Look in the mirror...see yourself. really see yourself. Are you what you see? Are you what others see? Is that all you are? do others love you? do you love yourself? you are worth loving....not someday off in the future...but right NOW. yes...you are. like a cherished baby....you will thrive in that love and nurturing. start right now. start loving your body right now.... love it as it is... it will not let you down. it will love you back. as it is...and as it will be. love isn't a destination...it is right here...right now. it is ours. embrace it.

Thank you for that emerging butterfly! 

Peace and Love>>April

Meet Archangel Raphael


Raphael gives you guidance through intuition, ideas, or dreams. The way he works is by slipping thoughts into your mind when you are least expecting them. If you have ever had a brilliant idea and wondered why you hadn't thought of it before, or if you have woken up one morning and suddenly everything made sense, then you have been visited by Raphael. His aura shows as an emerald green energy, so you may be attracted to this color when he is helping you.

Thank you westernman!  Just love this :)

HE IS ABLE

MORE THAN ABLE

TO ACOMPLISH WHAT CONCERNS ME TODAY(2CE)

HE IS ABLE

MORE THAN ABLE

TO DO MUCH MORE THAN I CAN EVER DREAM

HE IS ABLE

GOD IS ABLE

TO MAKE ME WHAT HE WANTS ME TO BE

 Principle -- particularly moral principle -- can never be a weathervane, spinning around this way and that with the shifting winds of expediency. Moral principle is a compass forever fixed and forever true.
- -- Edward R. Lyman

Education is not the taming or domestication of the soul's raw passions -- not suppressing them or excising them, which would deprive the soul of its energy -- but forming and informing them as art.
- -- Allen Bloom

 The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.
- -- Baron de Coubertin, The Olympic Creed

Always remember the golden rule, and don't forget to smile!   

 I found this and think it is absolutely amazing and beautiful! Totally take this to heart, words to live by

What should a 4 year old know?

I was on a parenting bulletin board recently and read a post by a mother who was worried that her 4 1/2 year old did not know enough.
"What should a 4 year old know?" she asked.

Most of the answers left me not only saddened but pretty soundly annoyed. One mom posted a laundry list of all of the things her son
knew. Counting to 100, planets, how to write his first and last name, and on and on. Others chimed in with how much more their children
already knew, some who were only 3. A few posted URL's to lists of what each age should know. The fewest yet said that each child
develops at his own pace and not to worry.

It bothered me greatly to see these mothers responding to a worried mom by adding to her concern, with lists of all the things their children
could do that hers couldn't. We are such a competitive culture that even our preschoolers have become trophies and bragging rights.

Childhood shouldn't be a race.

So here, I offer my list of what a 4 year old should know.

1. She should know that she is loved wholly and unconditionally, all of the time.

2. He should know that he is safe and he should know how to keep himself safe in public, with others, and in varied situations. He should
know that he can trust his instincts about people and that he never has to do something that doesn't feel right, no matter who is asking. He
should know his personal rights and that his family will back them up.

3. She should know how to laugh, act silly, be goofy and use her imagination. She should know that it is always okay to paint the sky
orange and give cats 6 legs.

4. He should know his own interests and be encouraged to follow them. If he could care less about learning his numbers, his parents
should realize he'll learn them accidentally soon enough and let him immerse himself instead in rocket ships, drawing, dinosaurs or
playing in the mud.

5. She should know that the world is magical and that so is she. She should know that she's wonderful, brilliant, creative, compassionate
and marvelous. She should know that it's just as worthy to spend the day outside making daisy chains, mud pies and fairy houses as it is
to practice phonics. Scratch that-- way more worthy.

But more important, here's what parents need to know.

1. That every child learns to walk, talk, read and do algebra at his own pace and that it will have no bearing on how well he walks, talks,
reads or does algebra.

2. That the single biggest predictor of high academic achievement and high ACT scores is reading to children. Not flash cards, not
workbooks, not fancy preschools, not blinking toys or computers, but mom or dad taking the time every day or night (or both!) to sit and
read them wonderful books.

3. That being the smartest or most accomplished kid in class has never had any bearing on being the happiest. We are so caught up in
trying to give our children "advantages" that we're giving them lives as multi-tasked and stressful as ours. One of the biggest advantages
we can give our children is a simple, carefree childhood.

4. That our children deserve to be surrounded by books, nature, art supplies and the freedom to explore them. Most of us could get rid of
90% of our children's toys and they wouldn't be missed, but some things are important-- building toys like legos and blocks, creative toys
like all types of art materials (good stuff), musical instruments (real ones and multicultural ones), dress up clothes and books, books,
books. (Incidentally, much of this can be picked up quite cheaply at thrift shops.) They need to have the freedom to explore with these
things too-- to play with scoops of dried beans in the high chair (supervised, of course), to knead bread and make messes, to use paint
and play dough and glitter at the kitchen table while we make supper even though it gets everywhere, to have a spot in the yard where it's
absolutely fine to dig up all the grass and make a mud pit.

5. That our children need more of us. We have become so good at saying that we need to take care of ourselves that some of us have
used it as an excuse to have the rest of the world take care of our kids. Yes, we all need undisturbed baths, time with friends, sanity breaks
and an occasional life outside of parenthood. But we live in a time when parenting magazines recommend trying to commit to 10 minutes
a day with each child and scheduling one Saturday a month as family day. That's not okay! Our children don't need Nintendos, computers,
after school activities, ballet lessons, play groups and soccer practice nearly as much as they need US.

They need fathers who sit and listen to their days, mothers who join in and make crafts with them, parents who take the time to read them
stories and act like idiots with them. They need us to take walks with them and not mind the .1 MPH pace of a toddler on a spring night.
They deserve to help us make supper even though it takes twice as long and makes it twice as much work. They deserve to know that
they're a priority for us and that we truly love to be with them.



And now back to those 4 year old skills lists.....

I know it's human nature to want to know how our children compare to others and to want to make sure we're doing all we can for them.
Here is a list of what children are typically taught or should know by the end of each year of school, starting with preschool:
http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?curriculum

Since we homeschool, I occasionally print out the lists and check to see if there's anything glaringly absent in what my kids know. So far
there hasn't been, but I get ideas sometimes for subjects to think up games about or books to check out from the library. Whether you
homeschool or not, the lists can be useful to see what kids typically learn each year and can be reassuring that they really are doing fine.

If there are areas where it seems your child is lacking, realize that it's not an indication of failure for either you or your child. You just haven't
happened to cover that. Kids will learn whatever they're exposed to, and the idea that they all need to know these 15 things at this precise
age is rather silly. Still, if you want him to have those subjects covered then just work it into life and play with the subject and he'll naturally
pick it up. Count to 60 when you're mixing a cake and he'll pick up his numbers. Get fun books from the library about space or the alphabet.
Experiment with everything from backyard snow to celery stalks in food coloring. It'll all happen naturally, with much more fun and much
less pressure.

My favorite advice about preschoolers is on this site though:
http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/early.htm

What does a 4 year old need? Much less than we realize, and much more.


All works on this site Alicia Bayer unless otherwise noted.
 

 You can have anything you want -- if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.
- Abraham Lincoln

understanding the dreamcatcher legend and history.
The Dream Catcher legend........ Many years ago, grandmother found a spider in her home. It was building a web above her bed, and she spent many days watching it work and marveled at its beauty. One day, as the web was nearing completion, her grandson came to visit and he saw the spider and immediately went to kill it. Grandmother stopped him, and said that the spider had been there for several days, working hard on the web. It had not bothered her, and she had enjoyed watching it. The spider thanked Grandmother for saving its life and told her that in return for her kindness, it would give her a gift. The spider said that the web above her bed would make sure she only had good dreams - the bad dreams would get caught in the web, and would burn up when the sun rose. Only the good and important dreams would pass through this dreamcatcher.    Stay hopeful and you'll stay cheerful. Having positive emotions will show the universe that you are ready for positive encounters. Why do you think people would choose to have a God that demands sacrifice?  That part doesn't make sense to me at all.  I believe my 'Higher Power, God, Father in Heaven', would have to be a Loving caring forgiving Accepting One.  I'm not sure about that whole thing either.  I put it as, let people do what they do, and I will do what I do.   I try not to fret about stuff I have no control over.  Man-kind as a now know it has been this way for years and years, longer than you or I have been alive.  I do not see why people choose to live their lives in some of the ways they do, ya know? I also think that 'sin' is just a label.  All people make mistakes at one point, or 5, through out our lives.  I'd rather call them learning experiences, as Janice would say, All is forgiven Move on!  There is absolutely no point in dreading  over and over in our heads the learning experiences we have made :) Life will go on, even if we don't want it to sometimes. I think, for me, it a lot about the idea that there is a Heavenly father that watches over me, but I think that there has to be some kind of Higher Power, Evolution.  I dunno, and most people really don't.  I do like the Philosopher Of Many thing :)  Like how you put it, a mystery and wonderment.  Love you lots, Much love and light>>April