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Noahkila and I with the cake Beetle helped create.
From the Facebook Chinese horoscope:
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Today in the midst of a whirling flurry of puppy activity that would have left the Tasmanian Devil from Bugs Bunny cartoons breathless in exhaustion, there was a quiet knock at our door and one of the folks from Funds for Furry Friends dropped off the adoption package that made Flute an official member of our family ...
I haven't posted the comments about the "joke" I played on Noahkila on Sunday ... one calls me a Jerk ... one questions my maturity ... one questions my faith ... and ALL question the appropriateness of the "joke" played on the "boy" ...
And just so you can see how BIG it was I've included the picture of a more youthful, hirsuite me kneeling beside it at the front of my mom's house:
Yesterday Noahkila and I spent sometime moving boxes of books into the basement, and getting other books on the shelves in the Study/Noahkila's room at my little house ...
My childrens' story on Sunday was about how to show and share our love for the people around us ... in addition to using a quotation by Martin Luther King about the three forms of love found in his 1967 Christmas Sermon on Peace, I refered to Mother Theresa's quotation "we can do no great things, just small things with great love" and encouraged the children to consider the small ways we can show our love ...
Last night at Brandon's funky and independent little bookstore, Pennywise Books on Rosser, owner/operator Keith invited his customers (and the public) to come to a book reading by Winnipeg author, Michael Van Rooy, who began by reading from his latest book "Your Friendly Neighbourhood Criminal"
Last Wednesday, October 15th I helped to organize and run a trade show of service provider agencies and groups in Brandon that highlighted the work they do, and the supports and services they offer to the community.
As a news junkie I read a dozen stories a day that I pause to consider blogging on ... I could fill my postings with the latest strange news item, or the latest political nonsense, but instead I generally read the items, shake my head and move on ...
And so the day began at our house at 6am ... Flute had her first run outside for the day, then a hearty breakfast that didn't seem to be chewed but simply inhaled followed by a climb up the stairs to play in Ms H's room - much to the chagrine of her precious kitty Chrysanthemum who has assumed a perpetual state of "hiss and spit" towards the puppy ...
No doubt dreaming of more adventures in her new home ... though I'm sure she also misses her little brother and their canine companions at the Foster Home ...
So, the lovely and personable Flute joins 
with a face like this, 
The tinned candies from my childhood were Taveners ... the fruit drops were my fav ... for more info check out this link: click here 
Any body else remember the "super ball" ??
This past weekend Beetle got a WHACK of tootsie roll pops as presents for her "birthday", she has generously shared them with me each time I've been up to M's house ... my jacket currently has two cherry flavoured pops nestled safely inside and I enjoyed another this evening ...
Sometimes as you look forward, you pause to look back and see where the path has lead you, and it helps guide you on the path that lies ahead ... Today I had the opportuntiy to reflect on the past and future as I gave thanks for the present.
I've reflected on the writings of Dr Mate previously when I discovered his book Scattered Minds, that wrestles with the many issues involved in ADD, something that is near and dear to my heart. But in this book, along with Dr Neufeld, Mate offers some timely reflection on parenting, and helping teens address and overcome the challenges of peer attachment (a deeper more persuasive and perhaps more dangerous form of peer pressure).
Mate and Neufeld offer powerful perceptions of the forces modern teens must confront and live with as they move through the world. Identifying bullying as a symptom of a wounded soul, and seeing the early on-set of sexuality among teens as an attempt to find the fulfillment that a healthy family with appropriate attachment makes entirely too much sense. The commodification of sex across the breadth of our society has taken something profoundly intimate and made it into a simple physical act devoid of love and care. It only makes sense that teens living in homes that lack respectful love and unconditional care would opt to find solace for the ache they feel in the "arms" of their peers.
As I read Mate and Neufeld's words I reflected back on the time I spent with each of my children and can say that I learned early enough in their lives to prioritize what was truly important. Board and committee meetings could wait, and functions where my children were not welcome, were not functions I needed to attend. Far from being perfect, I realize that I indeed missed too many birthday parties and school presentations earlier in thier lives because I had erroneously placed my job as minister ahead of my life as parent. Thankfully, the last two years have taught me that at the end of the day our job will pass away, but our place in our families is eternal.
As I watch my growing children move into the world and claim their independence, I can only hope that they are able to face and address peer attachment in a healthy and wholesome way. M and I have tried to be good parents to all three of our children, and to be present in their lives in healthy and affirming ways. Making a point of having our evening meals together, even now, has meant that the events of the day are discussed, argued and laughed over ... but more importantly, our children have a place to safely discuss what's happening in their lives and their world.
I hear daily the sad stories of children who lose thier way, and the struggle of parents who no longer know who thier kids are ... hearing Mate and Neufeld's words, I realize that too often parents are too busy, too selfish or too self-involved to spend time, energy and emotion on being present to their children in healthy ways. Time taken over a meal is a start ... time spent in conversation, or playing a silly board game is a continuation of what's important ... but being open to heart to heart conversations about the issues of the heart that are involved in growing up and finding one's way in the world is the core of a healthy life that can face and overcome peer attachment with minimal lasting damage to the young people who may erroneous chose a path of bullying or promiscuity to feed the aching hunger that lies within ...
Talking to your kids is a good start ... taking the time to really listen to what they are feeling and saying is the path to a successful and healthy relationship with them ... It may mean setting our own priorities aside, and having the courage to own up to our mistakes and our errors, but in the long run the relationship we build with our children will be undergirded with love and respect, and that alone will help our teens grow into healthy adults ...
Today I'm thankful for the children in my life, and I feel humbled by them and the joy they bring to my life ... and I realize I may not say THAT often enough to THEM ...
Even though he is a Republican, I've always respected Colin Powell, and today my respect for him deepened ... back in 2000, I remember secretly wishing that Powell would have ran for President on behalf of the Republican Party rather than Dubya ... I have always wondered how different the world could have been today if that had happened ...
Just after noon on December 12th (the 12th hour of the 12th day of the 12th month) 1901 Guglielmo Marconi achieved the first successful trans-Atlantic radio broadcast on Signal Hill in St John's Newfoundland, then an independent colony of England.
Though she turned nine in May, 
Everyone, including an alien and a strange relativejoined in the festivities:
Happy Birthday Miss Beetle, sorry it was a little late,
but better late than never at all !!
Ms. H and I tore around town on a quest for 
The "birthday girl" and her guests were thrilled:
Ms H. and Beetle lay aside their differences long enough to 
Today at Earl Oxford School 
Then an hour later at the parking lot of Heritage Coop on Richmond,a crowd gathered as the western leg of the campaign
came to an end.
To welcome the organizers was
His Worship, Mayor Dave Burgess, of the City of Brandon,
Member of Parliament for Brandon-Souris
David Northcott, Executive Director of Winnipeg Harvest
and others including Marla Somersall,
the Executive Director of Brandon's
Samaritan House Ministries
who were recieving all of the food collected today.
IN ALL, the Manitoba Drive Away Hunger Campaign raised a whooping 200 000 + pounds of food for Food Banks across the Province,
including Samaritan House.
The goal was 100 000 pounds for the whole province !!!
The target was met and surpassed !!!
Unfortunately, with 18 000lbs of food going OUT
of Samaritan House each and every month,
the thousands of pounds of food collected today,
is only a temporary success !!!
The needs increase by the day ... but today,
WORLD FOOD DAY,
we reminded the world, and each other to do MORE!!
TODAY is 
