Happy New Year (a few days late)

Hello out there, remember me? Hahaha. I’ve been away a long time.

I wanted to wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!

2019 will be a year of major change for me. I will be returning to WordPress sometime next week, and I will be starting a video channel as well. In March my family and I make a HUGE move to Canada, and who-knows-what awaits us there. Change in location, change in work, change in lifestyle… It’s all very… hmmmmm… I don’t even know how to explain it all. Maybe a bit nerve-wracking, but also exciting.

Change is very difficult for most people. We are creatures of habit and don’t like to be shakin’ up. I tend to think of it as a good thing though. Adventure. Uncertainty. Expectancy. We’ll see.

Here’s to a wonderful, adventurous and prosperous new year to us all.

See you soon….. 🙂

Love is…

...when he holds the fort and serves me when I'm sick.

Inspired by a post that a fellow blogger, Pete, wrote, I have decided to do a series on ‘Love is…’ I don’t know how often I will post a ‘Love is…’ post, but today marks the first one.

Love me more than what you feel

Feelings and passion aren’t love for real

Real love goes far deeper still

Still my mind with love of will

Will you love me with your deeds

Deeds unselfish, heart that bleeds

Bleeds and sweats a love that’s true

Truly chooses each day to do

Do the best, seek from above

Above to learn to really love.

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Last weekend I was sick, and couldn’t do much around the house. My husband was so good at taking care of the kids, tidying up and serving me.

The above loop poem was actually the response to a challenge I accepted some time ago, which was to write a poem about love in 10 sentences. It is a little (ok quite) cheesy, but thought it appropriate for the message for ‘Love is…’ today.

What would be your, ‘Love is…’ message for this week?

Caged Bird

Caged Bird – poem on mixed media

Childhood is a very important time in a person’s life. Those who raise children can either make or break them. If broken during these fragile, formative years, the outcome can be drastic. It can take a whole lifetime to heal, and oftentimes there are wounds that scar until death.

In an article by Livestrong.com, Heather Weiss said, “Nurturing relationships in a family are critical for the healthy development of a child. If a child feels safe, secure, and loved in their family, it helps with the formation of their self-esteem and well-being. It can also lead to a child who is more socially competent and has better communication skills than a child who does not feel these family connections.”

Any thoughts? Do you agree?

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I wrote this poem a while ago. I had originally created a mixed media piece to go with it, but wanted to change it. This is the new version.

Carnaval

 

Ouro Preto, Brazil – Image by: viagenstentadoras.blogspot.com

It’s Carnaval here in Brazil right now. It started Friday night and goes until tomorrow. Please forgive me for not replying to comments yet, and for being so absent. Things have been busy and eventful. I usually go to Ouro Preto for a day, but this year we are just hanging back as a family and spending time with friends, taking advantage of the 1/2 price movies at the movie theatre and recovering from the first week back to school for the kids (school year starts in February in Brazil).

Here are a few pictures of Ouro Preto. It’s an amazing city in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because of its outstanding Baroque architecture (source).

Here are a few of my own photos:

These last three are during the Carnaval block, where different groups parade the parade route doing their music, drums, message, etc.

I should be back to blogging regularly on Thursday.

🙂

It’s a happy day

It seems that November is a festive month for many. For Americans there’s Thanksgiving, but there also so many people that are born during this time. It must have something to do with Valentine’s Day being in February. November is always a festive time for me. I celebrate two very important dates, my wedding anniversary on the 15th and my life on the 27th – Today 🙂 🙂 🙂

In spite of being sick all week, today I was awoken with a kiss from the sun and big hug from my five year old girl. It is a beautiful day that welcomed me with hope and life.

Due to how sick I’ve been, the creative juices have been put on hold. Below you will find two poems I’ve posted before. The first I wrote last year on my birthday and the second I wrote last year as a part of a ‘love’ series I did.

I’ve always loved my birthday. For me, it’s my special day. However, a good friend of mine once told me of the Philippine birthday tradition. The one having the birthday is the one who throws the party. It’s like they’re saying, “My life is a gift to you.” Isn’t that beautiful? In saying that, I would like to gift you with a few free mp3 tracks from my CD, Coram Deo. Just leave me a comment and let me know and I will send them to you.

🙂

Wings to fly

I’m of the belief that we live in a fallen, fractured world of many broken people and fragmented value systems. Not trying to be a downer. Really. I write this because of what I’ve been dealing with lately. Like many, the world over, their childhoods weren’t a time of happy-go-lucky and peaches and cream. I lived in fear of my dad, and don’t know what it means to have/feel affection towards him. I’m not one to lick past wounds and wallow in sorrow over these events. However, I do recognize that our upbringing shapes us and makes us into who we eventually become as adults. For example, my mom used to make my brothers and me watch documentaries on what drugs can do to someone. I’m so glad she did, because although I dabbled in a little experimentation in my youth, drugs always frightened the heck out of me. Thanks mom. Another example. I grew up in fear of my dad. He was a broken alcoholic and had many unhealthy issues that were never dealt with. Because of that, my childhood was robbed from me. Because of that, my idea of family was distorted and messed up.

Lately I’ve been actively working on finding healing in this area. When I was a fairly new Christian, I would leave for work in the morning at peace, after spending some quiet time with God. By the time I got home, I was a bundle of anxiety. When I felt anxious, I always thought I was doing something wrong and that God didn’t approve of. One day He showed me that I fear him the way I feared my dad, and that was revelatory for me. Now I’m starting to see even deeper issues and working on healing from that.

How about you? Do you believe that we live in a broken world? Do you think that our upbringing makes a huge difference on our emotional and mental well-being?

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On a happy note, I’m super excited that I’m doing this mixed media course. The above piece is from the first class. Have a great weekend. 🙂

A Human Being

“We know artists by their most important creations” –Kurt Bruner at thriving family.com

Human beings are such amazing creatures, don’t you think? There is something special about being human. Something unique. Something that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom, and all creation. I think people instinctively know and believe that. We speak, blush, have compassion, wear clothing, have a spirit, appreciate beauty, have very fine hair, walk upright, understand time, live long childhoods, know the difference between right and wrong, and are self-conscious.

Here are a few interesting things I found online about the difference between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom.

“Without a doubt, the human trait that sets us apart the most from the animal kingdom is our extraordinary brain. Humans don’t have the largest brains in the world… …Yet the human brain, weighing only about 3 pounds when fully grown, give us the ability to reason and think on our feet beyond the capabilities of the rest of the animal kingdom, and provided the works of Mozart, Einstein and many other geniuses.”  —livescience.com

“Animals sing. So do we, but we make it into music.
Animals breed. So do we, but we also make it into love..
Animals kill. So do we, but we try to feel remorse.” (source)

Do you think humans are unique? If so, why?

Familial Love

 

When you think of the word ‘love’ what comes to mind? ‘Love’ seems to encompass so much more than just the vagueness of one word. The Greek had four different words for our one word. Yesterday I posted about Phileo (or Philia) love, known as a brotherly love, or the love one would find in an authentic friendship. Today’s poem is about Storge love, or affectionate/familial love. It is the type of love found amongst family members or within a community. It implies that there is a deep commitment and certain duty that goes along with it. Even for married couples, when there seems to be no sex drive, or they go for a long time not being intimate, this is the type of love the holds them together. They are loyal to each other. They stick together, through thick and thin. They have a commitment to each other, and their commitment is, in a large part, unconditional.

I found the following on Wikipedia about CS Lewis’ book, “The Four Loves”:

• It is described as the most natural, emotive, and widely diffused of loves: natural in that it is present without coercion; emotive because it is the result of fondness due to familiarity; and most widely diffused because it pays the least attention to those characteristics deemed “valuable” or worthy of love and, as a result, is able to transcend most discriminating factors.

What do you think of this statement? Do you think that there is a lack of Storge love now-a-day, especially amongst married couples and lovers? Do you think that the lack of this love could be part of the reason we see so much divorce and lack of commitment? What are your views on this?

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The Katauta poetry form is a short Japanese form, much like the Haiku. It is three lines in length. The first line has five syllables. The second line has seven syllables. And the last line has five or seven syllables. It does not have to rhyme.

 

Oh dear patience, how I long to know you

Yet another post about patience. Do you think it’s been on my mind?

Oh dear patience, how I long to know you.  And bit by bit, thanks to circumstances and life in general, you are becoming a better friend.

I don’t like to admit it much, but yes, I am an extremely impatient person.  I have never liked standing in line, waiting for a bus, putting up with phlegmatic individuals that like to take their own sweet time – and of recent years, waiting for my children to get dressed, brush their teeth and get into bed, finish their lunch before school starts, and the list goes on.

I have, however, throughout the past number of years, asked God to give me patience.  You know, the type of prayer that goes something like this: “Oh God, please give me patience and give it to me NOW.” As my mom said to me once, “Staci, you want it and you want it NOW.”

Now when one asks for patience, one must not think that it will come to them in the wink of  an eye.  It just doesn’t happen that way.  Patience is something that comes, well, patiently.  It is a virtue to be acquired.  It is something that takes time and diligence.  It is a choice. You choose to pursue it because it doesn’t come naturally.

There are consequences that come with acting out of impatience.  I have experienced them one too many times. Being a strong feeler and highly impulsive has led me down some very potentially destructive roads.

I’ve had my hair cut by an unexperienced barber because of my impatience with the salon next door that was taking too long to get to me. I ended up with a horrible haircut that was uneven and a lot shorter than I wanted.

Being a mother of a child with Asperger’s Syndrome, my patience has been tested time and again.  I am a Canadian and my first language is English.  However, I live in Brazil and have acquired a second language – Portuguese.  My children are being raised bilingual and study at a Portuguese-speaking school.  Brazil is about 40 years behind in understanding and dealing with the issue of autism and those who are on the autism spectrum.  I chose not to home school, but to put Cauê in a school that is eager to include those with learning disabilities and those that aren’t ‘neuro-typical’.  He desperately needs the social interaction and I recognize my limitations and lack of – yup, you guessed it – patience.  Even though the school accepts my son and tries to adapt lessons for him and his learning style, I have to invest a great amount of time and energy into helping him understand what is being taught. Apart from his regular homework, I am also teaching him to read in English.  This has added to my stress and tested my patience many times over.

I had a dream recently where I was with my children and we were walking along a quiet residential street.  All of a sudden, Cauê ran ahead, where at the intersection was a busy street.  I called and yelled out to him, STOP Cauê! I tried running after him, but couldn’t catch up on time.  I never saw him get hit by a car or anything like that, but all of a sudden I was aware that I was trying to rush him along and get him to read in English at the same level as a neuro-typical child that lives in an English-only environment.  I knew that if I continued in my impatience and forcing him to get to a place that he wasn’t ready to be, I would end up traumatizing him and killing any desire to read with me.

I am determined to master the art of patience.  And with any art, practice makes perfect. It is something you have to work at.  It is like a talent to be honed.  I read a story once about a great painter that painted a beautiful masterpiece in 10 minutes.  When asked how long it took him to paint it, he replied, “20 years”.

Patience is also a BI-product of wisdom.  Wisdom is a BI-product of life experience.  Life experience will produce wisdom and teach patience as we approach our experiences with teachable hearts.

Do you struggle with being patient?  What have your life experiences taught you?

Interesting read: http://messageinabottleblog.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/more-than-a-bushel-of-brains/