13 Things I Love About Facebook

This weeks post is about the new craze happening online these days. "Facebook". I have been drawn in to the wide world of facebook. Mike has stood his ground, stating that he was not going to join. But the web has sucked him in, and he joined this week. So for this Thursday Thirteen, I decided to list my 13 favourite things about facebook.

1. a great way to connect to the web.
2. keeping in contact with friends and family.
3. world wide food fight. (the best)
4. displaying my ribbons (Sarcoidosis, Bi-polor, Same-sex marriages)
5. Showing my game colours for my hockey team (Montreal Canadiens)
6. allows others to see my mood.
7. sending 'pokes' to your friends
8. daily horoscopes right to your page
9. displaying pictures of your family for all to see
10. sending free gifts to your friends on the list
11. showing your causes you support (WWF, Sarcoidosis, Diabetes)
12. displaying my pictures of cats
13. and writing on other peoples walls

If you haven't had the pleasure of playing around with facebook, I suggest you try it out and have some fun.

Blank Mind

Today is my Thursday Thirteen. Unfortunately, I have been abit under the weather (damn Sarcoidosis), my joints and muscles feel like a ton of bricks and ache to high heaven. Anyway, I am suppose to do my post for today. And I am completely blank as to what to write about. I could write about the fact that I have been up since 3:30am, wide awake, yet totally exhausted. Or write about the summer holidays starting, and how long it will be before my kids say "I'm bored". lol. Anyway, I am taking this week off. But I will try to have a great post for you next week.

Caitlin's Graduation

Well last night was 'the night' for Caitlin. She graduated Grade 8. She will start high school in September now. I think she handled it pretty good. She is excited about going in September. Now me, I am somewhat sad. Another of my wonderful, beautiful girls is growing up right in front of my eyes. I can remember them so easily when they were still babies. Time flies by for sure. I am so proud of Caitlin. Her report card was awesome. Two "A's", and the rest were all "B's". She even received the French Award last night at the ceremony. She looked so elegant in her gown. All dressed up and looking beautiful. Now I know I am bias, but I do believe she was the prettiest one there. lol. But all the graduates were wearing their finest, and looking wonderful. There was a dinner before the ceremony. Which was delicious. Caitlin's Father and Grandfather joined us for dinner. And her Aunt Vicky and cousin Scott, plus her Papa and Grandma Mary came to see the ceremony. She was especially happy with her gifts. (which was mostly money). So now she can go shopping. One of her favourite past times. I am just so blessed with the children that I have. They are all intelligent, beautiful, and well mannered kids. So now with two in high school and only one left in public school, I have to make the best of everyday. Because before I know it, they will be out of the house, and I will be suffering from empty nest syndrome. Here are some pics of Caitlin and Chetasia and Matthew from last night. Enjoy!

Caitlin and her proud Dad

Chetasia

Matthew

All three of my kids

Gnostic Tenets of Novus Spiritus

Today's topic is about Sylvia Browne's Gnostic Church. It is called the Society of Novus Spirtus. There are actually 21 tenets, describing the beliefs of Gnostic Christianity. I am going to pick my favourite 13 tenets for this post.

1. Tenet I: "The way of all peace is to scale the mountain of self. Loving others makes the climb down easier. We see all things darkly until love lights the lamp of our soul".The whole meaning of this first tenet points to climbing the mountain of your own ego, or the false self that can fool you and lure you into believing that your're more than you are. Climbing the mountain is difficult until you come to the understanding that you're a spiritual being who came here to experience for God and yourself. You'll float down the mountain and realize that loving others really does light the lamp of our soul.
2. Tenet VII: "Know that each life is a path winding toward perfection. It is the step after step that is hard, no the whole of the journey". Keep in mind that you've had many lives, and in each one you've learned a different facet of yourself. We can take detours, but we always live our charts and our destiny. We are what we are and what we're meant to be. We all end up taking the steps we must complete to finish our journey. It takes time, and it's quite a journey, but you're perfecting by the sheer fact that you come here to Earth in the first place.
3. Tenet VIII: "Be simple. Allow no man to judge you, not even yourself, for you cannot judge God." We are God, because we're the genetic part of God, made by God, and we carry that spark of the Divine within us. So we don't have the right to judge someone who doesn't measure up to what we think our standards are. Even our Lord said, "Judge not, lest ye be judged" and "You without sin cast the first stone."
4. Tenet XII: "The body is a living temple unto God, wherein we worship the spark of the Divine." Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, and other religious leaders have all stated that the body is a temple. We believe that the body houses the soul, and what seems to be so temporary and fragile is probably one of the biggest miracles that God has created.
5. Tenet XIII: "God does not create the adversities in life. By your own choice they exist to aid in your perfection." We are homing our souls and learning to ascend to God with knowledge. Earth is the only 'hell' there is. There are millions of planets that are inhabited, but this is the only one that has evil and megativity in such abundance. Only the bravest of the brave incarnate here to face this planet's adversities. Earth is the toughest school in the universe, which is why so many of us come here. We wonder why, if God is all-loving, why is there suffering. When esus went to the garden of Gethsemane and asked God to remove the pain of the crucifixion that he knew was coming, God essentially told him, "No--you chose it to be this way in your contract, so you have to see it through. We pick a contract with God to learn and grow our soul to bring back information to God. We choose which negative aspects to have in our life.
6. Tenet XV: "God allows each person the opportunity for perfection, whether you need one life or a hundred lives to reach your level of perfection." Just as we choose different themes or lessons that we're going to learn, we also pick the number of lives (even the years, months, days, and hours) that we're going to exist on this planet in order to complete our mission or education. There is also the explanation for why some seem to be taken before what we feel is their time. Their charted time may be entirely different from our own. The Gnostics have always believed in reincarnation, but kept silent because they were afraid of being branded heretics.
7. Tenet XVI: "Devote your liefe, your soul, your very existance, to the service of God. For only there will you find meaning in life." In all the major religions, the basic themes of love, giving. and peace are pervasive. So if we go through life as the various messengers have told us to, then we've devoted our existance to the service of God.
8. Tenet XVIII: "Death is the act of returning Home; it should be done with grace and dignity. You may perserve that dignity by refusing prolonged use of artificial life-support systems. Let God's will be done." Medicine is marvelous, but sometimes we keep peoplk ealive when there's no life left. It is a loving wonderful thing to pass on, and go home to be with Jesus and God and all our family and friends that have gone on before us. Do not fear death for it is not the ending, but the beginning.
9. Tenet XIX: "We believe in a Mother God, Who is co-Creator with our all-loving Father God." The fact is, pure logic dictates that if there is a male principle, there has to be a female counterpart. Although the Christian movement has taken great pains to hide the truth for so many years, little bits and pieces are coming out these days, and the media is taking notice and picking up on the feminie principle.
10. Tenet XX: "We believe that our Lord was crucified, but did not die on the cross. Instead, he went on to live his life in France with his mother and Mary Magdalene, his wife." There are many facts to back up this truth. I can't put them all down here now, but will do a post strickly on this topic. And show path that Jesus took.
11. Tenet XXI: "We Gnostics kept the knowledge hidden that Christ's lineage exists even today, and the truth long buried is open to research." This is also another topic that could be written about extensively. I suggest reading Sylvia Browne's book "If You Could See What I See". It explains the truths much better than I can and the facts that go with it.
12. Tenet XVII: "War is profane; defense is compulsory." We Gnostics do not believe in war, for through the ages it hasn't accomplished much except death and destruction. We do believe that we must protect our lives and homes, but to have most of the world in turmoil is ridiculous.
13. Tenet VI: "In faith be like the wind chimes: Hold steady until faith, like the wind, moves you to joy." Faith to us Gnostics is synonymous with knowing, and truth, which is really important during a depressed or negative time in your life. If you hold on to your beliefs in a loving God, you'll find that your faith turns into an unshakable knowing.

I am sure some of these tenets have got you thinking, and questioning me. But these are my beliefs which I respect as well as respecting yours. I do recommend reading Sylvia Browne's work and you will see that we have an all-loving God that wants us to grow with love and knowledge.

Relay for Life

What a wonderful, emotional, inspirational night. Relay for Life is a fundraising event for the Canadian Cancer Society, where groups of people raise money and spend the evening walking around a track. There was over 1300 people there. Over 100 just of survivors. There was food, music, and games all night. Our team alone raised over $1200. What a moment when all the luminaries are light in memory or in honour of those people that have been affected by cancer. Not a dry eye in the house. Just feeling the overwhelming love and support, you couldn't help but feel like anything was possible. I am not sure what the grand total raised was, but last year was over $100,000 and we have more teams this year. I think they said 119 teams or something like that. I can't wait till next year. Of course we weren't prepared for this year. Who knew that it got so cold out during the night, that you could see your own breath. Next time I am bringing a sleeping bad and toque. Unfortunately Mike had to work Saturday morning, so he could only stay until 11pm, but hopefully he will be out there walking the track all night with us next year.

The start of the Cancer Relay

The survivors lap

Team Name

Our Team

Memory luminary of Mike's Mom

Lighting the Candles

The lights are a glow

Our path of luminaries to walk by at night

Hope sign

The team is wearing down

4:00am, only 3 more hours to go

My blistered toe, man my feet hurt!

What an experience. Can't wait till next year!

13 Pet Peeves

Today's subject for my Thursday Thirteen is all about my pet peeves. Everyone has them, and some may not bother others like they do certain people. That is what makes pet peeves fun.

1. People who don't put on the signal lights (oh this one is a big pet peeve)
2. People who don't say "thank you" after placing their order in the drive thru. (even worse are the ones that don't say it at all)
3. Litterbugs. (this has to be one of the worst, not only does it bother people, but it ruins the planet as well)
4. People who blow out their cig smoke as they are walking into a place, right into your face
5. People that ignore their crying, tantum throwing children in a store (does ignoring really make them stop, I don't think so, just makes them louder)
6. People who are cruel to animals (this is more than a pet peeve, it is an all out hatred)
7. Pestimistic people (don't they realize that depressing thought will only bring on depressing thoughts, not to mention they are very draining people)
8. Skinny people that can eat anything they want (this one is pretty self explanatory lol)
9. Getting woke up, only to have the kids ask "are you sleeping Mom" (it has taken some training, but I may have broke them from this habit)
10. People who use fowl language every other word they can (really is it necessary to swear like a sailor, very unattractive)
11. The dizziness feeling when you stand up to fast (we used to take stuff to get this feeling, now I just want it to stop)
12. Whispering (when I hear this, it just makes me more anxious, it is rude to whisper with people around)
13. People who don't appreciate all that they have (be thankful for food and water and room and board, or you could go live in Africa to really learn what you have)

Well here are the first 13 that came to my head. I am sure I could think up some more. But having too many pet peeves, it really a pet peeve.

A New Set of 10's

I am doing really well with my weight loss. I have lost 2 more pounds this week. Putting me at 209 lbs now. Single digits. Only 10 lbs more and I will be under 200 lbs. That will be a great obstacle reached. And will only motivate me that much more to try hard and continue. I can't remember the last time I weighed under 200 lbs. I think atleast 3 or 4 years. So exciting. I am continuing to go to the gym. I really believe I am at that point where you want to go, and are sad when you miss it. I wondered when I would feel those feelings, so it is a surprise that I actually got there. I miss yoga. I keep forgetting to get the yoga cd from Kathie, to do it at home. But I miss the social aspect of going to yoga. I felt more a part of the world when I was out in a group setting. I do need to incorporate more activity into my days though to help the weight come off faster and easier. We try to go for a walk in the evening after the hubby comes home. This is easy to achieve in the nice warm summer days. It is beautiful and refreshing to walk down the main street in town, with all the trees full and lush and all the birds singing. You can't help but feel optomistic with a free mind. All this talk has me ready for a walk tonight. We have been doing 2 miles at a time. Maybe we are ready to up that. Of course our middle point is Timmies, so we reward ourselves with a coffee and a cookie for the walk back. Oh well, I can't wait till next week's weigh in.