Category: Uncategorized

Music Brings Back Memories

· 1 Comment ·

When I was six years old I was living in Colombia.My parents had passed away and I was living in the home of a family that was assisting me in acquiring the proper papers so that I could come to the Unites States legally. The lady of the house had grown up children who attended college. They enjoyed listening to American rock and roll music on a short wave radio that transmitted from a station in the U.S. The first American song I ever heard was Simon and Garfunkle‘s,”The Sounds of Silence“. I didn’t know any English so the words didn’t mean much to me. The haunting melody of the song grabbed my attention because it served to comfort me,reminding me that I wasn’t suffering alone.Just the other day,I heard that song again,and it took me back to that time when I first heard it. I could even picture exactly what I was doing that day. The family was re-upholstering some chairs in a luxurious red brocade tapestry . I even remember running my small fingers along the ornate design of the fabric to the sound of the music as I tried to sing along.

listening to this sort of personal anthem, and it brings me great satisfaction to see the personal growth I’ve done in the twenty years of the song’s release. Mr. Springsteen,thank you so much for that inspiring song that has become ingrained in the grooves of my soul!

Music is immensely integrated in our lives. My husband and I encourage our four children to listen to many types of music genres. They all play an assortment of musical instruments. In order to play great music you have to first be exposed to great music. I see much of today’s young people becoming narrow minded especially when it comes to music. I have a young friend who only wants to listen to rap music,that’s where its at for him. My children on the other hand find his point of view rather dull and uninspired. I thank God that my uncle exposed me to a vast array of classical music, because I am doing the same with my children.

God,thank you for giving us the gift of beautiful music.We can worship God in so many ways,but when we run out of words,music is there to bridge that gap between our limited earthly realm and that of God’s Kingdom.
Eva Santiago Copyright 2011

Stand on This!

· 1 Comment ·
From time to time in my years of home schooling I have run into certain insecurities about my calling. Are my kids learning enough? Can I teach them everything that they need to know before they leave the nest? Have I done my job as their teacher well? Will they be able to succeed in life? I mean the questions kept coming over the years until one day I read this scripture in Isaiah 54:13, ” Your children will be taught of the Lord and they shall know great peace.” I made that scripture the  focus of my homeschooling philosophy.
 
Since then I have talked to parents from both camps; homeschoolers and public schoolers and I have heard parents raise the same questions I have had. The answer is simple really; of course we can’t teach our kids EVERYTHING they need to know by the time they are 18. Seriously, does anyone ever graduate from high school having all the knowledge they will need for the rest of their life? Also, as far as what kind of job did I do as my kid’s main teacher? That too becomes more clear as they grow up; I rest in knowing that I gave them my best and I tried my best. As far as knowing whether they will succeed in life; that will depend entirely on them; yet again I rest knowing that I equipped them with tools for their lives and it’s up to them to take what was given to them and use that for their benefit.
 
May I suggest something to you? Give yourself some credit from time to time. If you are doing your best by your children, God honors that! Enjoy your summer day 🙂
 
” I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” -Chinese Proverb
 
 
 

Family First

· Leave a comment ·
Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle on May 5, ...
Image via Wikipedia
I am a keen observer. When my kid’s friends come over I listen to their conversations as I’m busy doing things. I hear how the kids go on out of state trips to amusement parks and such with out their parents. It almost seems that the school has become a type of surrogate parent for kids now a days. The kids I talk to for the most part aren’t even phased by the fact that their family isn’t as tight as it needs to be. I came away thinking that perhaps I’m bringing my kids up to be too attached to their immediate family; then I remember that that’s the way it was intended to be.
 
If you ever read The Bible Genesis 10:4,20,31,32; we find the first reference to “nations” arising from family groups. You can see how important the family is to God. God created the family before He gave us ways to govern ourselves. So if family is deemed important to The Creator, shouldn’t we be placing family first? I have been ridiculed to my face and behind my back by people who think I’m doing a disservice to my kids by not sending them to public school. These nay sayers always mock saying that my kids are overly sheltered. Interestingly enough when I consider the source of these ignorant comments, I find most of these people don’t have very good family situations. I just shake my head and wonder how they can judge me for what I do when I’ve never bother them about their unruly, rude kids.
 
 
 
 

Spanglish Spoken HERE!

· 1 Comment ·
Photo: Jefferson_on_Mt_Rushmore.jpg Thomas Jef...
Image via Wikipedia
I am bilingual. I grew up speaking Spanish and English and I see how knowing a second language can expand your vocabulary. Did you know that English is  60% French? So it would be a smart choice to teach your children a second language. Ever since my kids were born I have spoken in Spanish to them; some of them have taken to it and they speak it back to me. Not all my kids have been fans of wanting to learn Spanish and I think that’s fine; I’ve also introduced them to French. The way I see it I’d rather have them learn it because they chose to and not because I rammed it down their throats. I wanted them to embrace the Latino culture by choice not because I made it a mandatory requirement. And guess what? So far all my kids have accepted the fact that they live in a home where more than one culture is embraced.  So even though my kids aren’t fluent in Spanish; to be honest we speak a lot of Spanglish, having introduced them to another language has helped them to expand their vocabulary in ways I’d never expected.
 
” Apply to that ( The study of Spanish) with all the assiduity you can.That language and the English covering nearly the whole face of America. They should be well known to every inhabitant  who means to look beyond the limits of his farm.” – Thomas Jefferson
 
 
 

BORROWED VS OWNED

· 2 Comments ·
Abigail Adams by Benjamin Blythe, 1766
Abigail Adams by Benjamin Blythe, 1766 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Borrowed knowledge versus ownership of knowledge. Why do parents send their kids to school? Is it so they will become smarter? Let’s face it, children are born with a natural ability to learn and soak up knowledge. But  at the end of 12 years of conventional education do they own the knowledge or did they just borrow it? There is a huge difference: Borrowed knowledge is when you are given facts by a teacher or from a book and you are required to memorize it so that you can then regurgitate the information on a test in order to pass you to the next level. Most of us who went to public school borrowed the knowledge; that’s why when you look back at so much of the information you supposedly learned in 12 years of school most of us draw a blank.
When you own knowledge on a particular subject, it stays with you for life and you will use it through out your whole life time.  Look at our youth today, why is it that they are barely graduating high school and they don’t know much. Could it be the difference between borrowed  and owned knowledge?
EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2011
“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” – Abigail Adams, Letter to John Quincy Adams (May 8, 1780

I AM

· Leave a comment ·
 A long time ago a neighbor gave me this beautiful piece in a black frame. I was going through some very tough times and she put this message in my hands. There are times in everyone’s lives that no matter how much you think you have it together, you don’t. We all need encouragement from time to time. No man is an island unto himself and if you think you are, then you are missing out. If you look back in history even the greatest of heroes needed up-lifting words to keep them strong. We can’t forget to pray for and encourage our leaders; they are human too and they need encouragement perhaps more so than those of us under their leadership. I hope you read this and pass it on to someone you know who needs some cheering up.
 
I Am God.
Today I will be handling all of your problems.
Please remember that I do not need your help.
If life happens to deliver a situation to you
that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it.
Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box.
It will be addressed in MY time, not yours.
Once that matter is placed in the box, do not hold on to it.
If you find yourself stuck in traffic don’t despair,
there are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.
Should you have a bad day at work;
think of the man who has been out of work for years.
Should you despair over a relationship gone bad;
think of the person who has never known what it’s like
to love and to be loved.
Should you grieve the passing of another week end;
think of the woman in dire straits, working 12 hours a day,
7 days a week to feed her children.
Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance;
think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.
Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror;
think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.
Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering
what is life all about, asking what is my purpose;
Be thankful;
there are those who didn’t live long enough to get the opportunity.
Should you find yourself the victim of other people’s bitterness,
ignorance, smallness and insecurities;
remember, things could be worse:
You could be them!

-UKNOWN                                           

 

Keep on Keeping on

· Leave a comment ·
Abigail Smith Adams (Mrs. John Adams)
Image by cliff1066™ via Flickr
My decision to home school was not an easy one. Before I met my husband I was looking out for number 1 just like everybody else. I wanted a career because I thought it would fill in all of the voids in my life back then. But one day God came into my life and turned my whole world up side down and I’ve not regretted it one bit. My perspective changed when I started living for others instead of being so focused on me; when you are able to do that then you are on your way to your destiny. It is through helping others achieve their dreams that God comes in and helps you with your own dreams. Before when I was full of self ambition, there weren’t enough hours in the day to do what I wanted to make ME happy. Now that I look after my kids and I’m helping them go where they need to be, that in itself makes me feel complete and accomplished.There is a sure reward for perseverance and I encourage you to keep on keeping on!
 
“How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambition, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our hopes and expectations to the public weal! How few have souls capable of so noble an undertaking! How often are the laurels worn by those who have had no share in earning them! But there is a future recompense of reward, to which the upright man looks, and which he will most assuredly obtain, provided he perseveres unto the end.” – Abigail Adams, Letter to John Adams (July 10, 1775)
 
 
 

 

 

Learning and Education

· 1 Comment ·
Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of th...
Image via Wikipedia
 Abraham Lincoln came from a very humble background. He was born in Kentucky and was entirely self educated.Long before 1861, when he was elected president, a local person asked him, ” Why do you read so much? An education won’t help you to earn a living.” “I’m not educating myself to earn a living,” Lincoln replied, ” I’m trying to learn what to do with a living if ever I earn it.”
 
 

Life is Messy: Live and Love to the Fullest

· 1 Comment ·

Dear Reader, I wrote this post back in 2009 when I had another blog. I wanted to share it since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day…Remember how special you truly are!!VD

Life is messy. Nature reflects the messiness of life. We spend our whole time here making sense of the chaos; ordering our lives so as to try to put a handle on the mess. Life never works out as neat and tidy Algebraic equation In math, it all works out without fail. Follow a prescribed method and WAPA! Problem solved , move on!

Well, life hardly mirrors mathematics. It does have prescribed patterns and formulas. For instance, there are physical laws such as gravity as well as spiritual laws of reaping and sowing. These and a multitude of others are set in place so we may have order in the midst of chaos.

We are taught as children to follow and obey  all that is set before us then, PRESTO!  We will be successful and have a great life. The more we live though, we all come to the same conclusion; life is messy. The Golden Rule says to treat others  as you would like to be treated. The problem is it works sometimes and at other times people can be down right cruel. Then there is the pursue love at all costs and yet again, when we do, we are left feeling stranded at times…life is messy. So, you love someone and you keep loving that person no matter what and they never love you back; another unsolved equation.

Love is never a science; knowledge of facts or principles gained by systematic study. The laws of science dictate cause and effect. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction, that’s how science works. Love is messy because there are no guarantees; if I love, that does not guarantee that my actively loving someone will cause that person to love me back equally and with the same measure of love. The human heart is an ocean with its shallow areas where we can swim and feel all is well within; don’t worry there are no “be ware of sharks” signs  posted. Swim safely. Then there are those areas where the light has never reached; similar to those parts of the ocean where no man ,no camera has ever seen. There IS life in those depths awaiting our discovery. We fear the unfamiliar, so we stay in the shallow parts for our safety. Deep calls to deep and when we hear that call to venture out more, where it’s messy and chaotic, where things simply don’t add up, then we back paddle back to our safe zone. It takes trust to venture out to the unknown recesses  in our hearts; to let love into areas that remain in the dark. Love is light; a closed up heart is a heart in  darkness. Fear keeps  us locked up thereby giving us a false security. The wise man said that out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks; we unlock or lock people up with our words; life giving words unlock others and poisonous words that curse keep others locked up as in a cell…solitary confinement. Love requires relationships. Some say, ” I love you but I have a hard time showing you. ” Well, love is easy to spot…it’s messy and all over the place. Picture a little child who was trying to make you breakfast and went on to make a great mess in attempting so. A little dab won’t do you; you have to reach out and take all you can. The more you take then you have more than enough to give to others. So if you take only a little, you’ll only have enough for you and that’s why you say, ” I love you but I can’t show you because I haven’t enough for the two of us.

Love should be celebrated everyday because everyday is a brand new opportunity for love to come into those dark areas in our hearts. People tolerate love because its nature is unpredictable, nerve wracking and annoying, especially when it show up unexpectedly. If we relegate it to a few holidays such as Christmas Valentine’s day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and all the minor holidays that fall in between, then love is confined and it loses intensity. Love’ REAL LOVE baffles the mind and astounds the senses and it should. God is Love; Love is God. God so loves us, with a messy kind of all over the place love;the kind that was powerful enough to gift us His only Son. He puts His heart on the line for us and the best we can do is love one another and in doing so we are loving Him.

Eva Santiago copyright 2009,2014
galaxy4

galaxy5