I thought that I should take time, once again this Thanksgiving, to think about what I am truly thankful for. I know that most of my life I’ve neglected to think about this, let alone write it down. Last year was the first time that I ever really took time to do it. So, here I am to do it again. Much of this is probably the same as last year, but who cares. Who knows, maybe this will become an annual thing.

Thankful for…

1. My God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the salvation that I have by His gift of grace that He made possible by His blood that was shed on the cross. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. (Eph. 2:8).
2. For my wonderful wife of 22 years and the fantastic mother that she is. She makes life a joy each and every day. She is a great gift from God also. May I cherish her more deeply and be the husband that God intends for me to be.
3. The blessing of 4 great kids who are all special, each and every one of them. God has blessed me so greatly here. I pray that I can be the dad that they need and that God designed me to be.
4. Family in general. Thankful that they are always there and always in your corner.
5. Friends. God has put some great friends in my life. I pray that I can be the friend to them that they have been to me.
6. A great church and church family. God has placed us in a church that is commited to teaching the Gospel of Christ and reaching the lost for Christ. Also, a church family that lives out their Christianity by taking time to serve others in many different ways. It is a church family that is committed to bringing glory to God.
7. The privilege of living in America and the freedoms that we have. I pray that God continues to bless this country. I pray for our leaders, that they will be men and women who will seek God and His guidance each and every day. And, as part of this great country I’m thankful for those awesome men and women in our military, that serve and protect our freedom day in and day out.
8. A good job that God has blessed me with. I thank God for the privilege it is to work and the skills that He’s given me. I pray that I do it as if unto Him.
9. God’s provision each day; shelter, food, water, clothing and the additional blessings that He has given.
10. God’s continuous teaching and working in my life. I find it amazing that God finds it worthwhile to keep trying to teach, correct and instruct me each and every day. I thank Him for what he’s teaching me about His sovereignty, that He’s in control, that He has a plan and that I need to trust Him completely. I pray that I learn to follow Him completely and surrender all.

Since it’s Thanksgiving, just take a little time and give it some thought. Don’t let it slide by another day, another minute. What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I cried.  It felt so good.  I needed that.  I had been holding so much in the inside trying to be so strong for everyone else.  But today I broke down.  So many emotions and feelings.  Some were of anger, pain, hurt, feelings of betrayal, loneliness, happiness, thankfulness to mention a few.  I can’t really tell you everything that I was feeling.  But I know I was able to vent to Soror Nedra.  My oh my you talking about  ”we help each other for we know there’s no other like our sisterhood” that is what sisters are for.  I so appreciate her for just lending me her ear for a few minutes.  Sometimes thats all it takes is a few minutes.

Then my cousin Nikki texted me and I was able to really just tell it all to her since she knows everything.  And it was as if I was in the counselors chair.  I just poured it all out.  And then came the tears.  I tried to hold my head up and not make a sound because I didn’t want my boys to hear me.  But it just came out.  I had no control.  I don’t know if you have ever been in the spirit and tried to come out and you couldn’t.  Well that is what happen to me today.  I so needed that.  Because I’ve not been to therapy in almost a year now. 

Sometimes keeping yourself busy to not focus on your problems doesn’t work.  And I know for me I have to be strong for so many that I have to put myself off often times.  But how many of us know that you MUST take care of yourself before you can take care of others.  Thus the reason why the flight attendants tell you to put your mask on before you help your child or anyone else.

I don’t celebrate holidays.  However Thanksgiving is just one of those days that I think you are just supposed to be surrounded by loves ones.  It’s such an emotional day for me.  And this morning something so strong came over me.  It was so overwhelming.  But again I thank the Lord on today for just placing someone in my life that allowed me to vent. 

I don’t know about you but my battles start in my mind.  That is where the devil tries to get the best of me.  But how many of you know that he is defeated on today?  He doesn’t have the victory over my mind nor my body nor my soul.  But Jesus made a way of escape for me today just as he promised.  You know I love me some Jesus.  I really do.  I can’t tell you all that he’s done for me because I would be writing for days.  But when I tell you that he is a healer, that he is a friend, that he is a life line, that he is a keeper, that he is long-suffering, that he is patient, but also he chastises me as well.  And I appreciate him for that alone.  I thank him for getting on to me when I’m out of line.  I thank him that I have an ear to hear when he is getting on to me.

You know I have so much to be thankful for on today.  Not because its Thanksgiving but because when I didn’t want to live any more he told me that “THIS IS NOT UNTIL MY DEATH” when I wanted to just give up he wouldn’t allow me and because of that I’ve seen one child off to the US Army, I have one graduating next year and I’m raising my last one with love and patience as well.  I’m so glad that I’m still around to talk to them and tell that I love them and that I’m here for them.  I’m just so grateful on today.  Not only has he allowed me to raise my children; he has allowed me to be a positive force in so many youth today.  And for that I’m grateful as well.  My soul rejoices in him tonight.  I’m happy in Jesus tonight.  He has truly been a wonder in my soul!!!

A US man appears in court in Massachusetts accused of locking his two sons in his car boot while he went shopping…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: online clothes shopping. The blog is also related to: shopping centers.

Listen: Pushing on through Thanksgiving Day (because need doesn’t take days off), the 18th of 50 organizations in our Meet The Need campaign is the Alma Center, a group that works with domestic violence in our community from a different angle. When we were first discussing the Alma Center in the planning phases of our campaign, somebody asked, “So what do they do?” and they were answered, “They’re a group that works with domestic violence.” The images that immediately came to mind were from the back end of the domestic violence picture — women, children, victims of domestic violence.

Work being done on this side of the domestic violence picture is clearly important, but work can also be done on the front end. Acts of domestic violence usually come from men who have witnessed or experienced violence in their own life. What if you try to teach them new behaviors? Establish new norms? Give them alternatives? That’s exactly the work the Alma Center is doing.

In these pieces, Executive Director Terri Strodthoff explains how the Alma Center works to end the cycle of violence by changing the way men look at relationships:

-What images come to mind when you think about groups working with domestic violence? The Alma Center approaches the problem from a different and preventative angle:

-Terri on what she calls the myth of masculinity, and how this effects an individual:

-The incredible story of how a young man is scarred by domestic violence, but eventually finds healing:

For more information on the Alma Center visit their website, and if you’d like to help the Alma Center meet their needs this holiday season, learn how you can contact them here.

Produced by: Adam Carr

Terri and Olusegun teaching

Today I thought I would write something about the history of Thanksgiving Day, but I’m feeling pulled in a different direction.

Jesus told the story of a man with two sons.  I recommend that you read it here.

The one son left and wasted everything his father had given him.  When it was all gone, he came back to his father seeking refuge and forgiveness, and a job as a servant.  His father welcomed him back as his son, giving him a robe, a ring, and a feast.  The other son, who had been faithful to his father all this time, found out what’s going on.  He went to his father in anger and complained, touting how faithful he had been, and pointing out the sins of his brother.

I have been both of these sons.  I have been the one who squandered what my Father gave me.  I have also been the son who, when seeing the wayward children return, was critical of their sins instead of celebrating their return.

This is not who I want to be.  I want to have the heart of the Father.  I want to be gracious and forgiving, regardless of what sins those around me have committed.  I need to stop being critical of others faults…I have so many of my own.

Today we’re having some of my wife’s family over to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Really, we do this every week at church, and should have an “attitude of gratitude” daily. 1^st Thessalonians 5:18 says “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  But there’s something special about today.  My house becomes the house of worship.  My house is where the redeemed are gathering to say “Thanks” to the Father for His grace toward us.  Today, in our own story, I play the part of the father.

Psalm 100  “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.  Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.  For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I’m a a great mood today despite my hubby teasing me about my Nemo cardigan. Tomorrow is a public hol and we have been looking forward to it for weeks! 

I enjoy the simple pleasures of just spending time with my boys and family.

We will visiting the goat and veggie farms at Lim Chu Kang after breakfast at (my fav) prata store along Jalan Kayu. Please pray that it would be a cool cloudy day tomorrow. 

The boys are all geared up too! I think they are going to have a great time tomorrow:-) We need more public hols!!!

Tme is a precious commodity and in this world people either use money to buy time or use time to buy money but whichever way it goes, time lost is time never recovered. Be wise in how we choose to spend it!

Anyhoo, here’s my outfit today as inspired by Mira!

Korean cardigan/Topshop jeans/Zara heels/navy patent reissue

Have a great weekend everyone!

L’idée était de se mettre à l’écoute de la ville, voir l’espace urbain dans une dimension musicale. On ne peut jamais s’abstraire des sons au contraire que l’on peut fermer les yeux et ne plus voir. Le plus souvent leur usage est inconscient: pour traverser la rue sans risque, pour deviner qui monte l’escalier ou qui marche sur le trottoir, pour savoir si le métro est à l’approche, si l’orage gronde, on tend l’oreille (ou plutôt elle se tend d’elle-même), nous observons le paysage sonore (soundscape).

Illustration de l’expérience; composition des sons de la ville dans le temps et dans l’espace.

Deux vidéos illustrent ainsi deux temporalités : semaine et weekend.
A ces deux vidéos corresponde la vidéo centrale. Il s’agit de la position sur le parcours au fur et à mesure de l’avancée des enregistrements. Ce parcours s’est fait de la gare de Villeneuve le Roi à celle de Villeneuve Saint Georges, de la manière la plus directe possible, selon un transect, sorte de “carotte” dans la ville.

- Création d’une musique du lieu, un catalogue des sons selon leur intensité et leur fréquence.
- Associer ce paysage sonore à un paysage visuel et illustrer ainsi différentes zones d’activités.

Cette étude des sons a généré des pistes de réflexion pour notre analyse du territoire.

Lundi, 14:00.

Parcours

Dimanche, 14:00.

Qual a semelhança improvável entre o João Gilberto, o Sonic Youth, o Dream Theater e o Krisiun?

É simples, cada um dos supracitados tenta ser o “mais” alguma coisa. O mais sofisticado, o mais diferente, o mais virtuoso e o mais brutal. Todos eles se esforçam bastante em seus objetivos e por vezes pode-se dizer que atingem suas metas.

Porém todos eles se perdem em um momento crucial da coisa toda, eles se esquecem de serem legais. Sim, afinal de contas, estamos tratando de música aqui e música acima de tudo tem que ser legal. Pouco importa quantos acordes dissonantes você toca, se você usa afinações alternativas, se conhece mais escalas ou a quantos BPS você toca. Tudo isso é superado facilmente quando ouvimos o velho “one, two, three, four…” dos Ramones.

Não que a simplicidade seja a chave de tudo. Há muitas tentativas de sofisticação que soam bem legais, o Police por exemplo, ou os Beatles.  Assim como o virtuosismo do Jeff Beck, a velocidade do Megadeth e a esquisitice dos Mutantes. Destes, cada um a seu modo explorou determinadas características mas tendo sempre a música em primeiro plano.

É óbvio e ululante dizer que um Mi Maior do Malcom Young vale mais que todas as escalas juntas do John Petrucci. Mas por que? Porque o Mi Maior do Malcom vem cheio de sinceridade, sem ter que dar explicações, sem ar blasé e sem se preocupar com o mundo. Ele quer tocar o Mi Maior e toca sem medo de ser feliz. Não precisa de um E6/11+ só para não soar óbvio, nem que este Mi seja precedido por uma série de arpejos para parecer complexo, nem de microfonias para ser diferente, muito menos ser repetido 650 vezes em cada compasso para ser rápido.

No final o que ficam são as grandes músicas. O resto é igual a excesso de chantilly no bolo, vai ficar separadinho no prato. Duvida? Então tá: quem acha “All You Need is Love” uma música complexa? É melhor ouvir de novo para responder.

Today Nick’s school hosted its annual parent/grandparent Thanksgiving feast. Our family arrived and got seated—eagerly waiting to see Nick in his cute little outfit. After a few minutes we see his class outside preparing for their grand entrance. I ran outside to get a glimpse.

He was a pilgrim.

Anyways the class walked in and began singing. I was video taping and he was participating—moving his hands up and down with the other kids. About halfway into the second song one of Nick’s friends began to cry. Nick immediately got quiet as everyone else sang. At that same moment I was kneeling about ten feet away. He was looking around with a sad look on his face. The moment he saw me he rushed over hugged and kissed me, and began to cry. I asked him what was wrong and he responded, “I’m scared.” I talked to him a while to tell him how proud I was of him. Mommy came over and also talked with him. I guess he gets stage fright.

After the “show” the entire family got to sit together for that early Thanksgiving feast. Nick had both sets of grandparents, his auntie, his brothers, and his mommy and daddy there to celebrate.

When he is around his family he reverts back to his usual self of smiling and having a grand ol’ time. He got the chance to show off all his school projects; he was proud.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving with your friends and families!

it’s not like magic, it’s like

all big real things

compressed into tiny discs

shut in lockets

around necks that

play songs from

skin-wrapped breastbones,

tones shake marrow, echo

off vessel walls and drive

animals to the hills.

humans hear and burn

their houses, feed their

daughters to coyotes,

bash their sons’ heads

in with bricks and scatter

bone-chunked fistfuls

all over the backyard

like carrion Easter

for vulture children.

Mark McNease

Closed casket with a photograph
and a surprising number of people
saying how natural you look.Well, yeah,

it’s a photograph.
The casket was open when we first arrived.
Creeped me out. Corpses ain’t my thing.
They found your wallet circa 1973
with fifteen pictures of your favorite,
one of Caro, none of me. But I thank you

for the money. It was
how I tried to prove myself, calling you
with every six percent raise, hoping once
I would be your son and not
your son who worked at Sesame Street.

We are who we are, and finally
we are dead bodies in a funeral home
or urns filled with ashes. The truth of our
existence as memories becomes transparent.
There is no wall to wail against,
no trial to conduct, no verdict.
We are sons, mothers, daughters, fathers
resting quietly while the mourning file by.

Mark McNease

All Rights Reserved

© 2009

No, my child did NOT tell me that his project won the coveted eighth grade blue ribbon prize in the Artistic Photography Division of the Muscogee County School District’s “Beauty Is…” Art Contest.

No, my child did NOT tell me that the awesome aforementioned art project he submitted was also selected to compete in the district-wide finals!

And no, my child did NOT follow his wonderful news up with “Mom, I have detention.”

No.

NOT my child!

Welcome to Not Me My Child! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. Head on over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Hi, my name is Linda I am a daughter with no daughter and have  to joined the Last Sons And Daughters group. I have two sons who succeed me.  The following is a reiteration of a conversation that actually took place although, it is not quite verbatim.  I hope it conveys how a mother in my position may think regarding the long term issues that present themselves in time.

Having a two week old newborn at home is pretty uneventful. Honestly, all they do is eat, sleep, and poop. So I thought….

A couple of days ago Andrew woke up from his usual 5 hour mid-day nap. I got real close to him because I know their eyesight isn’t the greatest yet. He stares intently at my forehead. I hear that newborns see black and white so they will look at your hairline. At least that’s what my wife says.

Anyways, as he continued to stare I noticed his facial expressions change dramatically from a blank look to a smile from ear to ear. I was so excited. He was smiling at me for the first time.

Well it turns out I thought wrong. His expression quickly turned to a strained look. It all made sense now. He wasn’t smiling at me. It was a baby’s instinctual expression when they are pooping. I waited a few minutes and changed his diaper.

I didn’t catch the smile quick enough to take a picture, but I can always get him while he is sleeping.

Kelly Salasin

I’ve been horizontal for three days–hit hard with a stomach bug.  This morning, when my 14 year old stops in my room to see if he can call a friend, I ask him to  (please) go downstairs and get me an Advil.  And do you know what he says?!

I can’t right now Mom. I’m doing something else.

He can’t right now, he’s doing something else???  Can you believe he had the gall to say that to the woman who conceived him (with difficulty), carried him (with complication) and birthed him (by emergency caesarean)?

What about the first five years of his life when I nursed him through countless colds, bouts of bronchitis, the occasional pneumonia and the incidence of pleurisy? (Who has even heard of that last one!?)

Not to mention, all the rides to school, to friends, to events…

Of course, I could write a book about just WHY he absolutely HAS to get me an Advil the second I ask–and within moments of my TIRADE on that subject, he did just that–and later today he didn’t blink twice when I made another request.

Is this a teenage thing or a boy thing, I wonder?  I’m guessing it’s largely gender based with a teenage twist.

I remember my sister Michelle telling me about the time her head was in the toilet with morning sickness.  Her daughter placed a wet washcloth on her neck, while her son asked her repeatedly if he could play Nintendo.

I had a similar experience this summer when I sliced my finger on a garden slate. Just as I felt myself beginning to pass out (a first for me), I yelled to my boys to get me a homeopathic for trauma upon which my teenager spilled the bottle on the floor.

Instead of just giving me one, he repeatedly asked what he should do with the ones on the floor.  With an ashen face and the room spinning, I tried to give him a look that said, “Is that really important right now?” but he just kept on asking.

What is it about the male psyche that can make them oblivious to what is going on inside another?  Probably the same thing that makes my husband look at me suggestively when I have barely eaten in three days.

This is the same guy, that encouraged me to “send the baby to the Nursery” after our home birth was transferred to the hospital.   “That’s what it’s there for so we can get some sleep,”  the traitor said before dozing off, leaving me holding our newborn after 8 hours of labor and a c-section to boot.

To be fair, my husband takes good care of me, bringing me tea and apple sauce and crackers.  Hopefully his tenderness will rub off  on my boys by the time they’ve become husbands and fathers themselves.

(How about you?  Do your sons or daughters take good care of you?)

I wrote this after a disappointing tournament when my son was 9 years old.  I wrote it as a way to ease my emotions and to also give myself some perspective of my own disappointment in my son’s performance.    I’ve yet to give it to him, and I don’t know when or if I ever will, but I thought someone should read it.

To my son,

You had a tough time on the mat today and the ride home was pretty quiet.  I admit I was very disappointed but I later came to realize that I shouldn’t be and that it is all part of the journey you are taking.

When I watch you on the mat I worry that you are doing battle while unprepared and that I have failed in your preparation.  As a father that is my greatest fear, that you are unprepared to face the challenges that will come before you.  I want you to be prepared for your match, but I’ve come to realize that it is the matches themselves that, are in the long run, win or lose, the things that ARE preparing you.

I think that the greatest benefit from wrestling is learning to face challenges and to demand the most from yourself.  You learn to fight when you think there is no more fight left within you.  You learn to get up after you’ve fallen, time and time again.  You learn about sacrifice and about pain.  You learn to endure and to overcome.  This is what I want for you, not because I wrestled, but because these lessons are the true gifts of this sport.   So, those losses today were actually part of this gift, and an important part of the journey.

My dream for you is to not just win championships and fill your room with medals.  My dream for you is much greater and I hope you get much more from wrestling.  I hope you learn to strive for greatness even if you fail in the attempt.  I hope you learn to get up one more time when you think you can’t get up any longer.  I hope you learn to not only face your fears, but to stare them down.

Wrestling isn’t about winning.  It is about the desire to win.  It isn’t about success, but rather the determination to succeed.  I want you to succeed as a wrestler, not to win state championships, but I want you to be a successful wrestler so you learn to be all that you can. This sport can help teach you that, if you let it.  I look forward to the seasons of our future as you go through these lessons and I’ll be in your corner for each and every one of them.  I love you.

Dad

“Oh My God! Tara, come help me!’

I’m frantic. Hubs is rarely that demonstrative. I know WK is okay, since he was sitting in the living room with me during the outburst. Thoughts of Hubs bleeding profusely, or some household catastrophe race through my mind.

Headed toward the back of the house, I see Hubs run into the hall bathroom with a towel. I still have no idea what the crisis is, but it must be bad if he needs a towel.

As I round the corner into the room, I see Hubs standing in front of the commode, hands on hips, towel still clutched in his fist, but with a smile on his face.

At his feet, draped over the lip of the bowl, was Scruffy. On the floor, surrounding the whole toilet is a pool of water. Water the manic cat had splashed out while playing in the bowl. Water that was everywhere… on the floor, the side of the tub and shower curtain, the vanity counter, the walls… everywhere. And, Scruffy is soaked.

Lucky for WK that the water demon was discovered, or he would have been busted for bad aim.

A few days ago the family went to lunch at a local outdoor mall. Santa was surprisingly already in town. I looked at my wife and asked, “Do you want get the Santa picture done now or do you want to take it another day?” She says, “Let’s just get it over with.”

“Hey Nick, do you want to take a picture with Santa?”

He answered back, “No! I don’t like Santa.”

“Nick you don’t want to be on Santa’s Naughty List, do you?”

“I don’t want presents! I don’t want to take a picture with him.”

I guess this is a normal reaction for a three and half year old. My two year old, Matthew, didn’t seem to care at first. Most of the time he just goes with the flow. Well let’s just say: He goes with the flow until his older brother starts screaming.

The funny thing is Nick talks about Santa all the time. “I like Santa. He brings me presents. I am on going to be on the Nice List.” But when he has to sit in his lap; then that’s a different story.