This is Petey - my new baby cat!

Since my cat Teddy dumped me and moved in at the neighbors house, my incredibly sweet and kind hubby brought me a new baby home last week to take care of.

I LOVE him! He really is a good kitty. I still am heartbroken that Teddy left me, but this is helping me get over the rejection.

My niece Airiana

Look at how ADORABLE my niece Airiana is. She's such a little princess and I LOVE HER!

Awakenings

Switchfoot has a new song and video out that is AWESOME!

Here's a sample of the lyrics that really spoke to me . . .


These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere
And in all my life I don't know if I've ever felt so alive,
Alive

I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It's beating . . .

I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to live like I know what I'm leaving
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It's beating... it's beating...

Check it out!

(Thank you to Amber Cox for showing it on her blog)

This is an AMAZING story about how an "every day person" just like us followed her heart, turned a personal tragedy into something good, and is making a HUGE difference in a place where people have no value at all.


On her first night in India, Becky Douglas lay awake thinking about beggars. As she tossed and turned that night, Douglas prayed. "'I'm just a housewife. Tell me what I should do.' And the thought came to me: 'You can at least look at them. You can at least acknowledge that they're suffering.' And the next day I did."

Six years later, Douglas is a veteran activist fighting to end leprosy in India. The organization she started around her kitchen table now works with 20,000 people who live in 45 leprosy colonies, providing them with microloans, mobile health clinics and schools.

It was the death of her oldest daughter, Amber, that started it all. When Douglas was cleaning out her daughter's dorm room she discovered that Amber had been sending part of her college money to orphans in India. CHECK OUT THE FULL STORY . . .
http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3058

You Are My Everything

You are the center of my life

You are the wings by which I fly

You are the melody I sing

You are my everything

You are the smile upon my face

You are the one and only way

You are the reason that I dream

You are my everything!

Lyrics from "You Are My Everything" by Fusebox

Dare to Care

If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it. -- Lucy Larcom
~~~~
Inspiration of the Day:

"It's Saturday night in the Paris métro. Two friends, Etienne and Sophie, are on their way to dinner. After sitting down in the crowded train, they discover the body of a homeless man curled up at their feet.

How did he get there?

How long has he been lying there?

Is he dead?

They look around: Everyone avoids looking at the body. Nobody has any idea how to handle this situation. Etienne and Sophie don’t know what to do either." So begins an article from Ode magazine that explores what happens when someone dares to care.

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3042

Silver Lake

I've been up at our "shack" at Silver Lake for awhile now and have been experimenting with my new camera. I was lucky enough to get this shot last week right at the beginning of a storm. I am now a bona fide camera junky - I NEVER go anywhere without at least one of my cameras!

Here are a few more shots I took last week . . .

He's Back!!!

It is a very happy day in the Rajski household (well, ok - Trent isn't exactly grinning from ear to ear). My cat Teddy came home! He's been missing since Memorial Day weekend. At the end of May I finally gave in to the idea that he was probably dead and I have been missing him ever since. You can see his obituary here.



I have no idea where he's been or what he's been doing, but he just sauntered in 2 days ago like nothing was up and I went crazy I was so excited - He acted like he could care less. I guess that's a cat for you.



He's a little skinnier, but other than that he looks healthy. What I wouldn't give to have one of those little camera's to attach to his collar to see where he's been.



Oh happy day . . . . Oh Happy Day!

My baby is FOURTEEN!!!???

Happy Birthday Cody. It seems like just yesterday that we were waiting for you to arrive into our lives. I remember when you were 5 you promised me you would never grow up. Now look at you - you're 3 inches taller than me and outweigh me by 30 pounds. I can't believe you can pick me up and throw me over your shoulder.

You are the best thing that ever happened to us and we love you very much. You make me laugh - a lot - and I really like that!

Love isn't finding a perfect person.

It's seeing an imperfect person perfectly.

-- Sam Keen

Why I love the geese . . .

I LOVE the geese that live around my house. We live on the river and right now all of the goose families on the river come to our house with their new babies and eat from our mulberry tree - love watching the babies grow up. It's so fascinating to watch the Mom and the Dad take turns watching out for their little ones - they are very dedicated to their families.

I love it when the geese take off from the water and their wings flap and hit the water - I love it when they land on the water and look like an out of control jet plane coming in for a landing. I love it when an entire flock flies over me while I'm outside, I can hear their powerful wings cutting through the air, and I love to hear them honking at each other while they're flying above me.

Down the road on Vistula by the pond, there are families of geese that live there and since I walk by them and drive by them many times a day, I feel like I know them. The other day tragedy struck and there was a Mom or Dad goose dead on the side of the road. It probably got struck by some impatient motorist late for work (it better not have been my husband!), and now their mate is mateless and their babies are only one goose tragedy away from being orphans.

I know, I know . . . I'm weird. Trent and Cody have told me that many times - they hate the geese and can't see their beauty the way I see it. So today when I got this post from helpothers.org, I knew I had to share it.

What The Geese Taught Me--posted by JZ on May 26, 2007

Next fall, when you see Geese heading South for the Winter, flying along in V formation, you might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly that way:

As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following.

By flying in V formation the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

People who share a common direction and a sense of community can get where they are going, more quickly and easily, because they are travelling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone ... and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed the same way we are.

When the Head Goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.

It's sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs with people or with geese flying south.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

What do we say when we honk from behind?

Finally...and this is important...when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunshots, and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly, or until it dies; only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation to catch up with their group.

If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that


So you see - geese are amazing creatures - that's why I love the geese and am proud of it!!!

Trent's brother, Barry

My husband and his family are going through a really difficult time right now. His brother (middle brother who is 46 years old) is close to dying right now - his organs are failing. Last week he spent 5 days in intensive care where he had to have a blood transfusion because he lost so much blood from hemorraghing. He is suffering from Alcolism and it is killing him - although he would never tell you that. He tells us that right now he is weak from being without food and water for 5 days.

Now he is home with Trent's Mom whose husband (Trent's stepfather) is in full blown Alzheimer's. Praise God that for the past month Hank has had a really good month so that is helping Emma (Trent's Mom) a lot! She really has her hands full.

We are trying our best to help Emma and support her - help Barry and support him. I'm trying my best to be a supportive wife and help my husband watch all of this going on around him. We really don't know what to do except love him and love her.

Last night we did get Barry to get outside for a walk and it took every single ounce of his being to get his shoes on a go down the road about a block. I can't even say how hard it was to watch my husband hold his brother up while Barry concentrated to hard on just putting one foot in front of the other. I am so proud of Trent at the way he is stepping up to the plate to take care of his family and love them. It's really hard when you don't understand the disease of alcoholism and you just want them to be better and not die.

Please pray for Barry, Trent, Emma and the rest of his family.

"The Judge"

Once a month I get a really great newsletter from a Life Coach named Lori Radun. The newsletters are always good, but this one was the best yet and I wanted to pass it on.

Make the Judge Sit Down - By Lori Radun

In almost every relationship, the source of discontent can be traced back to "judgment". Judgment keeps us in the dark and separated from one another. In our house, I call it the "blame game". Disagreements can never be resolved when the focus is on the other person, and what they've done "wrong". There is a big difference between "Who messed up my toys?" and "I am unhappy because my toys are messed up."

Judgment causes defensiveness because an individual can't help but feel they have failed to meet your expectations. Often, we expect people to behave in a certain way, according to what makes us happy. But each person in our lives is on a different path and comes from different life experiences and circumstances. No two people are alike, but that does not make either party "wrong", just "different".

So how can we make "the judge" in us sit down?

First, we must realize that we aren't always going to like everything about everybody in our lives. Our job is not to change other people so we can be happy, but figure out how we can be happy despite our differences. Sometimes we learn to tolerate minor differences, or set boundaries when our limits are being compromised.

Second, grace allows us to see in other people what is also present or possible in us. Our "judgments" can act as a mirror for us to see ourselves more clearly. Whenever I begin to judge another person, I ask myself "When was the last time I acted like this?" More times than not, I can truthfully say I, too, am guilty of the very behavior I am judging.

Third, learning to not take another person's actions personally gives us the ability to stand back from the situation and see things more clearly. How another person acts has absolutely nothing to do with you - it is completely about the other person. When you take another person's words or behaviors personally, you become emotionally attached and charged, and your emotions will cloud your judgment. Take the example of my teenager speaking to me in an angry tone. I can choose to believe that my teenager is speaking disrespectfully to me, and I am then automatically hooked. The reality of the situation is that my teenager is angry and is having a hard time expressing his anger in a healthy way. It has nothing to do with me. I am in a much better position to hear my teenager's anger and help him channel it differently when I am emotionally detached.

Last, you will stop judging others when you stop judging yourself. When we are critical with ourselves, it naturally follows that we will be critical of others. By learning to love and accept those things about you that you don't like, you learn to be more tolerant of other people. You realize that we are all imperfect human beings doing our best with what we have. "The Judge" in us blocks opportunities to see the best in ourselves and others.

When you can make "the judge" sit down, you will have the ability to harmoniously walk, side by side, in your relationships, and grow in the process.


Sign up for Lori's free newsletter, or check out her website for lots of other great articles at true2youlifecoaching.com

Life is like a roller coaster

Life is like a roller coaster and I'm just trying to hang on and enjoy the highs and the lows.

It's weird how in one day so many great things can happen and so many crappy things too.

If I spend all my time thinking about the crappy things, life is going to be really hard and painful.

But if I spend my time thinking about the good things that happened during the day, life is so much easier and joyful.

Right now we are on the fastest, tallest rollercoaster in the park - and I don't particularly like roller coasters - but I will hang on tight, scream when I need to, have faith that the car will stay on the tracks and take a big deep breath when I have a chance!

Philippians 4:8 (The Message)

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

We found a dog . . I wish we could keep her!

Tuesday a.m., when we were walking, this dog came running at us and scared the crud out of us - she looks so scary. Trent tried to make her go home, but she laid down in the middle of Vistula and rolled over for him to pet her belly. I ran home with our dog CJ because I was already mourning the loss of my cat - I couldn't stand to see this dog get hit by a car.

So I kept looking and looking for Trent to follow me but he didn't come - about 20 minutes later here he comes down the road with this silly looking dog following right beside him like she had found her new best friend. It was hilarious!

I didn't want to sit outside with her or be anywhere around her because I didn't want to get attached - I just really don't want my heart broken again by an animal for awhile - but I sat outside and had coffee anyway. She had to lay right by us and be touching us - so was so sweet and cute I couldn't help but fall in love with her. We made the plan to keep her safe for the day and then we would walk her back to the area where we found her. By the time Trent got home, Cody and I had her named (Maggie Mae) and had fallen in love with her - we wanted to keep her!

So, long story short, this is no ordinary dog. She's some type of mastiff (the brindle color like her is pretty rare) and is just a puppy around 9 months old and weighing in at around 90 lbs. (we're guessing). People don't dump dogs like this - she's worth a lot of money - we have no idea how she came to be running around lost like she was. I've tried EVERYTHING to find her family, but no luck. She doesn't have a micro chip - no identification - it's like she just appeared out of nowhere.

Well, at least she's taken my mind off of my lost cat for now!

In memory of my Teddy Cat

Well, the adventure with my one of a kind Teddy Cat has come to a close. He has been missing for 2 weeks and I have stopped looking for him and put his food and his bed away. It's time to face it, he's not coming home. I guess he finally used up all of his lives.

He was a great cat. There was never a dull moment with Teddy around. I'll never have another cat as unique as him. I loved that cat and my heart hurts that he won't be around to make me laugh anymore. He had a good life though - a very happy two years.

Having pets is hard - they always end up breaking your heart.

Women in India banding together to fulfill their dreams

Don't seek to merely get rid of

the negative things in your life.

Instead, transform their energy

into something of real positive value.

Ralph Marston

When Phulbasin Yadav and 11 other women set aside $3 a month to start a business, skeptical elders turned the town against them.

When Ms. Yadav learned to ride a bicycle, traveling between villages to set up health clinics and offer hot meals for children, her husband threw her out of the house, saying she was ignoring her duties at home.

Business in Sukuldhain, India had always been a man's world. But today, Yadav is president of a districtwide network of women's groups with businesses ranging from mines to concrete works -– totaling half a million dollars in assets. And, sometimes, when she comes home from a hard day at work, her husband has tea and a hot meal ready for her.

What has followed is essentially an entire subeconomy run exclusively by women who take loans from banks or the government to fund increasingly ambitious projects. In the village of Moher, five women's self-help groups manage and cultivate 116 acres of farmland that generated a $1,500 profit last year. In Dhaba, a dozen women in brightly colored saris mix cement – stirring the sludge with wooden-handled hoes and pouring in gravel that they balance delicately on their heads.

In short, they have done exactly what they were intended to do, says Dinesh Shrivastava, who championed the groups when he was district collector here several years ago. "Women are the best agents for social change," he says. "They have made a revolution."

But in rural India, where more traditional views of the roles of men and women still hold sway, change has not come easily.

"Because I was getting involved in work, my husband started beating me and saying I wasn't doing any work [at home]." He wanted the wife who had helped him as a cattle herd and served the family. Yadav decided she was no longer that person. "I said, 'What I am doing can help many people in the area.'"

So he threw her out of the house. For good measure, his father also threw out Yadav's mother-in-law, who was a member of the self-help group, too. Remembering nights spent sleeping outside, Radhia Bai can now manage a smile.

"I always felt that she was doing right," she says of her daughter-in-law.
So, too, did the government. There is a room in Yadav's house given entirely to plaques, commendations, and awards that she has won during the past six years. One included a gift of some $2,500 – a significant factor in her husband's decision to let Yadav back into the house.

"My husband understood that what I am doing is helping our family," she says. "Now he respects what I am doing.

The $2,500 is being used to help 35 local children pay their way through school, and now, when Yadav is out, her husband cooks and cares for their four children.

A Novel Achievement for 13 year old

Nancy Yi Fan was too young to know she was breaking every rule in the book when she e-mailed her first manuscript directly to the president and CEO of HarperCollins.

''I was being quite bold thinking I had nothing to lose,'' says Nancy, now an eighth-grader. 'I thought, `Maybe she will give me some advice.' ''

Instead the CEO, Jane Friedman, gave her a contract, passing Fan's allegorical story about warring avian factions and their quest for peace to her children's division, which published Swordbird (HarperCollins, $15.99, ages 8-12) this spring.
Now, Fan, 13, is seeing her name on The New York Times bestseller list.

Her story would be amazing for any teen but has another remarkable twist: Fan came to the United States from China just six years ago, knowing only a few words of English. She says ''Miss Goodwin,'' her first English-as-a-Second-Language teacher, ``lit the spark of literature in my heart. Without her, I might not have written Swordbird.''

She started writing simply to express her ideas about ''the importance of peace and freedom,'' with a tale about a villainous hawk that forces enslaved birds to do his bidding.
me the really hard things. Just teach me the tricks,' and within a week I learned to twirl the sword and do some really magnificent moves,'' she says.

Nancy didn't tell her new classmates about her imminent debut as an author, hoping to be a ''normal student.'' They found out anyway. They read about her in the newspapers and ''they would jump out from behind the classroom door with books for me to sign,'' she says.

In April, she traveled to Beijing and Shanghai for the release of the Chinese edition of Swordbird , which she also translated. ''She wrote the novel and then she translated it as a way of keeping up with her native language,'' Yeh says.

This summer Nancy hopes to complete SwordQuest, a prequel, which Yeh already has under contract.

Check out the entire news article by Sue Corbett HERE

95 year old woman fulfills lifelong dream of graduating from college

Sitting on the front row in her college classes carefully taking notes, Nola Ochs is just as likely to answer questions as to ask them. That's not the only thing distinguishing her from fellow students at Fort Hays State University. She's 95, and when she graduates May 12, she'll be what is believed to be the world's oldest person to be awarded a college degree.

She didn't plan it that way. She just loved to learn as a teenager on a Hodgeman County farm, then as a teacher at a one-room school after graduating from high school and later as a farm wife and mother.

"That yearning for study was still there. I came here with no thought of it being an unusual thing at all," she said. "It was something I wanted to do. It gave me a feeling of satisfaction. I like to study and learn."

"We should all be so lucky and do such amazing things. Her achievement challenges us all to reach for our own goals and dreams," said Tom Nelson, AARP chief operating officer in Washington.

Ochs started taking classes at Dodge City Community College after her husband of 39 years, Vernon, died in 1972. A class here and there over the years, and she was close to having enough hours for an undergraduate degree. Last fall, Ochs moved the 100 miles from her farm southwest of Jetmore to an apartment on campus to complete the final 30 hours to get a general studies degree with an emphasis on history.

Ochs hasn't complained about the work, nor has she asked for special considerations.
In her one-bedroom apartment, books are open and papers and notes are within easy reach when she sits down at her computer to research and write.

"I came up here with that purpose. No, I never doubted it. Other people did it," she said. "I came up here to work, and I enjoy it." An added joy for Ochs is that her 21-year-old granddaughter, Alexandra Ochs, will graduate with her.
After that?

"I'm going to seek employment on a cruise ship as a storyteller," she said, smiling.
The determined look in her eye leaves no doubt she's serious.

Fulfilling her Dream . . .

Robin is 56 years old and fulfilling her dream of riding across the country and raising money for 2 great causes.

Check out her story here

What is your dream??