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Read this excerpt from a Romanian Newspaper. The article was
written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title “C”ntarea
Americii, meaning “Ode To America”) on September 24, 2002, in the
Romanian newspaper Evenimentulzilei (”The Daily Event” or “News of the
Day”).

~An Ode to America~

Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one
another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages
of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and
religious beliefs. Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred
million people into a hand put on the heart.

Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, and the
secret services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed
to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby
to gape about. The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a
helping hand.

After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over
the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the
colors of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if
in every place and on every car a government official or the president
was passing.

On every occasion, they started singing their traditional
song: “God Bless America!” I watched the live broadcast and rerun after
rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one
hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or
of the Californian hockey player, who gave his life fighting with the
terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that
could have killed other hundreds or thousands of people.

How on earth were they able to respond united as one human
being? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of
some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every
phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection
aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money
can buy.

What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their
land? Their galloping history? Their economic Power? Money? I tried for
hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the
risk of sounding commonplace.

I thought things over, but I reached only one
conclusion…Only freedom can work such miracles.

Cornel Nistorescu

I am grateful for the end of this year. Next year brings the hopes of major changes. Not only politically but socially, economically, environmentally and personally. What changes would you like to see in your day to day life? More love? More security? You can have these things. In this uncertain world it is up to us to prepare ourselves and our lives for the uncertain future.

Three things I know for sure in this uncertain world-

Love is real

Hope is eternal

Nothing stands in the way but self

So move yourself out of your own way and see the future year coming with real value, sacredness; love for self. Respect for self. When you have accomplished that, it is only then that you are able to share yourself as you were created to the world and be part of the greater good. If you have self loathing and lack of self respect then you have no love or respect. You can be admired by millions and loved greatly but if you have no love for your self then you are not being the whole, true person you are meant to be in this creation. What is stopping you from loving yourself? If you can find you way to forgiveness, starting with yourself is a good plan to begin this process. Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves so we can be at peace with our past so we can have a future. Find peace with the past as much as you are able, so you can find the love & hope and help me transform next year in to something we can be proud to be a part of a grateful to pass on to our children.

And to all a good night! Wheew! Are you all as glad it’s over as I am? I love going to see everyone and making special memories. I can do without the added stresses and tensions that can come with the season like an unwanted virus. This time of year often feels like a huge emotional wave that comes overtakes me with sentimental feelings of nostalgia of Christmas magic from when I was a kid. Knowing now what my mother went thru to make the holidays special even as she worked full time really fills me with so much love and appreciation for her care and thoughtfulness. What care she took to pick out gifts and wrap them beautifully for us. She’d make us little letters that ‘Santa’ would leave for us thanking us for our delicious cookies. She had everything dialed in from the onion dip to the homemade pumpkin pie. She did everything with what appeared to be such ease. Every Christmas is infused with her recipes, her love, our traditions and a great need to make everything special, wonderful and delightful for us kids.

I’m the opposite of my mother’s grace. I can make onion dip and pumpkin pie. But not without the fire alarm going off or the phone ringing or something to pull me away from my task. My mom always seemed so focused and methodical in her work. She wasn’t often distracted and was able to go to task without being pulled left & right by this, that & the other. Me, on the other hand; my life seems to delight in running me around and wringing me out. Flipping me around like it’s own little red rag waving in a tornado force wind. Life doesn’t twidder about me like the bluebirds of happiness. It batters me with it’s forces of energy. I feel like a tilting planet all it’s own sometimes with my own gravitational force. I long for that seeming paradise of calm, cool & collected that my mom can achieve. I wish she’d share the recipe for that! That is what I am craving right now!

I hope the season brought you joys from Christmas past, blessing on Christmas now and peace for the coming new year’s future. It’s not time to drop the fun of giving though. I have a couple things I received that I can’t use or return so I will donate them or pass them to someone who may be able to use and appreciate them. I also have a big pot of soup to make from the turkey carcass we brought home from a holiday gathering. I will make soup up and freeze it in quarts to give away. It’s always nice to have homemade soup. I also have some more fudge wrapped up that needs to get out of here before I eat anymore of it! I think the mailman has his name on some!

Every baby is Jesus’ perfection trying to be seen and acknowledged and reborn again and again. We can see it if we have the eyes, heart & hormones of a mother, or a vivid enough imagination that could imagine such as so. The love of a mother and the power a mother feels as she nourishes & sustains life, gives birth and continues to sustain that life with milk made from her own body, is the key, integral relationship in any human life. This is an act  so full of dynamism that any peace loving culture should rely on breastfeeding as a great beginning to creating happy, well-adjusted people thru out the world as a whole today. Lack of bonding as we can sometimes see in bottle fed babies, who miss out on the breast and the close mother/child bond, creates a population that is more enamored by the achieving of material gains then relating on a heart & soul human level with other human beings.  As we can see in the world today these shifted values have altered the path the world is on to a degree that has bred and nurtured people who are hell bent on greed, war, destruction and other traits that come from the damaged, improperly nurtured psyche.

Mary didn’t milk any of the barn animals for milk for baby Jesus. She nourished Him with milk from her own body. This act is a woman’s sacred art and has shaped futures of children from the beginning of time. Making milk for an infant can be a joy and a pleasure. It is certainly a lot of work for the body. Milk holds everything, every nutrient and satisfaction for a child; mind, body & soul. The act of breastfeeding instills innately the preciousness and value and worthiness of taking the best care, time & energy with your child. The care that come thru breastfeeding plays a role in the formation of every relationship thereafter. Ecological breastfeeding-when the breast is given on demand, without the use of bottles or pacifiers, can also suppress fertility, as the body adjusts so beautifully to accommodate the mother’s & child’s needs.

Any act such as breastfeeding which requires such devotion & sacrifice on a person’s part automatically makes the act a sacred one. Any sacred act infuses the preciousness and worth that we as a society lack in today. We wouldn’t have 1/2 the wars & murder or even depression, suicide or basic dissatisfaction with life if we had just given our children their birthright; our milk. Or more accurately-their milk. And she gives until it hurts. As they need. To establish their selves as such to value all life around us. This is one of the fatal flaws we make as humanity in not being absolutely blessed and supportive of the breastfeeding mother. It is a wound in the psyche that can not be healed or filled with any other outside resources and have the same impact it has when given from the source.

Breastfeeding stimulates important nurturing hormones called prolactin & oxytocin which induce feelings of contentment & satisfaction in not only the mother & child but also in anyone who even witnesses the act of breastfeeding! These are the same hormones that are produced when an orgasm is achieved.

We were created for ecstasy & bliss! Our whole system supports this but cultural & societal norms have altered this natural path & disrupted the core of the essence of our being.

Breastfeeding also reduces the likelihood of a woman getting breast cancer.

Support your hardworking mothers!

Malachi 3:3 says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”

He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.”

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you. Pass this on right now. This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them.

And, whatever they’re going through, they’ll be a better person in the end.

“Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once.”

Have you been feeling the love? Have you set a warm ember of hope thru a memory or event you enjoy or have been looking forward to in your heart? I hope so! I want to whole-heartily encourage you to find your genuine smile. If you can’t be a friend to someone-then be your own best friend. If someone else can’t then you have to. Take yourself out somewhere special. Be kind. Use kind words. Smile with not only your mouth but your eyes as well. Listen to that small inner voice of wisdom and hear it and heed it.  Are you impelled to take an offramp not on your normal route? Don’t ask why or erase it away! Listen to that little voice of inner wisdom. There are a myriad of reasons why and the one reason may not be readily apparent. The why may be irrelevant, it’s the action of listening and acting on that impulse that creates repertoire of trust within yourself that you can build upon.

Do you want more joy in your life? It is there, within you, just waiting to be discovered and tapped. What do you want to create next year? It’s a brand new year and time for us to contemplate the last year and plan for the next. What did we do well? What can we improve upon? Did we right any wrongs or just muddle along? We can only get out of our life what we put into it. Give it your all!

In this season of the winter solstice, let us be merry, kind and generous in heart & spirit. Let us share when and where we can. Let us be gentle and kind to each other. Let us give with joy and celebration.

I made 6 pounds of fudge that I have passed out to the friendly ladies at the post office, the librarian and the local thrift store. I also brought cookies to the guy that works at Kinkos. You should have seen his face when he realized I brought them just for him. In his gratitude he was taken in a rush and flood of emotion. His personal turmoil burst forth the painful truth of his marriage gone bad that has left him  lonely, bereft and depressed. My little treats haven’t solved any great problems that the worlds holds for us to solve but it has brought us closer as neighbors sharing this spaceship planet earth all of us here together. I felt the love. It was even better than the fudge! And the fudge was really, really good!

Since we can’t seem to give peace a chance, let’s try love for a change. Put some love in your hearts! The holidays aren’t about racing around trying to find something cheap to buy someone you love. Really, it’s not. Yet we find ourselves and see so many doing so. Put some love in your heart! Try love for a change. If you can’t get there on your own, put some lovely music on. Something that evokes the spirit of tenderness and love. Do whatever you have to to try love for a change. Be inspired! Think back, oh sweet memory if nothing holds love for you now. Where is the love? Try love for a change. It starts in the heart. It starts by shutting off the brain to the barrage of intellectualized reasons why we move in haste and often without a genuine smile. Try love for a change. Find your smile. When you have done that, you know you have love in your heart. Feed the flame of love. Stoke the stove heartily with fuel so the embers can heat thru any iciness and melt down the walls that keep us from really connecting. Slow down. Listen to some great music that you love. If it is holiday music, even all the more inspiring! Find your smile. Share it willingly. You never knows who needs that smile the most. Probably the person you want to smile at the least. Find the joy in your heart that isn’t based on expectations of anything but delight. Haste is a form of violence. If we can all slow down, find out inner love song, put on a genuine smile, I know that tomorrow will be a better day. Join me, won’t you? <[;>)

As soon as I get caught up with my own life drama, I get a call from my oldest & dear friend. She informed me that the breast cancer we thought her sister had fought has now returned to her brain and spine causing an extremely painful tumor to be growing in her spinal column between two discs, crushing them with the unrelenting growth of cancer cells out of control. She had a difficult and risky surgery to remove the tumor and replace the discs with prosthetic ones.  The brain cancer will be treated with direct radiation to the brain and chemotherapy. We are really hoping they find the right toxic cocktail to curtail the growth of the cells that don’t know when to stop. They say the prognosis is good. She will have to take a chemo pill the rest of her life, but she is expected to live. She has certainly lived thru a lot.
This really puts the messy house, pouring rain, leaky roof & a myriad of trivial & technical problems in my life into perspective for me. I’m just glad I have a pot to catch the leaky drip with. The dripping, wet sound passes the time on it’s own measure, random and unrelenting; “ting/splash, ting/ting/splash, ting/donk/splash”. I listen for the wisdom in the sound. The sound surrounds me like vibration emitting a secret code. The dink/drip/ting code, like some foreign heart or drumbeat, saying, “Pace yourself!, as long as you are moving, even if plodding, you are making progress. Even the tallest mountains sprung up only inches a year at a time”. The vibe is right. It continues, “The ocean is composed of many, many, many drops of water making the huge expanse of watery terrain that sustains innumerable amounts of life”. The rivers & lakes are coming to me, a drop at a time, thru the leak in the roof. I shall add some salt, make a sandwich and put a shell to my ear to hear the sound and have a picnic by the sea.

Was the silence on my blog golden or deafening? To me, it was deafening. My ever so helpful spouse took it upon himself to erase the hard drive from my brand new computer without backing up the system! Thanks, Honey! You did such a great job screwing up all my well laid plans. Santa saw that, you know! So did Jesus! He’s telling God/dess for me. You will be accountable. BWHAHAHAAAA….
As you can see, I am back on tonight! I will be making up for lost time. I have been busy in the real world doing detestable duties like dishes, laundry and chicken chores. The rain has been falling. Mud flows, roof’s leak, cancer grows and bullets scream thru sinew and flesh. And life continues on and the sun still shines his face,  somewhere, thru it all.

Jam thumbprint cookies are cooling in the kitchen. I made mom’s old butterscotch yule log recipe tonight to package and give as gifts.  I have one last box to assemble and send out to a sister of a friend.  I didn’t ‘do’ cards this year. I didn’t have a picture of the kids in enclose. I got all caught up in the frantic psychic energy of the season. Like an undertow of emotion, I have been swept off my feet. I’m trying to swim parallel with land but the watery emotions want to submerge me into it’s icy, mythical & revealing depths. I take a deep breathe and hold until it passes. I’m still holding. This too shall pass. This too shall pass. This too shall pass. I tell myself…

During this season of giving I can’t help but feel the pain of the millions of people who all they want are things money cannot buy. Like peace and hope. Or love and joy. What is the value of these things? What does hope look like? What does peace look like? Hope, to me, looks like the eyelashes of a tiny baby that rests on a silky cheek. Peace looks like the wind that raises the birds in the sky; elusive & fleeting. Love looks like a smile, open and friendly, ready to be generous and maybe even share a laugh. Joy looks like the fertile earth that has been dug up by the leaping paws of a happy dog, that has unearthed the earth itself with galloping strides of joyful bursting forth in energetic delight.

What do your wishes and hopes look like? Are they asking you to notice them, like the blossom of a flower, who tries so hard to get noticed, touched, smelled and appreciated? Breathe life into your dreams so they can come to fruition. Keep them alive anyway you can. Write and plan your dreams. Now is the time to access and reassess everything you have in your life . Conscientious people live the life that they want. Instead of life having you; you have the life you want. By accessing your life, your choices for the coming new year you can get rid of what no longer serves you, be it a bad habit or stressful unfulfiling work. Try to use your eyes that can see things like hope in the eyelashes of a child. This will create a balance of creative and pragmatic energies that will serve you well for the coming new year ahead. I wish you many blessings of all the good things in life that hold the true meaning of the season. All the things that money cannot buy have the most value. May you be showered with all the good things in life! And don’t forget, the best things in life aren’t things.

ONE.
Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO.
Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE.
Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR.
When you say, ‘I love you,’ mean it.

FIVE.
When you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ look the person in the eye.

SIX.
Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN.
Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT.
Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.

NINE.
Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.

TEN.
In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN.
Don’t judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE.
Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN.
When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, ‘Why do you want to know?’

FOURTEEN.
Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN.
Say ‘bless you’ when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

SEVENTEEN.
Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN.
Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN.
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY.
Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY-ONE.
Spend some time alone.

This is an interactive card.
Follow the directions and enjoy the animation.
The final part is the best!

http://ecard.ashland.edu/2004admission/index.html

I’m certain a numerologist could have a field day with the numerical significance of these numbers in correlation with the verses. It would be interesting…

When things get tough, always remember…
Faith doesn’t get you around trouble, it gets you through it.

Center of the Bible.

Q: What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?

A: Psalms 117

Q: What is the longest chapter in the Bible?

A: Psalms 119

Q: Which chapter is in the center of the Bible?

A: Psalms 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters before Psalms 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters after Psalms 118

Add these numbers up and you get 1188.

Q: What is the center verse in the Bible?

A: Psalms 118:8

Q: Does this verse say something significant about God’s perfect will for our lives?

The next time someone says they would like to find

God’s perfect will for their lives and that they want to

be in the center of His will, just send them to the

center of His Word!

Psalms 118:8

“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
Now isn’t that odd how this worked out (or was God in the center of it)?

Do you know what that means? It means give up something of value to yourself so you can bring joy & humanity to others who may be without. Give something that is your own; give what you want. Give something that is comforting and warm. A hat, scarf or mittens. Slippers or homemade soup and bread. A warm smile, nod, handshake or hug. Give something you love and would want for yourself. Cloak a part of your world with kindness and warmth. Give something you could keep yourself but out of the goodness of your heart you want to share that which you already strive for and love. Nourish someone. Give them sustenance for life. Heart & soul. This is why we are here. To do so eases wrongs and sets the world right. To do so is a sign of spiritual & emotional maturity. To delay one’s own gratification for the needs and fulfillment of another is one of the highest forms of intellectualized spiritual truth that represents a high level of emotional maturity. This maturity serves as a lifeline of grace & peace to an all too often gray & hardscrabble world. Behaving as such sends a very important message into your life and into the world around us. A message that lingers and sings words of Hope, Joy, Charity, Faith & Love. In today’s world-this is revolutionary! Viva La Revolution! No pain, no gain! Get giving! It hurts so good!

Santa’s reindeer most probably evolved from Herne, the Celtic Horned God. Eight reindeer pull Santa’s sleigh, representative of the eight solar sabbats. In British lore, the stag is one of the five oldest and wisest animals in the world, embodying dignity, power and integrity. From their late Autumn dramatic rutting displays, stags represented strength, sexuality and fertility. As evidenced by multiple prehistoric excavations of stag antler ritual costumes, the wearing of stag antlers in folk dance recreated the sacred male shaman figure called Lord of the Wild Hunt, Cernunnos, or Herne the Hunter, among others–he who travels between worlds, escorting animal spirits to the afterlife and sparking wisdom and fertility in this world. Likewise, the stag’s branching antlers echo the growth of vegetation. In America, the stag represents male ideals: the ability to “walk one’s talk,” and powerfully, peacefully blend stewardship and care of the tribe with sexual and spiritual integrity.
In Northern European myth, the Mother Goddess lives in a cave, gives birth to the sun child, and can shape shift into a white hind, or doe. Therefore, the white hind was magical, to be protected and never hunted. In myth, graceful running women of the forest–who were actually magical white hinds–brought instant old age or death to hunters who chased them.
To the Celts, all deer were especially symbolic of nurturing, gentle and loving femaleness. White deer hide was used to make tribal women’s clothing. White deer called “faery cattle” were commonly believed to offer milk to fairies. In Britain amongst the Druids, some men experienced life-transforming epiphanies from spiritual visions or visitations by white hinds, balancing and healing their inner feminine energy. In Europe white hinds truly exist, and are many shades of warm white cream-colors, with pale lashes–otherworldly in their peaceful and modest behavior. To many Native American tribes, deer are models of the graceful and patient mother who exhibits unconditional love and healthy, integrated female energy.