Change and Fear -- A Part of Life

When I started my business some time ago, I wanted it to have its own identity but wasn't sure when I would take it to that level. I know now that I should have done it the first day. I was nervous about forming a corporation because of the enormous amount of reporting involved. After researching the options, I decided that a Limited Liability Company was what was right for my situation.

After my decision, I thought some more and some more and the years came and went. Finally in 2009 I decided to take the plunge but did not muster up the courage to do so until this month (April 2009). I have come to the realization that what kept me from completing my decision for so long was fear. I'm not sure what I was afraid of but now that I have completed the process I'm relieved and proud that I completed what I set out to do so long ago.

Now that the process is complete I have the job of notifying "everyone" of the change. I keep reminding myself that I will remember to notify "everyone" of the change because, in the back of my mind I think that I'm forgetting "someone".

I know that I am not the only person who is, at times, paralyzed by fear. I wish that there was a magic potion or something that could stop the effect of fear in our lives. Don't you?

By the way, on May 4, 2009 my company will become Alleluia!LLC/ Custom Embroidery. Yeah!!

Is English Composition Still Taught in Grade Schools?

when I enrolled in a graduate course, some time ago, I was appalled at the writing ability of some of my peers and wondered why their writing skills lacked so much, after all they were graduate students. I now know why.

I have recently had an opportunity to read the responses of eight graders. I have been shocked by their lack of ability to construct a decent sentence. I have had to sit for a few minutes re-reading their sentences to figure out where one sentence began and where it ended. Once I got that far, I had to figure out the meaning of each statement because their thoughts appeared scrambled.

It appears that some of our children are not being taught how to construct effective sentences nor are they being taught proper grammar. Is it because some teachers have chosen to accept poor quality of work from their students? Could it be that some teachers don't have a good grasp of the English language themselves so they are in no capacity to correct their students? I say this because I have read letters from teachers and school faculty with incorrect grammar.

The problem has been presented, in a nut shell, from my vantage point. What's your response to this?

Hands

We take our hands for granted, don't we? We drive, care for ourselves and others, we make a living, we pay our bills, we even create bills with our hands.

Some years ago I was injured and lost the use of my right hand for a few weeks. Since I am a trained right-hander, I just used my left hand at work; no problem! It was then however, that I began to realize how important my hands are -- like every other part of my body. From time to time over the past years I've thought about hands until one day I heard the performance of a poem called "Whose Hands are These?" It talks about the hands that rocked the cradle, hands that raised families, our sister's hands, our father's hands, our aunt's hands and so on. These are the familiar hands in our lives but what about those hands that have sacrificed for us that we will never meet? Think about it!

I have not been able to get this poem out of my mind so I decided to create a design that begins to express my gratitude to some of the hands in my life: My father's hand, my mother's hand and my children's hands.