Words from the Heart

Families Belong Together - Rally - Greenfield, MA Some reflections now that the air has cooled and I have had time to ruminate. These are the things I saw that touched me: Children laying in the grass coloring signs that read, "Families belong together." Elderly women standing in front of me with signs that read, "No Baby Jails!" A woman on the street that commented on my tree of life pendant, showed her Jerusalem cross, then with tears in her eyes and voice cracking said, "Next year in Tel Aviv!"  Families of all types standing together. There were songs sung, most of them written by the singers. I had wished the PA system was better because I couldn't hear most of what was sung.  I know that one of the songs was about the Statue of Liberty. There was a refrain about holding her torch high, but I couldn't really get much more than that.    One of the most passionate speeches was from by a woman who told of how her fami...

Photo from Google Public Domain There was a time in the history of this country when parents and teachers held up the president as an example to children. Presidents had qualities to be emulated. The family of the president was also worthy of imitation, the highest form of flattery.  However, that was before the present administration. Now, parents fear turning on the news while children are in the room because they are not sure what words will be reported or, worse yet, spoken by the president.  How do you explain to a child why hate, misogyny, bigotry, and poorly constructed sentences are falling from the lips of the person who is running our country? How do you justify the apparent inability to feel compassion for others? How do you defend the need to play golf when our neighbors are drowning, when their homes are burning, or when the earth opens up, swallowing everything whole?  Worse of all, how do we explain as parents and teachers, who have trusted in ...

Father's day is upon us and I am called to remember how blessed I am to have had my Dad in my life and in the life of my children.  But, it wasn't an easy journey, at first. You see, Dad struggled for many years with alcohol. However, in my early teens, he gained sobriety and kept it for the remainder of his life. In the years that followed, I was blessed with a father who had great wisdom, great compassion and great love for me and all his children and grandchildren.   There are things I remember Dad telling me that have shaped who I am today. Some of his most memorable quotes are: "A nursing mother is the most beautiful sight in the world!" "You are NOT fat, you are pregnant and beautiful!" "Make do, do over or do without. You don't need all that sh.. anyway!" "You can do anything you put your mind to doing. You're John Neas' daughter!" Mostly, though, Dad led by example. He taught me to help others humbly b...

  My girls and Mom many moons ago Many years ago, a very wise person told me to cherish the days of my young motherhood, for, she said, they will go by in a flash.  Sure enough, here I am four daughters and soon-to-be nine grandchildren later!  Where has the time gone?   Holding my grandchildren always reminds me of being a young mother.  I loved mothering!  Being a stay at home mom during the 80's and 90's was like swimming up stream.  Women's Lib was raging around me, but I didn't care.  I was so grateful to be home with my girls, to be the parent on the street that everyone could come to, to be the mom who drove everyone to school events and to be the mom who would stop everything to hold a hand, wipe a tear or make a cup of tea. My own dear Mom once said, "Any child within arm reach is mine until they go."  I had thought her a bit crazy at the time, but after rearing my own girls along with hundreds of others who happened by...

Another Poem-a-day challenge has begun and I am so excited! First of all, because it means I am challenged to write at least one poem a day and secondly because I have been invited to teach poetry in my granddaughter's class. For those who create, this time of year seems to reawaken the creative powers.  At least, I know this to be true for me.  The thing is, it create during winter, but it isn't the same as creating in the spring. For me, as the first full moon of spring rises, so do all these creative ideas! Poetry, crafts, painting and writing all seem to pour from me.  So, in celebration (and thanksgiving) for being able to create and share those creations, here are two poems.  The first is the poem I wrote for the first day of the Poem-a-day challenge.  The prompt was to write about resistance.  The second is a poem in celebration of teaching children to love poetry.  Enjoy!  Should I -  take advantage of the sun  warming t...

   There is so much in the media today about how when we visualize what we want, we draw it to us.  Many people are creating vision boards.  They cut out pictures, words, quotes, etc., hanging their creation where they can see it daily.  Does it really help? According to scientists, a vision board re-programs our brain to filter out whatever is deemed unnecessary and focus on what is important.  This is done in the reticular activating system (RAS) located between the medulla oblongata and the mesencephalon.  This tiny part of the brain is what allows parents to sleep soundly as trains rattle the house, yet wake immediately if their child calls out in the night.  The vision board, when viewed daily, focuses what consciously a person has deemed important in their life, thus drawing it to them. Words are powerful tools in the Law of Attraction.  A poem written by Dorothy Law Nolte, Children Learn What They Live , was popular b...

Today, I have as my guest blogger, Shiela Deeth who describes herself as an, "author(and sometimes illustrator)--Mongrel Christian--Anglo-American--mathematician who can't add up and writer who can't spell." Her latest book, Bethlehem's Baby is out. In Bethlehem’s Baby, we meet the Emperor Augustus’s advisors, the quiet research student helping wise men study stars, the shepherd whose granddad keeps complaining, an Egyptian fisherboy, a Roman soldier, and more. Bethlehem's Baby is a set of forty 5-minute read-aloud stories based around the events of the Christ Child’s birth in Bethlehem.   Read on as Shiela tells us a bit about how she came to write her Five-Minute Bible Stories for children. One day my eight-year-old, he with the boxes of dinosaur toys, dinosaur games, dinosaur cards, books and more, suddenly announced, “I don’t believe in dinosaurs anymore.” Not having realized they were a matter of faith, I asked him why. “Because my teache...

Kathleen Fearing is a writer extraordinaire!  Her latest book, Caught in the Crossfire, an anthology of poems about children living with war, is a hauntingly insightful look at the suffering forced on the innocent who have no way of understanding what is happening to their world or why it is that way. I had the honor to interview Kathleen about her book this week.      Welcome, Kathleen!  I am so excited to have you as a guest on the blog.  So, let's begin - what inspires you to write poetry?  First of all, I want to thank you, Linda, for agreeing to be a part of my latest book of poems, Caught in the Crossfire – Poems of Children in War . It was such a creative and rewarding project and I’m thrilled with the results.  As far as my inspiration, I don’t know if I can put my finger on it, but years ago, I was reading a book that was written in verse for young people . My imagination went through the roof because it was so different and ...

When I was a little girl and TV was still in black and white, my mother was addicted to Days of Our Lives , a soap-opera, which aired on one of the network channels. As a young mother and flower child transplanted to an Air Force base on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I longed for something to help me feel at home.  One afternoon, as my two-year old slept, I flipped through the channels to find Days still going strong!  Many of the characters were still there, but I noticed this newbie, Liz Chandler, played by actress, Gloria Loring.  The first thing that grabbed me was Gloria's sparkling, impish eyes, and then she sang!  I was hooked. I watched Days off and on for many years, but Liz was always my favorite female character. A few weeks ago, I got my Women on Writing newsletter.  As I read that they were hosting a blog tour for Gloria Loring, I wonder if this was THE Gloria Loring from Days. To my delight, I learned that indeed, this was one and the same ...

Angel of Grief (Photo credit: eklektik2xs ) I have spent the last two days trying to wrap my head around the horrific tragedy that took place, not more than 200 miles from our home.  As a writer, I felt called to write something...but nothing came. As a mother and grandmother, I felt called to say something...but nothing came.  As a seminarian, I felt called to do something...and, when the moment came, I did what felt best. I hugged those closest to me; I told those, who I could not hug, that they were loved; and I sat down to share this on my blog. Someone said to me, yesterday, that the world has become crazier.  I responded, after a brief pause with, "No it hasn't, we just hear about the craziness quicker and more often, now.  The world has always been this crazy."  Think about it...50 years ago, we had to wait at least 24 hours to hear about a major event happening in the US, it took even longer if the event was somewhere overseas.  Today, not onl...

Dolphin and baby (Photo credit: WIlly Volk ) Ever since Yale professor, Amy Chua rocked the parenting world with her book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" (Penguin Press, 2011), I have heard bits and piece about this authoritarian, adamant doggedness for perfection in academics.  At first, I had no frame of reference.  I had never met parents who are so strict on their insistence that their children make perfect grades and excel in everything that the children were suffering from stress-related illnesses.   Don't get me wrong, when I was raising my kids there were parents who pushed their kids to excel, but not so much in academics.  Mostly, the push was for being a star in whatever sport the child played.  A few wanted their child to be the star of the concert/play/orchestra, but that was it.   Recently, I have come face-to-face with tiger parenting.  My first reaction was, "Oh my goodness, don't you realize what you are doing to thi...

Today, I am pleased to introduce writer, Steena Holmes, to Words from the Heart as promised in an early post this month.  Steena has just released her new book, Finding Emma , the story of how a parent who has lost a child lives with that loss and never gives up hope. Before you read Steena's post, however, come along with Emma on a scavenger hunt! We're going to the Carnival!  At each stop along Steena's tour there is a hidden word--something you would find at a fair or carnival. Find the word and enter it at the Scavenger Hunt page on Steena's website -  ( http://www.steenaholmes.com/wow-scavenger-hunt/ ).     Each entry is an extra ticket to win! Need more clues? Join us at the Carnival Board on Pinterest ( http://pinterest.com/steenah/summer-carnivals-childhood-memories/ ) where we will post images of the clues. Join in the fun by leaving your own favorite carnival pics!  Read about prizes and additional details on The Muffin.( http://m...

Today, I am pleased to share a lovingly written post by Amy Lewis Faircloth, a mom and co-author of Wicked Good. Amy and her sister, Joanne Lewis collaborated on the book - more on that later.  First, let me share Amy's post...   My Sons, My Muses: How My Writing Got Us Through the Teen Years In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire humans to create art and literature. They are the source of knowledge. Divine beings, they were believed to inspire mortals to do their best. It is hard to imagine, as muses, people who laugh uproariously at The Three Stooges or at the sound of flatulence. However, my muses do just that. My teenage sons are the source of angst, joy and pride. They inspire this mortal mom to do her best.  My oldest son struggles with developmental and learning disabilities. He is the inspiration for Rory, the teen-age protagonist, in Wicked Good . My youngest son struggles with accepting the special needs of his older brother. My ...