I have had such a wonderful Christmas break w my kids! They have been so sweet and well-behaved....but then i have experienced some great stress and anxiety over work. So I guess you could call these mood swings that are caused by external factors and NOT my hormones or messed up psyche! Much easier to cope w when you can identify the problem.
I am also feeling so very lucky and blessed for the wonderful life I have. I cannot believe how incredibly GREAT my life is--
I HAVE an awesome husband & kids, awesome Mom & sissies & bro, awesome in-laws (that includes Chris' parents and my bils and sils), awesome cousins & aunts & uncles, awesome friends, awesome workmates, awesome neighbors, awesome church mates--THE PEOPLE in my life are very amazing, interesting and above all, are good to the core!
My health is relatively good--altho, i could eat better and exercise more!
My career is getting back on track--even if I am only part-time, I think I'm achieving some good progress in helping SRVS raise major gifts ===> www.srvs.org if you want to go make a gift, right now!
I live in a terrific neighborhood w really nice people who look out for one another.
My kids go to a great school and are doing really REALLY well!! Jack scores in the 90s on everything and Quinn is zooming past all that Kindergarten letters & numbers stuff like she's in 2nd grade w Jack!!
Besides my career, I work with some terrific people who really care about SRVS' mission to support people w disabilities.
I can explore just about anything i want via books and the Internet....it feeds my curious, life-long learning goal.
I could go on and on and on....and may add more later, but I need to BOOKMARK this entry for those times when I'm in a negative spiral down and remember I have people to love, food to eat, a warm bed to sleep in and MUCH MUCH MUCH more than many others in our world have.
~*~*~*Christmas2008 ~*~*~* one of my all-time favorite pix of the 2 most beautiful kids in the world!
This post has some interesting tidbits and/or just STUFF i wanted to share.
Sometimes I wonder how I made it 42 years without knowing some of this stuff...but it's really COOOOL to keep finding new and interesting stuff to keep the old brain busy (and not thinking about stuff that makes me mad or sad).
In no particular order of preference or importance, let the list of learning/interesting begin....
A. CHRISTMAS Greetings:
Today's Commercial Appeal had 2 stories of other nations that are not as heavily Christian as the United States where the "Christmas Spirit" is influencing their winter holidays....thought it was interesting that as Americans are divided or debating on whether or not it's politically correct to say "Merry Christmas" these Buddhist and Muslim countries are anxious to show off their love of Christmas (even tho they are really just embracing the commercialism and gaudiness of it all). See links to read more if you wish:
Also, here's some background on the author, Henri Nouwen. Imagine my reaction (after I read the article and wanted to know who this person was) to his last assignment before his death (highlighted below) as it relates to where i work now!
The internationally renowned priest and author, respected professor and beloved pastor Henri Nouwen (pronounced Henry Now-win) wrote over 40 books on the spiritual life. He corresponded regularly in English, Dutch, German, French and Spanish with hundreds of friends and reached out to thousands through his Eucharistic celebrations, lectures and retreats. Since his death in 1996, ever-increasing numbers of readers, writers, teachers and seekers have been guided by his literary legacy. Nouwen’s books have sold over 2 million copies and been published in over 22 languages.
Born in Nijkerk, Holland, on January 24, 1932, Nouwen felt called to the priesthood at a very young age. He was ordained in 1957 as a diocesan priest and studied psychology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. In 1964 he moved to the United States to study at the Menninger Clinic. He went on to teach at the University of Notre Dame, and the Divinity Schools of Yale and Harvard. For several months during the 1970s, Nouwen lived and worked with the Trappist monks in the Abbey of the Genesee, and in the early 1980s he lived with the poor in Peru. In 1985 he was called to join L’Arche in Trosly, France, the first of over 100 communities founded by Jean Vanier where people with developmental disabilities live with assistants. A year later Nouwen came to make his home at L’Arche Daybreak near Toronto, Canada. He died suddenly on September 21st, 1996, in Holland and is buried in King City, Ontario.
Nouwen believed that what is most personal is most universal; he wrote, “By giving words to these intimate experiences I can make my life available to others.” His spirit lives on in the work of the Henri Nouwen Society, Henri Nouwen Stichting, the Henri Nouwen Trust, the Henri J. M. Nouwen Archives and Research Collection, and in all who live the spiritual values of communion, community and ministry, to which he dedicated his life.
E. Christmas Carols (parts 1 and 2):
Part 1: So Friday night Chris and I had a date night. We went to Cooper Young area and noticed Burke's Books was still open. So we browsed in there a bit before going to drink and eat. I found a really cool used book (in pretty good condition) of Christmas Carols published in the 1950s and it also gives a little history of each song. For those of you who don't know (most people don't, even my own husband of 12 years who lives w me and sees my stuff), I like to collect Christmas books.
Part 2: So it was VERY interesting and seredipidous (sp?) that TODAY at church, Rev. Cynthia gave us the origins of a Christmas song written way back in the 1600s by a French priest who was a missionary to the Huron Indians in Canada.
It's "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime" by Jean de Brebeuf (#257 in "Singing the Living Tradition" UUA, 1993) and also known as the Huron Carol.....see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huron_Carol
It's quite lovely, the song's original Huron title is "Jesous Ahatonhia" ("Jesus, he is born").
F. WONDERFUL WORLD OF LEADERSHIP:
This past Monday I lead a group of the most wonderful, caring little Kindergarten Daisy's as we hosted a Christmas party for young adults with disabilities (one of SRVS' over 85 homes---www.srvs.org---where I work!).
We made ornaments and cards for each resident, sang songs, passed out cookies and gave goodie bags to each of the staffers in that home.
That was truly the Christmas Spirit and gave me a wonderful, happy GLOW!
wrote this down on an INDEX CARD (of all things...) a few weeks back:
There are a number of experiences/milestones in life that just help you learn to be a better person--(just found one, i realized that I am a much better typist when I'm typing from my head, my thoughts than trying to type something that has already been written down and trying to use the damn "home row" that they tried to teach me in h.s.--my only "D" in all of h.s.!!!-damnit)
Okay, gonna start over: There are a number of experiences/milestons in life that just help you learn to be a better person and/or more open-minded, more relaxed, more laid back, less stressed. If you haven't hit these milestones or experiences-- such as things like the death of a parent or a very good friend--then you just aren't on the same playing field as the rest of us who have experienced these things. And, quite frankly, you are too self-centered to take the time to get over yourself and attempt to empathize with the rest of us.
that's the end of what i wrote and I think I wanted to expand on that thought, but i don't really feel like it at the moment. It is quite judgemental, but I honestly believe it is true....
