Thanksgiving and Christmas - 2011 Holiday Season

    

This year for Thanksgiving, Jill will be joining Jim, Matt, and me for dinner. Tomorrow at noon, Josh and Jen will come with Aidan for Thanksgiving Brunch. We are grateful for dear friends and family, near and far..

Meanwhile, Mom and Jen will be  sharing Thanksgiving together 
in America's Hometown, Plymouth.

 
Our Thanksgiving Grace
O Heavenly Father, we thank thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May these remembrances stir us to service,
That Thy gifts to us may be used for other. Amen.

Our Preston Family Reunion / July 27 -30, 2011 in Gaspe, Quebec

Quiet Wind Chimes Ringtone

Quiet Wind Chimes Ringtone for your phone

I finally found the perfect ringtone for my phone ..¸¸.•*¸.•´*¸¸.•´*• ¸¸.• -:¦:-•´*¸¸.•´*

     

Appreciating Life

Aidan's First Year on Planet Earth (Part II - January - June 2011)

          June 25, 2011 - 1 Year on Planet Earth   
 

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011                                                                                                                                                       

May 2011                                                                     

 

June 25,2011

 

Happy, Happy Birthday Baby....   

       

                   

      Bruins Celebration! 
 June 18, 2011          

   Jen - Aidan - Josh

July 19, 2011

One month later - 

He's walking and his teeth are coming in!

Kindness... you never know how far it goes...

GRACE NOTES

This is the Grace that our family has traditionally said 
at Holiday dinners, with each person at the table reading a line.

Another Grace Note 

For Food that stays our Hunger,

For Rest that brings us Ease,

For Homes where Memories linger,

We give our Thanks for these.

Amen.

JOSHUA'S GRACE

Thank you God for our food and our family, 

Amen.

¸¸.•¨¯`•¸¸ .•´*

Sacred Time 

We began going to Grace Church in Framingham when the boys were little. However, when Josh reached his teens, he told us that he "didn't want to go to church anymore". I gave Josh and Matt the option of either going to a variety of religious places on Holy Days or to celebrate them ourselves at home. They chose the latter.

Thus Sacred Time was born.. A time when we had Bible readings reflecting the Holy Season and discussions about sacred or ethical concerns, as well as Communion, meditation, and music. Sacred Time was our celebration of Christmas and Easter until Josh and Matt left home.

  *.•¨¯`•¸¸.•¨¯`•¸¸.•¨¯`*¸.•¨¯`•¸¸ .•´*¸.•¨¯`•¸¸ .•´*¸.•¨¯`•¸¸.•¨¯`•¸¸ .•´*¸.•¨¯`•¸¸ .•´*

Prayers and Quotations

Native American Prayer to Begin the Day

 
O Great, Holy Spirit,   I take this step into the day you have given.     I embrace all I see - the season, the wind, the fragrances, the weather. Let me always accept the day given with a grateful heart.


O Spirit of Life, I put my arms around myself, all that I am, all that I can be. I stand here in my own history, with all my mistakes and victories. I hold all those I will meet today, in my journeying and in my work. I try to walk gently on this earth. Let me walk gently through the lives of my friends and work companions. Though they make way for my passing, may they spring back, neither broken nor bruised.


O glorious Spirit of Mystery, I put my arms around you. I do not know what will happen to me today, but I accept it.  Give me a heart of courage and believing, so I may put my trust in you, and fear nothing.
 
                - From the Plains tribes -
                           * * *

Whatever your daily tasks, seek every opportunity to make contact with the world of the spirit, with the divine world, because it is only here, in this world you each carry within you that you can blossom and find plenitude. The subtle joys of the spiritual world are the only lasting joys, so why spoil them by endlessly lingering too low in the material? This divine world you carry within you is your higher nature, and by identifying with it you give it every opportunity to develop. Then, little by little you will sense that even when you are in darkness and torment you will forever be accompanied by peace and light.

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

.@;~.@~:~@~.@;~.@~

Slow me down, Lord!

Ease the pounding of my heart

By the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace

With the vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give me, amid the confusion of my day,

The calmness of the everlasting hills.

Inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil

Of life’s enduring values

That I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.

-   Author Unknown – 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It is almost time.

As always,

There has been

So much to do. But now, before it is too late,

Before this hallowed, gracious hour slips away,

I must pause

And be quiet.

I must think.

I must be 

with God.

        - Vincent P. McCorry, S.J.

"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire."

— St. Catherine of Siena -

"We can do no great things,
Only small things with great Love."

- Mother Teresa -

   "The place God calls you to 
is the place 

    where your own deep gladness 

    and the world's great hunger meet." 

     —Frederick Buechner

The Poetry of Working with and Knowing Beautiful Souls

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•¸¸.•¨¯`•

Superman

I wish I could be Superman

And you were Lois Lane;

I’d break the Laws of Nature

And bring you back again.

I wish that I were Superman;

My love would be my strength

To bring you back to perfect health,

Your life to natural length.

But Superman was Jesus

When he healed people in pain;

He brought his dear friend back to life.

These stories weren’t in vain;

They must be showing us the way

That we can do the same,

Translate love into miracles

And lift you from your pain.

But maybe dying is just that

And life is one long dream.

God’s love then lifts you from your pain

And brings you back again.

Dedicated to the women of my support groups by
Marilyn Brine Gilmour   
July 31, 2009

Karin's laughter echos through the halls of Heaven

                                                               

                                     
                                   

                                                                 In Memory of:           

Lois

Harriet

Martha
Letitia

Michelle

Valerie

Mary

Louise

Pat

Lori

Mary Jo

Vigi

Jay Marie

Cecilia

Sue E.
Lynda

Iris S.

Michele

Trudy

Roberta

Kathryn

Sharon

Brenda

Sandy

Karin

Joni

Jane

Linda B.

Betsy

Sue C.
Penny

Meam

Sue D.

Kelly

Gail

Margaret

Cathy

Bonnie
Barbara (individual)

...to Lois

Maya Angelou, from her collection, I Shall Not Be Moved


When great trees fall,

rocks on distant hills shudder, 

lions hunker down

in tall grasses,

and even elephants

lumber after safety.

When great trees fall

in forests,

small things recoil into silence,

their senses

eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,

the air around us becomes

light, rare, sterile.

We breathe, briefly.

Our eyes briefly,

see with 

a hurtful clarity.

Our memory, suddenly sharpened,

examines,

gnaws on kind words

unsaid,

promised walks

never taken. 

Great souls die and

our reality, bound to

them, takes leave of us.

Our souls,

dependent upon their

nurture,

now shrink, wizened.

Our minds, formed

and informed by their 

radiance, fall away.

We are not so much maddened

as reduced to the unutterable

ignorance

of dark, cold

caves.

And when great souls die

after a period peace blooms,

slowly and always

irregularly. Spaces fill

with a kind of 

soothing electric vibration.

Our senses, restored, never

to be the same, whisper to us.

They existed. They existed.

We can be. Be and be

better. For they existed.

FLORIDA! February 25 - March 2, 2011

at the pool... aaahhhh

"Old Florida"

Marilyn and her aunt Rita    
*.¸.*´`*.¸¸.•¨`•¸¸  

Spring Training in the City of Palms Park

   RED SOX FANS 

                   
        

Sanibel Island and Captiva

Jim / Solitude

                                                 

                         Marilyn / Freedom

                         

                                                                   *.¸.*´`*.¸¸.•¨`•¸¸   .´*

                                                                

At the hotel before we left..