DID YOU KNOW...

Did you know...

•  the names of all continents both start and end with the same letter.
•  that a giraffe can clean its ears with its 21 inch tongue.  (Wonder if Gene Simmons can do this?)
•  macadamia nuts are toxic to dogs. (Chocolate is as well)
•  dreamt is the only word that ends in mt.
•  apples are more effective at waking you up in the morning than coffee. (Does apple juice count?)
•  a cat has 32 muscles in each ear.  (we only have 6)
•  cats have a peripheral vision of 285 degrees.  (No wonder I cannot sneak up on mine)
•  cats spend 66% of their life asleep.  (Yawn)
•  cats have over 100 vocal chord sounds.  (And only speak when they want something)
•  a 1 minute kiss burns 26 calories.  (Ladies, let the kissing begin!!)
•  a group of frogs is called an army.  (I think several armies of them live in the pond by my  house!)
• domestic cats dislike citrus scents. (I will have to try this near my planters!)
• cats can jump up to 7 times their tail length.  (What about the Manx?)
• Pearls melt in vinegar. (Takes a while but does happen.)
• only female mosquitoes bite. (I know all the men out there will have a comment about this one!)
• Bali has the worlds largest variety of flora. (Would be great to go there with my camera!)
• Halley's comet passes the Earth every 76 years. The next time it will return will be 2062. (Darn! I think I will miss it.)
• the Eiffel Tower has 1,792 steps. (One reason why I will only look up at it, never down from it.)
• as of 2008 there have been 138 pyramids found throughout Egypt.
• the average bed contains over 6 billion dust mites.  (Well, I will have bad dreams tonight!)
• Earth is the only planet not named after a god.  
• a house fly lives only 14 days. (Sometimes I swear one has bugged me for at least a month!)
• an annoyed camel will spit at a person. (So don't go teasing the camels.)
• the heaviest crustacean ever found was a lobster weighing 42 lb, caught in 1934. (It would have fed quite a few people!)
• the tallest waterfalls in the world are Angel Falls in Venezuela. at 3,212 ft., which is 3 times taller than the Empire State Building.  (Wow)
• The pleasant feeling of eating chocolate is caused by a chemical called anadamide, a neurotransmitter which also is produced naturally in the brain. (We woman all have experienced this)
• During the Battle of Waterloo, Lord Uxbridge had his horse shot from under him 9 times. (Someone should have set the horses free!)
• All the planets in the solar system rotate counterclockwise except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise. (Of course, she had to be different!)
• 80% of millionaires drive second-hand cars.(Duesenbergs, Butattis, Alfa Romeos, Jaguars, Lamborghinis, ...)
• 2 billion videos are watched per day on YouTube. (Geesh, who is filming them all?)
• An exocannibal eats only enemies. An indocannibal eats only friends. (what about those who eat no one?)
•  Lightning strikes men about seven times more often than it does women. (Makes me think the Lord is maybe sending a message)
• Zoroastrianism is known as the world’s oldest prophetic religion.  It was started some 8,000 years ago by Zarathustra, who claimed his god, Aton, as the only god;  700 years before the Jews became total monotheists and 1 300 years before the time of Jesus.
•  Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are: Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Kikazaru – Hear no evil), and Mazaru (Iwazaru – Speak no evil). (I never knew they had names!)
• A fathom is 6 feet
• The last word in the Bible is AMEN.  (Amen!)

GOLDEN MOMENTS

Children are not always born from you, but even when they are not, an unseen umbilical cord exists between that adopted child and the mother.  It is hard to describe, but for me, when I first saw my son, I felt elated and fearful,  I wanted to scoop him into my arms and announce that he was mine.  But another woman had given birth to him, and I knew that she could change her mind, she could take him away with her, and I wanted to hold back, to avoid bonding for fear of having my heart torn apart.  As I gazed upon his face, noted his perfect skin, dark, curly hair and the his angelic lips, my heart opened and I prayed for him to be mine.When he first looked at me and cooed, took food from a bottle that the nurses could not get him to drink, I knew the cord was there, the bond was growing.

1 week old

My prayers were answered, and a few days later we brought him home from the hospital.  I could not get enough of him.  I felt in awe of all he did. When he slept, I would gaze at him, noting how he pursed his lips, the sound of his breathing, how he moved while dreaming.  When I held him close, I'd feel his warmth, listen to his heart beat, and love how he was so relaxed and comfortable.  I felt my heart leap when I heard his laughter.  He became a part of me though no physical connection had ever existed.  

7 months old

I had taken classes in college and knew how children developed, yet I was always amazed at each moment of progress--crawling, first steps, first words--everything amazed me.  And seeing the world through a child's eyes opens up so much wonder.   I was a doting mother, keeping journals in which I wrote about everything--things, he did , what he said, how he reacted to various experiences, where we took him, how he made me feel--for I wanted to preserve and remember and cherish it all.

I shared with family and friends through my family newsletters I created each month, complete with photographs.  I took lots of photographs!   

1 year old

I cherished each and every moment because I knew you could not go back.  When parents do not cherish the gift of their children, it saddens me.  When they do not take the time to sit and read a story or build with Lego's, do not share sunsets or gazing at a spider web jeweled with dew, do not crawl on the floor together or sing a silly song, they miss out on so much.  Not only do the children gain from the experiences and sharing, but we parents do, too.  

So I say to cherish the time you have with them while they are children, while the wonders of the world are new to them.  You can enjoy that wonder and be child-like, too.  

Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it. Mahatma Gandhi

• 

 I just watched a documentary that I think everyone should see. The film was made in 2008. It showed the strength of coming together to achieve a goal.  The name of the film is A POWERFUL NOISE by Sheila C. Johnson. 
The film follows 3 women, each who live in different worlds, but all are working to overcome barriers, rise up, and claim a voice and power.  Hanh is an HIV-positive widow in Vietnam working to educate people about HIV/AIDS. Nada, a survivor of the Bosnian war, works to unite the people in her community to rebuild. Jacqueline works to promote and bring to realization the education of women in the slums of Bamako, Mali.
 Their personal stories illustrate larger issues affecting millions of marginalized women worldwide.
Did you know that 60 percent of the world's 1 billion poorest people are women and girls?
Women make up two-thirds of the estimated 776 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write.
 In 2006, 260,000 people in Vietnam were living with HIV and 13,000 died of AIDS.
And these are just 3 stories of the many out there.  
You can read more about it at their website.
http://www.apowerfulnoise.org/

You can watch the 80 minute documentary on HULU here:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/192215/a-powerful-noise

STOP BULLYING

"Over 13 million American kids will be bullied this year, making it the most common form of violence experienced by young people in the nation."  This is a quote from the website about the documentary film BULLY.  Some of us know what it is like to be bullied, to be made to feel like you do not fit in anywhere.  This movie is trying to promote all adults and children into up-stander rather than bystander behavior.
This is a nationwide attempt to stop bullying.  No one should be put down, teased, degraded or harassed simply for being different.  We should all embrace differences and be empathetic. 
I was bullied when I was young.  In high school, a girl named Karen would pick on me. One day when I was walking home form the bus stop, she had a group of people surround me and she demanded I fight her. I did not want to fight. I was not one to be confrontational.  I stood there, scared, hugging my books to my chest.  She knocked them from my hands. The crowd was chanting, "Fight! Fight!"
Then, out of the crowd, a girl stepped forward.   She stood between me and Karen and announced, "If you want her you are going to have to go through me first."  Karen backed off.  My savior led me away from the crowd and introduced herself--Maria M.  Maria became my friend after that.  She was actually like a protector, for no one ever bullied me again. She even would screen guys for dating later on!  I was always thankful; that she stepped up at that moment. She made a big difference in my life.
Go to their website to read about the film and the project.  They have a way to demand the movie be brought to your area.  They also have information for parents, teachers, students and advocates to use to  help in the battle against bullying. Support the move and save a life.
http://thebullyproject.com/indexflash.html