To each of you who visit here often or just stop by from time to time I am grateful for each of you and the friendship we share here. I wish you a wonderful holiday weekend and a good start to your holiday season. I hope you will all be safe and have a wonderful time with those who you love.

I received this book as an ARC from Library Thing and at first put off reading it as I was into about 3 other books at the time.I picked it up on Friday and finished it Sunday. It is fast paced and a very believeable read.

The book deals with an Iraq vet and his daughter who are homeless and what the system of govt tries to do for them believing they know best. It truly makes you think about what home really is and family and that sometimes in trying to do good the system actually does harm when it separates families who are only guilty of poverty. The book is loosely based on actual events that took place here in Portland in 2004 I believe.The city in the story is actually Portland and the Park is Forest Park in Portland. There is another book based on this event called My Abandonment which is a good book to read along this with this one. I found at the end of the story wondering what actually happened to the girl in the real story.

I feel that Jennie Shortridge who is from the Seattle area also gets the culture of the Northwest and Oregon down to a T. This is the first book of hers that I have read but will read more.

. Here is a link to the actual story from the newspaper .

What Acceptance Means



Regaining focus and perspective of your true purpose in life. We often don’t accept things because our mission in life is not clear and so we mistake simple shortcomings for true loss. We confuse the authentic value of things for inauthentic ones.


Synchronizing your heart and mind. Emotional turbulence arises when your beliefs and thoughts are not aligned to your heart’s desires. Little mishaps upsets you more than they should.


Trusting yourself and your relation with the divine. To accept things means that you openly trust the divinity that works through you to bring forth more life.


Experiencing life without unnecessary criticism and judgment. With accepting comes the joy to embrace life without trying to classify the event or criticize it. Just let it be.


Realizing that you can’t control everything in your life. Control brings pressure and stress. You have to understand that in as much as there are things you can consciously change, there are other which you cannot but can respond to in a balanced and healthy way.


Learning to fail. Getting in terms with the fact that people very often fail and this is only a natural cycle of life. Failure is good if you respond to it wisely.


Realizing that the world or the universe is not conspiring against you. This can make some people not accept a given situation. We sometimes say “why is this happening to me?”, “What did I do to deserve it?”, “Why am I stuck here?”


Putting an end to victimization. In relation to the above, understanding that you are not a victim of your fate. You are still responsible for whatever happens to you by responding to it in the right way.


Learning that you are part of the bigger picture. We tend to see things from a self-centered point of view. We think that our problems are bigger, different and special than those of others. By accepting we see that we are in no privileged position and others have problems too which can be much bigger than ours.


Gaining emotional freedom that no other thing can match. Accepting means letting go of the emotional baggage and opening your heart to a richer and broader experience of life. An open heart can give you a full life that an open mind alone cannot.


Knowing yourself better. Accepting implies getting one step closer to your true self because acceptance makes you see the true nature of things including yourself.


Feeling a lightness of being that brings relieve, joy and happiness. Learning to accept things makes you understand that even though you are responsible for your actions you don’t need to bear the whole weight of consequences on your shoulder. Failure happens and some things are out of our control.


Working with life and not working against it. When we don’t accept things we create currents of negative energy and friction that attracts more negative energy towards us. Accepting makes us at peace with life and with ourselves. You’ll see how things will work out better.


I know it’s not always easy to accept whatever dire circumstances come your way. I also know that some things are harder to accept than others. I’ve been there many times. But once you let the power of acceptance to work in your life, you will unleash so many positive effects that it’s hard to let it go once it touches your heart.-Gilbert Ross(Soul Hiker)

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky,The larks,
still bravely singing fly.
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
-Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae Born, Guelph.Final resting place, Boulogne

May we never forget those from all wars/conflicts who gave their lives in service to our country and those that continue to serve and continue to let us live as a free people .

In deepest Gratitude to the Military of our country.

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviours.
Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”

Mahatma Gandhi

This is one of my favorite speeches by one of my favorite writers Anna Quindlen. I needed to me reminded of it myself today along with the message on this button.
I think it also appears in her book: A Short Guide To A Happy Life. Seems like a good time of year to share it:
I am a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know.
Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work.
You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree; there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life.
Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.
People don't talk about soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to craft a resume than craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter night, or when your sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've gotten back the test results and they're not so good.
Here is my resume:
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say.
I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cutout. But I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch.
I would be rotten, or at best mediocre, at my job if these things were not true. You cannot really be first rate at your work, if your work is all you are.
So, here is what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so much for those things if you blew an aneurysm one day, or found a lump in your breast?
Get a life in which you notice the smell of the salt water pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone, send an email, write a letter.
Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about the goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beers and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a Big Brother or Sister.
It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get.
I learned to look at all the good in the world and to try to give some of it back, because I believe in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that in part, by telling others what I learned. By telling them this:
Consider the lilies of the field.
Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear.
Read in the backyard with the sun on your face.
Learn to be happy.
And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.

photo by timilings on flickr

I am complex.

I want peace and stability in my life.

I have a wonderful family.

I wish for financial stability.

I hate whiners.

I miss my sister and her family and the South(sometimes).

I hear music and the voices of those I love.

I wonder if my life will ever get easier.

I regret that I could never have children because of infertility.

I dance when I am alone .

I sing to Daughtery and Nickleback on the radio (very badly).

I cry very seldom(except at sappy commercials).

I am not always empathetic toward people who are going through similar things that I have been through and who whine about it.(I see a lot of this in my job)

I take photos and want to learn to crochet.

I write to express what I feel inside and can't voice out loud.

I confuse myself sometime.

I don't blog when I am stressed but do blog on a lot of Wednesdays(only consistent day I have off each week).

I need very little to be happy( books, a roof over my head and someone to love me).

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon--instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. - Dale Carnegie

Photo by Pink Sherbert on Flickr.