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Comment by Joan Denoo on December 28, 2012 at 8:00pm

Thanks, Steph, you provide such interesting and stimulating ideas and your gentle nature delights me. Have a great holiday!

Comment by Steph S. on December 28, 2012 at 7:45pm

How wonderful Joan! You know how to parent. You have a wonderful family. I hope you have a wonderful New Years!

Comment by Joan Denoo on December 28, 2012 at 4:05pm

It has been 38 years since I decided I wanted to live without violence in my home and packed up three 10-year old children and drove 2,000 miles, bought a little patch of Earth where kids, cats, and cabbages could grow and develop into all they are created to be.

 

That year I planted a vegetable garden and neatly labeled all the rows according to the seed packs that were given to me by family. When seeds came up, a row came up beets but were labeled something else. That is a metaphor for my parenting style. Provide the proper conditions and the seed will come up according to its own kind and I don’t have to mold them into some imagined way of being.

 

All three grown children will be 49-years old by February 2013, and all have learned to live using good communication skills, able to solve problems and conflicts without violence, and know how to treat others, as they want to be treated. They learned how to assert themselves and to listen actively. 

 

This festive Yule season I am spending with my daughter and son-in-law and their families. My daughter has 2 daughters, and I am blessed with 5 great grandchildren and their pets and I enjoy all the activity. They do not quarrel, nor fuss, nor whine. They act as though they belong as members of the same team, doing what needs to be done to make life productive and interesting and fun. They laugh so much, enjoy being with each other, cooperate doing daily chores, they like school and participate in all kinds of activities. They have horses and pets to care for, as well as the usual chores to be done on a rural place.

 

They live some miles away from a very small farming/lumber town in the middle of a large forest. Wild animals come and go creating risks for pets; Dominic, the large black Lab that we brought home from the pound on Dec. 24, 2011, keeps smaller threats away and warns when coyotes and cougars come through. He knows how to open and close latch doors and even takes care of Spaz, their tiny Chihuahua and Spice, a roly-poly cat.

 

Right now, we enjoy deep snow, and many forested hills on their property. The children start high on a hillside south of my daughter’s home, which runs more than a city block and slide down a curved gravel road to my granddaughter’s home. The two houses exist invisible to each other because of the forest density.

 

From deep in the forest of northeastern Washington state I send you best wishes for a new year. May you share the season with family and friends you love and who love you. May all your wishes come true, you have good health and cheer and are able to live nonviolently.

Fondly,

Joan 

Comment by Riomarcos on December 23, 2012 at 10:47pm

Check out my megafauna prehistoric animal illustrations in the Yale Scientific Review: http://www.yalescientific.org/2012/12/megafauna-art-capturing-the-e...

Comment by Steph S. on December 14, 2012 at 7:27am

Love the quotes Joan.

I hope everyone is having a good day.

Comment by Joan Denoo on December 12, 2012 at 4:18pm

Laurel, one of my favorite quotes, and one well worth repeating. Thanks. 

Comment by Laurel Avery on December 12, 2012 at 4:39am

John, perhaps you meant this quote?

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?"
- Epicurus

Comment by Michael on December 11, 2012 at 8:30pm

I never heard that quote before, but it's pleasing to the eyes. I need my Christian family to read this.

Comment by Joan Denoo on December 11, 2012 at 2:09pm

John, this is excellent and a keeper! I am very glad you found it and shared it. I am reposting. 

Comment by John Lynch on December 11, 2012 at 7:31am

I was looking for the wrong person for the quote. The following is the one I was think of. Sorry for the confusion.

"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."
-- Marcus Aurelius

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