Words from the Heart

Today, I have the honor of hosting a guest blogger, Linda Hubalek. Linda’s sixth grade teacher assigned her class the traditional “What I Want to be When I Grow Up”. Linda had an nontraditional answer…she didn’t want to be a nurse, a teacher, or a mom. She wanted to be a farmer! Linda’s sixth grade dream came true when she graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in Agriculture/Horticulture and spent years doing agronomy research and eventually starting her own business Prairie Flower Creations. Much like her own ancestors who headed West, Linda found herself in California tending a cement garden and longing for the fields of Kansas. Linda “visited” her beloved Kansas by writing the Trail of Thread series about Kansas pioneer women.   Although Linda is back in Kansas (growing bison this time, not prairie flowers), she’s still writing about Kansas women. Her FOURTH series, the Kansas Quilter series will be released late this year.    Welcome Linda as she g...

Image via Wikipedia When I began this blog in January of 2007, I never stopped to think about the lives it would touch. Quite honestly, I thought only my family and some of my friends would bother to look at what I had written.  However, as the years passed, I came to realize that blogging is a powerful tool.  As the header of the blog states,   " Words from the Heart are powerful. Words, when connected to Spirit, heal, bring hope, and connect us to the world. Words nurture dreams into reality. Words from the Heart bring Peace. " Over the past four and a half years, I have been blessed with comments from people around the world.  I have developed long-lasting friendships with fellow writers. And, I have used my blog to help bring awareness to issues like AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer's and abuse.   In January of this year, I added a map to this blog.  It tracks the places where people live who visit and read. Never in my wildest dreams would I have tho...

 Four Generations of Neas Women (2005) Not sure why, but this Mother's Day I feel particularly melancholy.  Looking at the pictures of my girls over the years, I find myself all teary eyed.  Part of it is the realization that they are now young women with families of their own.  Where did the time go?  The other part of it, I think, comes from concern over where we, as human beings, are heading. My concern is not unique.  Women, since the beginning of time, have worried about the safety their children.  Our concerns have not changed over time; they are simply different.  Back in the 1800's when Ann Marie Reeves and Julia Ward Howe began working on an official recognition of mothers, women worried.  In 1870, Julia Ward Howe gave this rousing speech proclaiming the first Mother's Day: Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears! Say firmly: "We will not have great ques...