Tag Archive for family

To Do List for Winter

Today is the first day of winter.  Time to change some habits.  Here’s a helpful list.

  1. Check and turn on your heater & be sure your outside animals have warmth and protection from the cold.
  2. Dig out heavy coats and sweaters for your family & set aside those in good condition that no longer fit or you don’t use and drop them off at a charity or shelter for the homeless.
  3. Buy more groceries at one time so you don’t need to go out into the cold so often & donate some non-perishable food items to a local food bank to help hungry families.
  4. Cook heartier meals for your family & dedicate some hours to a soup kitchen to help feed the hungry.
  5. Lay in a supply of board games to play with your kids when it’s too cold to go out to play & call to chat with someone who is alone and not able to go out even when it’s warm.

This winter, think of both your immediate and your extended family.

A Child’s Lesson for Adults

We tell our kids that, because boo-ing is hurtful and unsportsmanlike, they shouldn’t do it.  So why do we adults do it–at sports events (even kids’ games!), political speeches, city council meetings, etc.?

A recent incident on an American Airlines flight was particularly unconscionable.  When the captain realized that his 45-minute-late flight endangered a family’s ability to make their connecting flight, he asked passengers to stay seated while “a special military family” could deplane.  First-class passengers who felt they weren’t getting what they paid for loudly complained and booed the family as they got off the plane.

The family was rushing to catch the connecting flight to meet the remains of their son and sister, whose service caused his death in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber.  The passengers didn’t have all the facts but booed anyway, causing even more grief to this Gold Star family.

Rest in peace, Army Sgt. John Perry.

Be at peace, Perry family.

Boo-ers of the world, remember what you’ve told your children, learn from this experience, and be kind to your fellow human beings.

Grow Kids and Veggies

Today is National Children’s’ Day (learn about it HERE).   Celebrate your kids, your family, and the day by spending time together planting a winter garden   of carrots, onions, broccoli, peas, potatoes, and other yummy veggies.  Watch as your crops grow.  Then cook them together and enjoy a family meal that you grew yourselves.

Leaf 6

[For more easy, money-saving, earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]

What Would You Do?

Let’s say that, based mostly on a “jailhouse snitch,” you were committed of a crime and sentenced to 40 years in prison.  But you didn’t do it.  And the “snitch” admitted he lied.  And the eye-witnesses admitted that they were wrong when they identified you.  In other words, all the evidence pointed to your innocence.  But nobody was doing anything to get you set free.

Then you were offered a deal: either spend an indeterminate amount of time–more long years–in prison awaiting a new trial or be released now, with time served and the conviction on your record.  Yes, a conviction, even though you’re not guilty.  You know your family is living in a homeless shelter and that you can be out there helping them and reuniting the family.  What would you choose?

That’s where Keith Cooper stood.  He chose freedom and his family. Now he wants and needs his record to be clear.  His prosecutor and the Indiana Parole Board have recommended a full pardon for him.  Indiana Governor (and V.P candidate) Mike Pence has sat on the request for pardon since March 2014–almost 2 1/2 years.

Obviously this is a flaw in our legal system, as this sort of thing is not uncommon. But something can be done for Keith Cooper.  Read a little more about this at the Change.org website and sign their petition to Gov. Pence to grant the pardon.

 

 

One Last Family Thought

Our visiting family is safely back home in New Jersey.  It was a tiring but wonderful two weeks.  Today’s Thursday Thought, then, is particularly true for me.

 

 

Continuing the Family Theme….

This Thursday Thought is particularly true to me right now, during the yearly visit of part of our New Jersey family.

 

 

Please Don’t Give Up on Me

Hello, Readers.

I’ve been gone for several days due to a sick–then dead–computer.  I’m back on-line again now.  However, family is coming tomorrow for a 2 week visit (can come only once a year, from New Jersey), so I’ll be a tad busy.

I’ll probably break from the topics I usually cover and go more personal, and probably not every day.  If you’re interested at all in my musings or stories about family, please check in. If not, please come back in two weeks, when I’ll return to my usual oddball assortment of topics.

Thanks.  Jackie

 

“Meet Uncle Bob”

A 3+ minute video for your consideration, to prepare you for family gatherings this holiday season:

 

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/videos/1119243378088257/

 

Money, Marriage, and Family

Today’s Thursday Thought considers family, marriage, and the annual cost of social programs:

“ACF spends $46 billion per year operating 65 different social programs. If one goes down the list of these programs… the need for each is either created or exacerbated by the breakup of families and marriages.”  —  Wade Horn, Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families (ACF/HHS)
Maybe we need to work harder on protecting our families and marriages….

 

 

Some Thoughts for Pearl Harbor Day

I remember visiting the Arizona Memorial in Hawaii.  During the film showing the horrors of the attack on Pearl Harbor my eyes blurred with tears.  Then there was the choppy boat trip to the monument, a short distance from other coffin-ships which suffered the same fate as the Arizona.  Entering the monument, I saw the too-many names filling the cold marble walls. We talked in hushed tones, the meaning of what we saw crushing our hearts.  The thoughtful quiet continued through the trip back to land. I prayed silently: for those whose names appear on the wall, for those still in their watery graves near the monument, for all their families, for the men and women in battle all over the globe, and, most of all, for leaders of large nations, small countries, and self-serving political factions to remember that we’re all part of one human family.  And for all of us, that we may practice peace in our own individual lives and keep urging our legislators to work toward the goal of peace on Earth.