This week is a definite departure from the usual routine at our house.
My daughter and her family came to visit on Good Friday, and we had a fun weekend together. Denise and Dave went back to town on Sunday, leaving the children with us for their entire Easter holidays. Here are a few photos.
Needless to say, my time and energy have been devoted mostly to our little guests.
How was your Easter?
In my next post, I will be sharing some news. Stay tuned!
I’m shaking things up for Friday Bouquet this morning. Usually I award it to a fellow blogger found doing something wonderful in the blogosphere, but this time I am throwing the bouquet to my sister and the therapy dog program.
Lynn is an assistant professor and nursing instructor at the Memorial School of Nursing in St. John’s, but her contribution to health care and humankind hasn’t stopped there. Please click on the link below – wouldn’t you know it, a WordPress blog by Eastern Health Story Line – to find out what she and her little dog Abbey have been up to, and be sure to look for their photos. All of my animal lover friends are sure to enjoy it. 🙂
http://storyline.easternhealth.ca/2015/03/19/canine-therapy-a-warm-and-fuzzy-feeling/
Have you had any experience with canine therapy?
What about the health benefits of spending time with other animals?
Here are two other sisters wishing you a warm and wonderful weekend. ❤
When my husband Paul was six years old, he and his family moved from Newtown – the little community in which we live now – to live in the capital city of St. John’s. Their parents relocated so that Paul’s oldest sibling David could attend the Vera Perlin school for his special needs.
On the day of the big move, Paul crawled up under the house – the actual house we live in now – in a show of protest. “Everyone should be able to live where they were born,” he argued through tears, but the die had been cast. He was pulled out and packed into the car with everyone else.
On the very first day at their new school, Paul and his other brother Kevin, who is one year older, decided to walk home from school for lunch, despite being told to stay there and eat the lunch they’d brought. But when they saw other children going home, they wanted to go as well. Unfamiliar with their new neighbourhood, the two boys got lost, and Kevin started to cry.
Brave little Paul tried his best to console his big brother by distracting him. “Don’t cry, Kev. Look at the pigeons,” he said, pointing at a bunch of them as they waddled across the sidewalk, hoping the strange, tame city birds might cheer him up. It worked, and they ended up following a classmate to his house. Between the jigs and the reels, their dad had to leave work and go pick them up.
Let’s go back a couple of years when Paul was four and Kevin was five, to another time the younger boy displayed his wisdom. A new addition to the family of three boys had arrived, and this time, it was a girl! When their mom brought baby Julie Ann home, the boys crowded around to get a look at their new sister. Kevin’s eyes opened wide when her diaper came off to be changed. “Look, Paul,” he said, incredulous. “She ain’t got nar topper!” (penis)
“No, ya foolish,” Paul said, enlightened beyond his years. “She got whatever Mom got.”
Now before you think I’m beating up on my brother-in-law, I’d like to share one more tale. Okay, two. When Paul was about nine and enjoying his summer vacation in Newtown, Kevin saved him from drowning. Paul was diving with some other boys off of Burnt Island, but he tired in the deep water and panicked. Kevin grabbed him by the hair on top of his head and pulled him to safety.
Years later, when Kevin was just beginning his teaching career, he and Paul were driving along in St. John’s one evening. Without warning, Kevin pulled over, stopped the car, and jumped out. He’d spied two teenage boys in a fist fight near the local hockey rink, and he wanted to stop them. Paul watched as he parted the boys, reasoned with them, and ended the scuffle.
It was a day he never forgot. Where most people would just keep going and not get involved, Kevin stepped in and tried to solve the problem. It made Paul really proud of his brother.
Paul confessed there were other boyhood fights where Kev stepped in and rescued Paul himself, fights my husband started and couldn’t finish. I would say he’s grateful for those too. And so am I. 🙂
“If baking is any labor at all, it’s a labor of love. A love that gets passed from generation to generation.”
~ Regina Brett
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Our little baker girl at two years old:
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And here she is at nine years. Where has the time gone?
Our boy is turning SEVEN on Saturday.
Can’t wait to see you on the weekend, my treasures. xo
❤
“Grandchildren are one of the sweetest rewards for raising a family.”
~ J. Kelland Perry
❤
Weekly Photo Challenge: Reward
What does reward mean to you?
I started following Rhonda Elkins’ blog around this time last year, and was profoundly moved by her tragic story. It had only been months since she, a registered nurse, lost her 23-year-old daughter Kaitlyn to suicide, and writing about it in her blog, My Bright Shining Star, was her way of dealing with the devastation she was experiencing.
As tough as it must have been for her, Rhonda’s heart-wrenching posts turned into a new project: a book about her daughter to help raise awareness of the rampant depression and high number of medical students who take their own lives. Like her blog, it also proved to be a source of comfort for others who were going through the pain and anguish of losing a child to suicide.
With her permission, I reblogged this post back in February to help get her message out there, that even those closest to us often keep their depression hidden.
Earlier this week, I was shocked and saddened to learn Rhonda had followed Kaitlyn last Friday, leaving her husband and older daughter to pick up the shattered pieces of what remained of their family.
Rhonda had blogged recently about the good reviews her book was getting, as well as her decision to return to her nursing profession part-time (she hadn’t worked since Kaitlyn died in April of 2013).
I, like many others, had believed she had gotten through the worst of it, and was ready to go on with her life.
We were so wrong.
Your life had a purpose, Rhonda. You shared your heart and soul with your readers, painfully, yet with great eloquence. I’m so sorry you were suffering and unable to get past your grief and depression. I’m sorry we couldn’t help you more. And I pray you have finally found peace, and are reunited with your beautiful daughter Kaitlyn.
I will never forget either of you.
Links for Rhonda:
http://hosting-9605.tributes.com/obituary/show/Rhonda-Elkins-101642909
https://www.facebook.com/inmemoryofrhondasellerselkins
https://www.facebook.com/events/771748509514127/
With a new school year beginning this week, I urge those of you who are parents of young students to broach the topic of anti-bullying.
Perhaps you have had the talk before, but it bears repeating and reinforcing. Start a dialogue on all aspects of bullying, including cyber-bullying. A child’s future well-being may be at stake.
Consider having your child take the following pledge:
As the pledge states, it is also important not to turn a blind eye when you witness bullying. Yes, it takes courage to speak up, but as parents and teachers, we have to teach our kids to be compassionate.
Bullying is deliberately hurting another person with your words or actions. Would you want someone to treat you that way?
Happy Monday, everyone. Here are a few images that made me smile with affection last week:
When she can’t be in her master’s lap, Vivian will take possession of an article of clothing or anything that smells like him – even his sandal. Nice fit.
My grandchildren, captured in slumber about six years ago.
Nico before his haircut…
…and after. He is like a different dog!
What endearing images have caught your attention recently?
Last Friday, we took a trip to Lead Cove, the little outport community where my children grew up.
Time spent with fun-loving family…
…on a warm summer weekend, is high on my list of favourite things to do.
Around the bay, the pace slows down where time together is savoured and enjoyed.
(Our boy fell and skinned his knee after I took this one, but let’s not talk about that.)
Nico explores with Poppy, making the most of his freedom from the leash.
Our little girl spends a pensive moment beside the sea.
Nico joins her.
Perhaps they are watching the fishing boat near the horizon.
When we return to the summer-house, our chef checks on the roast he is smoking with maple chips.
Nico finds a shady spot.
Pulled pork sandwiches with all the fixin’s. Yum!
Everyone loves it. ❤
Nico is savouring every minute.
So nice to see the kids playing and spending quality time with their mom.
Later, we light a fire and serve up spider wieners.
Happy girl.
What fire would be complete without s’mores? My first one in decades. 🙂
I found the Kindness Blog only yesterday, and am now a follower. I love the types of stories they find and share with the world. Some are heartbreaking to begin with, yes. But when you read on, you find out how someone’s kindness made a difference.
It is uplifting to know there are such compassionate souls out there!
In their own words:
Sharing media featuring kindness in all its varied forms.
Since the Kindness Blog started, the response received from you lovely folk out there has been literally overwhelming. We’re truly honored and touched by your support and encouragement. In this regard, we’re also very conscious that any congratulation received, is due solely to the kind people whose stories we share.
These are the people who freely give help, that lend a listening ear to a sad soul’s tragic tale, that share what resources they have, that tolerate, that understand another person’s plight and actively work to uplift others from poverty, oppression and loss. This blog celebrates the angels of kindness that walk among us every day.
From the simplest acts of charity through to grand, life-changing gestures of kindness, we publish images, videos, real-life-stories, personal reflections, quotes and other various media which all have one special thing in common…Kindness.
I have selected two of their posts for you to check out. The first one tells of an act of kindness to an animal.
After Being Rescued From 50 Years Of Abuse, This Old Elephant Actually Cried.
This one tells of a stranger’s kindness to a little girl with autism.
I have closed comments in the hope you will visit and comment on their blog. Be “kind” and let them know Jennifer sent you. 🙂
One of the most valuable lessons we can teach our children is kindness and compassion for all living things, no matter how big or small.
This topic is on my mind because I was disturbed to read this morning of yet another local case of animal cruelty. How does a person exist, and sleep at night, who can commit such cruel acts against an innocent and defenseless animal?
I find it difficult to believe a child raised to respect and empathise with the feelings of all creatures can grow up into someone who can treat an animal with cruelty. My dad, in particular, taught us how to care for all living things. We grew up with pets, as many do, but it was more than that. He taught by example. He not only loved that little spider that he picked up and brought outdoors, he wished it well.
I wish every small child could experience that kind of lesson.
Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar. ~ Bradley Miller
Our task must be to widen our circle of compassion, to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. ~ Albert Einstein
It is widely believed that empathy training for children can prevent violence, against animals and human beings. What are you doing to teach children compassion?
Jennifer's Journal 