In Loving Memory of Allyssa Adams

This Has To Stop

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Kids and Breakfast

Kids and Breakfast

Everyone should eat breakfast to keep the body fueled up. It's especially important that kids eat breakfast. Children and teenagers are growing so if they skip the most important meal of the day this can cause real problems. Unfortunately studies show that more than one third of all kids in America are skipping breakfast. If kids skip breakfast it can harm their growth and development. These kids have a greater chance of getting lower grades in school, having learning and behavioral problems, and developing nutritional deficiencies such as calcium and protein deficiencies. Children who are regular breakfast skippers are more likely to have problems with obesity and even tooth decay.

What can we as parents do to help our kids start the day right?

The first step parents can take is to be a good example and eat breakfast themselves. Kids usually follow the lead of parents. Living a busy lifestyles makes it easy for parents and kids to skip breakfast. You've got to make the effort each morning and start your day right by eating breakfast.

Second, don't feel you have to make elaborate breakfast food. Stick to the basics and serve simple foods that are nutritious and quick and easy to eat in the morning. You can make homemade pancakes with bacon and eggs on the weekends, but keep it simple during the week days. I'm a big fan of cereal, but if you have a hard time getting your child to eat cereal, then get creative and make eating breakfast fun....

Angel Feathers Tickle Me

ButterflyKisses

Remember

Remember

The religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world...

Angel Feathers Tickle Me

Smile

I LOVE CHILDREN

Especially when they talk or in this case, write their opinions!

This should start your day with a smile.

Can you imagine the teacher's eyes as she reads these entries!!!

Children write about the sea:

1) This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles.
(Kelly age 6)

2) Oysters' balls are called pearls.
(James age 6)

3) If you are surrounded by sea you are on a island.
If you don't have sea all round you, then you are incontinent.
(Wayne age 7)

4) Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth. Just like Emily
Richardson and she's not my friend no more.
(Kylie age 6)

5) A dolphin breathes through an asshole on the top of its head.
(Billy age 8)

6) My uncle goes out in his boat with pots and comes back with crabs.
(Millie age 6)

7) When ships had sails they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean. Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would have been better off eating a bunch of beans.
(William age 7)

8) I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I really like their shiny tails. And how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really?
(Helen age 6)

9) I'm not going to write about the sea. My baby brother is always screaming and being sick. My Dad keeps shouting at my Mom all the time, and my big sister has just got pregnant without even finishing the 9th grade. So I can't think of what to write about the sea.
(Amy age 6)

10) Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I'm sure they have to plug themselves into chargers overnight.
(Christopher age 7)

11) When you go swimming in the sea it is very, very cold all the time and it always makes my willy small.
(Kevin age 6)

12) Divers have to be very safe when they go under the water. One diver can't go down alone, so two divers have to go down on each other every time, it's always allot better for them that way.
(Becky age 7)

13) On holidays my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won't do it again because water fired right up her fat ass.
(Jule age 7)

Start each day with a smile....


Angel Feathers Tickle Me

Inspiration...

Another World...

Shhh...

Message

I Am

I am Dedicated to Being the Best Person I Can

What does it mean to dedicate to my life? It means that the actions I take and the choices I make convey the very character and nature of divine love

I am dedicated to living a divinely directed life. And from such a dedication, I find that I am never satisfied with doing anything less than what blesses me because I am being a blessing to others.

I act in loving ways and respond to others with understanding. As I do, I lay a foundation for living that will be a source of inspiration for the next generation to build upon.

I am dedicated to being the best person I can be. Listening to divinely inspired ideas and following the guidance I receive, I fulfill my role in life.

Angel Feathers Tickle Me

Children

Bomb

The sound a bomb makes
is easy enough to mistake,
easy enough to set aside
when there is work at hand,
and even as we step from our offices
and peer upward at the
higher floors of the building,
we are expecting to see that
something has fallen,
because that noise, that profound bang
seemed like a falling body,
a book cart, perhaps, precipitated
from the top floor and coming
to rest outside our door,
but there is nothing, nothing but
faces looking down at us,
asking the same mute question,
wondering the same thing,
not yet ready to consider that
we have been blown up,
and we go back to work,
back to mundane tasks
until the call to evacuate comes to us, and
even then, we walk calmly,
shrugging, into the open,
under the iron gray sky,
and we are directed to cross the street,
to get further from the building,
to establish a safe distance
and let the gathering authorities do their work
and we stand together in the spitting rain
and speak of it, not knowing,
and it was only a small bomb,
after all, and no one was hurt,
so we joke about perhaps blowing us up on a sunny day,
so that standing on the public green
while police tape is spread
might be more comfortable,
and we forget to mention
it to friends on the phone,
because, perhaps, bombs are not so unexpected
to us any more, and it takes real blood,
real, smoking craters in the earth and death tolls
on the nightly news to crack our jaded shell,
and little enough sense of violation when we are
blown up in only minor and inept ways,
after all, for we have seen worse than this,
and expect worse, and know that the world
is not nice, or kind, or forgiving,
though some of us have still gotten lucky sometimes,
and remained more or less
whole

AFTM

Santa

"Daddy", she said, her eyes full of tears,
"will you talk to me and quiet my fears?
Those bad boys at school are spreading a lie
'bout the impossibility of reindeer that fly.

There's no Santa Claus, they say with a grin
there's not one now, and there never has been.
How can one man take all of those toys
To thousands of girls and boys?

But I told them Daddy, that they were not right,
That I would come home and find out tonight.
Mamma said wait until you come home.
Please tell me now that I was not wrong."

Her Daddy looked at her questioning face
And puffed his pipe while his frantic mind raced.
He had put this off as long as he could,
He had to think fast and it better be good.

Whispering a prayer, he began with a smile,
"well climb on my lap, dear, let's talk awhile."
"Remember at church how we learned to pray,
Asking God to take care of us each day?

And you know how we say grace before each meal?
To this same God whom we know to be real.
Though we never see him, we know he is there
Watching his children with such loving care."

"God started Christmas a long time ago
When he gave us His son to love and to know.
A spirit of giving came with that birth,
And God's generosity filled the whole earth.

Man had to name this spirit of giving
Just as he names all things that are living."
"The name Santa Claus came to someone's mind
Probably the best name of any to find.

There is, you can see, and I think quite clear
Truly a Santa who visits each year.
A spirit like God, whom we never see,
He enters the hearts of your mother and me."

"Each year at Christmas for one special night
We become him and make everything right.
But the real spirit of Christmas is in you and in me
And I hope you are old enough now to see
That as we believe and continue to give,

Our friend Santa Claus will continue to live."

Jimmy

She jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: "How is my little boy ? Is he going to be all right ? When can I see him ?"

The surgeon said, "I'm sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn't make it."

Sally said, "Why do little children get cancer ? Doesn't God care any more ? Where were you, God, when my son needed you ?"

The surgeon asked, "Would you like some time alone with your son ? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he's transported to the university."

Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good bye to her son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair. "Would you like a lock of his hair ?" the nurse asked.

Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut a lock of the boy's hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally.

The mother said, "It was Jimmy's idea to donate his body to the University for Study. He said it might help somebody else. "I said no at first, but Jimmy said, 'Mom, I won't be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom." She went on, "My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else. Always wanting to help others if he could."

Sally walked out of Children's Mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy's belongings on the seat beside her in the car.

The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house. She carried Jimmy's belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son's room.

She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them. She laid down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.

It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Laying beside her on the bed was a folded letter. The letter said:

"Dear Mom, I know you're going to miss me; but don't think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just 'cause I'm not around to say "I Love You". I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won't be so lonely, that's okay with me. He can have my room and old stuff to play with. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like the same things us boys do. You'll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know.

Don't be sad thinking about me. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything.

The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn't look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him. Jesus himself took me to see GOD ! And guess what, Mom ? I got to sit on God's knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important. That's when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you good bye and everything. But I already knew that wasn't allowed.

Well, you know what Mom ? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him 'Where was He when I needed him ?' "God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.

Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I've written except you. To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn't that cool ? I have to give God His pen back now. He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life. Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I'm sure the food will be great.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don't hurt anymore. The cancer is all gone. I'm glad because I couldn't stand that pain anymore and God couldn't stand to see me hurt so much, either. That's when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery ! How about that ?

Signed with Love from God, Jesus & Me.

Miracles

It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through.

Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn't see some rain soon ... we would lose everything.

It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes.

I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort ... trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed.

Moments later, however, he was once gain walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour: walk carefully to the woods, run back to the house.

Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen ... as he was obviously doing important work and didn't need his Mommy checking up on him).

He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked; being very careful not to spill the water he held in them ... maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands.

I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing sight.

Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him ... he didn't even move as Billy knelt down.

And I saw a tiny fawn laying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand.

When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree. I followed him back to the house; to a spigot that we had shut off the water to. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his little back. And it became clear to me.

The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him.

It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His little eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said.

As he began his walk, I joined him ... with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life.

As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops ... and more drops ... and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride.

Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. That miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't argue with that ... I'm not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm ... just like the actions of one little boy saved another.

I don't know if anyone will read this ... but I had to send it out. To honor the memory of my beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too soon ...

But not before showing me the true face of God...

Pass It On

A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.

She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention, but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter.

That did it! "And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a reply to his question.

"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick...and I want to buy a miracle." "I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist. "His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?"

"We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little. "Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs."

The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does your brother need?" " I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes welling up. I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money."

"How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago. "One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered barely audibly. "And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to." "Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents the exact price of a miracle for little brothers. " He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the miracle you need."

That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place. "That surgery," her Mom whispered. "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?" Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost one dollar and eleven cents, plus the faith of a little child.

In our lives, we never know how many miracles we will need. A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law. I know you'll keep the ball moving! Here it goes. Throw it back to someone who means something to you! A ball is a circle, no beginning, no end. It keeps us together like our Circle of Friends. But the treasure inside for you to see is the treasure of friendship you've granted to me. Today I pass the friendship ball to you.

Pass it on to someone who is a friend to you...

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. So one day he asked God: They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?

Among the many angels out there, I chose a special one just for you. She will be waiting for you and will take care of you.

But tell me, here in heaven, I don't do anything else but sing and smile, that's enough for me to be happy.

Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day, and you will feel your angel's love and that will make you happy.

And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me, if I don't know the language that men talk?

Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.

And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you? Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.

I've heard that on earth there are bad men. Who will protect me?

Your angel will defend you even if it means risking her life. But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore. Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way for you to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you.

At the moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard, and the child in a hurry asked softly: Oh God, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.

Your angel's name is of no importance, you will call your angel: Mommy...

Tinkerbelle

This Tinkerbelle Fairy has fiery blue eyes and loves to dance with her Love Bug. She is incredibly bright. She loves, Bubs, Grandma, Grandpap, Mommy, Mat, Alicia and Brian who are her best friends. Her favorite color is pink, but looks precious in anything. She got her name because she specializes in fixing pots and pans! Just ask her Grandma. Tink loves to play fairy tag and get into things. She is a little sweetheart. She is one of the most popular little fairies and is loved by all who meet her beautiful little smile. I am sure this little fairy princess will have so many wonderful adventures....

Her garden of life will be blessed with love.

Smile

Just for today practice the art of smiling all day. See how your smile is contagious and how it can make others feel better about themselves and life. Look for the humor in your situations and you will smile in spite of everything. Smile at your friends. Smile at your enemies. Smile at people you don't know. Smile at your pets. Smile at your family. Smile even at the air you breathe. If you don't feel like smiling try very hard to list 3 blessings in your life. Then you will let the energy of those blessings enter your heart and you will be able to smile...

I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.
The dew was gone that made his blade so keen
Before I came to view the leveled scene.
I looked for him behind an isle of trees;
I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.
But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,
And I must be, as he had been,--alone,
As all must be,' I said within my heart,
Whether they work together or apart.
But as I said it, swift there passed me by
On noiseless wing a 'wildered butterfly,
Seeking with memories grown dim o'er night
Some resting flower of yesterday's delight.
And once I marked his flight go round and round,
As where some flower lay withering on the ground.
And then he flew as far as eye could see,
And then on tremulous wing came back to me.
I thought of questions that have no reply,
And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;
But he turned first, and led my eye to look
At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook,
A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared
Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared.
I left my place to know them by their name,
Finding them butterfly weed when I came.
The mower in the dew had loved them thus,
By leaving them to flourish, not for us,
Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him.
But from sheer morning gladness at the brim.
The butterfly and I had lit upon,
Nevertheless, a message from the dawn,
That made me hear the wakening birds around,
And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground,
And feel a spirit kindred to my own;
So that henceforth I worked no more alone;
But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,
And weary, sought at noon with him the shade;
And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech
With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach.
Men work together,' I told him from the heart,
Whether they work together or apart.

Robert Frost