A celebration of poetry in April

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

A CELEBRATION OF POETRY IN APRIL:

April is Poetry Month

 

 

     A fine way to end April, Poetry Month, is to read or write poetry, so today I am posting links to poems of interest from the Beanery Online Literary Magazine, an outgrowth of and experiment by members of the Beanery Writers Group, which I facilitate (other writings can be found at www.beanerywriters.wordpress.com ).

     The first on the list is the only poem I have posted, one of two I have written. It was written while I was traveling through Maine and seeing many signs:  MOOSE CROSSING.

Moose, Goose, Deer

 

     Since April is also National Child Abuse Prevention Month, I separated out the poems on abuse issues:

DUST MOTE

I BELONG TO MY FAMILY

MY HAPPY PLACE

REACH OUT

THE WELL-ADJUSTED CHILD

WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

WILL YOU LOVE ME TO DEATH?

     A final separation is a children’s poem, gleaned from conversations between my daughter in law and her tow-year-old son, while driving:

A FAT CAT AND A SAD DAD

     Enjoy reading the following poems by members and visitors to the Beanery Online Literary Magazine:

AFTER THE SCOTTISH GAMES AT LIGONIER

!¡Anger¡!

A Beach Remembered

Bookshelves of Conscious

CAT by Brendan K.

Characteristics of and lures used by child molesters

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

CHARACTERISTICS OF AND LURES USED BY CHILD MOLESTORS

 

 

     April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. (to view photo click on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolyncholland/3412621389/). I will be continuing my posts on child abuse and domestic violence throughout the month. Please be there for children whom you suspect are being abused. Sometimes, all you can do is hold out a loving hand and pray for them.

     This post is part of a continuing series about child abuse and parenting. At the end of this article are links to the other posts on this subject. If the links do not work, go to www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com , click on the folder CHILD ABUSE or the folder DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, and scroll down the posts to find answers to your questions.

 

     It is essential for a parent to know the characteristics of a child sexual abuser in order to protect their child. It is equally important to understand how perpetrators lure children into their web of harm, and to teach their child how to identify danger and respond to it, and most importantly, to report it to a safe person.

     However, if adults can be fooled, how much easier is it to fool a child. Parents need to be knowledgeable and continually alert to the dangers around their children.

 

     An abuser/perpetrator may not view their behavior as harmful. They may be unclear of

Spring…the joy and pathos of the…DANDELION

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

SPRING…the JOY and the PATHOS of the…DANDELION

 

     It’s truly spring. The sprouting signs would declare the season even if we lacked calendars. In Westmoreland County (PA) the high 80s and low 90s temperature on April 24-25, 2009, were perfect for the Ryan and Sarah Adamosky Rumbaugh’s wedding. In addition to being a friend of the family, I was the ceremony photographer.

     Signs other than the temperature indicate we are experiencing spring. The pear tree

Characteristics of healthy families

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

CHARACTERISTICS OF HEALTHY FAMILIES

 

 

     April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. (to view photo click on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolyncholland/3412621389/). I will be continuing my posts on child abuse and domestic violence throughout the month. Please be there for children whom you suspect are being abused. Sometimes, all you can do is hold out a loving hand and pray for them.

     This post is part of a continuing series about child abuse and parenting. At the end of this article are links to the other posts on this subject. If the links do not work, go to www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com , click on the folder CHILD ABUSE or the folder DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, and scroll down the posts to find answers to your questions.

 

     All the media coverage makes dysfunctional families easy to detect. But what markers identify healthy families? Why do some families “make it” while others do not?

     No family is completely healthy. Nor is any family completely unhealthy. Rather, they fall on a continuum, able to move in either direction toward health or dysfunction. Healthy families have traits more on the healthy end of the continuum. What are these traits?

     First, healthy families tend to

How to plan to escape from a domestic violence situation

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

HOW TO PLAN TO ESCAPE

FROM A

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ABUSE SITUATION

 

     Escaping an abuse situation can be dangerous. The first days, weeks, months, after leaving are the most dangerous days in the relationship. My husband, Monte, a pastor, buried one young woman whose ex-boyfriend returned and gunned down both her and her new boyfriend within weeks of their separation.

     A viable plan is necessary. The steps below need to be carried out cautiously to prevent their detection.

     First, familiarize yourself as best possible with domestic violence services in your community, especially the

Survivor’s Guilt Lent Devotion #25

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

SURVIVOR’S GUILT  Lent Devotion #25

 

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 2:16     Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.  (NKJV)

DEVOTION: As I read these stories I reflect back on the child-slaughter meant to rid the world of Moses and Jesus. Although it’s difficult to me to consider that anyone worthy of being called a homo sapiens could participate in slaughters such as these, tales from wartime situations confirm mankind today is no better than mankind of old.

Each time I read of these mass slaughters of small children I wonder what effect they had on Moses and Jesus. Did the two suffer from

Hope for Victims of Domestic Violence

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

HOPE FOR THE VICTIM OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

 

 

This post is part of a continuing series about child abuse and parenting. At the end of this article are links to the other posts on this subject. If the links do not work, go to www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com , click on the folder CHILD ABUSE, and scroll down the posts to find answers to your questions. Some applicable devotions will be filed in the DEVOTIONS folder.

 

     Although abuse victims learn to accept their worthlessness, there is hope for those who are caught in abusive lifestyles and for adults suffering the effects of childhood abuse, even though remnant effects of the abuse may never leave. The cycle of abuse can be broken—in your own life and in your children’s lives. Abusiveness is learned behavior. As such, it can be

Breaking the Cycle of Abuse: A Devotion

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITONS

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF ABUSE: A DEVOTION

 

SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 25 instructs husbands to “love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church…Christ gave himself for it….men ought to love their wives as their own bodies…two shall be one flesh.”

 

DEVOTION: I have pictures in my files of bruises given to women by their husbands. How could this be if the men loved their wives they way Christ loved the church, as they loved their own bodies, and if they were one flesh? How is it that a spouse will

Happy Easter!

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

 

HAPPY EASTER!

 

SHALOM! MY LORD AND MY GOD! The Easter Story as told by Mary

 

READINGS TO BE ENJOYED FOLLOWING THE FESTIVITIES:

DEVOTIONS:

God’s form of communication? Lent Devotion #20

Feasting At a Welcome-All Table

ARE YOU LIVING IMPAIRED?

Feasting At a Welcome-All Table

BUSY—I’M SO BUSY!!! Lent Devotion #28

Who will take our church from us? Lent Devotion #30

Ashes to Ashes: A Devotion for Ash Wednesday

The Red Tuque

And who will reach the downtrodden? Lent Devotion #18

Belonging to Jesus: Lent Devotion #7

OTHER BIBLICAL WRITINGS:

God’s Message to the World

Jesus

Easter Surprise

A PASTOR’S ROLE IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Part 2

Basic Biblical Teachings for the Godly and Moral Life: 1

Basic Biblical Teachings for the Godly and Moral Life: 2

CHILD ABUSE AND SCRIPTURE

ABRAHAM, SARAH, HAGAR and sons ISHMAEL and ISAAC

WHAT? MARRY A PROSTITUTE, HOSEA ASKED GOD

DRESSING FOR BLESSING: GOD AND FASHION Part 1

FAITH THROWN OVERBOARD

I BELIEVE GOD INVENTED DANCING

Everyday angels

It’s spring---and the bears and birds are returning---

CANDIED VIOLETS: Remembering My Mother on Her Birthday

Battling squirrels at bird feeders I: to fight or join them

Battling squirrels at bird feeders II: to fight or join them

Battling Squirrels at Bird Feeders III: Types of bird feeders

BEAR CONFRONTATIONS: SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

BEAR STORIES ACROSS THE NATION

BEAR CARNIVAL IN CONNELLSVILLE, PA.

OF FIREFLIES AND LIGHTNING BUGS

BLACK FLIES AND OTHER INSECTS: Then and Now

THE AMAZING BEAVER

A DOVE STORY RETOLD: JASMINE AND JEWEL

SITE LINKS:

www.beanerywriters.wordpress.com/

www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com

www.barbarapurbaugh.com

www.pennwriters.com

ellenspain.com

http://ligonierliving.blogspot.com/

http://www.methodists-care.org/

God’s form of communication? Lent Devotion #20

GOD’S FORM OF COMMUNICATION?

Lent Devotion #20

SCRIPTURE: Numbers 9:16-17  16.  So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.  17.  Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. (NKJV)

REFLECTION: According to Scriptural accounts, the first communication by “cloud” and “fire” did not occur with Native Americans but with the nomadic Israelites.

However, since this passage brings to mind Native Americans, I will reflect on them.

I had two interviews in February 1999. One was with a renowned black artist. The other was on the history of the Connellsville Armory. During both interviews I was confronted with treasures of the mid-west Blackfeet Indian descendents.

The coincidence influenced my request to my local editor to do a story on