I need to remember.....

to reflect upon my own words when things get me down.

I am not alone in anything I do, somewhere someone knows and understands what I am going through.

I am important to a lot of people.

the things I do help others.

all things can not be done on my own.

to rely on my family and friends as I would hope they would rely on me.

my children need me to listen to them, just as much as I need them to listen to me.

with God all things are possible, and He will never abandon me.

that my blog is here as an outlet, and to take advantage of it more.

life is just life, and the goal is to make it through.

everything is temporary, nothing in this world will last forever.

the only thing that goes with us when we pass from this world is the love we have shared with others.

A Mother's Reflection

As a mother, I look at my beautiful children and marvel over the fact that these living, breathing, growing beings came from my body. I helped to create them and my body nurtured them and protected them until they were ready to be born to this world. The feeling that comes from this knowledge is indescribable. There simply are not words sufficient enough to even attempt a description.

As my children have grown, I have done my best to help them through their sorrows, shared in their triumphs, and tried to protect them when possible. Every moment has been a lesson and a blessing to me. These precious souls have given my life a different meaning and purpose. A better purpose than I ever dreamed could be possible. Never have I felt anything close to the love that I hold in my heart for these two boys.

Mother's Day is upon us, and I can not help but to reflect on the day I became a mother. The feelings that came to me the first moment I laid my eyes on the most perfect creature I have ever seen. The joy of taking that precious baby home with me. The very first Mother's Day, when I was hit all over again with joy at realizing I was now someones mother.

My children are still young, and I look forward to the future. I pray that all of my children's ambitions are achieved, and that they each experience no more pain than is necessary in this life. Thank you, God, for the blessings you have seen fit to give me in my children. I will cherish each and every moment of the gift of motherhood.

Life in Death

Outside my window there is a dead pine tree. The few needles left on the tree are brown, and the pine cones never grew to full size. Uncertain of what may have killed the tree, I speculate that it has been invaded by some kind of insect. Although the tree is no longer living, birds still perch here. They continue to sing their mating songs in the spring, and chirp their goodbyes in the fall.

Woodpeckers still peck at the bark in search of a careless insect or two. Squirrels run up and down the trunk, jumping between the branches as they chase each other in play. Every winter the snow covers the branches. When the sun comes up the snow glitters like a thousand diamonds so bright you can barely look upon it's brilliance. Then spring comes again, and life returns to the tree once again.

I am amazed that even though the trees life has left this world it still provides so much to the living creatures still here. When I leave from this world I hope the mark I leave behind will be important for generations to come, like the tree outside my window.

Book Review: The Power of Six by Piticus Lore

The Power of Six continues the story where I am Number Four ended. This book is a lot more action packed than I am Number Four, and moves along quickly. Again the imagery is wonderful, and the reader is swept up in the story from the beginning. Can't wait to read the next book in the series The Rise of Nine.<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Book Review: I am Number Four by Piticus Lore

My son was required to read this book in his English 9 class. Until this book was assigned to him, I had never heard of the series or knew there was also a movie based on this book. I do have to say that I like this book. The story, although there were some slow parts, overall was amazing. The imagery and the descriptions in the book really make the reader feel as if they are in the story as well. I give this book 5 hearts, because it certainly captured mine. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Quiet Observance

Here I stand,
Tall, sturdy, and strong.
A part of this world for so long.

A simple begining,
A tragic end.
Resulting in the death of my best friend.

One hundred years,
I've sheltered many souls.
They've slept in my care and hidden in my holes.

I know who it was.
I saw his face.
I've seen him many times all over this place.

I can't tell them,
I can't speak.
Sometimes this makes me feel weak.

Our language is different,
They won't understand.
If only I could come up with a plan.

To tell them all,
Exactly what I feel.
Unable to speak makes me feel ill.

Lost Friends

Have you ever lost touch with people you truly cared about? Do you remember, or even know the reason for their continued absence in your life? Do memories of what you shared with them leave you with an aching in your chest? There are usually many reasons why we lose touch with people we have cared about or even loved. Sometimes harsh words and hurt feelings can keep us estranged from people for long periods of time. However, how long should we let an unfortunate experience keep us from reuniting with the people we care about and miss? To answer this question we could go off on a myriad of different avenues and break it down and analyze every single point, but to what end? I believe it comes down to three main factors personal choice, the severity of the incident that caused the estrangement, and the willingness of both parties to forgive each other for perceived wrong doing.

The choice we have is in how we react to a given situation. We all have a choice in everything. We choose how we react when we are happy, sad, angry, and scared. Sometimes it may seem like we do not have a choice in our reactions to certain situations in our lives, because we don't think and weigh outcomes and possibilities before we react. However, this is not true. We always have a choice in how we react to something, it's just seems that we do not have a choice because we have not practiced making these choices. We have not practiced stopping and thinking before responding to whatever situation has arisen.

For example, if a child is screaming at their parent or throwing a temper tantrum over something, what should the parent do to stop the behavior? If the parent can not stop themselves from screaming back at the child the child's behavior could get worse as a reaction to the returned screaming of the parent. It could result in harming the child's own self worth in sharing their problems with the parent, or scare the child making them wary of the parent screaming at them in return.

However, the parent who can take a step back, think, and perhaps even wait for the child to stop screaming before responding to their behavior, may have an easier time dealing with the child and also teaching the child to remain calm in situations as they get older. The child may also learn to have respect for a parent who respects the child and their feelings in return.

Therefore, learning to control our own behavior in certain situations to the point where it becomes natural to simply handle all situations in this manner could be beneficial to all relationships we wish to maintain permanently. Of course, this is not an easy task to accomplish, and takes time and effort to learn to change our bad habits and to develop new and improved behavior in all of our relationships. This being said, there are of course exceptions to every rule. Obviously in an emergency situation we can not always stop to evaluate our responses before we act, but by continued practice of patience, we may find ourselves better at handling emergency situations better as well as personal relationship situations.

The severity of the incident that helped to cause the estrangement in your relationships needs to be touched upon as well. The point should be made that in no way or under any circumstance is it allowable for a person to physically, mentally, or emotionally abuse another in any shape or form. While it is difficult for people to get out of these relationships, quite often we do tend to miss the good things in the relationship, but never should we return ourselves to that kind of situation. That being said, in reference to silly arguments and the inability to let go or admit wrong doing on our part of the estrangement in our relationships, it is usually better to let go of the argument in order to save the relationship with your loved one.

Personal choice and the severity of the incident are past things, and we can only focus on how we can make these changes within ourselves for future situations as a preventative measure. We now need to focus on forgiveness as a means to make amends with our loved ones. Many people view the act of forgiving as a sign of weakness or an admission of guilt. Forgiveness is neither of these things.

The definition of forgive is 1. to grant pardon for or remission of (an offense, a debt, etc.); absolve 2.to give up all claim of; remit (a debt, an obligation, etc.) 3.to grant pardon to (a person) 4.to cease to feel resentment against: to forgive one's enemies. 5. to cancel an indebtedness or liability of: to forgive the interest owed on a loan.* The definition of forgiveness is simply the act of forgiving.* Forgiving someone is simply saying to the person, "What happened was unfortunate, but I can move on with our relationship. You are more important to me than the incident." That is it nothing more nothing less.

The act of forgiving others can also be a release of pent up emotion and rage. When we learn to forgive others we often feel a release of that rage and emotion. We most times feel like a weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. Forgiveness can be a very uplifting experience.

The last thing that goes hand in hand with all of the above issues is communication. That refers to being able to express ourselves in a healthy way verbally, and being able to actively listen to the other person in the relationship. We all need to work on good communication skills to avoid the problems in the future, as well as, being able to talk to the person you are forgiving or asking forgiveness from the person we may have wronged.

In summary, your relationship is often far more important than any issues that may arise. It is time to move on and get back to learning to be friends again. So, go to the person and forgive them or ask them for forgiveness, practice makes perfect so get to it. Oh, and if the reason you are missing someone is simply because you lost touch with them then for crying out loud, find them and get back in touch with them soon. Life may be shorter than you think. Don't waste time. *dictionary.com for definitions