Happy New Year

Best wishes for the New Year and the years to come. 

The best New Year's Resolution I came across is to take care of one's health and make sure that their family is healthy and happy. All my life I have made New Year's resolutions only to forget about them after a month. I am not going to make any resolutions because it is hard work to keep a check on them. Instead I will check mark the things that I finished doing and feel good that I got something done. When it comes to weight I will not worry about the numbers, instead I will just eat right and go for walks. 

I hope that the new year is full of good things from the beginning to the last day. I may sound as naive as a child but is there anything better than hoping for the best? Let us think about the ways we can have peace and aim at making this world a peaceful place. I don't know how I can reach people in far off places to talk about peace, but I can do my share by doing small things in my own way.

I wish everyone a safe and happy New Year. I pray that everyone gets (and gives) a gift of kindness and understanding in every situation. I hope that everyone is in good health. Amein.

My Favorite Christmas Memory

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 My favorite year was 2008 when on Christmas day my husband came home from the hospital after open heart surgery  (a quadruple bi- pass surgery). His surgery took place on the eighteenth of December. It was a six and a half hour long surgery when they had to stop his heart and use a heart - lung machine so they could work on his heart. I remember that very well, when I kind of collapsed with happiness when the social worker told us my husband is safe and is in the critical care unit. When I saw the surgeon later that evening I did not have enough words to thank him. That week we were going crazy making back and forth trips to the hospital as his recovery was taking longer than expected. There were days when we would be happy with our three year old grandson wishing everyone Merry Christmas and there were days when we were worried about my husband's heart rate and his other numbers. Even on Christmas Eve we were not certain as to when he would be coming home. Then finally on Christmas day the doctor gave an OK for my husband to come home. That morning our home was not as clean as I would have liked it to be and I did not have a lot of fancy food, but our home had our whole family. My husband, my two sons, my daughter, my daughter in law and my grandson were all on the table eating whatever was there. Simple healthy food. That year is still in my memory. We will always be grateful to God.

Pray for School Children

It does not seem very long time ago when poverty was the only hardship children had to face to get education. I guess we can say that children whose parents could make just enough money to provide food and shelter and maybe a couple of outfits would get devastated if their children wanted to go to school and they could not pay the fee. I remember my own parents giving up their hobbies and things they liked to make sure we were able to go to school. I also remember my brother and I sharing a case of color pencils and a compass box. Today most of the countries of the world are rich enough to provide free education, and thanks to global generosity children can afford proper supplies for school.  Yet children are suffering more than their share of hardships. Some have actually lost their lives simply because they happen to be in school. Some will suffer from  PTSD for a major portion of their lives. Two years ago on the fourteenth of December was the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school and this morning we heard the horrible news of the attack on a school in Pakistan.  Some of us have children and grandchildren who go to elementary school. Some of us have children who go to college even. 

This Holiday season let us all pray that our young ones stay safe anywhere they happen to be.