AWBA Happenings ...

Typically,  I try to get a few posts uploaded before a newsletter goes out and did not make it this month.  Life is very full for myself personally and for AWBA right now.  If you receive our newsletter (register on the AWBA home page at www.myawba.org) or visit our Facebook page, you will already know about this.  If not, below are the highlights.

We have been raising funds to cover expenses connected to an upcoming pilot program for those impacted by Parkinson's.  Thanks to our generous supporters, we have met that goal and details are now available for "Listening Beneath the Words."  Visit our website events page at Events to learn how to register.  Space is limited to 10 participants.  If you must miss a session, you will not find yourself out of the loop.  Just let me know when you register.

Listening Beneath the Words

Introduction to Touch Drawing

A Pilot Program for Those Impacted

by Parkinson's

Saturdays, 10 a.m. - noon

Sept. 6, 13, 27, Oct. 4, 2014

Gender Road Christian Church

Canal Winchester, Ohio

In addition, we are finalizing details for a fund raising event open to the public and tentatively scheduled for Friday, October 3, 10 a.m.  - 2 p.m.  Registration information should be available in July.  To receive advance notice of registration as soon as it is available, email director@myawba.org.  Space for this program will be limited to 15.

Expressive Art as a Healing Process

An Introduction to Touch Drawing

Gilgal Farm, Lancaster, Ohio

A fund raiser to benefit the programs and services of AWBA

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Lastly, my husband and I are relocating to the Hocking Hills region of Ohio, about 50 miles from where we currently reside.  This has been a long time coming.  Our new home enables us to live in a natural environment that more nearly  matches who we are and carries the additional bonus of opportunity for AWBA to more easily expand into Southeastern Ohio for some of our in-person events.  As anyone knows who has built a home not in the area where they presently reside, it is chaotic on a good day.  We have begun our moving process with a plan to be reasonably settled by July 6.  As I prepare to move the AWBA office, my blog posts may be silent until July.  Just know that we are still here, still serving, still planning and still receiving emails at director@myawba.org.

Thank you for being here, for listening, for your comments and feedback, for your prayers -- simply for your presence.   

"Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God." - Maya Angelou

I suspect that bloggers everywhere are taking note of the passing of Maya Angelou today.  This woman of beauty and wisdom is one of five poets and authors who have a dedicated file on my computer for their words that I want to remember.

A favorite gem,

What is a fear of living? It's being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself - for the time you take up and the space you occupy. If you don't know what you're here to do, then just do some good.

Some of you may remember that I have been an early morning walker at a nearby park since last spring.  Mid-winter was a bit of a challenge and I am thankful to be back with my  rhythm.  This morning, however, I had trouble getting out of the house and away from my office even at an early hour.  I was thinking about everything I had to get done this day.  It seemed there was no time for the "quietude" in  which God speaks to me.  I forced myself into the woods and things settled for me just a bit bringing the clarity I needed to fully live into the particular space that I occupy.

This act of "always beginning again" takes a lot of courage some days. It is one of those phrases that sounds so great when you hear it and, yet, takes considerable intention and prayer to make it a reality in one's life.  Those impacted by a chronic diagnosis that demands to be tended to every minute of every day must make a choice to begin again in each of those minutes.  I do not fall into that camp at this point in time but I have been there often.  It is never far from my memory.  

To take full responsibility for ourselves is no easy task and is not for the faint of heart.  We are here for such a short time.  Some of us become prolific and well known like Maya Angelou. Others of us engage in the simple daily activity of "doing good."  It is all important and carries impact for the world at large.

Take a moment today to bring to mind Ms. Angelou and any other writer or poet who has inspired you.  Their words carry such potential but if not put into practice for our own unique story, they are simply words on the page.  The potential is unrealized.  What can you do this day, in the midst of your current life story, to begin again and make a choice to do good somewhere for someone?  May you hear the voice of God in that act of doing good.