Red Garage Door

A Prayer For Children by Ina Hughs

We pray for the children who sneak Popsicles before supper, who erase holes in math workbooks, who can never find their shoes. And we pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, who can’t bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers, who never “counted potatoes,” who never go to the circus, who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money. And we pray for those who never get dessert, who have no safe blanket to drag behind them, who watch their parents watch them die, who can’t find any bread to steal, who don’t have any rooms to clean up, whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser, whose monsters are real.

We pray for children who spend all their allowance before Tuesday, who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food, who like ghost stories, who shove dirty clothes under the bed, who never rinse out the tub, who get visits from the tooth fairy, who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool, who squirm in church and scream in the phone, whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those whose nightmares come in the daytime, who will eat anything, who have never seen a dentist, who aren’t spoiled by anybody, who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep, who live and move, but have no being. We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must, who we never give up on and for those who don’t get a second chance. For those we smother and…for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

The Stop Global Warming calculator shows you how much carbon dioxide you can prevent from being released into the atmosphere and how much money you can save by making some small changes in your daily life. It’ll promote action, awareness and empowerment by showing you that one person can make a difference and help stop global warming.

Do not talk with your mouth full. I’ve had meals with people who constantly talk while they eat. After that first time, I try to position myself at the dining table away from them. It’s not that the person is bad, it’s their dining habits that I won’t deal with. I’d rather eat the food on my plate – not what came flying out of someone else’s mouth while they were talking with their mouth full.
Did you know that the point of etiquette rules is to make you feel comfortable, not uncomfortable? The idea is that if there are standards that people abide by, then you can have confidence that you are behaving “appropriately.” It takes the guesswork out of public behavior. I was blessed to have parents who taught me dining etiquette, but many people are not so fortunate.
However, there simply isn’t time in the day to set aside a separate amount for eating and for talking. By combining the two activities, an incredible amount of time can be saved. Also, none of your companions will ever need to ask what you had for lunch again. They will know, because they can see. Please speak with your mouth full is a tongue-in-cheek article of the benefits of mid-masticational interaction.

My favorite cereal is Nature’s Path brand cereal Pumpkin FlaxPlus Granola. It’s vegetarian, has no trans fats, is whole grain and low in sodium (20mg per serving). Plus it has the UDSA Organic symbol on the box. Nature’s Path also has a great looking Granola Strawberry Parfait recipe that I hope to try this weekend. It calls for ricotta, yogurt and strawberry jam but I think I’ll swap that out for vegan versions of ricotta and yogurt, and real strawberries.

How can a guy who shakes, kicks, hits with a lath (a thin wooden trail marker) & beats his dogs Only get a 2-year ban in the Iditarod? It seems you must be a 12-time race finisher, two-time runner-up, come from one of mushing’s ‘royal families’ and be one of the race’s most popular mushers.
If this type of crap is given only a two-year ban, I will rethink What I teach my kid about this sport.
Anchorage Daily News
Ramy Brooks got lucky.

Note: I originally posted this on myspace May 20, 2007. I am revisiting this because the Iditarod is coming up March 1, 2008. My educational links that contain facts about the Iditarod are on my other blog at Homeschooling on a Shoestring Blog – Iditarod. I understand that the media exaggerates and mistakes happen. What upset me when I originally posted that last May was that this was this man’s sport and his valued dogs were hurt and he was the abuser, and he was only given a 2 year ban. I do not like animal abuse. I also began to question my thoughts, teachings and myself. Walter McKenzie of Surfaquarium makes his notes at What About the Dogs?. His site has given me a better perspective.