a small post of thanks

very simply...
i am thankful for love that shows itself in the inbetween times...the little touch of fingertips in passing, the small smiles, the quick squeeze...i am thankful for those who would walk by me as I lay sleeping on the couch and cover my feet, or tread lighter...i am thankful for those who sit down with me to talk, who look in my eyes and try to SEE what i am saying...
i am thankful for quiet voices and twinkles in eyes
i am thankful for laughing until i want to pee my pants
i am thankful for the hard hug as my brother gathers his family up to leave
i am thankful for tiny hands and a capable mommy
very simple thanks

A sweet few days

clear, windy skies
cozy cuddles and warm places to lay

and clean gentle surroundings

nothing soothes my busy mind more

I am Motivated to Tell

Oh yes, I talk and I talk and I talk a plenty...a funny thing is that during my day at school I get all talked out...funny thing...though my heart has been full, the words haven't come as easily as I've wanted. I've wanted to put down what it is I've been thinking lately... so here it goes:

I am AMAZED by the amount of courage and where-with-all I have when a job is at hand. This woman who has doubted and fussed and wandered and wondered at her self - called herself all sorts of bad names, and then one day, literally, wakes up without the anger and says, "What will I do without that?"

What HAVE I done without that nasty imp hanging around my ears, tugging at the small curling hair behind my ear, without it scratching its name in my skin?

I'll tell you, reader, I have been walking tall. I have been trusting the words that have come out of my mouth. I have been making serious, responsible decisions. I have been soothing the beast in troubled children, lifting up trodden women, carrying myself across divides...I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS.

I have been hugged by the child who does not like to be touched. I have been shyly smiled at by a child who slings curses in her every other word. I have covered them in love without even touching them.

My corner of the world is not small...I have been doing this.

I have been offering myself and finding it is not only enough, but it is amazing and healthy and needed and sought after. I have found that I can be a safe harbor in some human being's otherwise stormy life.

What a wonder...what a wonder that I have been doing this.

I hope that I shall never cease to be amazed at what beautiful, courageous, wonderful things we human being are capable of.

I hope that I shall never cease to see the potential in another torn human heart.

I hope that I shall never believe that there is a kindess too small to give.

I hope that I shall never cease to smile and feel a lump in my throat when my efforts are praised, needed, rewarded. I thank the Divine of My Heart with a quiet mouth, with closed eyes and with my head held up high.

My heart is full with purpose and life...

and I am happy.

Into the Hearte - postings now HERE

Recently, I have had to transfer computer information to a new computer (woohoo!!!) and I can't seem to figure out how to transfer the address book distribution list, so I am going to be posting the Into the Hearte weekly newsletters here!!! Expect them once a week! If you want to make sure you get your "Into the Hearte" posting, sign up as a follower or for the RSS feed (it will be sent to your email). Here is this week's newsletter:

Into the Hearte

#20

(first go to this site in a new window and let the music play as you read the rest of this:

http://www.brightstar-movie.com/

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art--

Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,

The moving waters at their priestlike task

Of pure ablution round earth's human shores

Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask

Of snow upon the mountains and the moors --

No--yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,

Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,

To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,

Awake forever in a sweet unrest,

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And so live ever--or else swoon to death.

John Keats

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Why have I brought you John Keats?

Why am I asking you to listen to music from the movie Bright Star?

Nothing other than to remind our hearts to be filled with love. Love so wond'rous and powerful and true that it fills us to our very bones. Love that becomes a part of the fiber of our beings.

Love that has the power to bring us to our knees and take our breath away.

What are we without this love?

I do not know, nor do I care to imagine a world in which this love was not so.

If we do not hold on to this love, who will?

Dare to feel deeply; dare to cross the water for love.

Go on an adventure toward it...an adventure with danger and risk.

Find this Love, and find Yourself.

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When you need a little...

Inspiring Music/Poetry:

the soundtrack from Bright Star is absolutely wonderful...especially if you love hearing poetry read aloud! Take a listen here.

Romantic Movie:

One of the best I've seen - beautiful scenery, tremendous acting, heartfelt story and period perfect. See it www.brightstar-movie.com

A fun little romp through the director's (Jane Campion) scrapbook for the movie:

www.brightstarthemovie.com

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FREE

Sweet Antique Clipart, compiled, for FREE:

www.percyandbloom.com/the-vintage-moth

Movie Backgrounds, for FREE:

www.brightstar-movie.com and click on "downloads"

Something pretty for you, from me --- a reminder about LOVE:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inspirational

Oprah's Love Stories - read them here.

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Sending you Love and Light and the Courage to be Happy,

Katie

www.intothewoode.com

helpful advice

Does anyone know why I cannot seem to see my Friends list? Just one day it decided to go blank, and now I cannot seem to figure out the problem - any ideas? Thank you so much :)

Being That Bridge

Where have I been, what have I been doing?

I've been whispering to yelling mouths.

I've been holding back running legs.

I've been awakening quieted minds.

I've been soothing some child's savage beast...

whose warm beating heart is encrusted like a stone..

all as a blind woman whose only light is love.

What in the world do I know? I ask myself when nothing works.

What in the world am I doing here? I ask myself when too much is happening at once.

Last Friday, my world was very small and tight and wound like a spring.

I was whisked away with my little bundles of warmth and love and light and openness.

We stood atop red clay and took deep breaths of fresh air and looked at the near-nothing-ness of what surrounded us. Thank God for quiet-looking places like this.

After being unwound by restful sleep and sun that wanted to get into every picture I took, and clay that stuck to our shoes and made us each an inch taller than we really were, and swimming in a warm spring, I realized that I DO KNOW what I'm doing.

I know love and love knows me.

Because I have walked this bridge with loved ones and found that the bridge was itself made of love - that immovable, unfathomable kind that I cannot quite feel the edges of -

I walked into the caring and acceptance and understanding, and QUIET,

I DO belong here now. I have something to give them.

me.

Loving the Unknown

in awe and thanks, with eyes closed and teary, I breathe so deeply

of myself

of who I am...all my foibles and naughtiness even...

I am a full and warm and capable woman who gives every task its due consideration

and then some

I am grateful for the lesson, which seemed to be more of a mirror of what I am capable...

I've been doubting it for seven years. It is so easy to be "away" from one's work for a few years, and then, upon wanting to return, the Doubt and Misgivings and the Cowering shows up at the door. I opened the door to it, had tea with them all (Cowering was rather strangely dressed), then when I was tired of them all, I pushed them out the door and asked them to stay away for quite awhile...apparently they did.

I took the hand of my higher self, as I mentioned last week, and walked into that classroom and I fell absolutely in love with each of these troubled kids. I've given them all my absolute best. I've given them my strength, my understanding, my love and now I must leave them.

I was only supposed to be a long-term sub.

I was only supposed to help out for a couple of weeks.

I wasn't suppose to be invested, or love them.

But I did, and I do.

It will be hard for me to leave on Friday, but I learned so much about myself, and what I'm capable of. I am proud of me. I'm proud of the OAK in me (thanks mama!), and the WILLOW.