1. Tattoos on the Heart by Father Gregory Boyle -- http://www.amazon.ca/Tattoos-Heart-Power-Boundless-Compassion/dp/1439153159
2. Running Away to Home -- http://www.amazon.ca/Running-Away-Home-Familys-Journey/dp/1250014018
I really loved both of these books. Father Gregory Boyle opened my eyes and heart even more to see and understand what compassion and kinship can be. And Jennifer Wilson took me on a great adventure of building family and community in Croatia.
“I was once asked whether you can love your partner and still cheat on them. Although you may feel love, you are not practicing love when you betray someone – and that is what is important. Professing love is easy. Practicing love takes courage.”
“I believe love is something that we give. It is something that we cultivate. It is honoring that spiritual connection that grows from trust, respect, and affection.”
“Love requires tenacity and grit. It’s work. It is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.”
(quotes taken from Brene’s article in O Magazine)
I just finished reading this book today. http://www.amazon.com/Island-Girl-Lynda-Simmons/dp/0425237249
I don’t read many novels, but this one pulled me in quickly and kept me glued to the story and the characters. I really loved all three of the main characters – Ruby, Liz and Grace. They were so real to me, so flawed, lives so messy. They felt like they could have been family. 
The book came to me via a comment on a website about having the right to choose death for oneself in critical health conditions. Ruby, the mother in the story has early onset Alzheimer's and she won’t have no disease dictate to her the kind of life she will live. But her family is broken and she desperately wants to make things to her liking before it is too late.
Each of the characters must heal various relationships… with others… with themselves. By the end, I was in tears. And I don’t cry easily.
A friend shared this article on her Facebook wall today. Powerful stuff… it made me cry. http://theweek.com/article/index/99512/he-said-he-was-leaving-she-ignored-him
http://profoundlydisconnected.com/skill-work-ethic-arent-taboo/
Marc and Angel Hack Life - Practical Tips for Productive Living on Facebook
When you decide to hate someone you automatically begin digging two graves: one for your enemy and one for yourself. Hateful grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something. Forgiveness, on the other hand, is for those who are strong enough and smart enough to move on. After all, the best revenge is to be unlike the person who hurt you. The best revenge is living well, in a way that creates peace in your heart. - via: http://www.marcandangel.com/2013/05/12/7-behaviors-to-stop-tolerating-from-others/
"People don’t like love, they like that flittery flirty feeling. They don’t love love - love is sacrificial, love is ferocious, it’s not emotive. Our culture doesn’t love love, it loves the idea of love. It wants the emotion without paying anything for it. It’s ridiculous." ― Matt Chandler Parsons
“Thanks to God is what that calms the wild heart.
Anger makes us sick and weak and bound and the therapy is in the thanks.
Thanks therapy is God’s prescription for joy.
This isn’t trite — this is treatment.”
"Someone once told me to always live for the little things in life. Live for 5am sunrises and 5pm sunsets where you'll see colors in the sky that don't usually belong. Live for road trips and bike rides with music in your ears and the wind in your hair. Live for days when you're surrounded by your favorite people who make you realize that the world is not a cold, harsh place. Live for the little things because they will make you realize that this is what life is about, this is what it means to be alive" ― Anonymous
Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test™
Your Type
INTJ
Introvert(67%) iNtuitive(12%) Thinking(25%) Judging(67%)
You have distinctive preference of Introversion over Extraversion (67%)
You have slight preference of Intuition over Sensing (12%)
You have moderate preference of Thinking over Feeling (25%)
You have distinctive preference of Judging over Perceiving (67%)
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
I put together this blog/website to give the choir a presence on the web. A place for choir members and others to find out more information about the choir, upcoming events, videos and pictures. Please feel free to share the web address with friends and family. http://sundrecommunitychoir.blogspot.ca/
"Homeschooling, like motherhood, has altered my relationships with friends in ways I did not initially expect." -- http://simplehomeschool.net/an-open-letter/
"I felt humble, one more set of footprints on a dusty well-worn path, discovering something new that's not new at all, and I was thankful."
I am planning to try daily themes in our home school this year. The other day on Bravewriter’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/bravewriter?hc_location=stream&filter=1), someone asked the question about Word Wednesday’s. What a great theme! So I am going to collect the ideas here to be able to reference later.
WORD PLAY WEDNESDAYS!
- poetry fridge magnets
- Holly Dong I don't know what Word Wednesday is, but we play a word game where you select a category (say animals) and the person has t name one using the last letter of what you said. So for example, "cat," next person says, "tiger" using the t. I didn't think my son would like it, but he did. When he was younger we used to play "Fortunately, Unfortunately" where you spin a story, one person saying only fortunate events and the other only unfortunate. Mostly we do them in the car or waiting in line though.
- Melissa Rhymer Here are 2 we played all the time when my kids were younger and they still reasurect them as teenagers. We played in the car on our weekly trips to the city. 1) story crafting :we tell stories one sentence at a time each person taking a turn to add the next sentence. You NEVER know how these stories are going to end up! 2) sentence structure : each person picks a part of speech 1st person chooses a noun, 2nd. Chooses a verb 3rd chooses a prepositional phrase and together you have a silly sentence. You could add adjectives foe the noun for more people. It might look like this "The balloon catapulted around the bend" it was always challenging to find great verbs and to make our choices work with the other choices. Helped with tenses and such
- Michelle Oliver I don't know what Word Wednesday is either, but we play some word games at poetry tea times. Here are a couple examples: Each person writes down 10 words, put them all in a "hat" and then everyone draws 10 and arranges them into a random poem-like piece. Each person writes a sentence on a piece of paper, folds the paper so you can only see the last word and the next person writes a sentence beginning with the word that shows. Mad libs are always fun. Play the "teapot" game, where one person leaves the room and the others think of a word that they then substitute with the word "teapot" and use in sentences when the "it" person re-enters. "It" tries to guess what the actual word that was chosen is. Lots of word games like this can be found. Even versions of Boggle and Spill and Spell are really fun...scrabble, upwords, etc. Gee..think we need a game night!
- Katharine Wise We used to play I Spy but incorporate some phonetic clues. We'd also build on the clues as they guessed. For example: I spy something that rhymes with red. Is it Dad's head? No, it's brown. Is it...? No, it starts with /b/. The mixture of clues allowed all ages to play. If they didn't yet know letter-sound correlations they'd figure it out based on the other clues but start to become familiar with the sounds. We might also have played this as "I'm thinking of something..." that wasn't actually present (eg, a bear).
- Shalynn Burnham Wilson Here's a link to a totally free book called Word Play Cafe. It has some fun ideas.http://dogfoose.com/wordplay-cafe/
dogfoose.com
This one’s for the teachers. Within the last few years, we’ve been stretched quite thin when it comes to budgetary matters, and very few sectors of our economy have witnessed as dramatic a cut in s...
- Kiersten Pasciak If you have devices with apps, "Seven Little Words" is a fantastic app! There are 2 versions now, with one meant for younger kids. My kids love playing both versions with me.
- Kiersten Pasciak Word Pirates, Appletters, Bananagrams, Pairs in Pears, Quiddler, Scrabble Slam, Pictionary Bend a Clues, Hangman, and Scattergories are some more good games for playing with letters and words. You can modify most games to be cooperative and play face up if you have younger kids playing
With Apples to Apples, we had my emerging reader play with us and just swap cards with the box if she couldn't read one of the cards in her hand. We helped with any words she didn't know when she was the judge. If we only had 3 players, we added a random card from the box each time to give the judge more answers to pick from. That makes the game sillier sometimes too There are younger versions for the game too, including a 7+ version and a 9+ version. We also play so that when the game ends, you read whatever green apple cards are in front of you and those "describe" you. It lightens the mood for the non-winners.
- Anne LaFleur 1. We used to play a round of Boggle and then write stories using as many of the words on our lists as we could. 2. We still play this game, a poetry version of "Exquisite Corpse": First person writes two lines of a poem, then folds the paper so only their last line is showing and hands it to the next person. #2 player then writes two lines, folds the paper so only their last line is showing and hands it to the next person. After 3 or 4 stanzas you unfold and read the poem. 3. Make a birthday card for someone by writing "Have a very ________ Birthday". Fill in the blanks with lots of words you cut out from magazines. You could also do a self portrait poem this way, cutting words from magazines. I hope this helps.
-_______________________________________
Sometimes we speak clumsily and create internal knots in others. Then we say, "I was just telling the truth." It may be the truth, but if our way of speaking causes unnecessary suffering, it is not Right Speech. The truth must be presented in ways that others can accept. Words that damage or destroy are not Right Speech. Before you speak, understand the person you are speaking to. Consider each word carefully before you say anything, so that your speech is "Right" in both form and content.
~Thich Nhat Hanh from The Heart of the Buddhas Teaching
Spaghetti Squash Casserole
1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeds removed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 cup (8 ounces) 1% cottage cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons seasoned dry bread crumbs
Preheat the oven to 400
Coat a 13" x 9" baking dish and a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Place the squash, cut side down, on the sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a sharp knife. With a fork, scrape the squash strands into a large bowl.
Meanwhile, warm the oil in a medium skillet set over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and basil. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft. Add the tomatoes. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the mixture is dry.
To the bowl with the squash, add the cottage cheese, mozzarella, parsley, salt, and the onion mixture. Stir to mix. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and bread crumbs.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and heated through.
