List it Tuesday ~ Alia's {to do} !

It's not often these days that I get time to sit and browse around in blog land. But I love to read the Corner View posts especially so I try to find time on a Thursday to do that. I just love 'traveling' to other parts of the world through the photos posted each week ! This last Thursday, I was traveling around and stumbled upon something that looked so neat ! And right up my alley !! List it Tuesday ! It's over at artsyville, one of my favorite artsy blogs ... and all you do is post a handwritten list and then comment to let them know you've participated ! I love it !

I've had this list saved to blog for ages now ! I had scanned it last week even and then when I was thinking about which list to post first, this one came to mind ! It was written by my Alia ... she's 7 now but she wrote it a few months ago when she was still 6. She came in and showed me one morning and totally blew my mind ! She is so like me in this area ! My little list maker ! In fact, Rory came out the other night and said "I went in to tell Alia a couple of things she needs to remember. She grabbed her little bag, found the pencil and pad inside and started making a list ! If there ever was any doubt that she was your child (uh, I'm pretty sure I remember carrying her for 9 months but whatever ... !!) this is proof !"

So ... here it is. My first List it Tuesday ! It's Alia's list of jobs so she doesn't forget ... Let me read it to you. Bed. Toilet. Breakfast. Beaky's food. (it's her job to feed the cat !) Teeth. Go to bed. (seems she's been through the day and is now at night time) Get dressed (obviously she's now slept the night) Hair. Dishwasher (she loads it) Shoes and wit sokes on your feet. (Shoes and with socks on your feet) Get your bag ready. Lunch box. If you have tim (time) you can play in your rom (room) or help your mummy pack the lunchs (lunches) or woch (watch) your Mom on the conpuoa (computer) You play a game. (you being her ...) Put my bag awe (away) Put your things from your lunch box into the dishwasher.

It's a pretty comprehensive list ! I love it !! I also love how she's illustrated it a bit. Added numbers in boxes. 2, 3, 4 and 32 ! Gotta get your priorities right ! and I especially love the check marks that show where she used it for a week !! Such a clever girl ...

Well, I'd better wrap this up. I've been downloading the photos from my camera to my computer while I wrote this ... slows things WAY down ! But the 550 photos are now on the computer, time to sort through them, get the load of laundry hung up and then think about getting ready for work. :) Hope you all have a great day !! See you soon ...

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iBon

Guess who got an iPhone4 ?

And guess who immediately downloaded hipstamatic ?

And who has been playing with it ever since ?



Yep ! Me ! How'd you guess ??

I love it.

PS ... it's spring and my Jasmine is in bloom !

Come over for a smell ...

Anytime !

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Where is that darn light switch??

Do you ever look at something in your life and think that maybe it is a test from God? That maybe He is waiting for you to just trust in Him or learn some lesson? At some point though you wonder if you are just dense and not learning the lesson or if you are missing the point all together. I have been reflecting lately on how much we are in the dark with God. Are we really in the dark because of God or do we just not see the darn light switch?

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Being Open to Life

I was recently reflecting about the "openness to life" that our faith calls married couples to.  I realize that this can be a hot topic for many faithful Catholics regarding when/why using Natural Family Planning is morally acceptable. Nevertheless, this debate is not my focus.  Instead I found myself reflecting on the annunciation.

These days it seems as though there are many more "reasons" NOT to have children than ever.  For example, society says that simply being a "newlywed" qualifies couples to refrain from openness to life.  For some newlyweds the adjustment to marriage may constitute a serious reason to postpone children, but this (and other grave factors) are not what I am referring to.  Isn't it odd that babies who arrive 9 months after a honeymoon are suprising (and few) nowadays?  Society tells us to take two, five, ten years to get to know each other, buy a home, travel ect... and then we can start thinking about "trying".  Perhaps it is not the children who should be postponed, but rather the wedding date!

When we examine Mary's situation from our own cultural perspective, we realize that she had every reason not to be open to life.  She was barely a teenager, very poor and unmarried.   If you consider the world she lived in, these reasons could constitute even more graveness than they would today.  There was no Medicaid, no crisis pregnancy centers or shelters, and adultery could be punished by death.  Despite this however, Mary said YES to life.  It is through her YES, her fiat, that Jesus our salvation, came into the world.  Moreover, it might be also be fair to point out that God only asked Mary to be receptive to a child once in her life.  God's will for the Holy Family was to always remain a home of three.  This is also a reminder for us as Catholics, that a marriage that is open-to-life will not always fill a twelve-passenger van.

There are many wonderful Church documents such as Humanae Vitae and the Catechism of the Church that can help us understand the Church's teaching on Christian marriages.  Ultimately, husbands and wives must always pray to follow Mary's example of "thy will be done".  Only He knows what is best for our marriages and families.  It is by following God's will that we can work to build a culture of life... and what is more beautiful than that?

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Carpe Diem

I just got back from a trip with my extended family. Recently two of my uncles have died from cancer, both battles were very short and one of my cousins suffered from a potentially deadly blood clot from a genetic disorder it turns out we all need to now be tested for. As we were reflecting on all these tragedies my cousin looked at me and said, "this is why I refuse to live with regrets." She and her husband have been trying for a few years to get pregnant and have accepted that it might not be in Gods plan so instead of sitting around waiting for life they have decided to quite their jobs and go travel thorugh Asian for six months. (We are all predicting she comes back pregnant.) It is something they both have always wanted to do and at this point in their lives they are able. Life is so short. We all assume we will live well into old age and die peacefully in our sleep. Honestly though most people don't go that way. My uncle collected only 1 year of his saved retirement and then cancer took his life. My uncles died much earlier then any of us would have liked but while they were alive they really lived. Both of them worked in the Peace Corp. One of them spent many of his Saturdays driving down to Mexico to help build houses for those in need. My uncle Dave earned several degrees and changed jobs A LOT. Right before he died he told my aunt that there was nothing he regretting he did not get to do. Both had huge hearts and loved very deeply. This is not an invitation to be irresponsible. We all have duties but within those duties do not be afraid to do the things your heart desires because we have no idea what God's plan is. My cousins word hit me hard. I have decided to come up with three things I have always wanted to do (that are within my means) and DO THEM. Carpe Diem!

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Two Seas

The following is taken from a homily I recently heard...

There are two seas in Israel. One is called the Sea of Galilee and the other is the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is beaming with life. The water is beautiful and the home of many fish and different types of plant life. The Dead Sea on the other hand is exactly what its name says, dead. Nothing lives or grows in the Dead Sea. The water is murky and disgusting. What is it about these two sea that makes them so different? The Sea of Galilee receives water but is also gives water out. The Sea of Galilee flows into several other bodies of water giving its life to them. The Dead Sea receives but it never gives. Water comes in but it does not go anywhere else. Because of this the water is stagnate and as the water evaporates it leaves behind tons of salt that makes it impossible for things to live and grow.

Every one of us can be one of these two "seas". If we want to be full of life and beauty we have to give of ourselves like the Sea of Galilee. We must take what we receive and give it to others. If we on the other hand just take take take and never give we will end up ugly and dead with no chance of life and beauty just like the Dead Sea. These two "seas" are a glimpse of heaven and hell on earth. We experience a little bit of heaven when we give of ourselves because in heaven no one is selfish. Hell is filled with selfish people. In hell their is a huge banquet table with all the tastiest and finest foods. Everything you ever dreamed of eating is out on the table and everyone in hell is sitting around ready to eat. The only problem is that their forks are four feet long. Can you imagine trying to eat with a four foot long fork? No one could get the food into their mouth. It was torture. In heaven there is the exact same scene. The banquet table with all the food is there including the four foot forks. The difference though is that in heaven they are feeding each other. They are thinking of each other and giving to each other and in that everyone is fed. My sisters in Christ let us work every day to give of ourselves and never count the cost because our reward awaits us at the banquet feast of heaven.

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I {hope} you dance ...

I wrote this post a little more than a year ago ...
And
I was thinking about it tonight.
Thinking about my life and marveling that FINALLY I can say
I AM DANCING
Truly dancing ... the way I was meant to.
The way I always have.
The way I wondered why I wasn't anymore.

And I'm thankful.

***

Here's the original post ... and ... if you have 5 minutes and 03 seconds ... listen to the song.

Really listen.

And ask yourself ... when you get the choice, do you dance ?

I hope so ...

***
January 21, 2009

I heard this song for the first time tonight and just have to share it.

I've had it on repeat for about an hour. Good thing Rory has long since gone to bed.
He's not keen on the whole repeat thing !

Push play. Listen to the words.

Do you dance ?

Do I ?

Not for a long time.
Except at home.

It started at the beginning of our life here in Australia.
For the first time ever, in all of my traveling of the world, in all of my life ...
I felt like I didn't belong.
Like I wasn't able to be me and have people like me.

There started a long journey of me pulling back.
Of hiding.
Definitely not dancing.

Loneliness is a terrifying thing.
I'm not lonely anymore.
But I was.
For many years.
Desperately lonely.
And not able to dance ...

Here I sit, in tears.
Trying to express something that I can't.
Not in words.
Not to anyone who hasn't walked this journey with me.

I want to dance.
I'm close.
My arms are spread.
My heart is open.
My outlook is bright.

I just need ... to dance.

When I get the choice ... to dance !!

I Hope You Dance
LeAnn Womack

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
GOD forbid love ever leave you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',
Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone.)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance..
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone)

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Truth

"Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have. " ~annonymous~

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The World Needs More {SPECIAL} Hearts Like Hannah's !

This is my sister Hannah ... and below is an email my Dad sent me last week ...

Our daughter, Hannah, age 29, with Prader-Willi syndrome, wrote this touching eulogy to her friend, Johnny, a man of 68 years, developmentally disabled to about the age of two or three, who lived with the same host family as Hannah. Johnny passed away recently, and the eulogy was read at his funeral.

QUOTE
Psalm 24
The King of Glory and His Kingdom

Johnny and I met 7 years ago, and he was the sweetest young man I knew on the face of the planet. I loved helping getting his outfits for him, feeding him, but most of all I liked being mother hen to him. I want very badly to be a mama someday when I grew up, but sadly it couldn’t be. I love him a lot, I will always be sad, and will always remember him way deep in my heart.

I would like to close with a short reading from Psalm 24.
“The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and all therein; for
He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may
ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness
from the God of his salvation.”

May your heart be eternally at peace, Johnny!

Love, Hannah
ENDQUOTE

Now Hannah had asked me to help her find a verse to read for Johnny. I thought and thought and searched high and low for something that would be truly comforting and meaningful and not cliché or sappy. I came up empty, but Hannah’s choice was perfect.

At the funeral, the priest told everyone that when Johnny met someone, that person immediately became family. What a world it would be if everyone had that attitude.

It wasn’t too many years ago that I learned what the term “special needs people” means. These people are special, and they have been placed on this earth because we need them. Though they are often maligned and disparaged as something less than “normal,” these special people are often much closer to humanity’s ideal, i.e. they are humane, merciful, humble, compassionate, giving, sensitive to the feelings of others, loving and expressing that love unabashedly.

Here’s a story from Hannah’s life that I have told previously. One Sunday morning Hannah and I were driving across town to Sunday School. (Kathy had been called in to work unexpectedly at 3:30 in the morning so was not with us). Out of the blue, Hannah says to me "Dad, I wish everyone in the world could be as fortunate as we are." I was moved to tears. Here was Hannah, who was born with a rare syndrome affecting her appetite and emotional control. Because of the syndrome she will never be able to have children, which she loves more than anything in the world except perhaps dogs and horses. She will never drive, likely never marry. She will never be truly independent (she lives outside our home but in a host home with another family, who take care of her). Throw in a mild case of bi-polar disorder, and Hannah has enough problems to give her a hundred excuses to complain, but rather she says, "Dad, I wish everyone in the world could be as fortunate as we are."

Hannah often says to us that she is thankful that God put her in our family, that she has the best parents in the world. Last night Kathy asked her whether so-and-so might think their parents are the best in the world, too. Could they have the best parents in the world, too? Hannah matter-of-factly answered that they could--the best parents for them. We call people like Hannah "special." Some may think this a euphemism, but it is not. She is special, and we are so thankful that God put her in our family. We have learned so much from her.

Before closing this email, I want to talk about two other very special people: Angie, with whom Johnny lived for 15 years, and Itha, who initially obtained legal custody of Johnny in order to get him released from institutional living. Itha found Johnny languishing in an institution and made it her mission to get him out. She went through legal channels and did just that. While Johnny lived with Angie’s family, Itha would often take Johnny away on special travels and fun, local field trips. The word special doesn’t seem big enough for this lady.

Angie is the big-hearted woman who, along with her husband, Zeke, took Johnny in and treated him as if he were her own son. She is the wonderful person who loves and treats our Hannah is if she were her own daughter. Angie and her husband have a family of their own, but find overflowing love to shower upon those they’ve taken into the heart of their home. For Hannah, this is an opportunity to move out “on her own,” as she has seen her brother and sisters do, although she can never be truly independent. Kathy and I spend time with Hannah on special occasions, weekends, take her to therapeutic horseback riding and Sunday School, but Angie is there for her constantly. We can never express the depth of our gratitude to Angie for all she has poured into Hannah. She, indeed, is a special person with a big heart for the special people who have been specially placed among us to fulfill our special needs.

Wishing you the best always, Jim and Kathy

For more information about Prader-Willi Syndrome, check out the web site of the national organization here, or the Colorado group here.

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Coming Home

Rory comes home tomorrow ! He's been in Myanmar for a week now and we are so ready to have him back here with us ! I'm so excited to hear all about his experience ! We have had very limited communication while he's been there. We haven't heard his voice for 7 days ! The kids are excitedly preparing for his return ... Alia has busily been making signs and hanging them around the house. At the moment, she's sitting at the table beside me, writing him a book ... illustrations and all. She has missed her Daddy ! So much ! We all have ! This time tomorrow we'll be heading to the airport !!! WOOOOOO HOOOOOO !!

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Lazy Summer Days

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Oh Christmas Tree ...

It's stinkin' hot so I can't really say it feels like Christmas but yesterday we cranked our
air conditioner, decorated the tree, and the house, and well ... it's lookin' like Christmas now !



Here's the boxes of decorations ... all ready to be opened, like presents, one by one ... by me !
And then given to each of the children to be hung on the tree !



And they love it !
As much as I do ... maybe.



Every evening now, our house will be dimly lit by candle and fairy lights.




I love the ambiance.




And the stillness.
The (relative) quiet ...




And the reflection.
Of years gone by ... and years to come.




The memories.




Oh ... the memories.




Candles.
I love candles !
This one is Pumkin Pie ...



Our tree ... 2009 !

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My {alia} Girl

She's an individual.

UNIQUE.

With her own sense of style

and

FLAIR.

I love that about her ...

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Why My Shredder Hates Me ...

I've had a busy yet surprisingly relaxing Monday...

Want to see my to do list ?

These are just the things I listed ... not the normal, everyday things that also got done.

1. Feed Neighbor's Cat
2. Go to Shop ... get $ for cleaning lady, spending money &
something for Jono to take to class to celebrate his birthday.
Oh ... and ice too.
3. Show Jono e-cards that have arrived
4. Fix fairy lights out on back patio
5. Do one page in cookbook
6. Do one sidebar link on beans blog
7. Dust entire house
8. Quick tidy of disaster area toy room (long story)
9. Alia's new desk ... arrange
10. Photos of desk/bed (another long story) !!
11. Plant garlic
12. Send email re: meeting
13. Go through work box
14. Do a big ole' load of shredding
15. Exercise ~ walk around park. Was supposed to be 30 minutes but
ended up getting rained out after 20 !
16. Change sheets
17. Wash, Hang, Fold, Put away four loads of laundry
18. Add garlic to lentil recipe on beans blog
19. Make yogurt
20. Research cookbook/recipe copyright laws
21. Add Andrea's photo to beans
blog sidebar.

Phew !!
I can't believe I got that much done !
(Especially since I got to facebook a bit too.)
As well ~ the lady who comes and does cleaning came
today so the house is pretty darn clean !!

I sure love days that end like this !

I have 30 minutes before my 9:30 bedtime.
I need to pack lunches yet so I'd
better skedaddle !

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Life is Like A Box of Roller Blades

She's six.
She wants to roller blade.
She gets her bother's blades on and off she goes.

She falls.

She gets up.



She falls again.



She gets up again.



Over and over.
Until finally,



she gets it !

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A Rambly Post

It's Monday morning.
6:58 am.
I've been up since 5:00 am.
It's a miracle really since there was a storm last night
which left Rory and I both tossing and turning.
Even though we went to bed at 9:30 pm
I'm not sure we were asleep before
11:00 pm !
I don't know though because I didn't look at the clock.
Not once.

This morning is a rare and different morning.
The kids don't have school.
It's a pupil free day.
Meaning, the teachers are there without the kids.

I'm letting them watch a movie
and having a bit of extra computer time this morning.
I've not done much really.
A bit of blog reading ... and commenting, something I've been bad at lately.
I've been through my google reader and
weeded out the blogs that I thought I would read but don't.
That may make it easier when I do have time to
read blogs ... to just have my favorites
in the reader.
Yep,
I think that will be
better.

I haven't decided what we are going to do today.
The fabulous lady who does some cleaning for me once a week
will be here in a couple of hours.
I'm planning to let the kids be outside and I'll do a bunch of
gardening and laundry while she's here.

We'll have some lunch and if the weather holds
we may hit the beach for a bit of a play on the rocks.
I think it's a bit chilly for swimming
but you never know.
Kids are kids and it's never too cold for swimming in their minds eyes !

Anyhoo ...
I'd better get moving.
I've got to get some photos up over
at the studio blog too
before I finish
up for
this
morning.

And the menu plan.
It's done ... just need to post it.

ps ~ have you ever had fish tacos ?
ps2 ~ the flowers in the photo above are currently blooming on my chives.
ps3 ~ rambly

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Corner {Love} View

Corner View is hosted by Jane at Spain Daily.
Join us as we travel the world each Wednesday ...

This week's theme ... "Love"

When I saw this week's theme, this photo immediately popped into my head.
I posted it a few weeks ago but it's perfect so I'm posting it again.

This is love in my corner ... my sweet seven year old boy tenderly holding
a heat pack on his little sister's sore neck.

All together now ... "Awwwwwww" !

Can't wait to see love in the rest of your corners !!

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Life ... It's How You Live It.

All I can smell around here is the Jasmine. It is so beautiful. It covers the back fence on our "tuscan patio". This is the first spring that we've lived in this house and the first time we've seen it in blooom. It is glorious. Every time I open the window in this office, the smell just wafts in. It's not overpowering, just subtle and very soothing. Can you smell it ??

I've been making a few changes around here over the last couple of months. I like the results I am seeing. I'm sure I told you about our new nighttime routine. That is STILL working so well ! I'm thrilled.

Another change I've made is going to bed earlier. I had found myself in a pattern of not going to bed at the same time as Rory which left me staying up WAY too late. I'd be on facebook or reading blogs or playing games and the time would just get away from me. All fun stuff, all stuff I still do, but MUCH less now. And I'm in bed by 9:30 at the latest during the week. It's not that much later on the weekends though ... if we try to watch a movie, I inevitably fall asleep !!

I've made myself a basic morning routine that I've been able to stick to quite well. I get up at 5:00 and do my computer stuff until 6:30. I like getting this out of the way first ... otherwise, I'm wondering about it and distracted until I can get to it. Email and facebook are how I communicate with most of my family (since they live on the other side of the planet !) and I just love waking up and finding notes from them !!

At 6:30 I sit down with the rest of my cup of coffee (stone cold by now !) and my Bible. The kids are not usually up yet. But if they are I have them get a book or go do some coloring so the house is still quite quiet. I read until I'm finished. We don't have to leave the house until after 8:30 so I'm usually left with at least an hour. Since lunches are already packed, I just have to get them out of the fridge. I try to empty the dishwasher, water the garden, sometimes I do a load of laundry, make the bed, that kind of stuff. Oh yeah ... I also shower and get ready ! It really is so nice to not have to run around like a crazy lady. And you know ... I'm not grumpy either. You might think that I would be getting up that early, but not so. I love the slowness of our mornings ...

I decided too that I needed to NOT be on the computer as much as possible when my children are awake. I've really started making an effort to do stuff with them after school. I've only just started that this past week and I'll tell you, it has made a huge difference. Coupled with not letting them watch TV during the school week, I've seen incredible changes in both of them. What sort of stuff do we do ? Well Monday we sat at the dinning room table for a couple of hours writing snail mail (watch your mailboxes, I put FOUR letters in the mail to some of you just yesterday!) and playing with Alia's new spotz machine that she got for her birthday. Tuesday I took them to the toy store to spend Alia's birthday money and the money they got recently for washing/vacuuming the cars. Then we came home, put all the toys together and played. I can't tell you the last time I sat in the toy room and played with them ! It was fun. Wednesday it was raining and they hadn't watched the weekly movie they rented last week before I decided no TV. So ... I let them watch that. Yesterday we had some friends over for a play. Today ... well, Rory is usually able to come home early on a Friday afternoon so hopefully we'll get to do something fun with him !!!

It works well to spend an hour or two hanging with them. Talking. Just being together. I still have time to cook dinner while they are having baths and getting themselves ready for bed. After dinner, it's pretty much brush teeth and head towards bed. 7:30 is their bed time. Not their start to get ready for bed time ... but their in bed, lights out, done talking, going to sleep bed time. That leaves Rory and I two hours before ours ...

ANYHOO ... my computer time is up for this morning ... I've actually gone a bit over this morning writing this ... but that's ok. I do have the ability to be flexible too ... BUT, I am going to get off NOW.

Chow.

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beautiful {silence}

Needing to be quiet this morning ...

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slowing down {snail mail}

I've talked to you before about my efforts to slow life down, about not rushing through as fast as humanly possible. I'm not going to kid you. My life gets busy. Sometimes it gets really really busy but how we live in that busy is important to me. And being able to slow down, being intentional about slowing down, within the busy is one of the things that helps me be able to do what I do.

I've talked with a lot of women over the years who feel like, if they are not doing something productive, they should be. They should be cleaning, or cooking, or something ... all the time. I disagree. I think that life needs a balance. There should be times of quiet. Of rest. Of stillness. Of slowing down. Yes, even for Moms ....

People often say to me "how do you find the time?" the time to blog, the time to take art lessons, the time to .... whatever it may be. The simple answer is that I don't find the time. I make the time. I'm intentional about doing things that I enjoy. About pursuing interests that I have. About sharing them with my children and encouraging and enabling them to pursue theirs.

And with Rory too. I think it is important to encourage him in his sporting interests. Having him out a couple nights a week is a small price to pay for knowing that he is doing what he loves. Recently, I've started going and watching him play. Taking an interest in his interests ... making the time. Being intentional.

Don't get me wrong, I also make the time to do the things I am responsible for doing. I do not live in a filthy house. My family is fed nutritiously and deliciously every meal, day after day. I play with the kids. I work. I research. I shop. I organize. I garden. The list goes on but I'm sure you all know that ... because you have a list of your own !!

But I'm getting side tracked ...

One of the most recent things I've started doing in my efforts to slow down, is writing snail mail. You know, not e-mail. Pen, paper, envelopes, stamps. Remember ?? There are few things in life that bring me as much joy as finding a letter, written just for me, in my mail box. I'm serious. It is one of the best gifts you could give me. The first two letters I wrote went to each of my grandma's. Two amazing women who have inspired me and encouraged me and impacted my life in ways few others have been able to. Letters # 3 and #4 have not arrived at their destinations yet so I won't tell you where they are going ... but, watch your mail box ... they might just be coming to you !!

I need to go but before I do, tell me, what things do you do to slow down ?

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