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It’s in the Inspiration

Hail Brave Hearts

Happy New Year!  It’s 2024.

The inspiration  is here   It’s in joy, happiness, thrills and excitement.  The new year brings in a new resolution.  Decide on the need, the necessity, the challenge.  What will you be this year?

It starts with joy and merriment.  Drink, feast, music, dance,,,, dance the night away.  A sense of change, fellowship and fun and always the hope for something new, perhaps catastrophic, a change.  So what will the resolution be?  Self discipline?  Courage?  How to make this change, to transform to a new being, to be the butterfly from the caterpillar.  Both are beautiful, but what is the preference, to fly, or to crawl?

Both are beautiful.

Both have advantages.

The dilemma is decided in the insect world, emerge from a  cocoon and fly.   For us, the decision is ours.  Or so they say.  Inspiration is a dream, work is a reality,   You just have to get there, from here.

Snowboard Legend Rides 20,000 Ft. First Descent (youtube.com)

The dream is in the mind, to rise to the challenge is also in the mind.  Inspiration is everywhere.  Focus.  Focus and built.  Each day is a new day.  Each day is a day to commit to the dream.  To focus on creating the reality.  Make a plan, consult, build relationships and work.  Each day is the dream in progress.  But dreaming is not the reality.   Work is what is needed and hard work for excellence and achievement is always the reality.

There’s competition in this fine world.  So many brilliant achievers, with such dedication to their goals.  Striving and struggling, building and working, some so desperate, their pleas are in agony.  Help us!

Top 10 Extreme Sports (youtube.com)

Choose wisely, you heroes.  Your finest aptitude is your preferred focus.  To win at such an intense game as life, you need to choose properly.  A fine mind, well educated.  A fine body, well nourished and exercised.  A fine society to spend your life with.  The tangible goals and the far reaching goals, all part of the plan.  A well executed plan is a life goal.

Living by chance is a challenging game.  Not really knowing where to go, what to do, who to associate with, presents many difficulties.  It’s much easier to choose appropriately, find likeminded colleagues, adapt to change and build necessary skills.  It’s much easier to be pleased with achievements, than to live in the sorrow of incompetence.  Choose correct aptitudes and focus on the natural gift.  It’s there.  So is the social bond of classmates, colleagues, family and friends.  The mutual support group.

This call to action is for an adventure.  This is the adventure of your life!

There are many worlds to live in, on this fine planet.  Each world nurtures the craving aptitude that relishes in it.  The aptitude that relies on it.

It’s a fine world, full of fabulous brilliance.  The sun shines brightly on the great planet.  The Earth and it’s inhabitants are a mission of impossible reality.  Each tiny footprint of ours makes a mark on the surface.  Marks of greatness or marks of insignificance.

Plan your adventure.  This is your life, live in reality.  This is your greatest adventure.

written by  Dr.  Louise Hayes

January 2, 2024

 

Oh Happy Day
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Oh Happy Day

Dear Brave Hearts

The glory of this special holiday season surrounds us.  Joy!  The world is filled with merriment and hope, love everlasting, the eternal spirit of goodwill is with us.  It is Christmas time, the time to rejoice in gladness that God is with us.

Praises to the world.  A joyous world.  A wondrous world.  Oh wondrous Love that adores us.

It is during this festive holiday season, that we sing, give thanks and remember that child that brings love into the world and joy to our lives.  It is with gladness that we praise this child and the special message that He brings.  The gifts, the joy, the singing, the angels, the Christmas tree and lights, the fabulous food.  A message of love and humanity for all of us.  Praises to this King.  Not a king of a kingdom, but a king of our hearts.  Oh Holy One, Oh Blessed One, this birthday of Christ the King.

Oh joy to us, all the world of God’s creation.  Not only to mankind but to the animal world as well.

Top Christmas Music Playlist 🎅🏼 Best Christmas Songs Playlist 🎄 Merry Christmas 2023 (youtube.com)

For now, while we play and smile, visit with family and friends and join in the fun of a fabulous holiday, we give thanks,  Thank you for the season, thanks for the Love, the joy, the happiness of having a time to rejoice.  A time for us.  A special time of prayer.  A time of rest, of peace, of remembrance.

Oh save us, great saviour!  This weary world rejoices.  It is Christmas time.  We live.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

December 24, 2023

An Historic Summer Holiday
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An Historic Summer Holiday

Hail Brave Hearts

The memories of summer holidays filled with fun and sun, swimming and boating and  our great escape to the Canadian wild.  This is the life!  So full of warm summer waters and warm summer sun.  A life of frolicking on beaches, camping and cottages.  The great Canadian summer holiday.  A life style to fulfill.  There’s no life like it.

Grab your canoes and head to the water.  The footsteps of travellers in the past, mark routes of undeniable beauty.  Maps and compasses, campgrounds and hotels.  The small town oasis of civilization along a path of well travelled waterway.  The iconic Canadian water transportation routes of waterway highway.  A path of rivers and lakes joining one part of Canada to another.  The rivers, waterfalls, rapids and portages.  Pack you bags, fill your canoes,  join in the adventure of Canadian travel that has marked our history with holidays from coast to coast.

The Historic Trent/Severn Canal System.  Glorious!

Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site (canada.ca)

Grateful are we to have this grand opportunity to visit this historic waterway, in historic voyageur canoes.  A fun and fabulous holiday in the middle of the summer.  A canoe brigade.  The fortunate few who participated in this endeavour, which leads from Georgian Bay to  Lake Ontario.  following rivers, locks, canals and lakes.  A historic waterway of magnificent scenery, birds and wildlife, lily pads and rushes.  And the locks.

Up and down, up and down, it’s the easiest paddling ever! And the locks are a marvel of engineering.  Different styles of lifts picking us up the rapids and waterfalls to a new level of water.  Spectacular!

The Severn River to Lake Couchiching, to Simcoe, the Trent Canal to Balsam, Cameron and Kawartha Lakes, Otonabee River, the Trent River and on to Lake Ontario.    It’s an historic route for an historic paddling group, or for anyone with a boat and a licence to pursue this holiday adventure.

Canadian Voyageur Brigade Society | coordinate and support big canoe brigades

This 386 km of historic waterway was first started in 1833 and completed in 1922 with 45 locks connecting Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario.  This  ambitious idea was appointed by  Sir John Colborne of the the inland Water  Commision who constructed the first lock at Bobcaygeon.  Now a National Historic Site, this waterway is a path of boating delight.  In it’s early history, the canal was hoped to be a passage for steamships plying these waters with trade, but the canal had several setbacks, which delayed it’s progress.  By the time it was finished, the steamboats were too large for the locks.  Now this historic canal is used by thousands of tourists in pleasure craft from May to October each year.

The iconic canoe, a favourite of many family outings and wilderness adventure, is part of Canada’s  historic lifeline to survival.  The canoe has been with us for centuries, as a transportation vessel and a pleasure craft.  From it’s aboriginal routes to the fur trade, to modern day vehicle, the canoe has been a valuable and necessary part of Canada’s wilderness history  With this in the past and so much enjoyment today, the canoe is a classic pleasure craft.

 

written by Dr Louise Hayes

October 21, 2023

The Oystercatchers of Gwaii Haanas
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The Oystercatchers of Gwaii Haanas

Hail Brave Hearts

The great wild is calling,  An adventures awaits.  Dutifully we don our apparel for yet another great holiday in Canada.  It’s summertime, and the sun shines gloriously on long days of warmth and outdoor activity. Canoes and kayaks entice us into the waters of lakes and rivers.  The iconic Canadian transportation system, lures us into the paths of our history.  Build your canoes, build your kayaks, follow in the steps of legendary people who navigated the waters this way.

The great wild calls us to develop the skills of history makers who charted the seas, mapped the coastlines and stamped the approval of the ownership of this land.  This is ours.

The great lands of the Haida, tucked away in the northern islands, north of Vancouver Island.  Isolated and rare, a gem of discovery.  This land is our land, protected by a great nation of peoples, the Haida people of Haida Gwaii and the Gwaii Haanas National Park.  It belongs to them and their stories fill the islands.

We arrive by plane, for the trip of a lifetime, into the land of the Haidas.  Remote and alive, the area fills with eagles.  The ocean is calm and the days are warm.  We’ve packed for a week long kayak adventure into Gwaii Haanas.  This area is a paradise of wilderness ocean adventure.

Seagulls meet us, reminding us that God is here.  In the call of the birds, we clearly hear Gods name.  Seals bask on the rocks and a river otter swims past.  An Oyster Catcher stops us.  His antics catch our attention as he jumps around on the rock in a aa unusual dance.  His five chicks huddle close together in the nest and his mate slumber close by.  He is a father and proudly shows off the nest.  A thirteen year old bird, whose making a noise that sounds like Barack.  We name him Barack then, pleased that he’s shown us his fine family

Black Oystercatcher Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Our luck with the weather holds for this trip.  There are seven of us on this  July excursion, with a guided kayaking and camping company.  The Pacific is mainly calm and peaceful towards us as humpback whales surface and feed in our sights.  One comes close to us.  It’s a pleasure.  The wildlife sightings are superb, with black bear, dolphins, orcas and sea lion to add to our list.  The bird life is unusual to us as well.  Ancient Murrelet,  seagulls, falcons, puffins, rhinoceros beaked birds and red footed pigeon guillemot to add to  our list.  It’s a list of some rare bird and animals  in an area filled with ocean life.

Then, there’s, the people.  We visit the Haida of the ancient totem poles.  to see for ourselves the carvings of great masters and to hear their stories.  A far flung people, out in islands in a remote Pacific location.  An area of impressive beauty molding a nation of seafaring people, who live from the sea.  The builders of ocean going canoes paddling the great seas.  A people of unique culture, surviving in an area of wildlife wealth.  The ocean provides.

This was a dream holiday in our great land.  So much to be proud of, so much to enjoy.  The land and the people, the ocean and the wildlife.  A place of unusual prosperity.

parks.canada.ca › pn-np › bcGwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine …

The sun shines brightly on Haida Gwaii and the warm summer breeze encourages outdoor adventure.  This was a wonderful, unique  holiday in Canada’s superb wilderness backyard.  We congratulate ourselves for this choice of adventure.    We’ll be back

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

August 27, 2023

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Dawson City

Good Day Brave Hearts

The celebration begins.  June 21 is a special day for the Indigenous People of Canada.  The longest day of the year marks the first day of summer and is celebrated by all of us, in one way or another.

From that mountain top hike to enjoy  the view, to the joy of  just  being outside in the sunshine for a long summers day, the summer solstice is a celebration of light, sun, earth and summertime.  It’s a day to be outside.  A day that is given to us to enjoy the light.  Enjoy the sun, the sunshine and  celebrate the beginning of summer.

The warm summer sun washes us and frees us of the chill of winter.  Our clothing is light and we shed the winter coat of down, fur, or layers that protect us all winter long.  We can swim in the warm lakes and bask in the warm sun.  Sun worshippers are we.

Add to the joy of just another summer solstice, the longest day of the year is also a celebration of Indigenous Peoples, who also long to enjoy the warm summer sunshine, to feel the warm summer breeze and to cast off the cold, winter’s night that is always too long.  The sun is rising and in some parts of our world it will not set at all.  With thanks, we celebrate this new light show.  Gone are the Northern Lights, now it’s only the sun, for twenty four hours a day.  We are nearly at the Arctic Circle.

This beautiful little town of Dawson City is a gem in the Yukon.  A bright and prosperous mining town, still selling nuggets of gold and revelling in the gold rush days.  It’s a place of history, of champions, of people who made a living in a harsh reality that was the gold rush.   It was not an easy place to be.  The history of this divine place is of hardship, strife, difficulty and doom  It’s also a history of fantastic fortune, of fun and folly and of clever enterprise.  It’s a brilliant story, way up in the north.  A booming small town, still gold rush rich, it oozes the gold rush days.  Fine buildings in immaculate condition, brightly painted and artistically designed.  This was a place of privilege and so it goes.  There’s still gold in those hills.

Exploring Dawson City in the Yukon (The heart of the Klondike Gold Rush)! – YouTube

The other rich, is the people.  A fine and determined group of settlers who wouldn’t leave this place, and a fine and determined group of Indigenous people who already belonged to it.  They belong to the land, it is theirs, it belongs to us.  The age old right of occupancy, of who fits in and where.  The right of the Indigenous clans to keep what’s theirs, the right of the settlers to occupy for prosperity.  It’s what needs are.  There is gold here, we stay.

The celebration is of fine minds, of people who care for this awesome and inspiring place.  It’s a celebration of music, of stories, of plays, fun and food.  It’s a day long celebration of praise for the people.  It’s a day of necessity.  Take the day, enjoy the music, indulge in the goodness of this day.  A day for praise, for harmony, for joy.  It instills the self worth that is necessary. We are one, we are whole, we are a people.

Joy to us, for this great day of celebration.  It’s a fine day, for fine people.  Happy are we, for the joy that it gives us. Happy are we for the celebration.  Happy are we for the summer solstice and for Indigenous Peoples Day.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 26, 2023

 

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National Herbalist Day

Hail Brave Hearts

Enjoy the nutrition of the land and the many medical marvels that it reveals.  It’s a new day dawning for the Herbalist.  A day of worthy mention.  National Herbalist Day!  Wow!

The subject matter is superb.  Now that spring is here, the welcome backyard medicine cabinet is opening it’s doors.  New spring teas from fresh shoots, leaves and plants.  Lovely.  Fit for any larder, the beautiful abundance of natural goodness is in your yard.

The most obvious, killer weed, that notorious Dandelion.  Awesome!  The nutritional value of this plant is a keeper.

Plantain, St John’s Wort, Daisy and many more.   A special day for those of us, who seek natural remedies for those aches and pains.  I’ve been lucky with Nettle, Red Currant, Apple Leaf and Rose Hips, but these are just a few of the many natural wonders of the wild world.  Home made salves and soaps, fragrance and tea.  Natural healers to boost energy, to calm, to induce sleep, to improve circulation and help achy joints and achy pains.  Your garden is an Earthly delight.  Those pesky weeds, so hard to get rid of , might freshen your breath, improve your eyesight, add luster to your hair and make it shine.  The self indulgent gardener might even find a cure for what ails themselves.  There are many good gardening books which will help to plant an herbalist garden.

But are natural remedies important?  They are, if you want them to be.  Do they actually provide cures?  Yes, they do.

To quote Chris Dalziel at Jobillee Farm.  who has a  book Growing Abundance, the Garden You Harvest in a Week.

Monday is National Herbalist Day!  It’s a day to acknowledge the herbs that keep us well, help our gardens grow better, make our food taste better, and give us abundance.  Its also a day to recognize the herbal mentors in our life.

Who taught you about using herbs in the kitchen, the garden, and the apothecary?  Did you learn from a mother, a grand parent, a neighbor? Are you self-taught from books and the internet? Did you take a class? Or are you just beginning to learn about herbs as an adult?

Learn about Plantago major — Plantain

I love teaching children about herbs.  My 2 year old granddaughter knows to look for plantain (Plantago major) if she gets a bee sting or a mosquito bite.  “Plantain” comes from an old French word meaning “sole of the foot”.  It grows in compacted areas, where the footprint of humans or animals have compacted the soil.  Its a healing plant for the soil as much as it is a healing plant for us.

Often plantain is the first herb that people learn to use.  It can be an “a-ha” moment, when you hand them a leaf and tell them to put it on the “ouch”.  Relief is fast.

I’ve had the privilege of introducing plantain to tough motorcyclists, stung on the hand while riding, hikers, farmers, beekeepers, wee toddlers, and grumpy teens, mowing a lawn. Plantain is just one of the many gifts that God gives us to nourish and heal us.
National Quilt Month
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National Quilt Month

Hail Brave hearts

A month of creativity for you!

March is National Quilters Month, which brings the finest of the best in the world of quilting to our attention.  Quilting!  A national and international past time with a month of praises for itself.

Quilting has long been an art of necessity.  Born in the United States from the impoverished homesteaders who would discard nothing and used every scrap of material for some repurposed, useful item.  Scraps of worn shirts, trousers and jackets which had outworn their intended purpose, became tiny bits of fabric, transformed into patterns of squares, triangles, circles and geometry.  Little bits and pieces, carefully hand stitched together to form a blanket for a bed, that needed the cover.  The time consuming craft of care that creates a warm and welcoming place in the home.

The ingenuity of the forefathers gifts to us a craft of lovely care.  Designs and patterns change over time and so does the method of quilting.  From the hand stitched pieces to the sewing machine, the quilt has taken on a new dimension in our lives.  The quilt is mainly associated with blankets, however , it also adorns the walls as smaller pieces of artwork, lovingly created to beautify the home.

Fabric stores carry cloth to purchase for a quilt, making the claim that they are quilting shops who offer lessons on how to quilt, selling sewing machines for this purpose and long arm sewing machines to quilt the finished product together.  Machines with quilt patterns programed into them, designs to draw and follow.  The art of quilting has flourished to a point where many communities have quilting guilds.  The art has flourished to a recognition so high that a whole month of the year is dedicated to it’s existence.  The message from this is that quilting is important.  It’s important to us in history and it’s important to us, to this day.

32 Charming Quilting Facts and History | Fact Retriever

From it’s early inception, perhaps as early as 3400 BC, the useful Mother of Invention, took hold of  scraps of fabric and batting and stitched them together.  That useful Mother has shaped most of our lives and history is filled with her magic of ingenuity.  Quilting is not necessarily about blankets, it’s the method of attaching fabric to batting to form new cloth which becomes useful items to wear or use.  Quilted jackets for the crusaders to wear under their armour, quilted coverings to hang over doors and windows, quilted jackets to wear in fields, quilted shawls  and quilted blankets made to put on  beds.

10 Historical Facts About Quilting – Art Gallery Fabrics – The Creative Blog (agfblog.com)

Quilting is used as a form of art, sometimes just to make good use of spare time.  However, the art is praiseworthy and extends over so much of human history and into so many countries, that it’s historical significance is obvious.  From ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs, to China, Medieval Europe the United States and Canada, this long  sought after craft has been with us since such ancient times that it’s won it’s own place in history.  Quilting is important, as art, as craft, as functional items.  It’s popularity has protected it   National Quilt Month is praises to this ancient craft.  Long live the quilt!

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

March 26, 2023

The Weather Outside is Frightful
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The Weather Outside is Frightful

Hail Brave hearts

Brave the snow.  It’s wintery Christmas outside and the warm glow of Christmas inside.  It’s the happiest time of the year!

 

Frank Sinatra – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (Official Music Video) – YouTube

The dear birth that gives us so much joy.  The angels, the choirs, the carols, heartwarming stories, this season is a gift. It’s a gift of love, of charity, of goodwill.  The joy that fills our hearts this season, blessed child.  The Adoration.  The gift that never stops giving.

Oh most beautiful life, oh blessed savior, come to us.  In our prayers there is hope in our minds there is light.  Shine brightly.  Shine for all of us, this holiday season.

The warm cozy fire, is a Canadian tradition.  Hot chocolate, sweet treats, candy and cookies.  The smell of a Christmas dinner baking in the oven.  All of the good things of the home.

Its an exciting time of friends, family, parties and laughter, new recipes to try:

Peppermint truffles

1 package of candy canes, ground. divided in half

1 package of cream cheese softened

2 heaping tablespoons of icing sugar

2 heaping tablespoons of flour

1 package of white chocolate melted

Cream the cream cheese in a bowl, add half of the ground candy canes, sugar and flour.  Mix together,  form into one inch balls.  Dip the balls into the melted chocolate and then coat with the remaining ground candy canes.  They’re ready to eat.

The joy of the season is upon us, good eats, good company, good treats.

Traditional Christmas Carols – YouTube

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

December 23, 2022

Gun Control
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Gun Control

Good Day Brave Heart

It’s seldom a bad day with so much to do.

Exit the warm contentment of the cozy, familiar structure to the bright snow-covered future that awaits you in the outdoors.  It’s a fantasy world of snow laden trees, martins leaping along the way and birds chattering to each other.  What do they say?  Only your own spirits will determine their message.  The sundog shines in a glorious ring around the sun, indicating a weather pattern on its way.  The brightness of this glory world is the psychedelic wonder of yesteryear.  It’s no wonder that they thought that LDS was safe.

Minds bend in the staggering difficulty of the task.    The unfathomable human experiment of the day.

Hunting and trapping, the need to survive, the human is a new predator in this place.  Now the competition for the food supply has increased and new hunters are on the land.  Hunters with families and small mouths to feed.  Tiny tots with growing pains, hunger pangs and shill cries.  Feed us! cloth us! save us! The howls stop when the hut vanishes in the snow and the hunt for animal tracks begin.

This new human brings a new kind of weapon to the wild world of big game hunting.  Gone is the bow and arrow, now it’s the rifle.  Guns.  Guns to protect us, guns to hunt with, guns to be dependent upon.  Guns for survival, guns for livelihood, guns for trade and barter.  Guns.   Only the need for ammunition is a drawback in the use of guns.  Stock the larder with as much provision for the winter as you can, and don’t forget the main one, your gun.

Unlicensed weapons have as many as you want to.  No one is watching.

The stealthy aboriginal makes his way to your shelter.  Maybe you don’t have to hunt today.  Maybe all that you have to do is to trade him a good gun and a round of ammunition for a side of moose, a rack of elk and a hind quarter of deer.  Maybe he will give his own much needed furs, from that rabbit, for a gun.  The indigenous people need the fur more than the fur trader do, but wildlife is plentiful, and trade brings wealth to this family.  Wealth to one, survival to another, a deal is struck.  It seems like a win, win situation.  The stealthy aboriginal so experienced in the ways of this land, looking to improve his own lot in life.  A gun for his hunt, a gun for his prosperity and a gun to protect him from the devil.

The homesteader is saved.  No more psychedelic sunshine.  No more mind-bending winter exposure.  No more lethargic, seemingly drug filled indecisive wanderings.   He is saved.  Saved by the aboriginal bell of necessity.  The gun is more powerful than the bow and arrow.

A shot rings out on the still land.  The skilled new hunter has already conquered.  More will come looking for this kind of trade.  More will seek the European for guns.

Guns for survival, guns to protect us.  Guns.  A new way of life.

The Wild Canadian Year: Canada’s toughest season, with only the hardiest prevailing – Winter – YouTube

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

 

 

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For All of Us

Hail Brave hearts

Happy Mothers Day to you.

Storybooks and dreams, ambition, love, respect and adoration, the life long ties between a mother and her child.  The joy of living, the joy of giving.  The heart felt happiness in the growth of a child.  Nurture and care, dream and dare, this precious being is a wonder of creation.

Mothers and children, is a two way relationship.  Bond with those precious ones, as they grow to be the people that you need in your life.  From a tiny word, to a tiny step,, from a first smile to a first stand,  the accomplishments are huge and deserve the praises and rewards of being a human being.  Encouragement and care, after all, look at where we are.  We are someone’s parenting achievement.  We are someone’s blessed child.  We are someone’s dream  of fulfillment.  We are someone’s caring and need.  The parenting achievement that is you, is the parenting achievement that you should become. A wonderful new birth to a lifetime of family, family support and community. The giving and sharing is returned in so many ways.

This precious child, so filled with life and possibility, with all of the potential that you can give.  A parental responsibility is only a part of this interaction.  The joy of life is all of it.

All of your life to share with your loved ones, all of your life to be loved and to love.  This is for you, you awesome parents.  To love and be loved.  To pass this on.  To nurture the young ones and to teach them their responsibility.  Their responsibility to their family, to their community, to themselves.

A child is a precious life.  Enjoy is while you can.  These fleeting years are yours to enjoy.

Praises to you, you fabulous parents.  Praises to you, you wonderful mothers.

Happy Mother’s Day

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

May 8, 2022

Mother’s Day Short Film- I’ll Love You Forever – YouTube