think about the days of terror in Rwanda...while the United Nations was discussing whether or not it was genocide...the Hutu's had slaughtered 800,00 men women and children in 100 days! Read about it from a Canadian perspective in "Shake hands with the Devil " by Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, a strong and dedicated Canadian Peace keeper who led his men to try and stop the the genocide, but was brought to his knees because he could only watch, but was given no power to do anything because the government again argued as to whether or not this uprising was in fact  a "genocide" as described in the Geneva Convention. His dedication was not in vain, for he is a powerful witness to the evil that was done, and at great cost to himself mentally and emotionally. It's easy to ignore something when it's not in your face.  Well then put it in your face...in your head..carry the images you will see when you "google" Darfur or read my posts and then go to               Stand Up Canada and you will find an easy way to write a letter, and even who to write it to.  Pen and paper gets hand delivered (now isn't that funny) and encourage others to write too.  Start a Chapter in your own School or Church.  You may think it won't make a difference, but politics is an interesting game...if enough people make an issue and some noise about it, they will have to respond.

Not on our watch?...but it IS on our watch...see what you can do... and keep up to date on what's happening in Darfur

We want to "believe" that this is happening without our consent .... but it's not.  "Evil prevails when good men fail to act."  It will go on again.
Again and again and again...and it will go on until we pressure our governments to Take Action.  More and more men, women, and children will die, and are dying, each day. The government sponsored Jangaweed "militia group" ride into villages with 20,000 or so inhabitants and rape and beat them all to death, then steal all valuables, and set the homes on fire.  The Arab government is happy, because they don't want to share the wealth of The Sudan with the black Africans in Darfur.  The militia are happy because they're getting rich pillaging the black Africans villages, and they are satisfying their evil lusts by terrorizing the men and raping the women and girls.  Even those Black Africans who have fled to refugee camps on the border of  Chad, continue to live under threat from the Janga weed.  These camps are often great distances away from a source of water, and they may have to walk for several DAYS to find it.  The men are at risk of being killed, and the women of being raped so.....the women collect the water.  Sometimes husbands of wives who have been raped by the Jangaweed, will leave their wife and children because of it!  These Jangaweed people are truly evil, and enjoy hacking their victims to death, even poking out their eyeballs and burning them alive!!!  I say this NOT for the SHOCK value, but to somehow JOLT you into writing a letter, or making a call...of doing SOMETHING.......ANYTHING. PLEASE.

"Safe Sex" the modern lie!

Even though I have always born boys, I have a strong concern for the young women around me, and the increasing pressure, and danger, of sexual activity.


Firstly, there is this uuniversally accepted lie, that teenagers can have "safe sex", and that the mere mention of "abstinence" is going to send them into a frenzied orgy from which they might never return!
My feeling is completely the opposite, and I try to share this with any young women who befriend me. I say and believe this because I know first hand the problems that I faced as a young sexually active girl, and I don't mean sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy.  Those things can be prevented, but there are things that can't be prevented but no one wants to talk about them. 
I engaged in sexual activity at the age of 15. Although I was "physically capable" of having sex, I was far from emotionally ready to deal with the vulnerabilities, and responsibilities of such an intimate relationship. Granted I was messed up, having been sexually abused and dealing with the resulting psychological mess that creates. I also suffered from a profound lack of self esteem which left me with an insatiable yearning for affirmation. I strongly believe that affirming our young women, and teaching our young men to "cherish" and respect them, will go a long way to reducing sexual activity in teens. If young women learn to value themselves, physically, spiritually and mentally, they will be less likely to "give" themselves away.
As a society, we have gone from one extreme to the other.  Undoubtedly we don't want girls to be killing themselves following losing their virginity, but what is wrong with having an ideal to strive for.  Why can't we look up, instead of always looking down to level a playing field.  This may sound harsh, but when put into a different perspective, you may be surprised by what they think. Try this...
Provide your girl(s) with money bags, tied with a ribbon, and marked $1,000,000.00.  Give them a pen and paper and tell them that they need to come up with 5 character traits they would require from a boy, that would make them feel comfortable with sharing this treasure with them.  My girls were pretty street savvy, and definitely sexually active, but they couldn't come up with one character trait that would make them that comfortable!  Ask them to open the bags...the bags you have filled with money sized pieces of paper on which you have written....you are beautiful...your most intimate being worth more than $1000.000.00...your heart is beautiful....on and on any affirmation you can think of.
You have to do this, if only to see the looks on their faces when they open the bags...the very idea that anyone would think of themselves as more valuable than a $1,000,000.  Or even more surprising, that they could set boundaries on how their bodies were shared, or if they wanted to share them at all!
It was very interesting, and heartbreaking, and conversation changing.  If you do it you must let me know the rresult.  I pray that it will be life changing.

Abortion...a final solution?

Over the past few weeks HBO has been running  "If These Walls Could Talk" 1 and 2.  The first deals with the evolution of society's acceptance of abortion, the second deals with acceptance of Homosexuality. Now you all know how I love HBO, and it's sister station CNN, but  this movie seems to have become increasingly irritating to me, the older I get!  Is that because I'm becoming more conservative with age?  No, I don't think so.  I have always been against abortion.  I think, however, my understanding as to why I am against it has grown with experience, and knowledge. Within a few months of being sexually active, at age 16, I realized that I was pregnant. I had access to birth control at my Dad's office...there were samples.  I'm not sure why I didn't take them, but there you are, I didn't and it was done.  I NEVER considered abortion, and my boyfriend never suggested it.  I was adopted, and as a result I had a strong sense that if abortion had been readily available when my own mother was pregnant, then I wouldn't have been given the chance to exist...and who should have the right to make that decision? I gave my first child up for adoption, and for certain it was the hardest thing I have ever done.  But it was me who made the mistake, and I felt strongly that he should not have to pay the price.  Not a single day goes by that I don't think of him, and anyone who has ever known me, knows of him. The whole experience was mind numbing, and most importantly I was not emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually ready, or able to deal with a "sexual" relationship.  My heart had no way to handle it.

I have given birth to 4 boys, and raised 3.  Each of my children are unique individuals with special gifts, and their own "flare" and "style". 
If you are considering an abortion please read that sentence again!...

Each of my children are unique individuals with special gifts, and their own "flare" and "style".
You cannot replace him/her...you are not "delaying" having a family for a more convenient time.

He/She is a unique, one of a kind, human being/person, that you are eliminating from society!
FOREVER...

Why are we so cavalier about this?  Not just cavalier, but so insistent about the right to abort that "pro lifers" are ostracized in the mainstream media and depicted as "crazy Christian zealots"!.  For instance in this HBO film the doctor character, played by Cher, says she will explain the abortion procedure as she goes along so there "won't be any surprises", but then fails to explain anything at all, other than the insertion of the speculum and the "needle stick" into the woman's cervix.  She passes a variety of surgical instruments under the woman's gown, and when the suction is passed up,  presumably to suction out the now dead fetus, the only comment is... "you'll hear some noise, don't be scared"...which seems like such a grave understatement of the truth.  If you're gonna share the truth, then share it!  Meanwhile The protesters outside this abortion clinic are all characterized as unintelligent, violent, Jesus crazy people, who end up shooting the doctor !  Every character who is pro life is either cruel or crazy, and every character who is pro choice is well adjusted and intelligent ...and ready to point out all the mis-statements of the protesters but giving no detail about the abortion procedure...which makes me a little confused...what is the difference between omitting the truth, and lying?  Why is it considered wrong to discuss the actual details of an abortion at different stages of pregnancy?  It seems that "informed consent" is not really required for abortion because no one wants to "talk" about it.  I have sat by the bedside of a 15 year old whose doctor had not explained to her that he had placed a cone in her cervix to dilate it!  She had no idea what was happening to her. None.

Do you know how many individuals are eliminated each year in Canada? Check it out

Abortion Statistics... You know, if we were talking about that many puppies we'd be outraged!! How sad is that!

The real truth of the matter is...we have gone too far...we've lost the magic.  In the name of liberation, we've tossed out the importance of cherishing innocence; the possibility of being cared for; and the right to have expectations in our relationships and our daughters are paying the price.

The heart of a home?

If the old adage, "the kitchen is the heart of the home" then the refrigerator is the aortic valve!  Especially when you have a teenage boy in the house, who all of a sudden has gone from having little to no appetite, only stopping eating to draw breath.  With this in mind, consider the circumstance of finding yourself with curdled milk, melted ice cream, and quantities of rotting meat and vegetables, and nothing else...not even the energy to go shopping for a loaf of bread let alone a fridge.  This is where we have been for the past 3 1/2 weeks, I might have mentioned it, and it hasn't been pretty.  Main Street Pizzeria was thinking of adopting Matthew, and at the very least, they were placed on speed dial!  I enjoy their food, probably more than occasionally, but even Matthew had begun to tire of a diet consisting of poutine; pizza; pogos and fries.  Once I had begun to feel better, I drove down to Brockville and purchased a new fridge, but to my dismay it would not be delivered until the middle of the following week.  My heart sank, but I accepted the fact that we would be struggling for another 7 - 10 days more. I had basically stopped eating anything but "raisin bran", and had no fight in me...only brief periods of whining.
Whining, it turns out, can be quite effective in problem solving!  Who knew...that a few words...when drawn out s l o w l y and with groaning mixed in, when observed by others (in this case Becka, Matt's girlfriend) results in the repetition of your plight falling on the ears of someone(s) MIGHTY, this being Becka's Mom, Nancy, volunteering....no almost demanding (praise God)...to rescue us out of our dilemma! I'm not good at asking for help!  Within 24 hours Nancy, Kyle (mighty son of mighty Nancy) and I were standing in Home Depot, truck at the ready, to pick up my fridge. Home Depot's customer service desk is akin to waiting for the second coming, however eventually four....FOUR...men and one woman came out to wrestle the almighty fridge into the back of the truck.  Not one to waste a minute, Nancy attempted to find me a husband as he helped load the fridge, noting that he had no wedding ring (a very attentive woman ) so I did, as prompted, ask him if he could come home with us and help us to install the fridge, to which he replied that it depended on whether I had cold beer!!!! I stated the obvious...."I'm buying a fridge, therefore I have no cold beer!!!!"...and that was the end of that! (my flirting skills obviously need work...it's been a long time, and will most assuredly be even longer!)  Anyway, off we went back to Athens...Nancy, Kyle, and me...and a HUGE fridge standing up tall in the back of the truck.  It seemed even larger once we backed into the driveway, opened the truck gate, and looked up at it! It appeared to be an impossible task, and Kyle and I stated our concern, most basically we feared for our personal safety!  Nancy remained undaunted and proceeded to push the fridge to the edge of the tailgate, and there we were, at the point of no return, the weight shifting in Kyle's direction, gravity taking charge, and the fridge begins to topple onto Kyle, while Nancy and I are trying to pull it back onto the ground!  Brave Kyle, came out of the ordeal with a scraped arm, and probably a renewed sense of appreciation for living!
Kyle and I are still not convinced that this task is achievable, and we are beginning to think that this new fridge, which is now out of it's box, looks quite attractive in the driveway, and with an extension cord, could serve us well!  Not to be!  Nancy rallied the troops \(that being us!) and organizes how we are going to proceed.  Lift after lift, pause after pause, lift again, push, pull, breathe, pant, and push again, and what do you know?  I HAVE A FRIDGE...AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL...AND IT WORKS!!!!!
Thank you soooooooooo much Mighty Nancy and Mighty Kyle!

"Julia and Julia"... and Mom

Julia and Julia" trailer
Today is of course Easter Sunday, but this year has been a bit odd in how it played out, with Matt's Birthday celebration spreading over two weekends, but of a smaller size, me not being well, but getting better, and having to buy a new fridge, having been without one for 3 1/2 weeks!  So no egg hunt, no chocolate, no fanfare...but definitely grateful for the real reason that we do those other things...but back to business!  I watched a movie today (I also walked the dogs and did laundry so this is a good day).  I've seen this movie before,about a young woman who Blogs her way through Julia Child's cookbook. I enjoyed it so much that I had no trouble watching it again.  It also made me realize how distinctly linked Julia Child and my mother are in my mind!  I see Julia Child, and I see my mother cooking.  As you can see by the picture at left, there is nothing in similarity of looks between Julia and my mother. My mother, is a definite "looker" and Julia, on the other hand was...well...not!  There is also about 4 feet of height difference between the two of them, and my mother can speak French fluently, whereas Julia Child was still learning!  But my mother, with a copy of Mastering-Art-French-Cooking in her hand, was a force to be reckoned with. That book, with the little tear at the top of the blue/green cover, evokes memories of good smells, wonderful sauces, and desserts to die for.  Mother's pastry was so light and flaky that it simply melted in your mouth. My particular favourite traditionally appeared each Christmas...Mince Pies!  YUM!!!  In fact there were more than a few Christmases when everyone had gone to bed, that I would sneak down the stairs to quietly pry off the lid of that prized, square, blue, tart tin, and gently lift 1...2...no, usually 3 beautiful little pies, and whisk them off to be lovingly devoured in the quiet of my room! ...as I said previously.....YUM!  The Christmas of '79 was a particularly "pie filled" celebration.  I was actually in hospital, having just given birth to Paul, and mother imported the mince pies right to me...an entire tin...to myself!!!!! About 24 hours after those gems had been delivered, the supply was getting a bit low, when the nurses came in with little Paul, stuffed in a Christmas stocking, with a tiny cap on his head...but he was crying.  The nurses explained, as I prepared to nurse him, that he had begun to suffer from diarrhea.  They wanted to know if I had been eating a lot of fruit....my simple 19 year old mind leaped to apples; oranges; bananas...but I had none of those!  It was a mystery!!!!  Coincidentally, when I finished the mince pies, Paul started to feel better, and Christmas was over so alas for me, but good for Paul, the "tart season" was over.:(
Mom has made many, many, many, mince pies since then, and all my boys have had the privilege of savouring them just as much as I did.
Anywhere that Matthew and I have ever eaten, the food is always compared, and never succeeds "Nana's" cooking.
Thanks Mom...you've really got to see this movie.

What's so "good" about GOOD FRIDAY?

The Crucifixion
When I was a child, and the Easter celebrations approached, I couldn't help but wonder what was so good about Good Friday?  Good Friday meant a 3 hour Church service, whereupon we would reenact the Crucifixion of Christ...shouting out the words that led to His being nailed to the cross.  I would yell out the words, all the while thinking that I would never have spoken them, and these people that I am pretending to be are heinous criminals...certainly not me!  I didn't get it....actually I didn't get it for a very long time, and I don't know if I ever would have, if not for the trials and tribulations that I have struggled with, that slay me helpless if not for Him. Through this process I had to admit, humbly, that it would be His strength, certainly not my own, that must carry me on. The eventual begrudging acceptance of my limitations and weaknesses that He and I still discuss at length, are challenged mostly by Christians!  It is quite daunting to undertake a study about mental illness as viewed by the more Fundamentalist Christian community.  The message is ...that it is not God's will for us to be sick, and therefore if we suffer from an ongoing illness (particularly mental) then it is because we are not renouncing our sins, there is something in us that is holding us back from Christ's healing. Ultimately "it's our own fault" and therefore we should be discouraged rather than unconditionally accepted.  I equate it to the different reactions our community has over it's congregant's when they suffer a divorce as opposed to a death in their family.  The pain and grief of Death is acknowledged by flowers, cards of sympathy, aid of all kinds, however there is little to no acknowledgement of the pain and grief of a divorce...rather a palpable silence!

I have considered all this for quite some time, and I'm not bitter about it...I get it...I get now why "Good Friday" was good.  Jesus Christ died for me...just as I am...warts, emotional difficulties and all.  Perhaps there are those people who bear things for a purpose... His purpose. I'm not saying I'm some kind of saint...far from it...but I do know a saint who was afflicted....asked for release from his affliction...and it was not granted!  In time The apostle Paul came to understand why God had chosen not to free him from it...whatever "it" was. Please keep reading and answer my question at the end...

The Apostle Paul wrote...

2 Corinthians 12:7 - 10 The Message


^7-10Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. (2 Corinthians 12:7, The Message)

handicap /h'ændikæp/

Synonyms:
verb: hinder, hamper, impede
noun: hindrance, impediment, drawback, obstacle, encumbrance, disadvantage
handicaps plural, 3rd person present; ; handicapping present participle; ; handicapped past tense, past participle;

1.A handicap is a physical or mental disability.

◦He lost his leg when he was ten, but learnt to overcome his handicap.

2.A handicap is an event or situation that places you at a disadvantage and makes it harder for you to do something.
 

If today, the Apostle Paul were to come to your house to celebrate this Easter Season, would you tell him that his relationship with Christ was flawed since he didn't have sufficient faith to be healed?

The best thing about Good Friday is...Easter Sunday...and the knowledge that after all the pain and suffering...His mostly, but ours as well...we are His Children and the best is yet to come!
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Education in Death; The killing of Phoebe Prince

"South Hadley High School- Our Working Mission:

We pledge to create a challenging and supportive academic community in which each student will acquire the knowledge and skills needed to successfully pursue post-secondary options of their choice and act as a responsible citizen in a diverse and global society.."

This mission statement has a great set of words, unfortunately it is just words!  We need not centre out Hadley High for all our scorn, although it's tempting to revenge the death of Phoebe Prince, she is one of many victims who have fallen because nobody would take this systematic abuse for it's criminal nature.  Harassment has long been a recognized "crime", but for some reason because the victims are not of legal age, we seem to consider "bullying" an acceptable right of passage. 

"Nine Massachusetts teens were indicted Monday for driving a pretty 15-year-old "new girl" from Ireland to suicide in a case that has become a symbol of high school bullying.The sweeping charges - which come after months of complaints that the bullies weren't being punished - include statutory rape, violation of civil rights with bodily injury, criminal harassment and stalking. Phoebe Prince, a new arrival at South Hadley High School from a tiny seaside hamlet in County Clare, was mercilessly tormented by a cadre of classmates later dubbed the "Mean Girls" by Massachusetts newspapers."The investigation revealed relentless activity directed toward Phoebe designed to humiliate her and to make it impossible for her to remain at school," District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said. "The bullying, for her, became intolerable."
"Students said Phoebe was called "Irish slut" and "whore" on Twitter, Craigslist, Facebook and Formspring. Her books were routinely knocked out of her hands, items were flung at her, her face was scribbled out of photographs on the school walls, and threatening text messages were sent to her cell phone."

It's simply amazing to me how a "youth culture" so thoroughly entrenched in the acceptance of the "unique and shocking" are they themselves SO SAVAGELY INTOLERANT!

I was bullied, I imagine because I was English and had an accent. My sister was also relentlessly bullied, my oldest son suffered harassment all through his High School years, probably because he is smart, hardworking, and not a redneck!  I did the unthinkable for many years, although I wanted to go to the school, Paul insisted that things would get worse if I did that. So I did nothing. Then one day he dropped his books and pummeled a kid who had made the mistake of tripping on Paul's last nerve!!  Things seemed to improve after that, and as a result I learned from Paul, not to insist on "non violent" intervention.  I know it goes against everything Christlike that I know of, but I want Matthew to feel that he has some control over what is happening to him.  I don't want him to feel that I'm sending him out there, where there are mean kids who want to break his spirit, with his hands tied behind his back.  I have shared my feelings with his teachers and although they may not be overjoyed, most admit they would advise their kids the same!  Do mean students come from mean parents? Probably, so expecting support from parents is usually not effective...but neither is letting it go, and worse yet is when your child gets labelled because he has stood up for himself against the bullies!!! I once got so enraged by the bullies where we lived grabbed the hair of a boy who had been holding my son's hair while kicking repeatedly...that's not such a good thing to do, especially when the kid (who is now wetting his pants) screams and his mother shows up!!! But there again, I wonder if somewhere in his little head he remembered the crazy lady, and thought twice before yanking and kicking some other child, whose mother wasn't quite so crazy!

So, the death of this young girl, just 15 years old, who emigrated from Ireland just last fall, is now the "poster girl" for changing the management of school bullies. Well, I hope to see it happen.
Other wise, Lady Liberties inscription will have to be changed to read....
"With silent lips.Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"...THAT IS UNTIL YOU START SCHOOL AND THEN YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!