Music: A Friend for Life

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Sitting down to listen to an old song is like making time to visit with a dear, close friend. New songs are like new friends; you  have to really tune in and listen closely to what they’re trying to say. When you’re working on becoming friends, you are taken in by their outward appearance at first. The same can be said of a new song you just heard on the radio-you only hear the melody and not so much the depth of the lyrics.
 
With some songs it takes a while to decipher their hidden messages; it takes a while to  draw out the hidden intent of a person’s heart and that only happens when you spend time with your new found friend.
 
Songs like friends can touch your soul deeply. Others leave you giddy, as if on cloud 9; these songs and types of people slip in and out of your life and  you can’t lean on them when times grow rough.
 
Then there are the love ballads that never fail to strike a chord; reminding you of a promise of love someone broke when you were younger. Others speak of melancholic tales of all consuming fires that took all you had including your innocence. Love ballads are like your closest most intimate of friends because they never lie; there to remind you of the person you used to be and how you arrived at your current state.
 
Tune in to Part  2 of this my personal reflection on music.
 
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In Your Heart

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Whatever is in your heart you will:
Sing it.
Write it.
Dance it.
Speak it.
Perform it.
Suppress it.
Shout it.
Preach it.
Teach it.
Film it.
Paint it.
Invent it.
Design it.
One thing is certain:
Don’t ignore it, ’cause it’ll never go away.
Eva Santiago Copyright 2011

Light in the Dark

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As We Forgive
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Light in the Dark
 
Your glorious presence
exposed my dark heart.
I shrunk back in shame:
You said, “No! No! Ben aqui.
“Come closer my sweet child,
I bear the burdens
of those who are meek and mild.
Go, I forgive you!
When you have a heart for Me;
I cover you with My pinions.
If you stumble I understand;
always holding your hand-
always quick to forgive.
All my angels at my command,
I send them to encamp around you.”
 
-Eva Santiago Copyright 2011
 
 
 

 

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Fragile By Design

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Fragile By Design
We are all fragile by design.
Som act tougher
that what they really are.
Some whip themselves into shape-
others always fall one step behind.
What about the “mighty oaks” of righteousness–
or so they claim.
Don’t be fooled by such;
it’s all a cover up,
a disguise for a great hoax.
The more they talk,
they give themselves a way.
Pretty soon you see,
their many words don’t line up,
with how they walk.
They make grandiose plans,
and dream their lives away.
Always forgetting planning is futile,
of very little value,
when they leave out The Master Planner.
They order their steps without Him.
From above He looks down and laughs,
He sees that without Him,
their chances in life are slim.
Then there are some,
who lead quiet lives
just doing what they see The Master do.
 
Eva Santiago Copyright 2011
 
 

Nothing IS Something!

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Nothing IS Something!
 
You said, ” Be still and know.”
I said, ” I don’t know how.”
I said, ” Let me do something great!”
You said, ” No, No, BE STILL! Do nothing.”
I freaked out, ” WHAT?! Are you serious??”
You said,” I don’t need any more super stars.”
I said, ” God, let me change the world for you.”
You said, ” Be faithful in the little things.”
I said, ” Ouch! No one will notice.”
You said, ” In your weakness I AM strong.”
I said, ” Please God, let me be a history maker.”
You said, ” You already are….
when you live for me, THAT”S something!
You’re good enough when you are nothing.”
 
Eva Santiago Copyright 2011
 

 

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SUMMER!

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Today my daughter came up to me and said the dreadful words,” I’m bored.” School is out for the summer and the season looms ahead of us. She explained that she had done everything to avert the “boredom monster” as I used to perceive it. “Mama, I have danced, I read, I did some art and now, I’m bored.” So I took a closer look at her statement and then I came up with an idea…me had a thought…or a chain of them any way.

I remember being a kid out of school for the summer and it never occurred to me to utter the “I’m bored” mantra of every school age kid. No way, I had to keep my mouth shut because if I ever dared make such a declaration, my aunt would have found me more work to do. As it is I had to help her shine her collection of sterling silver which she kept in a china cabinet that went from floor to ceiling and it was full of beautiful silver artifacts. Then if that wasn’t enough to keep my little hands busy, she expected me to do some kind of needle work. So you see, I became an expert at biting my tongue and not letting those 2 little words escape my lips.

                                                                                                                

So as I came back to the present and I studied my daughter laying on the couch in the living room; I told her what I had always wanted to hear from my aunt’s mouth but it never came,” It’s ok to not always be doing something .” My girl looked at me and I saw her relax right away as I continued,” I don’t think you’re bored,I think you might feel like you always have to be doing something…just enjoy yourself..it’s still good to day dream ok?” She smiled as she settled on the couch to continue doing absolutely NOTHING!

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!                                  

I enjoy summer vacation because I believe something special happens to me as a teacher and to my kids that I teach;just as life reflects nature;summer is a season of growing in ways that won’t be apparent until the following fall when school begins anew. During this season of rest and growth;we get rejuvenated and our roots tend to go deeper. I live out in the desert and nature hibernates when the weather is scorching;likewise I believe that as we rest from all school work and pressures that accompany the lives of teachers and their students;summer is when we “marinade” in all the knowledge that was acquired in the previous school year

I have seen it personally year after year;every time school starts back up for us,my kids come in eager to start. Also ,skills that may not have come easy to some of them,somehow after summer vacation,they grasp them . Being that I run a small school I have the privilege of seeing up close changes that perhaps might be missed if my kids swam in a bigger pond..

So go ahead,kick off your shoes,buy a new bathing suit,grill out,plan a vacation some where far away or maybe stay close by;but whatever you choose to do, whether it’s a lot, a little or maybe nothing at all..ENJOY yourself and live!  See you next Fall young people :)!!!

                                                                        

                                                     Eva Santiago copyright 2010

 

Family First

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Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle on May 5, ...
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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!

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Photo: Jefferson_on_Mt_Rushmore.jpg Thomas Jef...
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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

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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

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 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