The Christianville Spirit: My Feelings about April and God

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 29, 2015-TCS # 448

So, My Readers. I am sure that All of You have That One Time of The Year when If Any Anything Bad is going to Happen, It is going to be in That Month. In Other Words, In Everyone’s Family, There is always that One Month of The Year that You dread it coming because You believe something crazy is going to Happen. For Some, It is a Months like September (for those of 9/11), October, May, or  (Hopefully Not) December. For Our Family, It seems to be April. Nearing The End of March, We see April coming and We think “Oh No! Not Again!”, Every April, I can’t WAIT for April to be over with and Come Out of It Unharmed. So, Why Exactly do I Hate April? It seems that April is The Month that if Someone is going Pass Away or Something Bad is going to Happen, It will be in That Month and Believe Me, It has happened before. You See, Several Members of The Smith Family have passed away within Days of Each Other in Different Years, The First was Uncle Doc on April 14th, 2007,(on Our Birthday Calendar, We put “Homecoming”), The Next Year, 2008, on April 17th, My Mom’s Dad, Popi passed away and finally, on April 11th, 2010 My Grandma Honey’s Mom, “Grandma Mimi” as We called her, passed too. That is also not to Mention that My Grandma Honey’s Dog, Sugar passed away on April 30th, 2010. So, Since Popi past away back in 2008, April has been sort of a “Bad Luck Month” for Our Family. April of This Year, of course, was No Exception, Both Personally and In The News, It has just been a Bad Month; The Napal Earthquake, Baltimore Riots, The Crazy Weather as well, and If You watch The Show Gray’s Anatomy (Spoiler Alert!) They killed off Derek Shepard (aka McDreamy). Not to Mention, The Scary Newsletters (at least for Me) Newsletters 444 and 446, because Those aren’t Good Numbers and They came in The “Bad Luck” Month of April, How Fitting. Now, I will say that There is Some Light that did Come Out of April, Don’t Worry This Newsletter is not going to be that Depressing, I promise You! It seems like When Things are Crazy in Our Family, That is When The Best Conversations between My Mom and I show up. Some are Me educating Her about Geography and History, and Some are Extremely Inspirational. There was One Conversation We had about God and His Blessings. A Talk about How God, Our Prayers, and His Blessings work. It is at a Time when We are both waiting patiently for The Big Blessings and “Breaks”. After I was Done Talking to My Mom about it, I posted about it on Facebook. It Read The Following, “So, My Mom and I have the most interesting Dinner Conversations! This Evening, We talked about God's Blessings, Praying for a Request for Something, and How They all Work! So, This is How I see it. I believe that God runs a Restaurant, like a 10-Star Restaurant, The Best there is. The "God Cafe" I call it. So, You come in and sit down, God's Servers (Angels) give you a Menu. You Say, "Dear God, Please give me XYZ". A New Break, The Right Person, The List goes on. Then, God starts Cooking it. Well, because We are sitting at a 10-star Restaurant, it takes a Very Long Time to wait for Your Food (Wish) to be served to You. People not for God, are Outside protesting for Whatever Reason. While You Wait, Minor Blessings (Appetizers) come to You. This is going to be a Good Meal, You Think. Each Year passing by You wonder if it will come. (Great Blessings equal Great Worthy Waiting Time) You Yell, "Hurry Up God!", "I AM WORKING ON IT says God!!!!!" in a Loving Way. We are at a 10 Star restaurant, it must be Really Good. When You finally get The Meal, It is THE Best Meal You have ever had! Some People order small meals like Never-Ending Appetizers or something you can cook at Home. Others tho, Like Me, Order Big Meals and although we have to wait for them, They will be So Worth It! Until Then, God is back there working Very Hard with His Special Touch with Your Meal. So, For Now, Enjoy The Appetizers and Drinks until Your Meal comes! Oh, and Don't listen to those Protesters, They don't know what They are missing.”

So, I Pretty much explained that When You ask for Something Big, God has to Cook It. Now, I forgot to Mention that There are Many Other People who are sitting along with You at God’s Restaurant (The God Cafe) and They may get Their Meal before You do, but Naturally, That happens at a Restaurant. Also, If You ordered the Best Meal on The Menu, It takes a Long Time for God to get what He needs for The Meal and to whip up the Ingredients. Some People, I should mention, are More Helpful than Others. Most wait while The Appetizers are Served, Others, They help Serve The Appetizers. One Other Talk about God that We had, was Yesterday, This Time I told My Mom how I believe God sees all the Craziness happening around The World, from ISIS to Baltimore. I believe that The Bible talking about things like The Rapture, makes God seem like a Very Unforgiving, Merciless God and Yeah, I know, The Universe is God’s Creation, so It is His Universe to Control. I, personally refuse to believe that The Rapture is going to happen in My Lifetime because The God that I know, Does not want to Make The Call. And, I am Sure, There are Days when Even God Himself has a Bad Day and He is like “THAT IS IT! I’M MAKING THE CALL!” and Jesus says, “God, Calm Down! It is Alright!” Call Averted. But, I believe that, We as Humans can stop it and Create Peace around The World. We are Part of God’s Universe, right? So, Why can’t We try and Make Peace. Now, Okay, If It happens, it happens, It is not in My Control. But, The Earth is Very Beautiful and I would not want to Leave it without Seeing The World that He created. I Believe that God is more Peaceful than People make it seem like. All in all, This is All What I Believe with All This. I hope that You are Inspired as much as My Mom was when I told her both Stories. I think, The Biggest Point that I want You to Get is Go to God’s Cafe and Pray (Order) for Something Big, and Imagine How Great of a Meal that You are going to Get when Your Plate finally touches The Table. My Order has been to have The Chance to see The World and Marvel at All The Great Sites and Write about It. My Payment for My Order is with Love for All. 

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. I hope to see You all as I travel around The World!

The Christianville Spirit: The IKEA Ride

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 22, 2015-TCS # 447

So, My Readers! Happy Earth Day! Let’s Celebrate The Earth, Keep It Clean, and Marvel at All that God has created. If You can go, do it. If Not, Look at a Site on Reddit called “EarthPorn”, The Places that They show on there are Real! So, on to My Newsletter. There was An Exciting Event that happened This Week, It will sound boring at First but, Then, Gets Exciting! So, This Past Saturday, My Mom and I were just going to go to The Grocery Store and then, Come Home. That is all that We were going to do, I was a little tired that day so It was Okay with Me But, After We did Our First Errand, I thought, “We can’t JUST go to The Store, I know I am tired but, We Have to do Something Today!”. I perked up when I thought, “Well, There is a New Water Tower that was built, Let’s Check that Out”, So, We did. Well, In a City like Our Neighbor to The North, Frisco, It grows VERY Fast with New Roads, New Neighborhoods, and New Road Signs! Oh, The Life of Me! So, One Sight to see turns into Two, and then Three. It is the 3rd Sight that holds a Surprise, but The Exciting part is Coming! The 3rd Place was Downtown Frisco, The Old Downtown Frisco where not as much happens compared to New Downtown Frisco. We drove past a little Festival called “Frisco StrEATS & Music Festival”, something like that. Wow! What a Surprise! My Mom and I find the oddest things on Our Drives. So, on the way to What I thought was going to The Grocery Store, My Mom said “Why don’t we walk around IKEA!?” I thought, Okay. Now, We are at The Exciting Part. So, As I mentioned back when I wrote the Newsletter about Nebraska Furniture Mart, I had never been to IKEA. So, Why not Visit while We were out and sort of Compare in Our Heads versus Nebraska. So, We walked in and It was as if We hopped on a Roller Coaster, A Roller Coaster that meets The “It’s a Small World” Ride at Disney. I have to say, in respect to IKEA, that it is a Very Structured Store, One that You have to Walk all the way through, It is a Different Type of Store than I have usually been in. But, Hey! We are Here, It is pretty much the Closest to Sweden as We can get, right now, and Our Friend, Monica would be Very Proud; On The Ride, We go! Click-Click-Click-Click Up the Escalator and Down a Small Hill. Wa hooo!!  Then, The “It’s a Small Room after All” starts. And, Believe Me, By American Standards, It is a Small Room. It makes You realize that Americans (and, Yes, Texans especially!) have Big Houses. The Rooms were anywhere from 1,000 Square Feet to 275 Square Feet, the Average Size of a House in Sweden (and, Elsewhere in The World), We saw the 375 Square Feet House that would be a Good Size if I have to Live by Myself. The 275 Square Feet, was Getting a Little Cramped. You could easily Get out of Bed, be within a Few Feet of The Kitchen and Table. You would Never leave Your Bed because The TV is right near Your Bed. It was amazing to see a Model of what Some of My PTLS Family Members live in. It makes us realize that us Americans and Texans, Love Our Stuff. The More Stuff, The Better. In Fact, In Plano, It is the More Stuff, The Happier You are; At Least, That is What They say. I don’t believe them! More Stuff, Does not make You make you have. But, I have heard that Not having so much Stuff is actually Freeing. Now, Do keep those small comforts like a Pillow (at least for Me) or a Toy or a Stuffed Animal. Most Definitely keep Your Clothes! The Rest can be replaceable. A Bonus is that, in the event of a Move, You don’t have to move so much stuff! Anyway,  We found some cute “Gifties” as My Mom would say, along with some cushions for some of Our Chairs. Now, At The End of the Showroom Segment of The Ride, Structure tells us to stop at The Restaurant but, We figured that We would save that for Last. Now, We get a Little Excitement and Go down a Longer Hill with a Wave or two. Our Hands in The Air, We say Yay! Yeah! Then, We move on The Marketplace Segment of The Ride. This is where The Ride goes on a Conveyor Belt so, You can get off and get on when You need to. The Marketplace is to get the little items that you need, Things for Your Room’s Organization, and other things. I saw the Room Organization Section and I got off The Ride to see it. I need a New Organization for My Map Collection! Funny how walking through a Store can do that to You. I said that we would think about it, just thought I would check. Back on The Ride. Then, We get to The End of Marketplace Segment and We come into The Warehouse Part. Now, at Nebraska, You do not set foot into The Warehouse, so This is New to Me. That Warehouse, I have to say was Huge! Back in The Showroom Segment, You were supposed to grab a Shopping List and Write down what You wanted along with a Bin Number. Then, You come to The Warehouse Segment and You find the Bin Number, Voila! You have your Build-Your-Own Furniture. With Visiting IKEA, You have to mention that Yes, You do have to Put Said Item Together, from an Easy Bed to The Much-Harder Shelf. Or at least, that is what I have heard anyway. So, Then We come to The Finale of The Ride, The Check-Out. Now, again The Structure claims that You visit The Restaurant and hop on The Ride, Marketplace, and then The End of The Ride, You try the Cinnamon Bun for Dessert or Visit the “Swedish Food Market”. Well, We visited The “Swedish Food Market” and then, We walked to The End. Now, I have to say that After Check-Out, The Way that The Signs are and The People, it feels like leaving customs in an International Airport. After We hit The End, We dropped our stuff in Our Car and headed to The Restaurant. Now, IKEA has plenty of Shortcuts but, You have to know about them. Now, We hit The Restaurant and I have a Helping of Authentic Swedish Meatballs along with Mashed Potatoes, and Lingonberries, Oh how Monica and My Swedish PTLS Family would be Proud. Now, I will say that They also served French Fries and Mac n’ Cheese as Sides, so American! I did not have either. I did however try Lingonberry Juice which was really good. I noticed while walking through here that I saw Jars of Lingonberries Everywhere! It was Funny to see all The Swedish Words for Things and Try to Pronounce them. They ought to have an Audio Tour with How to pronounce those, it would help immerse you in The Swedish Culture and Try to Understand It. My Meatball Meal, by the way was Really Good. My Mom, of course, tried to Vegetarian Version of it and She really liked it. And, That was Our Little Trip to Sweden via IKEA. So, Thank You IKEA! So, Those of You still wondering if We ever made it to The Grocery Store, Yes We Did! After Words, My Mom wanted to take a Picture of us at The Bluebonnets that she passed every day coming and going to Work. I realized that we had not done that in a Very Long Time, The Last Time We did was when We were Kids. So, I think I owed her that one, The Picture came out Great! All in All, That was Our Fun Adventure. Funny what My Mom and I find on Our Drives, even if We are just going down The Street. By The Way, IKEA really does not have a Ride, although I kinda wished that It did. I would ride it! I would call it “The IKEA Experience”, Make Note, IKEA, It’s a Good Idea!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Take a Drive! You never what You might find! Bluebonnets and Lingonberries. 

The Christianville Spirit: My Funny Names for Things

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 15, 2015-TCS # 446

So, My Readers, I present you with Another Way to Get to Know Me, As If You don’t already know Me. As If! Sorry, Had to add a Little 90’s Joke there for You! Anyway, To Know Me, You have to know that I often come up with Nicknames for those I am close to like, Aunt Joey, Aunt Angie, “My Kristin”, H.J Angel and”My Dear Deb” just to Name a Few, Shoutout! As Well as Acronyms and What I call “Funny Names for Things”. Now, the Funny Names that I have for Things usually is Inside My Head and I only Mumble them to Myself when I am near them, and Some of Them I use constantly. So, The First Funny Name I use is for The City of Atlanta and Fulton County, Georgia. You See, As I have mentioned before My Mom’s Side of The Family lives in Atlanta, including My Grandma Honey. So, This Name is for Several Reasons. In My Head, I call Atlanta, “The Mother City” and Fulton County (The County surrounds Atlanta) “The Mother County”. This is for Two Reasons, One because All Roads Lead to Atlanta, All The Highways Signs in Georgia and as far away as Virginia point to Atlanta. It might also point to The Fact that I have been wanting to move there to be closer to Family. The Second Reason, is because because Atlanta is The Capitol of Georgia, It makes it The Mother of The State of Georgia. Normal Georgians would tell you that “The Real Georgia” is Outside of Atlanta but, that is not The Point. So, The Next Few Funny Names have to do with PTLS. You See, Potocki-Lupski Syndrome (or PTLS for Short) was named after Dr. Potocki and Dr. Lupski from Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine to whom we owe all credits; Therefore, In My Head, It makes Houston, Texas; Texas Children’s Hospital & Baylor, the Capitol of PTLS. In Other Words, Where PTLS Started. But, Here is where My Names for Things gets a Little Crazy. You See, As You know, I come up with Made-Up Cities (like Christianville) and States. So, Why Not come up with a European Union-style setup for My PTLS Family, known The PTLS Union or Known by It’s Official Name of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome Union of Families. So, that Comes from The Belief that We are all a PTLS Family or Union of Family Nations. With All This Put Together, Houston is “The PTLS Union Capitol”, The Heart of All Things PTLS. The Conference is held there, The Doctors are there, and PTLS was founded there. It might also show That I Love how The European Union works, as well as My Love of Geography, History, and Politics. So, With that, The PTLS Union Capitol City is Houston and The Capitol Building is Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. So, Before We move on from The PTLS Union Capitol, I have a Funny Name for The Road that surrounds it. You See, There is Road that surrounds Houston that They call “The Loop”, It is Interstate 610 or Loop 610/”The Loop” locally. In My Head, It is called “The PTLS Perimeter”, A Reference to Atlanta’s I-285 (The Perimeter). I hope of the Day Where The City of Houston renames Loop 610 as “PTLS Perimeter” in honor of Dr. Potocki and Dr. Lupski. For now I call it that, after all Houston is “The PTLS Union Capitol”. So, The Next Funny Name is something I use a lot, “PTLS Family Members” and “PTLS Members”. You See, Families with Kids that have PTLS, are considered Family to Me, They have been for quite some time. So, With that said, “Families with PTLS” (We used to call them that) makes it sound like We are Strangers. It just does not sound right! So, I Believe Now that “These People” are My Literal Family, My PTLS Family. If Said Person is Part of Your Family, You refer to them as a “Member of Your Family” so Same Thing with Potocki-Lupski Syndrome, If You or Your Child have PTLS, Welcome to The Family! You are Now part of My Family. Now, to be fair, You may or may not like some of Your Family Members, that is Okay, No Family is Perfect. Because You are a Member of My PTLS Family, then You are a “PTLS Family Member” or “PTLS Member”. I think, “PTLS Family Member” is more for People I am close to and “PTLS Member” is a General Family Term. Now, Finally, My Last Funny Term is What I refer to as The Made-Up Company I work for, WTSOC Communications & The Christianville Spirit. I write for My Newsletter, The Christianville Spirit and In Christianville, It is tied with One of The Local Channels, WTSOC-TV & AM. WTSOC is not a Real TV Station, It’s call letters mean “The Spirit Of Christianville”, however I am working on making it a Real Company and My Job that I will get paid for. All in all, I hope that explains All My Funny Terms for Things. Now, You know me in a Better Way.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Find Something that You are Passionate about and Do It!

The Christianville Spirit: The Story of Lost in Dallas Hills

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 8, 2015-TCS # 445

So, My Readers, I have an Interesting Story to tell you. You See, If You have been reading My Newsletters, You would see that I write some really good Stories, some Examples include, The Untold Story of Lynee and My Story about H.J Angel among many other Stories that I have written on Here. But, Did You Know that My Story Telling Skills go further back than The Beginning of My Newsletter? Yes, That is Right! You See, Every Now and Then, I look through what I call My “History Box”. I made This “History Box” way back in 7th Grade in Middle School, It was to Collect Old Things from School and Other Past Memories, most of them were School-Related. I have Pictures of Old Friends; My Graduation Diploma, both from Senior High School and Elementary School; and, A Couple of Artifacts from Years Back like as far back in Kindergarten (around that time, I wrote that My Favorite Holiday was Mother’s Day). Then, I found a Book, If You will, that tells a Story called “Lost in Dallas Hills”. I re-read it and wondered What some parts I was referencing as well as Remembered some other parts.. Now, The Reason behind Why I am such a Good Storyteller is because of My Teachers, Mrs. James and Mrs. Bachman. They helped in Many Ways because They knew that I had the potential in write a Good Story. Problem was that My Mind was running faster than My Little Hands could Write. As A Kid, You have to remember how to Spell Words and Make Sure that You use correct Grammar, among other things, which is a Little Struggle today. So, Mrs. James and Mrs. Bachman came up a Genius Idea to have Me Dictate What I wanted The Story to Say. So, I am going to Read This Story to You and Then, I will “Translate It” Afterwords. This Story, by the way is called “Lost in Dallas Hills”. It was Dictated and Written when I was in 4th Grade, in 1997, when I was 10 Years Old. Enjoy!

Christian and Michael were Brothers. Christian was a nine year old boy who had curly, brown hair that turned black when it got wet. He had big, brown eyes and he was tall and thin although he loved to eat and eat and eat. Christian loved to study maps and international geographic information. In fact, he was an expert on roads in the United States. Michael was seven years old and he had reddish orange, straight hair and brown eyes. He was short and skinny like Christian. Michael liked to talk a lot to his friends and often got in trouble at school. Sometimes Michael was mean to Christian and Christian would cry, but they still loved each other. Christian, Michael, and their family went for a drive. They saw a beautiful canyon that they wanted to go to. Too late, they passed it. Then, Christian saw a sign that said Welcome to Dallas Hills. Mom said, “Wow! What a beautiful country.” They drove through the country side. Christian started getting hungry.  He wanted to eat at the country club. They stopped and ate dinner. On the way home, Christian said, “Can we go for a walk?” Mom said “ok, but don’t get lost.” Christian and Michael walked about 15 Minutes. They looked around and couldn’t see the car. They saw a coyote and were afraid. They started to run very fast. It started to get dark and Christian was very sleepy. Michael saw a house and lights were on inside. No one was home but they still went inside and fell asleep. Christian woke up when a black dog started licking his face. He woke up Michael. They were so hungry they looked in the refrigerator. There was nothing to eat. Suddenly, a ghost flew out of a closet. Christian and Michael ran from the house. The coyote started chasing them. Then they heard a voice calling “Christian, Michael, where are you?” It was Mom. Christian yelled “Mommy, watch out!” Christian and Michael fell on Mommy. “Ugh” said Mom. We saw our dad and we all got on skate boards and went down the hill, crossed a bridge and jumped in our car. We drove out of the Dallas Hills complex. Then Christian asked a question. “Can we go to the beautiful canyon?”  Mom said, “yes” They ran half way into the canyon and back into the car. Then, they ate lunch at Harvey’s in Dallas County. Finally, they went home and they never got lost again. The End. 

So, As You Could Imagine, Some Parts were Easy to Translate and Remember, but Other Parts weren’t. The First Part of The Story is Describing The Characters of The Story, Christian and Michael (aka My Brother and I). At The Time, I had been Eating a lot but, Not Gaining Weight, that was until in Middle School but, I digress. Anyway, The Main Part of The Story, The “Dallas Hills” part is a Story behind The Story. You See, My Mom was dating a Guy named Mr. Jeff and He had 3 Kids, Jeffery, Alex, and Elizabeth (known as “Izzy”). So, Every Summer and in between, We could go up to Our Lake House in a Place called Nocona Hills which was Out in The Country where There is Nothing Around. The Part that mentions The Country Club, The Hill, The House, and Walking around Freely is all Referencing all The Fun that We had up at The Lake House. We would go to Dinner at The Cafe called The Country’s Club, There were Times we even walked back to The Lake House from The Cafe. The Hill,. of Course, was My Favorite Part about going there. The Hill (Which was a Big Hill) felt like a Roller Coaster going down it. The Coyotes, That is a Texas Thing. The Canyon Part, I think, references Enchanted Rock; A Place that We went to visit when We went down to My Dad’s House in San Antonio. And, then, The Most Important, The Mention of Harvey’s. Funny Thing, I do not Remember going to a Place called Harvey’s. I finally figured it out, It translates to “Arby’s” like The Sandwich Place. At The Time, as My Mom pointed out to Me, My Speech wasn’t that Clear so The “Ar” part in “Arby’s” came out as “Har”. The “By’s” came out as “Vey’s”. The Skateboard part always makes me laugh when I re-read it. To Me, It sounds Heroic and At The Time, My Brother loved Skateboarding. The Black Dog part of The Story, I don’t remember having a Black Dog, but It may refer to Izzy’s Dog who she named “Nocona”. All in all, It is Funny to re-read things of Your Past, to Remember, and To wonder, “What was going on in Your Head at that Time?”. Fortunately, For Me, I also had a Wild Imagination and I still do.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit.  Thank those who Inspired You when You were Little to become What You are when You are Older. 

The Christianville Spirit: Me and My Numbers

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 1, 2015-TCS # 444

So, My Readers, If You have been here a while or not, and I know that Some of You have been around since The Beginning (aka My Veterans) and Some of You are New. In which in Case, if I have not welcomed you, Welcome to The Christianville Spirit! I have always numbered Every Newsletter since the Late 100 Series Newsletters. So, With Someone who not only likes Numbers but, Studies them in something called Numerology, Each Number means Something. Now, Funny Enough, I did not like Math when I was Younger and to a Literal Mind, Math is a Nightmare. But, Now that I have gotten older, applying Math and Numbers to means more because I apply them to Things that Interest Me like Watching The Miles (or Kilometers) count down to The Next City, Doing Math to Figure Out Number Meanings, or Figuring Out Time Differences between Different Places, I have PTLS Family Members around The World after all. But, Certain Numbers, both Good and Bad stand out. I’ll do the Bad Ones first, then The Good ones. Bad ones are 444, 464, 446, 466, and Of Course 666. Good ones on The Other Hand are 111(and, My Favorite 11), 222 (and 22), 333, 555, 777, 888, and 999. Also I should mention My Confirmation Numbers 2 and 11. So, What do These Numbers mean Exactly? Well, Numbers Individually mean one thing (or Sometimes, The Same Thing) and Sequential  Numbers (which are The Ones that I pay close attention to, mean something else.) I can tell you what each of these numbers means Something. For Example, 111 Means Alignment with Your Spirit Guides (meaning God, The Universe, or Destiny, depending on what You believe), 222 (which is My Favorite) means that You are going in The Right Direction, 333 (Another Favorite of Mine) is as My Friend, Jeremiah, whose Mom (a Pastor) taught me, means God’s Phone Number and Cosmic “YES” to a Question You are Asking, 444 (This Newsletter Number) meaning Cosmic “NO” and Spirit Guides don’t recommend doing What You are Thinking, 555 Means a Life Changing Thought Just Occurred (Funny How I remember that one, Because that is not an Easy One to Remember), 666 means Your Thoughts or Intentions are NOT Aligned with The Universe, 777 Means that a Lesson has been learned, 888 means that A Segment of Your Life (Emotional, Career, or Relationship) is Ending, and Finally 999 means Completion. Now, How do I find these Signs? In The Time on A Clock, Phone Numbers, Highway Numbers, and Even Newsletter Numbers; Pretty Much any thing that has a Number in It. Sometimes, You will be thinking in Your Head, “Should I Do XYZ? (Get That Job, Move, or Other Life Changes, sometimes Simple) and then You look over at the Time or a Phone Number on a Billboard and It says 333 (Meaning “Yes”) or 444 (Meaning “No”) as well as any other pair of Sequences. So, Back to My Point here, Being Attentive to Numbers can make you Happy (like 333 and 222) or “Number Sensitive” as I now call it. Sometimes Though, You see or Hear a Sequential Number and wonder what You just asked or thought of When You saw it. As For This Newsletter, Number 444, I think it turned out well and I kicked It’s Butt! Even though, I was a little “Number Sensitive” about The Arrival of It. All in all, It all  is in What You Believe, but It also shows that Your Destiny can be happening as You see Those Sequential Numbers, both Good and Bad, They are Your Guide to It.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Happy Counting!

The Christianville Spirit: Christian Visits Nebraska (NFM)

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

March 25, 2015-TCS # 443

So, My Readers, I have an Exciting and Adventurous Story to Tell You. I went to Nebraska! That’s Right, I went to Nebraska! Okay, I am just kidding, I went to Something else called “Nebraska” not The State of Nebraska. You See, There is a Massive Furniture Store in a Town, West of Plano called The Colony. It is called Nebraska Furniture Mart. To Explain it’s size is that it is 36 Football Fields and 150,000 Square Foot Showroom. Now, That doesn’t even include The Huge Parking Lot and an Even Bigger Warehouse. If You were to look at it all together, It would look like a Mall or a Stadium. So, We would drive by and watch it as it was being built. “What in The World is THAT?!” I would think, each time that We drove by it. As we kept driving by it, It would get bigger and bigger. So, One Day We found out that it was Open, finally, and It was a Nebraska Furniture Mart. I was curious about driving by it and It was really crowded, like the Parking Lot was packed, so we figured that we would go during The Week when There weren’t a lot of People there. So, We went Last Thursday to check it out. We walked in and It was Overwhelmingly Huge! There was a Cop and a Greeter saying, “Do You want a Map?” after My Mom said, “Wow! This Place is Huge!”. The First Stop, There was See’s Candies and As One of the YouTubers that I watch says, “When You see a See’s Candies, always ask for a Sample” Unfortunately, They were not doing Samples just yet. It was a “Soft Opening” to let people come and check it out. The Grand Opening will be Next Month. This Place is Very Different in comparison to other furniture stores because it has a Much Wider Layout than others and The Prices are even better too! The Next Stop, Which is a Must in a Furniture Store, The Recliners! Oh My Lord, My Readers! You should have seen some of these Recliners! There were Soft Ones, Hard Ones, and Then We get to The Massaging Recliners! Now, The Massaging Recliners had various types of Massages. One, It had a Whole List of Buttons saying “Where do You feel Pain?” You could do Upper Back, Middle Back, and Lower Back along with How Intense You want it. There were So Many Buttons, I didn’t know which one to Push. I will say, A Few of Them were a bit too intense for Me but, I found some better ones. One Chair had the Back Massager and The Reclining Part where You put your Feet in and It Vibrates as well as Massages your Feet, And Finally, The Most Awesome Chair that I have sat in. My Mom tried it first and It made her go “Woah!” Not Sure if It was My Mom’s kind of Chair. But, It felt REALLY GOOD to Me. The “It” I am referring to is a Zero Gravity Chair, It leans You to where You are Flat on Your Back and You have Your Legs in The Air, Your Legs are Above Your Heart and According to Doctors, It is The Healthiest Way of Sitting. Well, It certainly would help with People (Like Me) that have “Text Neck”. I could just sit in The Zero Gravity Chair and Read on My IPad without Hurting My Neck. Now, I will answer that Question and Everyone is Curious about, Does anyone else fall asleep in Those Recliners? and The Answer is Yes! Just put on Some Tropical Music and Put Me in The Zero Gravity Chair, I would be Relaxed in Seconds! And, Probably, asleep in Maybe 30 Minutes or an Hour of It. Ahhhhhhh! I got to keep going with This Newsletter! Let’s get up slowly and Keep Checking Out The Store. After We leave The Recliner Section, We passed the Bed Section, just to check them out. After That, We went downstairs and passed Subway (We did not Eat there). Then, Of Course, Being a Guy, You have to check out the Big Televisions and Boy, were They huge. The First TV I saw was (You are Not going to Believe This!) a 90 Inch Television. That is Right, A Ninety Inch Television! I have never seen a TV that Big outside of a Movie Theater in My Life. “They are probably for ‘Media Rooms’ in Houses”, My Mom says. While I was in Big Television Heaven, My Mom went over to the Clearance Section of The Store. I heard a Guy behind me shout obscenities about How Big that 90 Inch TV was, just as My Mom walked away. To Give You a Taste of This Large TV Heaven, Listen Up Guys! A 90 Inch, 80 Inch, and 70 Inch Television. And, Let’s not Forget the New Curved TV. Now, Normally I would not recommend getting more stuff, Because Spending Money on a Trip in Much Better Money Spent, but Just The Idea of a TV that Big and Add in The Zero Gravity Chair, and I don’t think I would ever leave My House. Now, I do have to say that because of My Lack of Depth Perception, The Curved TV bothered My Eyes as well as The Big TVs. But, Hey! One can Dream, can’t they? So, after I leave The Big Television Heaven, I even watched The News on a 60 Inch, I walked over where My Mom was and I could show her all the cool TVs that I found. We were talking to a Guy who worked there and He told My Mom about what it is like to Work there. He said it takes 30 Minutes to get from His Car, Out of The Parking Garage, Downstairs ,and Most Halfway across The “Showroom Floor”. Like I said, This Place is Huge! After I showed My Mom the TVs, We walked through The Computer Section (another Heaven for Me) and Then, We checked out The Texas Section. It was The Kind of Stuff that You would put in a Log Cabin or Rustic Cabin. I sat in a few Animal Fur Chair including a Buffalo Fur Chair. It was Very Weird, I will say. But, Some People are into that kind of stuff. I would rather be near The Computers, The Televisions, or The Recliners Please! After that, We have checked out the Whole Store. According to Many of The Employees that worked there, said that They really enjoyed working there and Even They, Themselves are a bit shocked at How Big This Place is Every Time they go to Work. One Person told me that They are going to build a Venetian “Lifestyle Center” around the Furniture Mart as well as 3 Others within a 2 Mile Radius, They are bringing Toyota here, after all. All in all, I really hope You enjoyed Our Adventure and a Little Tour of This Place. I would really recommend that You check it out. Just Beware of The Those Sections I told you about!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Keep Your Heart as Texas or Nebraska Furniture Mart.

The Christianville Spirit: PTLS on The Red Carpet

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

March 18, 2015-TCS # 442

So, My Readers, I have something really Exciting to Tell You about! You See, as I have mentioned before, It is PTLS Awareness Month and The Motto for it is “Be Seen, Wear Green” or “Be Seen, Wear Green for The Happy PTLS Gene”. So, This is The Background before I get to The Exciting Story and I promise you, it is worth reading this part before The Exciting Story. Anyway, Last Month, My Mom was trying to come up with Ideas about PTLS Awareness Month and How to Celebrate It. Well, My Mom thought that it would be a Good Idea to make shirts for Our “Be Seen, Wear Green” PTLS Awareness Campaign. So, PTLS Family Member, Natalie Hinkin asked My Mom, “Do We have any Shirts in Green?” My Mom said, “No, but that is a Good Idea”. Sure, enough Natalie created a Campaign on a site called Booster.com and started selling Shirts with The PTLS Key on It (Because that is the Logo of PTLS) for 2 weeks. We sold over 100 Shirts in 24 Hours (Not Kidding You!) and, 500 Shirts in Two Weeks. Well, on PTLS Awareness Day, PTLS Members all over The World posted Pictures of Themselves, Family Members, Friends, Teachers, The List goes on! Of them in Their Green PTLS “Key” Shirts. That Campaign is still going on, It is at booster.com/beseenweargreen3, Check it Out, Buy a Shirt, and Help Us Raise Awareness about Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. For Those that have already bought shirts and supported us, I Thank You from The Bottom of My Heart! It is amazes me that So Many People are wearing Green for The PTLS Gene! Remember though, that it is not just March to celebrate PTLS, You can celebrate All Year as Well! So, Let’s Hear about that Exciting Story! I am sure you are Thinking, Get on with It! Okay, Okay, Fine. So, Yesterday, was Saint Patrick’s Day and My Mom and I decided to go out to Dinner with a Friend of Hers. We figured that we would also show off Our Green PTLS “Key” Shirts as well. Well, it just so happened that There was a Hollywood Premiere of The Movie, Home across The Street. Well, The People at Good Morning America did a Contest in which a Non-Profit could Win the Premiere in Their City and Money for Their Non-Profit. Well, a Non-Profit in Plano won and The Premiere was held here. So, My Mom and I figured that we would check it out on our way to Dinner, since Our Dinner-mate was in Traffic anyway. Well, My Mom being The Awesome Mom that She is, figured, “Hey! This is Good Opportunity to Pitch PTLS!” We were wearing our Green anyway. So, We stood and watched for a while before we decided to get up close to the Red Carpet. There were Stars there that I have seen Many Times on TV or Heard about from Radio but, have never seen in person. Among Them, Tony Romo (He walked by and No Knew who he was), Jake Pavelka (From The Bachelor, Took me a second to figure out who He was), Kellie Rasberry (From Kidd Kraddick in The Morning on KISS-FM. Used to Listen to Them Every Morning on the Way to School. But, Didn’t realize who She was), J-Si (from a Show called Dish Nation on FOX, I don’t watch that show), Of Course, I can not forget to Mention the Biggest Stars of The Movie, Rihanna (The Singer) and Jim Parsons (Sheldon from “The Big Bang Theory”). You should have heard The Screaming Girls when Rihanna walked by! Anyway, in between when Rihanna passed by and Jim Parsons was on His Way, My Mom figured that She would teach J-Si and Kellie Rasberry about PTLS. After Jim Parsons walked by, We talked more closely with J-Si about PTLS, He was really Nice to Me. He shook my hand, saying, “What’s Your Name” I told My Name and My Mom continued with Talking about PTLS. After People settled down, My Mom was looking around at Everyone and seeing who She could talk to about Me when I noticed a Camera Guy walk past with The Microphone saying, “News Fix” which is a Local News Program that is different than the others. I said, “Mom, That Guy is from ‘News Fix!‘“ Mom is probably “What? What did He say?” I don’t speak as Clearly since after My Braces, A Story for Another Time! I said, “News Fix, like Channel 9!” I think if I would have said, That’s The Guy from Channel 9, She would have got it quicker. She did talk to that guy though and She gave him her Card with The PTLS Information on It. Okay, I am Sorry to say but, I have The Coolest Mom in The World, aside from My Uncle Craig, The Coolest Uncle in The World. He probably would have gotten us ON The Red Capet, Uncle Craig is THAT Kind of Guy. Ohh, The Smith Family, I tell ya! Anyway, as We were leaving heading to Dinner (We stayed a bit too long!) My Mom told me “I was a Media Hog” in a clean way. So, To say that We had an Awesome Saint Patrick’s Day would be an Understatement. All in all, Our “Be Seen, Wear Green” Campaign is going strong and I Thank You All for That! Oh, and Happy early Birthday, Mom!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Keep on Supporting Our PTLS Green!

The Christianville Spirit: Unseen Newsletter about PTLS

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

March 11, 2015-TCS # 441

Hello Again, My Readers! I hope that You guys had a Great PTLS Awareness Day like I had. I can tell you that It was An Awesome Day, Lots of PTLS Family Members wore Green, and We got to spend time with a PTLS Family Member on PTLS Day. I Thank All of You PTLS Family Members and Friends from The Bottom of My Heart for Wearing Your Green and Spreading Awareness (as well as Unity) on That Day. So, In Constant Celebration of The Christianville Spirit’s 10th Year and PTLS Awareness Month (Yes, We celebrate The Whole Month, Not Just One Day), I am going to share with you, A Newsletter that You have not seen! You See, There was a Time from October 2006 to October 2008, I wrote My Newsletters to a Few Select People that I now call My Veterans, Before I started writing in Blogger, I wrote on a Site called Yahoo 360! To Explain It, It was Social Media before Facebook. Or at least before I was comfortable posting on Facebook anyway. So, This Unseen Newsletter is not just ANY Newsletter, It is actually One of The First Mentions of The New Name, Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. I call it “Unseen Newsletters” that because I deleted them off Yahoo 360! and Have them printed in My Records. Now, The True First Mention was a Newsletter about My Mom but, I am going to do the Second Mention of it because it explains it much better. To Give You a Little Background, I was in The Middle of The First Edition of What is a Now, The Christianville Spirit Series. The First Series was called “Christianville Metro Highlight”. It was a Series to Introduce My Friends, My Mom, Myself, Family, and Family Friends. I wrote this on March 12th, 2007, according to My Records, It would be Newsletter Number 39. At This Time in My Life, I was getting ready to finish High School. I should mention that I wrote completely differently back then. It was, Let’s Just Say, not as Clearly Written as I do now. So, Without further a due, This is The Unseen Newsletter of The First Mention of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. By The Way, One More Note, I did Not Know how to Spell “Potocki-Lupski Syndrome” at the time. Happy PTLS Month and Enjoy!

CHRISTIANVILLE METRO HIGHLIGHT: Meet me, Christian Centeno {or known to some as The Editor/Writer of The Christianville Spirit} I am the sweetest and most sensitive person you’ll know. however, just because your sensitive doesn’t mean your dramatic. but, anyway. I live in Plano, TX and i really wish i could move to Atlanta, GA because that where The Smith Family lives. well, most of them at least. one thing i love to see and do is to Travel. Of course, there’s also my love for Road Signs and other  road-related things. I can tell you how to get places the best i can even if i sort of know the area. other thing about me is that I Love the made up things, especially States and State Capitols. In my mind, every person’s body has a State and State Capitol{that is except for me}. In all cases of States and State Capitols, The State Captiol is in the heart. I base all the Cities, Mountains, Rivers, and Roads after things they like and their friends and a hole bunch of other things but, Likes and Friends are the base of it. The next door States to the East are a Great Friend. the State to the North and South are Family Members. and, of course that leaves The West. The State to The West is The Lover or The One or Current Boy/Girlfriend. finally, apparently everyone’s favorite city. Christianville, TN. Christianville is not a real city in Tennessee but, i made it up to be there. the cities around Christianville or otherwise called “The Christianville Metro Area” are called Mapleton, Brooke, Steven, Karleen, Northchester....just to name a few. of course, there is my newsletter The Christianville Spirit, which i write about my life and friends and family. in real life The Christianville Spirit is a newsletter. but, in The Christianville Metro Area it’s actually a newspaper. Here is something that most people who don’t ask don’t know. I have Special Needs. My Special Needs are what is used to be called just “Duplication of Chromosome 17” but now it’s called Patocky-Lubsky Syndrome. I like that name better even though it’s a tunge twister. if anyone wants to know, i don’t let my Special Needs bug me or let it hold me back. and, some people with Special Needs do bug them or hold them back. also, i don’t consider my Special Needs a “Handicap” or a “Disability” like most people would. I just consider my myself if people have to say i’m something, i’ll tell them i just have Special Needs. but, other than i think of myself as Myself. I am who i am. all in all, i’m a pretty awesome guy. Stay Tuned, YOU could be Next!

 So, As I was re-writing that, I realized how Unclear My Newsletter was. Funny how that Works when You read something that You wrote in the Past. I noticed also that I did not do as many Capitol Letters as I do now. All in all, I hope that You understood Everything that I wrote and Everything that I did write, It still means the Same Thing. If There is Something that You are Curious about in This Newsletter or Any of Them, Don’t Hesitate to Ask!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Sometimes You have to go back in Time to see how far You have Come.

The Christianville Spirit: PTLS Awareness Month Kickoff

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

March 4, 2015-TCS # 440

So, My Readers, I would love to Wish You a Happy PTLS Awareness Month! Yes, That is Right, it is PTLS Awareness Month. If You can believe it, A few years ago, There was No Such Thing as PTLS Awareness Month, The Saying, “Be Seen, Wear Green for The Happy PTLS Gene” (that is The Extension of the “Be Seen, Wear Green” saying), There was No Logo (The Key), and There was No Such Thing as Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. Before March 8th, 2007, Potocki-Lupski Syndrome was just known as “A Duplication of Chromosome 17”. Now, that is technically what Potocki-Lupski Syndrome is, A Duplication of Chromosome 17p11.2. But, Try explaining that to Someone when You want to tell them how Unique You are. It took many years to get where we are today. We are at 1 in 20 Thousand Kids Now. My Unique Syndrome was named for Two Very Down-to-Earth Doctors in Houston, Texas; Doctor Potocki and The World-Renowned Doctor Lupski (although He won’t admit it Outfrontly because He is a Humble Man). My Mom tried many years to get them to Name It. She, Of Course, had kinda settled on “Christian Syndrome” if They were not going to name it. Funny, My Syndrome, could have been named after Me! So, That is The Background of The Story of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. So, Why I am I so Celebrative about PTLS Month? It is Just a Month after all, with St. Patrick’s Day and My Mom’s Birthday. But, To Most People, It is just a Month, but To Me, It is a Chance to Celebrate My Uniqueness and Celebrate The Fact that, Yes, I am That Unique. I still Remember, The First PTLS Awareness Day, before Anyone knew about it. It is at a Time when My School screwed up My Class Schedule, meaning that I had to go Home early. In Short, I chose The Wrong Class! Anyway, on March 8th, My Mom picked me up and we pulled out on the street, and start driving home when My Mom told me. “Guess What?!” Mom says. “What?” I respond with. “Your Special Needs was Named!”. Now, at the Time, I needed a Minute to absorb what She was saying, “My Special Needs was Named?!” then, She told me, “It was named after The Doctors in Houston, Doctor Potocki & Doctor Lupski”, She continued, “It is called Potocki-Lupski Syndrome or PTLS!”. I was so Thrilled! I finally could say, “I have Potocki-Lupski Syndrome!”. After about a Year of Figuring it all out and Enough PTLS Families (Today known as PTLS Family Members) were around, we started to tell them. It seems though, now that Everyone knows, They are starting to Make It Something that it is not. It is a Time for Unity in support of Having PTLS and For those who Love us. It is a Time for Raising Awareness. We have a PTLS Foundation that working hard to help support us and It is Important to make everything Positive because We PTLSers see Life in a Positive Light.

In Order Words, Show that We PTLSers matter in The World! We are NOT Special, We are Unique! Guys, PTLS is a Big Gift from God to You. We want to be seen and be heard! Now, Yes, Your Child may be behind and Not Progressing the Way You want them to but, We need to Stay Focused on What all of us PTLSers CAN do, But, On Their Own Time! It is Important to Me, and I know All My PTLS Brothers and Sisters, that You believe in Us and All we can do. We are the ones that Have It and We want you to be Proud of Us. We need you to stay positive for us.  No, PTLS is not Bad. It never is Bad, We are Very Happy People. But, There are things like Anxiety, Irrational Fears, and Being Overwhelmed when We want to have Fun but, We need you to understand us so we have time to adjust. So, I will finish with This, I have gotten word that There is Someone, “Mom X”, we will refer to Her as, believes that My Mom writes these newsletters and Anything else that I write. It really hurts me that Someone would ever say something like that about Me. I am Here to Tell You, that This Newsletter that I Write Every Wednesday is 100% Me. It is All Me, Christian Smith-Centeno, writing this. All that My Mom does is help me Edit it for Missed Words I may have skipped over in Excitement. (The “The, And, Is” gets me Every Time!) So, Thank You to My Mom for Helping Edit This Newsletter, even though I may or may not listen! After All, Every Writing, No Matter What it is, needs a Little Editing. All in all, I hope that You enjoy PTLS Awareness Month and Wherever Your Child is in their progress, Celebrate Your Child and How Unique They are.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Be Seen, Wear Green and Celebrate Our Happy Gene.

The Christianville Spirit: Word Play Revelation

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

February 25, 2015-TCS # 439

So, My Readers! I have an Interesting Story to tell you. You See, Every Now and Then, I have these, “Oh My Gosh! That is how Life Works!” type of Revelation. It is usually things that we often overthink. This Story is an Example of that. The Other Day, I thinking about How a YouTuber that I watch who is leaving on trip to a Country that He did not tell anyone that He was going to. I found out that He was going to South Korea, but I digress. Anyway, I thought, “This YouTuber is Leaving This Morning” and This was 1:00 in The Morning when I thought this. The Best thoughts come in The Middle of The Night, Whether You are Awake or trying to sleep. In My Case, I was awake watching TV. So, I thought, “Why do We say, ‘This Morning’?” as In, (In a News Voice) “In The News this Morning, X, Y, and Z Happened” or “You Wouldn’t believe what happened to Me this Morning!” I thought of The Biblical saying that says, “This is The Day The Lord has Made, Let us Rejoice and Be Glad in It”. That is The Whole Saying, by the way. I only thought of the shorthand version, “This is The Day The Lord has Made”. I probably thought of that saying because I heard it a lot at the Church that I used to go to. So, I thought about The Word, “This Morning” and studied it in My Head. I thought, “If You removed The “T” in “This Morning, It would be ‘His Morning.” It made perfect sense to me! If He, meaning God (“The Lord”) made the Day, Why can’t it be “His Morning”, “His Afternoon”, and “His Evening.” I told a Friend of Mine this, I call her “My Dear Deb”, She is related to A PTLS Member, I call “My Kristen” (Ha! Double Shout-Out Here!). My Two “Mys”, I call them. Anyway, I told Deb about it and she tells me, “And He just gives it to us.” I realized that We say, “This Morning” every day, as well as “This Afternoon” or Evening. So, What do I do when I have those Late-Night Revelations, You Ask? I tell My Mom when She is Half-Asleep at 2 AM when I say “Good Night” to her. It ranges from, a Short “Good Night Mom, I Love You” to a Late-Night In Depth Geography Lesson. Anyway, It amazed me though, how a Thought about a YouTuber leaving on a Trip in The Morning turned into that. That Brings Me to The second of Three Revelations! So, When You wake up because of a Noise or because of some disturbance, You always say, “It’s 3 O‘Clock in The Morning!” Well, Again take away The “T” in The Morning, and What do You get? “He Morning!”. Again, It is “The Day, The Lord has Made”, so why can’t it be 3 O’Clock in He (His) Morning. Okay, so In My Head, ‘He Morning‘ doesn’t make as much sense as ‘His Morning‘ but, It means the Same Thing. So, after I told My Mom about it, I told her when she was half-asleep, so I told her again, the Next Night after I had told Deb about it. My Mom told me that In Norwegian and Swedish, They say, “Good Morning” too.  Only when It is translated from English to Norwegian, It comes out as “God Morning.” (In Norwegian, They put a slash through their Os so it looks like this ø and in Swedish, it’s ö. Gød Morning, Norway; Göd Morning, Sweden) Hmmm, God Morning, He Morning, and His Morning, it all references God and We don’t even realize that We are saying it Every Day. It is a Wonder why, on Good Morning America, That they always excitedly say, “Hi Everyone! Good Morning America!”. It would sound sad if They said in a Bland Voice, “Good Morning America.” Now, as I was growing up all the way to Senior High School, that would be the Start of Our Day, watching Good Morning America and Now, that I realize it, I have heard many versions of People saying, “Good Morning America.” It is sort of like You have heard many Versions of Your Own National Anthem, Some do it really good and Others, not so much. Not Judging though, Guys! Anyway, it is Amazing that We say things that we don’t realize tie to God. It must be one of God’s “Secret Blessings”. All in all, With a Little Word play, You can find out things that You never would have known about. Stop and Smell The Roses, if You will.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. God Morning, God Evening, and God Night.

The Christianville Spirit: In Real Life

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

February 18, 2015-TCS # 438

 So, My Readers, Do You Remember when I met Nev Schulman from Catfish and Catfish:The TV Show? (Reference Newsletter Number 416, Meeting Nev) Well, If You remember, I bought his book, “In Real Life” and A few Weeks ago, I finally Finished It! To Tell You The Truth, When I first Bought it, I just thought that I would have it signed and that was it. But, I decided Why Not Read It? So I did. It was a really good book. I realized however, that I have not written a Newsletter about Reading a Book in a while. Last Time I wrote about one was when I read about The Appalachian Trail via a Book called “AWOL on The Appalachian Trail.” Anyway, Nev’s Book In Real Life is based Mainly on His Catfish Story and All The Lessons that followed. To Put It Shortly, Nev’s Past wasn’t that great, in terms of School Life. He was the Rebel Kid who always got into Trouble. Well, He needed a way to channel his Rebelness into Something Productive, in His Case, Photography. I don’t want to Spoil The Story, so I will tell you to Read the Book if You want to know about How He fell for This Girl who wasn’t real (It was a Fake Profile) or Watch The Documentary, Catfish. I read a Shocking Fact about Fake Profiles, according to His Book, There is 83 Million Fake Profiles on Facebook. 83 Million! The Reasons range from Trying to help a Friend (from either Abuse or Getting Out of Their Funk), There are The Scammers (I had that issue, Very Short-Lived Luckily!), and Finally, There are People who Catfish people just for The Fun of It or Because Your Bored. It would be like two friends sitting around and Then, One Friend says, “Hey! Do Ya Wanna Catfish Someone?!” “Yeah, Let’s Do It!” Add the Bevis and Butthead voices, If You Please. The Reason, by the way, behind why Most People Catfish is because They want Recognition, To Be Wanted, and To Be Loved. Who couldn’t Blame Them if They spend All Day and Night on The Internet. The Person being Catfished, The “Hopeful”, as They call it on His Show is probably thinking, “Finally, Someone who thinks I’m Cute/Handsome/Awesome/What Have You!” and then, because The “Hopeful” wants to be Loved and Get Some Attention from SOMEONE on The Internet, They Fall for It. Very Rarely, do They end up being Who they say They are. Moral of This Segment, Do Your Research and For The Love of Goodness, Trust Your Gut. I, Of Course, considering that I am Single, I have Considered Dating Sites a few times. But, The Problem would be that I trust People too quickly and I see the Good in People, which is a Good Trait to have but, Can get you in a lot of Trouble if You are not Careful. Now, Don’t Get Me Wrong, The Internet is a Wonderful Place, with Google Street View and Connecting with PTLS Family Members (and, Friends!) on Facebook; But, according to Nev, The Internet and Other Technologies are just ways to Distract from Your Real Life. On Facebook, You may represent yourself as a Happy Family but, In Real Life, It is not always Pretty. You pretend to be Happy online and You may or may not in Real Life. Besides that, We always have a Reputation to hold online as well as in Real life. If Your Online Rep. is too High, Your Real Life Rep. may not be or Vice Versa. Believe Me, Technology is Very Addicting! I have trouble with Disconnecting from My IPad! Facebook could take Hours to do, Plus All the Shares, Likes, and Comments! Some People live for that stuff, Gotta Gotta GOTTA Get The Most Likes on My XYZ Post! If You Don’t get “Likes” then, You must think that No One Cares. That Brings Me to The Next Point; with all this “Connection” Online, What about Friendships or Relationships that MEAN Something?! Nev dares us to Post on Facebook that You are Sick and that You need someone to bring you Chicken Noodle Soap and Sprite (Sorry, That is My Bias! Those Two are The Best Sick Cures!). The Friends who offer to come to Your House and bring you Chicken Noodle Soap (or Whatever is Your Best Cure) is a True Friend, not just a Facebook Friend. I can tell you that When I had Kidney Stones, My Friend “H.J Angel” told me that She would have been standing next to Me, had she known about it in advance. So, When There is Lack of Connection (Except on Facebook), Friendships/Relationships don’t mean much, and The Isolation of Being Online all the time, How would that Make You Feel? Pretty Sad, I would think. and, That is True. Studies have shown that People that are Online All The Time and On Facebook (on Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, the List goes on..) that They are Less Happy. So, The Moral of The Segment and The Rest of Story, is Get Off Online a little while. No Need to Facebook, Selfie, or Tweet for Right Now. The Final Lesson is to Always be Careful what You Post on Any Social Media Platform. Don’t say anything Mean and Definitely, Don’t Post Anything or Write Anything that You would not want reported to Your Mother. As All of Us who Grew Up in The 90’s and Before that, knew that, was The Worst Possible Thing! All in All, The Internet is What You make of it. For Me, It’s Cybertravelling and Connecting with My PTLS Family as well as Friends. For You, It might be Something Else, but Make The Best of It! And, It would help to Get Off of It for a while too!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Be Nice to Everyone, Spread Love, and Build Connections. Both Online and In Real Life.

The Christianville Spirit: Destiny in The Making (with a Rerun)

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

February 11, 2015-TCS # 437

So, My Readers, considering that It is Valentine’s Week, I thought that I would tell you a Story, and rerun a Story, about What I call, “Destiny in The Making.” You See, I went to a Wedding Reception over The Weekend. It starred a Couple who was Very Clearly Meant to be, It was “Destiny in The Making” in Every Sense of The Word. It was My Neighbor Rob and His Childhood Sweetheart (Literally), Caree. It was So Beyond Romantic, and even more Rare! I watch a lot of Romantic Comedies and What I call “Soulmate Movies” but, Only Twice in Person have I have seen a Love Story that is, “Destiny in The Making.” To put it in a Short Version, Rob and Caree grew up together, Rob moved away, and, finally 42 Years Later, They reconnect and Fell in Love. It was as if They had never separated. The Story of Rob and Caree though, Reminds of a “Destiny in The Making” Story that happened in My Own Family. So, to get You in the already Valentine’s Day Mood from The Previous Story, this is a Rerun of Another Story. I wrote This Newsletter on April 6th of 2011. I was inspired by This Story as well as Rob and Caree’s, that There is such a thing as a True Love Story, “Destiny in The Making” that is NOT just in The Movies. Enjoy! And, Happy Valentine’s Day to All of You!

Every now and then, I really like to read Romantic Stories of people who have found their Soulmate or “Best Friend” as many others call it. I love reading how they met and how they felt when they saw each other, How it felt for them to have Love at First Sight and finally, What’s it like having them around now. Now, as we know or should know Our Soulmate isn’t perfect, as the story that I’m going to tell you about. They may have a flaw in looks, behavior (like in my case, Clearing My Throat or being a Control-freak), or a different “Money System” than you we’ll call it; and, by “Money System” I mean something like he likes to Save and She spends her heart out. Anyway, back to the story. Well, it turns that believe it or not, there is a Soulmate Story in The Smith Family and it stars the 2 Favorite People of The Smith Family, Popi and Grandma Honey. Now, because this is an original love story we’re going to address them by their real names, Warren (Popi) and Jeanette (Grandma Honey). Anyway, Warren and Jeanette met in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1959. They met at a friend’s party and they became friends. They hung out together all the time and before long, they were as they refer to as “Best Friends” because then there wasn’t such a word as “Soulmates”. Anyway, before long they decided to get married and have kids, Bruce, Craig, Julie (My Mom), and Brian all within a couple years of each other. As the kids grew up in Elementary School, they moved to Auburn, Maine for a better life. Because Ann Arbor wasn’t as safe as it used to be and there was less crime in Auburn. Of Course, we know that Jeanette had a program for Expectant Teenage Mothers in Auburn, Everyone loved her and she touched many lives. After they lived in Maine for a while, they decided to move back to Toledo. This time they lived on the Eastside of Toledo and My Mom had to ride the bus to get to her school because it was the only good school in the area and it was on the West Side. The great thing about these two soulmates or “Best Friends” is that they knew how to work together to be great parents with 4 Kids. Their Life centered on their 4 children. They loved each other very much. But, the sad part of the story is that many times they were two very different people who did and still love each other very much. But, they chose to divorce instead of argue. However, They continued to date each other after the divorce because they enjoyed each other and still loved each other. A Couple Years Later, Warren married someone else and Life took Jeanette to Atlanta, Georgia. Now, Although Warren was married to someone else, He and Jeanette still enjoyed conversations with each other because of Their Deep Friendship and Worked Together as Parents for Their Children. The woman who Warren was married to was jealous of their relationship and tried to push them away from each other. So, this story ends with Warren in the final moments of his life on the phone with Jeanette as He wished her a Happy Birthday. And, Warren’s last words to Jeanette were “I Love You” and Jeanette’s last words to him were “I Love You too”. (This is Why I feel so Strongly about saying “I Love You” to those who are Important to You, because You never know if it will be The Last Time) So, this shows that although he was married to someone else, he did still love his Soulmate, “Best Friend”, and True Love, Jeanette. All in all, the moral to our family’s love story is that it’s actually true what they say, True Love does last forever even a thousand miles away.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Everyone has a True Love who is made just for them and it can last forever.

The Christianville Spirit: I was Born This Way Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

February 4, 2015-TCS # 436

So, As Part of The Christianville Spirit’s 10th Year Celebration as well as to Remember some of My Gold Newsletters that I have written, I am going to do occasional re-runs as part of This. We’ll use this to show how much I have changed in The Past 10 Years and Some of Them, You may want to re-live and Even some that You have never seen on My Newsletter Site! So, This Newsletter was written back in April of 2011. (Refer to Newsletter Number 246). At The Time, I was passionate about a Campaign called “Spread The Word to End The Word”. This Campaign, by the way, is still going strong. I explain about it in The Newsletter Below, a Bit of Warning though, There is a bit of Language but, It is all the Prove a Point. Enjoy! 

So, Do you remember when I shortly mentioned about something called “Spread the Word to End the Word”? Well, This Week I’m going to go into detail about it. It is a Program called Spread the Word to End the Word that was created by the CEO of the Special Olympics, Timothy Shriver. Now, What word do they want to end? The ultra-dissing word of people with Special Needs, the R-Word as I call it or to be precise (excuse me for My Language) Retard or Retarded. Most people use this word as “That’s [so]Retarded” or “Your[so]Retarded”. Anyway, You get what I’m saying. On the website for this campaign, www.r-word.org they list how hurtful this word is, along with as they refer to as “Cheers and Jeers”. Cheers meaning people who support this campaign and who think we should end the “R-word” like Me and several others including Johnny Knoxville and Stephen Colbert just to name a few and Jeers, meaning the people who still haven’t stopped using the word. Anyway, I’m so thankful to this campaign to stop using the “R-Word” because it hurts me when people say it whether it’s toward me or not. And, as they say it’s hurtful to Special Needs People if you use it in front of them or not. The funny thing is, is that the word “Retarded” or “Retard” back when it was first used wasn’t really directed at Special Needs People, it is supposed to mean making an object smaller such as Meat or Bread. Then, some hater must have seen someone with Special Needs, thought of the word, and then it spread like wildfire. Anyway, I’m proud to have this program protecting me and I pledged to be a part of it. By the way, if you want to Pledge, go to www.r-word.org, Read all about it and Pledge. On a side note, Lady Gaga’s song “Born This Way” inspires me because I was “Born This Way”, to be Special to Everyone and God himself. All in All, I am happy to have Special Needs and Share my Love and Knowledge to everyone.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. I was Born This Way, Go Out and Be Special!

The Christianville Spirit: Me on Anxiety

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

January 28, 2015-TCS # 435

So, My Readers, I want to tell you about a Common Problem that Us PTLSers have and One that I honestly Hate. It is called Anxiety, or at least that is the More Complex Term. Nervousness is a More General Term. We PTLSers experience Anxiety often, I think it is just part of it. Sometimes, We get Anxious about Worthy Things like Things that May Harm Us like Most People But, Most of The Time, We get Anxious about Things that might be a Bit Weird to The Typical Person. Like Trying New Things, (In Some Cases) Meeting New People; Big Changes in Routine; Being Overwhelmed with Too Much Noise or Too Much Activity; Different Substances and Textures (Mainly Gooey Textures); and finally, Little Things, like for Little Kids, Baths, Toilets, and Water. The Little Anxieties, We will call those Irrational Fears that come and go. I course, Get Anxious about Those Things and Of Course, Going to The Doctor and Most of All, Needles. I know that Needles is common one, but there are people who don’t mind Needles. I believe that The Most Common of Mine are Doctors; Being Overwhelmed with Too Much Noise or Activity (The “Great Wolf Lodge Adventure” with My Dad was Certainly an Example of That); Doing New Things (Once I do them, I am Okay); Routine is Very Important but I am a bit bendable with that one as long as It isn’t too Extreme; People and Animals in Distress (Exactly why I don’t watch Horror Movies!); Babies Crying; and, Finally, Gooey Substances. This One is The Biggest Trouble for Me. You See, There used to a Toy back in The 90’s called Nickelodeon Gak (It turns My Stomach to even say it, So I refer to it as “The G-Word”), It makes My Stomach Turn just thinking about it! In Summery, It is a more Slippery Version of Silly Putty, or at least, that is what I have been told. When I was Growing Up, they had “Nickelodeon Stores” across The Country, I avoided them like The Plague. I only stepped into one because My Dad wanted to check it out, I digress. Anyway, I did not or Still Do Not like Gooey Substances which includes Gak, Silly Putty, Silly String, or Any Substance that Looks Like It! Here in Texas, at Any Mexican Restaurant, We have what is called “Guacamole”, which to Non-Texans, is Mashed Avocado. I Hated Looking at it because in My Childhood Mind, It associated with “The G-Word” because it was Green and so is “The G-Word.” Today, I am a bit more Lenient about it but, It is not My Favorite Thing to Look at. The Worse Episode that I had was when I had My Braces taken off. So, after They took My Braces off officially, I was so Excited! But, It went away pretty quickly when They told me that I had to have My Retainer Done. Sorry Kids, but Here comes a Spoiler! SPOILER ALERT! In order to Mold Your Retainer, They use a Very Gooey Mold to put in Your Teeth to make Your Retainer. Unfortunately, It has to go in your mouth right then because It will get hard very quickly. Well, Long Story Short, It went in, I gagged horribly (Threw Up My Lunch), and Done. I didn’t learn that I was supposed to Wear them Every Day, I didn’t. In it went again, I believe this happened 3 Times before I learned about This. I learned in The End to put The Retainer with all the slobber in it, facing down, not up. Otherwise, You will find your slobber pooled in It which is Why I didn’t wear them the first time! This Whole Gooey Substance Thing also makes me worry about My Future Love Life. Like Touching Private Parts of My Spouse and Making Love to Her. Also, Thinking about Getting Married makes me Very Anxious. Anyway, Moving On, so How do You know when I am Anxious? and How do I calm Myself?, I am sure you are asking? Well, with The Substance Thing, I have a “Look” on My Face as My Mom likes to say. It is The Look that Says, “I’m about to be Sick Face” and Other Times, It is The “I’m Concerned” Look. My Mom also says that I often scan people for Their Body Language. It helps me to predict what might be happening and it calms My Anxiety. I know that A lot of Other PTLSers, Scream or Cry (Which I will admit, that I too did) Well, at least, The Crying Thing. Gagging, that can be a Sign too of Nervousness. Gagging happens when I don’t like the Texture or Appearance of Food, or Gooey Substances. I often get Quiet when I am Nervous when I am Normally Talkative. I start to get sweaty and My Hands Sweat also. I get a Little Self-Conscious when I have to hold someone’s hand either Romantically or not. 

 So, Now to How do I calm Myself? Well, I have never admitted this, but, Sometimes it helps me to a Hug a Pillow and I have One Big Pillow that I hug. Now, I don’t only hug it when I am Anxious but, I like the Texture of it. My Mom points out that I hug a Pillow everywhere I go. Maybe it is a Positive Texture Thing. One Time when I had to go to The Dentist to have a Root Canal, It helped that I had a TV above Me (with CNN on) to Watch. It helped majorly to tell me that They did not need to give me shot. The Tooth was Dead anyway. When I was Overwhelmed from The “Great Wolf Lodge Adventure”, it helped when I listened to Soft Music. I figured since I loved Geography and I remembered that New Zealand’s National Anthem sung by a Nice Singer with a Ukelele so, that is what I chose to help calm me down. Talking to My Mom certainly helps and having her hugs is a Bonus. Hugging My Dogs helps a lot too because They understand. Now, I do have to say that, Yes I have tried the Anxiety Medication route. But, that turned into an Epic Failure because after I took it, My Head felt sleepy, airy, and it buzzed. I asked My Mom, “Is This what it feels like to be Drunk?” and She said Yes. It turned to be an Epic Failure because The “Drunkenness” Feeling, only made me more Anxious. If Your Child is Anxious about Something, namely Too Much Activity or Noise, Too Much Stimulation, than Pull Them Out and Give them some time to Calm Down a little bit. If They are Anxious about other things than try to Work through it with Them as much as You Can. All in all, Anxiety is one of things I hate about PTLS, but I would not give up My PTLS for The World.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Find Your Way to Calm Your Nerves!