The Christianville Spirit: God and The Balance

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Brings Hope

April 29th, 2020-TCS # 686

It Will be Okay, My Readers! Wow! An Amazing Greeting! I am sure that All of Us are going Insane right now in Quarantine and Social Distancing! As I say kind of Dramatically, like Everyone Else. At This Point, All of Us have gone into Madness, not sure when This is Going The End?! It seems like There is not a lot of Hope! Where is The Light at The End of Light at The Tunnel?! You told me (meaning talking to God) that There would be Light! Well, Where The Fettuccine is The Light?! Returning to a More Calming Voice. But, Believe Me, It will be Okay! It seems that to put it lightly, The Balance of Good and Evil is not Balanced Right Now and Some Stuff has to Happen in order for The Balance to become, Balanced again. I know, You are thinking, Huh?! Don’t Worry, I will explain! You See, In Times of Hardness and Harshness, It is those Times when My Mom and I have the Best Talks! Now, Yes, My Mom and I have Good Talks most of The Time but, In Harsh Times, It seems like We have The Best Talks. This One is about God, The Purpose of Life, and Most Importantly, The Balance of Good and Evil. As You may know, April is One of Those Months that those in My Family dread. If Something Crazy is going to Happen, It is always going to be This Month. An Example, besides The Dreaded Coronavirus (I am Sick of Hearing about That!), in The Beginning of April, Paco jumped off The Bed and sprained his Leg one Night, He was acting Very Strange that Night, Next Morning My Mom took him to The Vet. All was Well, It is only a Sprain but, The Way He was acting, You would swear it was Something Else and Finally, Just the Other Day, Sadie Good-Lord got a Cut under Her Shoulder, No Idea how it happened but, It was Bleeding a bit. Right Now, She is Resting and the Cut, as far as I know is Healing. So, About God. We have talked about This many times in Different Angles like The God Cafe Newsletter (which I will rerun later on) and “Texting God” (Refer to That Newsletter) among Many Others. This Talk was more about Life and God, than just God stand alone. The Thing about God, that frustrates me as a Person who is literal, is not God is not Literal. God is instead Symbolic. Well, I really don’t understand Symbolism, I mean, I do, in a way, but Not Spiritual Symbolism. I will give you an Example, towards The End Times, Satan is released from His Chains (Which I picture Literal Chains), Causing Havoc, Upsetting the Balance of Good and Evil, and Spoiler Alert! He basically Dies in a Fiery Lake (which in My Literal Mind, I picture a Lake of Fire) which is in An Odd Way, gives me An Odd Satisfaction, then Basically, Heaven and Earth is Renewed, Jesus comes in The Second Coming. The End. My Apologies for The Spoiler of The Bible! So, That is Religious Theory anyway. Again, Dealing with God’s Symbolism, not Literally! So, Then, One would ask, What is The Purpose of Life if God willingly Created An Angel that would eventually become Satan and Cause Negativity in The World? I personally, Wonder What The Fettuccine? Like God knew this but, He did it anyway. While We are at Why would God let Satan out towards The End Times, again Willingly. I think that is Kinda Stupid, if You ask. But, Whatever, To His Own, I Guess. So, The Purpose of Life, which explains The Whole Satan thing I just mentioned, is to give us The Free Will to do Good or Evil at Any Given Time. You walk up to A Person, not wearing a Mask, Do You stay 6 Feet (or Slightly More) and Just Yell Out and Wave Hi? or Get Really Close and Cough, Try to Prank them to believe that You have Coronavirus, even though You Don’t? It is Your Choice as a Human on This Earth. Personally, I would Yell out Hello and Wave! If You wanted to Quit The Job that You hate, Do You write a Nicely Worded Letter basically giving at least a Two Weeks Notice, and Try Your Darnedest to work those Two Weeks? or Do You get a Marching Band and Announce that You Quit and Run out with Said Marching Band and Celebrate? (I kid you not, Someone actually did This and Posted The Video on YouTube!) Your Choice! Well, Ya Know, as Hilarious and a Little Satisfying, It would be to Quit a Job I hated with a Marching Band, It would NOT get You a Job Recommendation from That Company, If and When You need it! So, Don’t do that! So, The Balance of Good and Evil, The Final Part of My Mom and I’s Talk. Oddly, I learned this from The Movie, Little Nicky, A Movie in which Satan’s Two Sons come to Earth to create Havoc because One of The Son’s wants to take over, and Therefore upsetting The Balance of Good and Evil. Basically, Good and Evil, or Literally Heaven and Hell have to be Balanced on Earth, None can Overpower The Other! Why?! One would wonder. Well If There is Too Much Good, which Believe Me, We all Wish! Everything would be Perfect, No Clouds in The Sky, Always The Perfect Temperature, Everyone is always Nice, and You get Endless Amounts of Food (The Movie, Defending Your Life), That is what Heaven is for. Now, Oppositely, If There was Too Much Evil, There would be No Hope, People would Sad/Sick/Depressed, You get The Idea! That is what Hell is for. So, In Other for Life to work as Normal, Good and Evil have be Balance. A Little bit of Each, None Over Powering! So, You are Successful at XYZ. How did You get There? More than I can count of Catfish nipping My Tail to get You to Where You are Today. Honestly, Of All The Lessons, I taught My Mom, that one seems to be the Most Messed Up! But, That is How Life works! It is No Straight Road! If It were, I probably would have found My PTLS Ambassador's First Lady or My “Forever Romantic Person” by Now. Anyway, To Explain about My God Cafe Theory, Here is The Me from 2015 to explain More. I Hope You enjoyed This Lesson because It was a Good One!

This Newsletter was Originally written on April 29th of 2015 (Refer to Newsletter 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: 2 AM Talks with Mom II

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Brings Hope

April 22nd, 2020- TCS # 685

Off on an Adventure We go, My Readers! You Know, It is always an Adventure with Me! This Adventure deals more with Something that I do on a Daily Basis.

So, I have said this before, For Those who don’t know me well enough yet and/or getting to know who I am, This is something that explains me Very Well. As I was saying, As You may already know that based on My Routine, I stay up pretty late. Pretty Late meaning, 2 AM and My Mom goes to Bed anytime from 9 to Midnight depending what is happening at The Moment. Well, Every Night, as Crazy as it sounds, I like to say to Good Night to her twice. Once to Tuck Her in (Everyone needs to be Tucked in) and The Second Time, to let her know that I am going to Bed as well as What I learned that Night. You See, Everyone has some kind of Nightlife in Them, My Brother had one, and So do I. Only My Nightlife, is Being Social and Researching. Now, Okay, I do plenty of Researching  during The Day, but when I get My Computer, Research I Go! Some Nights, it depends What I do. Some Nights are Boring, I only check Facebook, It’s “Push Back” Articles (Interesting Article Links on Facebook) , and Normal YouTube videos then Listen to some Music while Talking to My Friends. Of Course, On Wednesday Nights, I watch a Movie! Some Nights, I just Watch TV after being done with My Computer. Other Nights, It is Filled with Information Articles in The Categories of Travel, Romance, and World News/Politics/History. But, The Thing is, that I feel the need to Tell My Mom about them when I say Good Night to Her even though She is half-asleep or A Bonus, if She is wide awake, not that that Happens that often! But, Every Night I bring My Mom some of My Adventures that I did that night. To Give You a Sample; One Night I watched Cruise Videos (Which I like to do now on Sundays); Watched a Train going up into The Alps from Italy to Switzerland; Then, I watched a Gondola Ride upwards from the Lovely Town of Zermatt to A Majestic Mountain called “The Matterhorn”, which was Very Interesting seeing what it would look like going up to The Top of The Mountain. and, Then I got curious about What it looks like on a Cable Car to Mount Blanc. A Mountain that sits on The French-Italian Border and It is One of The Tallest Mountains in The Alps Range. Of Course, There are Cable Cars coming from Each Side. One from The French Side from The Town of Chamonix and The Italian Side coming from A Town between Mount Bianco (Mount Blanc in Italian) and Torino. I watched The Cable Car going from Chamonix to Mount Blanc. Eventually, Leading to a Family taking the Cable Car to Mount Blanc; The Same Family going on a Cruise to Roatan, Honduras; and, Finally, A Group of People taking a Private Tour of Roatan with Who They say is The Best Tour Guide on The Island, Shelford of Christopher Tours. One More Example is Moments when I like to Challenge Myself and At The Same Time, Teach Myself to figure things out. For Example, In Europe, They have Two Major Highways Systems, The E-Highway System and a National Highway System, Locally called (A-Highway). For Me anyway, I prefer The E-Highways or European Routes, as in E-40, E-50, E-60, and E-70 going East-West and E-45/E-43 and E-35 going North-South, makes sense, right? Well, Most Countries use both The A-Highways (A means Autobahn/Route/Strada) and E-Highways on Their Highway Signs. Other Countries like Germany put only The A-Highways on Their Signs. So, I have some of them down, but Germany like make it unique, as in A-4 (or Autobahn 4) is not always European Route 40. Autobahn 7 is European Routes 45 and a Portion of European Route 43, The Most Southern Part of European Route 43 towards Bregenz, Austria and St. Margarthen, Switzerland is Autobahn 96. Of Course, There is No Google Street View in Germany (Except Major Cities) due to Local Privacy Laws, but There are Two Roadgeek Sites with Pictures with Road Signs in Germany, noted to Autobahn Number, not European Route Number, and One is in Dutch, The Other is in German. The Final Challenge reaped Some Good Rewards! You See, I have only Cybertravelled from Badajoz, Spain to Lisboa and then to The Airport (Lisbon is Portuguese). This Time I figured that I would try to see The Coast. To Get There, I would have to leave the Airport and Cyberly-Drive to a Town called Cascais. The Challenge was getting to The A-5 (Autostrada 5) or Locally called Auto-Estrada 5 from Lisboa Airport. I kept having to scan ahead to remember what road to go on, I tried My Best to follow The Signs in Portuguese, I finally made My Way on The Autostrada 5 to Cascais. When I got to Cascais, The Road ended before The Coast, so My Resourceful Self found a Way via a Narrow Road to get to The Beach. I will say that Portuguese Architecture is Amazing to look at and Driving from Lisboa to Cascais was not that long of a Drive, maybe 25 Kilometers but, As I was getting closer to The Beach, It felt like The Coast of The Middle of California. I Really Enjoyed It! It would actually be Fun to do in Real Life. Now, Imagine me telling My Mom THAT at 2 in The Morning! Anyway, To Further Explain about My 2 AM Talks with My Mom, I am going to Rerun the Newsletter that Explains It! Enjoy Your Lesson!

This Newsletter was Originally Written on April 6th of 2016 (Refer to Newsletter 491)

Happy April, My Readers! This Month is not always a Great Month for Our Family, but We do have an Event this month to look forward to and That, in it’s self, is Exciting! So, on to This Week’s Newsletter! So, I have yet another Untold Story for You! Not another Untold Story! You might say! Well, I promise you that it is a Good One! So, As You may already know that based on My Routine, I stay up pretty late. Pretty Late meaning, 2 AM and My Mom goes to Bed anytime from 9 to Midnight depending what is happening at The Moment. Well, Every Night, as Crazy as it sounds, I like to say to Good Night to her twice. Once to Tuck Her in (Everyone needs to be Tucked in) and The Second Time, to let her know that I am going to Bed as well as What I learned that Night. You See, Everyone has some kind of Nightlife in Them, My Brother had one, and So do I. Only My Nightlife, is Being Social and Researching. Now, Okay, I do plenty of Researching  during The Day, but when I get My Computer, Research I Go! Some Nights, it depends What I do. Some Nights are Boring, I only check Facebook, It’s “Push Back” Articles (Interesting Article Links on Facebook) , and Normal YouTube videos then Listen to some Music while Talking to My Friends. Other Nights, It is Filled with Information Articles in The Categories of Travel, Romance, and World News/Politics/History. But, The Thing is, that I feel the need to Tell My Mom about them when I say Good Night to Her even though She is half-asleep and I just have to save it for The Morning and Remember to Repeat Them. The Thing is though, Some Nights, I have what I call “Information Overload” which is quite a Common Problem with People in My Generation. So Much Information in The World! In The News; On Facebook; Articles I have Read; Whatever happened that Day talking with a Friend and What that Friend said; and, Of Course, The Information that is in My Head already. It is a wonder why People in My Generation are so Stressed! Because of All The Information coming at Them at One Time. So, I feel the Need to spill out The Information that I learned (both Good and Bad) to My Mom, so I can get to Sleep. Now, if I don’t, then, I go to Sleep and by the Time that My Mom gets Home from work, I feel that Yesterday’s Information that I learned went down The Toilet because I turn on The News and Hear what is going on, then I check Facebook and All of That has Information in It. So, I am sure that You are Wondering, What Kind of what I’ll call, “2 AM talks with Mom” do You have? Well, They vary. Either They are Short and I don’t do much and Make Myself Bored so that There is Less Information (Short Talks last maybe 2 or 3 Minutes). “Oh, I just listened to Music a little bit, and I talked to My PTLS Brother, Tyler; My Friend, Deb; or Monica in Sweden”. Other Nights, I go on telling her about Every Article that I read; Something Interesting I learned; Something was Trending in The News on Facebook; and, Of Course, Places that I cyber-travelled to. (Long Talks last anywhere from 15 Minutes to 30 Minutes). I try not to Keep her awake too Long with Our Talks. So, An Example of Our Talks goes like this. The Other Day, I told her that, After I checked Facebook, “Push Backs” (told her about that too), Normal Youtube Videos (and, which They were). I cyber-traveled to Bratislava, Slovakia to See how close Bratislava is from Vienna, Austria (It is Really Close). Bratislava is The Capitol of Slovakia (which used to be, Czechoslovakia) is nearly on The Border with Austria, and The Capitol of Austria, Vienna, is not far down The Road. After That, I hopped on The Danube River and had to Learn what it was in Each Language because I was using Google Maps Sweden (It shows Place Names in Their Native Language as well as English, Unlike US Google Maps that is English Only), I followed The Danube River, upward hoping to get up closer to The Other Side of Europe (like The Netherlands or France), while trying to remember The “Blue Danube” song which I got confused with “Ode to Joy” (The Anthem of The European Union), got to The End of The Danube River and Later, Looking up The Danube River on Wikipedia. After That, I drove fastly across The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Into The UK. Then, Virtually Flew to Toronto and Driving across The Blue Water Bridge near Port Huron, Michigan (Re-Introducing Myself in The US, I wrote about that once in a Newsletter) and scanned across Detroit (My Mom’s Hometown), hopped on US Highway 23 and, crossed into Ohio and Ending where Popi (My Mom’s Dad) was Buried and Bringing Him some Virtual Adventure. Popi was always an Adventurist and I figured that He would want some of My Adventure. So, Here is Another Example and Hang On! So, Last Night I told My Mom that I checked Facebook and All associated (Sometimes, I skip that part if there is Something that is Exciting Me). I looked up The European Schengen Museum in a Town called Schengen, Luxembourg on TripAdvisor and Adding it on My List of Trips of Things to See and Do. (I did not know about that until I saw a YouTube Video about What Schengen is). I looked it up on Google to see An Official Website about it. Schengen, by the way, is The Most Fascinating Thing called The Schengen Agreement which means Freedom of Movement in Europe without Having to Stop for Customs. 

 I Looked up McDonalds in Sweden and Italia (Italy) to see Differences they have on Their Menu there versus in The United States. It is actually really cool to see the differences. For Example, They have The Traditional Apple Pie or You can get a Raspberry Pie at McDonalds in Sweden. American Fast Food around The World is sometimes a Mix of Traditional American as well as Localized Meals. After That, I went to Finland, because I read an Article about how Finnish Schools are The Best in The World and Why. I ended up at The Finland/Russia Border to see The Road Signs there. After Seeing The Road Signs there, I scanned across to Helsinki and Ferried to Stockholm and saw a Few Signs there, Fly from Stockholm to London, and London to Detroit. After That, I drove with skipping down to Toledo to Visit Popi again and This Time, Bringing Him a Piece of Schengen, Seeing a bit of Finland & Stockholm, and then, Back Home. All of These Trips and Articles, My Mom gets to hear about at 2 AM! Don’t You wish that You lived at My House?! All in all, You never what You are going to Learn at 2 AM. It is just a Matter of Whether She can remember it when She gets up in The Morning, Because I will be Quizzing Her after She gets Home from Work.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Learning can happen at Any Hour of The Day or Night.

The Christianville Spirit: A Different Network of Context

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Brings Hope

April 15th, 2020- TCS # 684

Hej, Ciao, and Bonjour, My Readers! Wow! A Triple Greeting! These are Greetings in 3 of My Favourite Countries; Sweden, Italia (Italy), and My Favourite Fancy Greeting Country, France. So, Last Night, I went on a little Adventure in My Normal Research. So, I was doing some Research about Cuba because, Apparently Our Country says It is Illegal to Visit Cuba while The Rest of The World can. As of Now, Cuba is not a Threat to America as Other Countries are not. I was curious about it. Actually, in the Back of My Mind, I have always been curious about Going There. Illegalness be Darned! I have heard that Some Americans actually go to Cuba without a License and  In The Following Statement, I do not mean in an Offensive Way but, In Latin America, They take Rules as a “Suggestions”, for Example, Down in Cuba, The Cuban Immigration takes the whole “No Americans in Cuba” without a License and Generally, It being against American Law to visit, as a “Suggestion”. So, They purposely don’t stamp American Passports because after all, They are Excited that You are Even There visiting when Your Local Government says No. Basically, Without going to Politics, It is all about Perspective! Anyway, after I was done with that, I went to Youtube in search of a Couple Songs, I had forgotten that The VPN I was using while Researching about Cuba was still on, It took me to Youtube in a Different Country. So, It got Me Curious again. What does Youtube look like in Other Countries. So, Off I went! I looked at YouTube Germany, Italia (Italy), Sweden, Czechia, and Portugal to name a few. I decided with using Youtube in Different Countries, I could see What People watch in Other Countries as well changing My “Network of Context”. In Other Words, Trying to how Something would be Seen from Another Countries point of View. I remember watching a Video about a Czech Family that drove to Munichen (Munich in German) to fly to Frankfurt and then, Fly to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic or Dominikanska Republika (It is Pronounced like It looks) in Czech. I was thinking to Myself, from The American “Network of Context”, that I thought that only People from  America and Canada visited PC?! (as I call it). Down in The Comments, I remember someone from Leeds, United Kingdom mentioning that They had visited PC before as well. Actually, I remember that a Couple Years Ago, a PTLS Family Member from Sweden visited PC as well. Again, I was thinking in My American “Network of Context” that It is a Long Flight from Europe to PC versus Say, going There from Dallas or Atlanta in The US. Another Video I watched was about A Metal Guy (not that I am into that though!) moving from Florida (The US) to Germany, saying it made him a lot more Happier and That, They have a Bigger Metal Scene in Germany than They do in The US. Again, It is all about Perspective! While in Youtube Sweden, although I did not watch it, I saw a Link to a Video about Trying Swedish Snacks in Swedish of course. Youtube Portugal was Interesting, a lot more Videos in Their National Language. The Thing is, is that People in One Country are only in tune to What Their “Network of Context” is. Meaning, What They are Watching, only talks about Their Home Countries’ View on Things and Not What Else is Going on in The World. We, Americans think that There are Countries that Hate Us and Yes, There are, but, A Majority of Those Places, We are told that They hate us is either because of Local Politics or Because They are taught to. Shockingly, The People of Said Country, Hate Our Politics Not Necessarily, Us as American People. One Thing, They are is, Curious but, Kinda-Scared-To-Ask-Anything Curious and We Americans, The Same Thing. So, If You were to Ever visit a Country like Cuba and Other Places that We are told anyway that They Hate Americans, They just Hate American Politics, NOT American People. So, The Perspective of People around The World is made up of People see in The Media in Their Own Countries is what They believe to be True. This has Me thinking, It is How People Perceive as Normal in People and What is seen to be Special Needs. What People are told is supposed to be Normal is unfair to those with Special Needs, because We are not seen to be “Normal”. Wouldn’t it be Nice if Every Country was taught that There is No “Normal” in People and a Person with Special Needs is just like Them. It is brings me to a Newsletter that I wrote about The Perception of Normal.

Portions of This Newsletter was Originally written on September 25th of 2019 (Refer to Newsletter 655)

What Do You see as “Normal”, My Readers?! Wow! A Question within a Greeting! Crazy, right?! So, The Question I asked as The Greeting, What do You think is “Normal”? My Mom and I had This Discussion a Couple Weeks Ago about The Same Time as The School Funding Talk, Refer to The Newsletter before This One to get the Context of It. Now, What People Think is Normal, or More on The Lines of, What People Perceive as “Normal”, is actually a Very Fascinating Topic. Sometimes, Acting a Certain Way and Believing in Certain Things is what People perceive as “Normal” and That is Okay. Some People, believe it or not, think that Swearing to Each other in a Joking Way in a Family is Normal. Some People think that Thinking one way about Other People is Normal; This can apply to Disliking Someone, Judging Someone, and Yes, even Liking or Loving Someone could be Perceived as Normal. The Most Fascinating of This Topic is more on The Lines of what We as Americans see happening around The World and The Behaviours or Lifestyles that We may be fascinated with and Wonder Why They think that is Normal. I like to point out that Places that I have been where They have Lifestyles that I think are Fascinating but, They think is Normal. For Example, In Spain, They believe that taking a Nap in The Middle of The Day, Commonly known as a “Siesta” as well as They do Everything Late, Most Commonly Lunch and Dinner is Normal. Lunch is at 2:00 in The Afternoon and Dinner, again, Believe it or not, People in Spain don’t Eat Dinner until 9:00 at Night. Yes, You read that correctly, 9 O’ Clock at Night to have Dinner! Here in The United States, We eat Dinner between 4 PM and 7 PM. Now, with The Perception of Normal also comes with a Reason. People in Spain don’t Eat Dinner until 9 because, They don’t have Air Conditioning and Therefore, It is better to wait until Later to Eat because otherwise It is going to be Hot inside The Restaurant! Another Example, One of My Favourites Actually, is that in One of My Favourite Countries, Sweden, They have What is called a “Fika” (Pronounced Fee-Kah) which is basically a Coffee Break among Family, Friends, or Co-Workers, Twice a Day at 10 and 3 Respectively. It is sort of a Rule that Whoever You are with and Where ever You are, You stop and have a Fika. Literally, a Business Meeting will stop suddenly to have a Fika. It actually happened at Our PTLS Conference On The Road where My Mom was talking and People started getting up and walking over to get their Fika. It dawned on both of Us that It was Fika Time! While We were Driving with PTLS Member, Josefine between Stockholm and Sundsvall, We saw a Couple Cars on The Side of The Road and We thought that They might be having Problems but, They were actually having Fika. Like I said, Perception of Normal is not just Behaviors. In Fact, According to Swedish Law, as Long as You are not on Private Property and Not Bothering Anyone, You can camp anywhere in Swedish Nature. That would be Very Weird to see happen in The United States. Of Course, Perception of Normal can be things that You wonder Why They do that. 

Of Course, I do have to Mention about Even The Perception of Something like Having PTLS. Now, People who are more on The Typical Side would think that a Person like Me having PTLS is a Big Deal and It really isn’t. I perceive it to be Normal that I have PTLS, I know that I am Unique in a lot of Ways; I may have Anxiety, See The Good in People, Always Needing a Routine and Predictability to help me Function, among Many Other Things but, That is seems Normal to Me because I have had PTLS My Whole Life, I don’t know anything different. That is actually The Perfect Way to Explain about the Big Deal about Having PTLS. People do perceive that Having PTLS is Easy, like “Oh! The Youth Gene! I want some of that!”. I am over here thinking, “Well, You can’t have JUST The Youth Gene in There! You would have to have All of The PTLS!”. Don’t Get me Wrong, I would not trade having PTLS for Anything. PTLS is Unique. Very Unique, If I might say so Myself! But, I will Say that PTLS is not Easy! The Things that Us PTLSers perceive as Normal is not Wrong, It sure is Different but, We PTLSers see you as Being Different! For Example, When We are Lining up Our Toys when We are Kids, To Us, We are thinking of Different Scenarios in Our Mind. There is a lot of Organization going on in Our Mind, People might think that We don’t understand what is happening. But, We perceive more than You Think! All in all, The Wrong Perception of Someone can make a cause a Big Mistake!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Take Time to Get to Know People or Situations before You pass Judgement.

The Christianville Spirit: Life in Quarantine

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Gives Hope

April 8th, 2020-TCS # 683

Stay Sane, My Readers! Easier said than Done! I’m going INsane! You might tell me! Well, No Worries! This Virus will End, hopefully Very Soon and We can go back to Normal. Yes, It is about Time that We talk about This Dreaded Coronavirus! But, Let’s talk about this in a Lighter Manner. You See, There are Terms that describe People more than You realize. They are Extravert and Introvert. The Reason I say that is It describes People, is because It says more about The Way Someone Lives, not just Attitude or even Personality. Actually, It is mixes both of Those. Extraverts mean that They are Outside all of Time, Socializing, Walking in Nature, and so on. These are The People that You’ll see Talking to Everyone; Going to Clubs (This is an Extreme Example!). In Other Words, They are The Life of The Party, The Source of Entertainment. Meanwhile, You have The Introverts. These are The People who would rather Stay Home because It is Comfortable. They will enjoy staying home Reading books, do activities in the house or even play Video Games all day (Another Extreme Example!). However, When They want to or have to, they will Socialize but, They will be The First to leave Whatever Social Gathering in Context is happening. Of Course, Myself, I am a little bit of both. I am an Introvert in My Normal Life, I am a Home Body. But, at The Same Time, I like to Socialize with My Friends, Neighbours, or Extended Friends. So, When Coronavirus shows up, I think “Hey, I am a Home Body anyway, so It won’t be a Big Deal!”. Of Course, God help The Extraverts because this “Social Distancing” and Staying at Home is Pure Hell (Excuse The Language). I am Okay somewhat with The Staying at Home, but There is Two Things that I struggle with. One is the “Social Distancing”, How do You know when Someone is 6 Feet away or not. Now, baring in Mind, if Someone is too close, like Standing Next to You or in Your Face. I get that. But, What about just Talking to People? Of Course, The Second Thing that I struggle with is The Stay at Home. To Me, as a Rule Follower, It means I have to Literally Stay Home. Can’t go Anywhere! Not Out to Eat (Not that I go out to Eat often), Not to The Park/Walk/Outdoors, and Not on a Drive! The Last Part is the one that bugs me. As You know, I love to go on Drives to Places every now and then. Now, Technically, as Long as I am “Social Distancing” or Causing Problems (not that I would). I should be Okay. The Problem comes in because One, The State of Texas has an Official but, Not Official “Stay at Home Order”. Meaning that Only those who are Essential can be on The Roads, not just random People just taking Drives! Two, Some of The Places that I have thought about going on a Drive to, have New Roads or New Neighborhoods. It is a Worry about Everything is Closed including Tire Changing Places. It is a Risk, of course Driving on New Roads that There might be Nails on the Roads from Construction Workers. Of Course, that is Obvious with New Neighborhoods but, New Roads, I would imagine are not that Bad. But, I would not want to take The Risk and end with a Nail in The Tires of The Car and then, You can’t go to a Tire Place to get it fixed because The Places are Closed! So, I guess that It is Google Street View’s Time to Shine! I just wish The Pictures were Within a Month of Current. If They were Live, that would be a little creepy! So, All in all, This “Social Distancing”, Isolation, Quarantine, or Stay at Home Order; It is about Perspective! Hope This Stuff ends Soon!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. However You See This Virus and Staying Home, Please Keep Everyone Healthy and Stay Home! 

The Christianville Spirit: PTLS Awareness Month Extension

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Brings Hope

April 1st, 2020- TCS # 682

Happy April and Ciao, My Readers! That is a Greeting among Friends in Italian. Oh Yes, It is that Time of The Year, That Month that Those in My Family dread, April.

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. 

Now, It seems as though The Month before April, March (Marzo) was not as Good as It usually is. Looking back on it, I am glad that PTLS Awareness Day was, when It was. Because unfortunately The Coronavirus (Yes, My Readers. it’s that Term that We all Love to Hate!) took over and Yes, There was some Awareness of PTLS after PTLS Day but, I feel that Coronavirus kind of pulled All The Fun of Our PTLS Awareness Month away. So, This Week, We are making a Deal. Due to Coronavirus...Trust Me, Folks! This is Good News! We are extending PTLS Awareness Month by Another Week to make up for It. So, Still Wear Your PTLS Shirt! Even though You are at Home, Spread Awareness in Any Way You can, even if FaceTime, Skype, or even Zoom is Required. While We are at it, Zoom your Friends and Tell them all the exciting things of What Your PTLS Child might be doing at The Moment. Of Course, Remember that just because PTLS Awareness Month will be over, does not mean to stop Spread Awareness! So, To Lift Everyone’s Spirit, This is My PTLS Awareness Extension Finale!

I will let The Me from Last Year of 2019 continue.

So, Being in The Honored Self-Appointed PTLS Ambassador, Meeting PTLS Family Members as well as Proudly Talking about PTLS as an adult with this is just what I do. This Job, not really a Paying Job but, Something I do that I like to say is a Job, comes with Talking to and Meeting PTLS Family Members, therapists and Teachers from All over The World. I get them in all Kinds! The Veterans, Those who have been here since the Beginning, as in before PTLS was named and going into The Naming of PTLS; There are The Post-Naming of PTLS, Family Members Those who are told that Their Child has Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. Now, Some Members are Blessed to have a Doctor that will learn some of It and Tell them a little bit about it. Then, Of Course, The Doctors that don’t know anything about it. In Other Words, they might as well as be Saying that Your Child has some foreign syndrome, Don’t know what it is, Okay, Move On! Next Patient, Please! Okay, so the Doctors are kind as they can be, but I am sure that That is What The Members feel like happened. Perhaps, The Doctor did say something about it but, All the Parent heard was “Your Child has Something called Potocki-Lupski Syndrome..” It is Sort of like Autism... (“Wah-Wah-Wah” Sound like Charlie Brown). So, These PTLS Family Members range from Pre-Veteran across Mid-Time and Into The Newer Side of The Family. The “Welcome to The Family” New PTLS Family Members, The Ones scared to Death, Literally. Okay, If You are New..I say with The Most Gentile Love and Hug and Saying, “Welcome to The Family! Everything will be Okay!”. The New People are usually the Ones that I want to Make Sure that They get the Most Accurate Information, from The PTLS Foundation as well as a Lot of Love, and to be, Given The Information at a Slow Pace, or Whatever Speed that They feel comfortable. Veterans, Imagine driving onto a High-Speed Highway where Everyone in The Far Left is Blazing By, Knowing and being Comfortable on The PTLS Highway, everyone is The Middle is going Fast to Medium Speed, and then, The Right Lane is going Slow, they are just learning! But, The Fast Ones think that You are in The Way, What Lanes do You choose as a New PTLS Family Member? Now, Yes, All of Us PTLS Family Members at Whatever Stage from Veterans to Brand New, at Some Point go through That Same Feeling. The Grieving Process. The Feeling of Your Child won’t quote-end-quote “Normal”. I would say “Who Cares about Being Normal?! Normal is Soo Overrated!” Now, No, I’m not saying “Get over It” But, I am saying that It is Your Process that as a Member of The Family and Yes, even Our Veterans go through it Every Once and While. But, It is Okay! Oh Yeah, Do Remember what I said about The “Normal” Thing, Repeat it over and over. Eventually, You. Yes, You, My Reader, will Believe It! Anyway, I wrote a Older Newsletter that I want to share that Might help with The Process! Okay, Good Talk Everyone! Big Group Hug in 3...2..1! Big Hug! Everything will Fine! and, Of Course, as I said before, Welcome to The Family!

The Newsletter that I am going to Rerun is a Christianville Classic is a Newsletter called “A Rant about Parents”. I believe that it explains perfectly about How Literal us PTLS’ers are.

As a Reminder, You can always Check The Christianville Classics List for Some of My Best Newsletters. Also, While I am at it. Anytime, You can send me Newsletter Suggestions on Topics on PTLS and Otherwise, that You, My Reader, would like to read about.  So, Without Further a Due, This is The Christianville Classic Newsletter, “A Rant about Parents”!

This Newsletter was written on June 4th of 2014 (Refer to Newsletter 404)

Welcome, My Readers! To a Fresh and Redone Site that is The Christianville Spirit! I decided that My Site needed a bit of Revamping, which was one of My New Year’s Goal. So, I hope You Guys enjoy it and Let Me Know what You think. So, Anyway, At the Recent Revelation, I know that it is always a shock to find out that Your Child has PTLS and You don’t know what it is or What to expect. To try and Help You Understand from My Prospective of having PTLS, How about I do this? I am going to do a Hilarious Rant, courtesy of Us PTLSers! This is to Prove to Everyone that We PTLSers are like Everyone Else. So, without further a due, Here it goes. 

Oh My Lord! I can’t tell you just how Worried My Parents are about Me! They are Concerned about Whether I am going to Eat, Walk, Talk, and Soo Many Other Things! First, The Eating. I am going to start Eating on MY Time, NOT Yours! It will be when I want to But, Please Feed Me something that I like! Even if It seems like The Most Ridiculous thing to always have the same thing every day, Day after Day, I like it that way. I may not like the texture, so it is going to take me time. On to Talking, as Chris Rock in Rush Hour says, “Can You Understand The Words That Are Coming Out of My Mouth!?” Because, let me tell you,  The words are Clear as Day in My Head! I know it must sound like I am speaking a Foreign Language to Them because It doesn’t seem like They Understand My Mumbles and Hums in Their Ears! I think I am speaking pretty clear, but they keep saying, “I cannot understand him. What is He saying?” So, I will work on making those words clear!

My Parents! They often take me to this Strange, Distressing, and Horrible Place, known as The Doctor’s Office! They poke and prod me like I am some of kind of Pin Cushion! I am just like You, Mommy and Daddy! I don’t Like It! I am sure I have to have these things done, but, I am a kid who does not Like it. So, Don’t Get too upset if I start Crying or not wanting to hold still, but do what you have to do to make sure I am healthy. Sometimes, I hear you getting upset either at Me or for Some odd Reason, because I am not doing what You want me to do. Really, I will progress and learn to do things, I just like to take my time. Just wait, it will happen when you Least expect it! My Parents! They take me to these Huge Places like Disney World as They tell me, “Ohh, This is going to be Soo Much Fun!” and There is SO MUCH NOISE! I can’t take it! Too Much Noise and Activity! I am Completely Overwhelmed! Tantrum coming in 3, 2, 1.  MOMMY, I WANT THIS THING! I DON’T WANT THAT! I wanna go Home! Once I am Home, Ahhhhh! Back to my  Nice, Quiet Routine. By The Way, I should mention that Routine is like Muy Important to me! You see, it helps me. I Have to Wake Up at The Same Time (“Rise and Shine” as My Mom says), Eat at The Same Time, and of Course, Go to Bed at the Same Time, even if It means 2 O’ Clock in The Morning, for The Older PTLSers. I know parents have a hard time with this, but, jeez! I really need it! Oh, and when I get to meet other “People like Me” at first, I’m nervous about it thinking, “Oh Boy” this is going to tough.  Then, I am Excited once I get to Know them. When I see or read about my fellow baby PTLSers, I say, “Hey! They are doing what I did when I was that age! Let’s Imitate each other!” Please understand, I gotta be near Kids who are what My Parents call “Normal Kids” Hum... What is That? I do not know the difference! As We get older, We will find out what that “normal” is, but, It is Okay with us. It really does not bother us, unless you keep reminding us that we are not “normal”. In my mind (as I like to say all the time), I thought I was. Oh! I forgot to mention My Parents take me to This thing that They call “Therapy”. Day after day after day I go to see someone who helps me with moving my mouth trying to get me to talk. Then It is someone who is trying to get me to move in a certain way. Oh, sometimes it is just too much for me. Again, here comes a melt down! I don’t know what it is, sometimes it seems fun, but Gosh, Let Me Do Things at My Own Pace! I promise you I will get there! I am not good with figurative language, since I am so literal, but I think I was taught in my “figurative language class”, I Will cross that Bridge When I get to it! Just wait for Me to get to the other end of The Bridge. But, I have to say that my parents are so worried and they lose patience. What am I to do with Them? I wish I could tell My Parents that I am and Will Be Fine, even though to Them, I might not seem like it. So, from me and my fellow PTLSers (Especially the Babies Who are just beginning this Life), It is really Tough trying to teach you Parents about Us. So, We will be patient and Keep smiling, because that is what we do Naturally, and Stay Happy, because that is how we see life, and Wait for you to learn. Life is Really good in our eyes. You are doing a Great Job! So, All in all, Gosh My Parents worry about Me! But, I Worry about Them too and I Love Them!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Embrace PTLS, We are Humans just like You.