The HeartThread Journal - May, 1996 Issue



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                                                * The HeartThread Journal *



                                                         - The Journal of

                                                                Marriage,

                                                              Parenting &

                                          International Family Traditions -


                                         ----------------------------------

                                                            Vol. 1, No. 5







                                                             May 31, 1996





















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                                     Published by FutureRealm Productions 



   * The HeartThread Journal *
   - The Journal of Marriage, Parenting & International Family Traditions -
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Vol. 1, No. 5                                           May 31, 1996


       "To promote and encourage the 'thread' of unselfish heart and love
        that invisibly connects husbands and wives, parents and children,
                                               and brothers and sisters."
                                           ------------------------------




           From the Editor
           ...............

                This month we are happy to have the opportunity to
           alert our loyal readers that we have a new web address:
           our very own domain! From now on, hop over to
           "http://futurerealm.com" when you want to browse through
           our web site.

                At the same time, our email addresses have changed.
           You can contact me at "peterbrown@futurerealm.com", and
           my lovely wife Kim at "kimbrown@futurerealm.com". (Of
           course both emails come to the same mailbox, but it does
           sound nice to have one's own email address, doesn't it?)

                The other big bit of news is that we've finally got
           our newly modified seminar out of the starting gate. "The
           HeartThread Seminar on Marriage, Parenting & Family" is
           now available for public consumption! Previously, we were
           just focusing on parenting, with the "Striving for
           Parental Love" Seminar, but both Kim and myself felt that
           we needed to integrate marriage into the same seminar.

                The seminar is structured as a three hour program
           (although it can be expanded up to two days in length.)
           We will be placing the content outline on the web page,
           for those who would like to explore it further.

                We've got some great articles and columns this month
           -- some from regular contributors and some from writers
           that are new to us. I hope that you enjoy this issue!

                                               Peter F. Brown
                                               Editor & Publisher






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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 1 




                               TABLE OF CONTENTS


           * From the Editor, Peter F. Brown ......................1


           * Home School and the Right-Brain Wonder,
             by Claire Bowles .....................................5


           * Culture Crisis and Youth,
             by Vern T. Jordahl, PhD ..............................8


           * Appreciating Our Loved Ones,
             by Victoria Clevenger ...............................12


           * Developing the Musical Child - In Every Child,
             by Greta Ward - Part 2 ..............................14


           * My Assignment, Please,
             by Olga S. Hardman ..................................16


           * Reflections on the Rails,
             by Richard R. Radtke ................................17


           * The Movie Mom's Guide to Movies
             and Videos for Families, by Nell Minow ..............18
             (Review of Flipper)


           * Mother Linda's Rhubarb-Strawberry Crunch ............20


           * HeartQuestions / Questions & Reflections
             about Marriage, Parenting & Family Issues
             by Peter F. Brown ...................................20
             [The Eternal Castle of True Love]


           * Anatomy of a Nickname, by Kim Korman Brown ..........23


           * The HeartThread Resource Guide:
             Resources for Couples, Parents & Families ...........26




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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 2 

                                                  The HeartThread Journal
                                  is published by FutureRealm Productions

                                    Publisher and Editor - Peter F. Brown
                                          Co-Publisher - Kim Korman Brown
        -----------------------------------------------------------------

                 Visit our web page, "The HeartThread Resource Page", at:
                                                 "http://futurerealm.com"
                             or email us at: "peterbrown@futurerealm.com"
                                         or:   "kimbrown@futurerealm.com"

                                                      You can mail us at:
                                                  FutureRealm Productions
                                                            P.O. Box 4131
                                           Virginia Beach, VA 23454 / USA

                                    or you can call us at: (804) 468-6848
                                             or fax us at: (804) 468-6461
        -----------------------------------------------------------------

               SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION / Email Version & Printed Version
               **********************************************************

              The HeartThread Journal is a subscription-based publication
                       sent out through email on the Internet each month.

         To subscribe, send an email to "peterbrown@futurerealm.com" with
         the phrase "subscribe - HeartThread" in the body of the message.
                            To unsubscribe, send an email with the phrase
                  "unsubscribe - HeartThread" in the body of the message.

       Internet subscriptions are normally $12.00 per year for 12 issues.
                     For a limited time, Internet subscriptions are FREE.

           Single printed copies are available for $4.00 ea. + $1.00 S&H.
     Subscriptions to the printed version are available for $48 per year.
           Please mail US Bank Check or Money Order to the above address.

        The promotional free Internet subscriptions are not contractually
                 guaranteed for 12 months -- rather the subscription will
                      continue indefinitely for free until the publishers
          end this special promotion and begin normal subscription rates.

                     Free subscribers will be notified when this happens,
                              and will be offered a regular subscription.
        -----------------------------------------------------------------

                                                WRITERS ARE ALWAYS NEEDED
                                                *************************

                        If you want to write for The HeartThread Journal,
                we will be happy to review your article, column or story.
                  Please review our "Writers Guidelines" on our web page,
                               and email us your proposal or actual work.

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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 3 

                                                  ADVERTISING INFORMATION
                                                  ***********************

                    Advertising products or services of value or interest
                           to parents, couples or families is encouraged.
                          Brief textual advertisements will appear in the
                 "HeartThread Resource Guide" at the end of this journal.

                         For a limited time, advertisements will be FREE.

                            When this special advertising promotion ends,
                                     advertising rates will be published.

                                             FREE ADVERTISING FOR AUTHORS
                                             ****************************

                            All authors receive FREE advertising space in
                          the issue that their article or column appears.
        -----------------------------------------------------------------

                                                    COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
                                                    *********************

                                       All materials contained herein are
                            (C) Copyright 1996 by FutureRealm Productions

                              except for individual articles and columns,
                       which are Copyrighted by their respective authors.
                  Individual authors retain all rights to their articles,
                                              unless otherwise specified.

                                           All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
                        No part of this journal may be used or reproduced
                                         in any manner whatsoever without
                                   written permission from the publisher,

                                                or the individual authors
                              (in the case of their articles or columns),

                                      except in cases of brief quotations
                                        embodied in articles and reviews.

                 Opinions expressed by writers in The HeartThread Journal
                    are not necessarily those of FutureRealm Productions.
        -----------------------------------------------------------------

                                                    LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
                                                    *********************

                   Readers wishing to submit a letter should email it to:
                                             "peterbrown@futurerealm.com"
                         or send it by regular mail to the above address.
                             Letters may be edited for grammar or length.



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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 4 


                    Home School and the Right-Brain Wonder
                   ........................................


                                                    by Claire Bowles

                There's been much discussion recently on left and
           right brain function and which kinds of people are left
           and which are right brain oriented.

                The left, they say, controls a person's
           understanding and abilities in such things as math,
           handwriting, number and letter symbols for abstract
           concepts, and it tries to keep a lid on the right brain.

                The right side, on the other hand, is supposed to be
           in charge of your artistic abilities. Pictures and
           stories, humor, language skills and philosophical
           concepts are picked up on this side of the gray matter.

                A good example is this: my father is a "right brain"
           person. Three times a week he would go to the store and
           pick up milk for my children and me. Every time he went
           I'd say, "Two percent milk, Dad," and every time he'd
           bring me regular whole milk. After a few weeks of
           drinking the wrong milk, I figured it out. The next time
           he went to the store I said, "Purple-capped milk, Dad,"
           and he never bought the wrong milk again. That's the
           difference between the left and right brain.

                Eight years ago I gave birth to a right brain
           wonder. You understand that there is right brain and
           there is "Right Brain"... as in, "the left side of the
           head is empty."

                We started to suspect something odd when, as a baby,
           he crawled with his head tilted slightly to the right. At
           ten months old, he said his first word, "Amen" and at
           three years old he asked me, "If God only created good
           things, who created Satan?"

                At four, he asked me the difference between "brain
           and mind." At four and a half we had a discourse on How
           Fear Turns Good People Evil. At five he wanted to know
           how subject and object relates to the planets. At five
           and a half he understood the concept of God-inspired
           evolution, and at six could explain the spirit world in
           relation to man.

                I'm not bragging. Oh, not!

                I handed him a pencil at five years of age, (before
           I knew he had no left brain) and I wrote ABC on a paper,
           asking him to copy it. He scrawled a few marks on the

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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 5 

           paper, screamed something like "HELP!", threw the pencil
           down as if it was Cleopatra's asp and ran from the room.
           He didn't touch a pencil willingly again until he
           discovered he could draw a fish.

                At eight years old he can't tie a shoe, read a
           clock, or do five math problems without getting one of
           his "left-brained headaches." I homeschool him out of
           necessity (he drove the teachers crazy.)

                When doing his left brain studies, like math, he
           suddenly becomes more monkey than boy. Standing on the
           table, dropping his pencil 16 times every minute, crying,
           accusing me of torture, looking at the clock to see if
           the big hand and the little hand are both on the 12 yet,
           and doodling wildly. He drifts off into space between the
           numbers, which he writes backwards. I hold him to the
           page through mind-meld, feeding him the answers
           telepathically.

                "Come on Kiddo...it's easy, 8 minus 3. Remember? You
           did this ten times already."

                "Um...8...mmmmm...I know, I know," (he hits himself
           on the forehead to show me that he's thinking.)

                "Go ahead, use your fingers," I urge.

                "Um...minus 3...equals..."

                "Hello, your mind is wandering."

                "Oh yes. Let's see, 8, uh, minus 3."

                "OK, OK, how about this? There were eight, huge
           dinosaurs, lumbering along in a hazy swamp munching on
           ferns and other pre-historic, now extinct plants.
           Suddenly three of them were completely buried in a
           glowing stream of molten lava, seething from a nearby
           volcano. How many dinosaurs are there left?"

                "Well, the three that were buried are left. Because
           getting buried by the lava so suddenly, they probably
           made great fossils. Scientists and archaeologists
           probably could find the whole dinosaur skeletons and
           reconstruct them. That is if there weren't any
           earthquakes on that place."

                By this time I'm ready to throttle him, so we go on
           to history.

                His face brightens up. I ask him questions about the
           biography we read last month. He remembers where Paul
           Revere's father was born and his grandfather's French
           name. He knows what the Sons of Liberty changed their

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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 6 

           name to, and what was accomplished by the Boston Tea
           Party. He remembers how many children Paul Revere had
           from each of his two wives and which one of the kids had
           smallpox. He knows where the all-important ammunition was
           hidden and why Paul Revere changed churches. He even
           knows some rudimentary, if theoretical silversmithing. I
           could go on...he seems to have photographic memory all of
           a sudden.

                Back to left brain work: handwriting and keeping his
           journal. More tears, spacing out, climbing all over his
           chair, etc. He moans, "You're trying to kill me!"

                Then to art: he designs 10 new toys for his toy
           company (he asked me not to reveal the name of the
           company until he has a copyright) while listening to his
           favorite tapes, Bette Midler's "Beaches" (I erased the
           bawdy songs) and J.C. Chen.

                And science: he draws a perfect dodo bird in his
           natural habitat from a book, without tracing, and reads
           several chapters of "The Great Animal Kingdom Book."

                I'm exhausted by one o'clock so I call a halt to
           school. My son is so happy that he does his latest
           stand-up routine and cracks himself up.

                I wearily make him a snack and wonder if I should
           start a "Parents of Right Brain Children" support group.

                On reflecting about this accident of nature, I often
           ponder where I went wrong. But my husband reminds me that
           our children are each representatives of all the
           different characters of people on earth. God needs all
           kinds of people in what will be the lovely Garden of Eden
           someday.

                And in that Garden, my son will be the one lecturing
           on paleontology and running a million dollar toy company
           on the side -- just don't ask him what time it is.

                         ...........................................
                                  Claire Bowles and her husband John
                          live in Oklahoma with their four children.
                           She is a freelance writer and a gardener.


                               * * * * * * * *








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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 7 


                           Culture Crisis and Youth
             .....................................................
              [The following is an edited speech given to a group
              of civic leaders at the Washington Times, in 1991.]


                                             by Vern T. Jordahl, PhD

                We are living on top of a potential earthquake in
           Washington and in every major city in America -- a social
           and spiritual earthquake. If there is any period in
           history when the survival of civilization as we know it
           has been more problematic, it is now. Kenneth Boulding,
           the distinguished social scientist, has recently written,
           "Humanity hangs in the balance."

                I know a couple who both work downtown in DC. At the
           end of the day they go straight to their fifth floor
           apartment, the wife said, and lock themselves in. What
           would they see if they stopped to look at the streets?
           Drug dealing, murder and suicide. Right now, suicide is
           the second most common cause of death among adolescents
           in the U.S. Homicide is the first most common cause among
           minority males ages 15-19. Why has suicide increased
           300%, teenage pregnancies 621%, and teenage murders 232%
           since the Second World War? Depression severe enough to
           require hospitalization among teenagers has increased
           300% in the past 10 years.

                Franklin Ford, former dean of Arts and Sciences at
           Harvard, says that young people today live in a "value
           vacuum". The heart of the problem is a moral and ethical
           vacuum that has intentionally and unintentionally drained
           values and any sense of morality or ethics right out of
           public education. I have taught Philosophy and Ethics on
           the college level for the past 20 years at several
           universities and colleges and as head of Virginia
           College. I presently teach medical ethics to close to 300
           nurses per year at the College of Health Sciences in
           Virginia. This has given me lots of reading assignments,
           but also a real sense of what is going on in the minds of
           young people today.

                The progressive deterioration of values is more than
           obvious. I gave a test at the beginning of the semester
           this fall and was appalled at how many failed to know
           appropriate definitions of such words as "duty",
           "absolute", "integrity", and "honor", just to name a few.

                Senator Dan Coats, chairman of the Select Committee
           on Children, Youth and the Family, commenting on "Code
           Blue", a detailed study of the youth crisis in America,
           written by a 1990 commission of educators, doctors,
           businessmen, and politicians, concluded the commission's

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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 8 

           findings as follows: "The problem of youth is not illness
           or economics. The problem is not childhood disease or
           unsanitary slums. The most basic problem is profoundly
           destructive behavior -- drugs, drinking, violence and
           promiscuity. It is a crisis of behavior and belief, a
           crisis of character."

                The diagnosis is significant but the commission
           didn't seem to know what to do about it. They lamely
           prescribed better health care for adolescents. William
           Bennett, former Secretary of Education, says this about
           this report: "Code Blue identifies a crisis of spirit, a
           sickness of the soul, and it recommends aspirins,
           bandaids, and hall passes to visit the school nurse!"

                What has caused this sickness of soul in America's
           brightest hope for the future? There are four
           intellectual explosions that have traumatized young minds
           and sent permanent shock waves through public education.
           They can be briefly enumerated as follows:

                1. "The Communist Manifesto" of Karl Marx sent out
           shock waves that divided the world and initiated more
           than a century of conflict and genocide, after which men
           no longer trusted traditional institutions of government.
           The world had been violently changed and this generation
           of young Americans has been deeply affected.

                2. Darwin's "Origin of Species" gave empirical
           credibility to man's insatiable drive for power,
           competition and the survival of the fittest. This
           intellectual theory not only shows that man has no divine
           origin and value, but worse, that he has no future or
           higher meaning.

                3. Freud's work on Psychoanalysis has permanently
           traumatized any optimism about the goodness of man's
           nature. What was once whispered by intellectuals in
           Freud's day is now experienced by school children as a
           full blown sexual revolution.

                While Marx said man is a victim of the hostile
           forces of history and Darwin proclaimed that he is victim
           to the hostile forces of the environment, it was left to
           Freud to show that man is his own worst enemy, a victim
           of the hostile forces within him.

                4. Einstein's work on Relativity symbolizes the
           fourth intellectual movement. (While the content of his
           technical work may be shown to demonstrate otherwise,
           including his belief in God) the popular conception of
           Einstein is that he challenged fixity (and the
           reliability) of the universe and established the
           relativity of time and extension. His little understood
           work has given cosmic confirmation to the moral and

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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 9 

           intellectual relativism that John Dewey and Horace Mann
           had already injected into the fabric of public education
           in the name of science.

                Each of these intellectual revolutions has brought
           about a radical view of ourselves and our world. Any one
           of these movements is sufficiently overwhelming and
           enough for any single generation to have to digest. It
           has been reserved for the present generation to have to
           cope with all four of these movements at once.

                The outcome of this struggle is still problematic
           but I believe that the youth who are the future of
           America can be led out of this morass.

                Ideas shape our lives whether we are conscious of
           them or not, but events have also had an important impact
           on the value vacuum in which young people find
           themselves. Consider the effect of two decades of
           undeclared war in Southeast Asia. No matter how history
           judges that event, it created a deep moral trauma in the
           minds of Americans, changed the thinking of young people
           and brought back with it bitterness and a drug culture
           which has now come to full fruition.

                It is significant that during the Gulf War, where
           drugs and alcohol were not permitted, things were quite
           different. Dan Peterson, who was General Schwarzkopf's
           chaplain, said that so many thousands of young men and
           women turned to God, they had to have chapel services
           around the clock. "You could cover the desert sands with
           the quantity of bibles they were reading!" We have yet to
           feel the impact of these young men and women when they
           are fully integrated back into American life.

                Non-real, emotionally laden events with which the
           media saturates society also profoundly shape the
           thinking of the young. It well known that experts now
           estimate that the average teenager spends more than 80
           hours per month watching television, and witnesses
           thousands of murders, acts of violence and sex. A new
           film, "The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover" was
           recently reviewed. The opening scene shows the brutal
           beating of a naked man who is urinated upon from head to
           foot. The last scene shows the main character slicing off
           a piece of carefully prepared and elegantly cooked human
           corpse in an act of vivid cannabalism.

                The New York Times called this film "brilliant".
           Time Magazine called it "excellent", "exciting", and
           "extraordinary". The film media has truly joined the
           celebration of violence and sadism. Is it any wonder that
           its revenues are down 30% this past year? Thank God for a
           paper like the Washington Times, which is breaking new
           moral ground.

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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 10

                Have you noticed that arrogance usually fills the
           vacuum when moral sanctions break down in a society? We
           need only look at the events in the U.S. Senate during
           the last few weeks. Character assassination, trial by
           "mudbath", self-serving "leaks" involving senators and
           congressmen who themselves have been implicated in sexual
           scandal, corruption and bad check writing only begin the
           list. These are elected representatives who consider
           themselves above the very laws they create. What is the
           impact of this on young men and women who look to this
           kind of example for leadership? Where are the guidelines?
           Where are the standards? The lines are so blurred that
           many have given up.

                Are we really so different from the Soviet society
           that has crumbled from a world power into factioning
           pockets of ethnicity? I talked to several young Russians
           in Switzerland this summer at a conference on "The
           Family". I asked a journalist from Moscow why Communism
           broke down. "They were all liars," he said. "There
           standing in front of us were thieves, telling us to be
           honest!"

                A moral and spiritual revolution is absolutely
           essential if families are to be remade and become once
           again instruments of God for the strengthening and health
           of our nation.

                1. First, we must believe that God's heart goes out
           to the young people of America, and that with His help we
           can do something about it. There is enough power, enough
           resources and enough of God's love to solve all of the
           problems that young people face today. Our job is to make
           it happen.

                2. Secondly, we must change if we expect young
           people to change and God to work through us. We cannot be
           like the hypocrites that those young Russians saw through
           or the hypocrites that American children see right
           through as well. Our lives must be clean and straight if
           we are going to help others.

                3. Change does not mean "convert". This must be
           emphasized. God's revolution is big enough for everyone.
           Our purpose is to help people become better people, more
           upright, honest, unselfish and loving, whatever they are.

                4. There is no room for bigotry. Is there anything
           that grieves the heart of God more than religious hatred
           and denominational and political bigotry?

                5. One last point about "ideology". Have you noticed
           that it is over theological concepts and political
           ideologies that people attack each other and argue? No
           one complains however, when you give a child a piece of

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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 11

           bread, pull someone out of a ditch or help someone
           overcome an addiction. It is in this wide open field of
           raising moral standards and helping one another that we
           have our common ground as organizations and churches.

                              ......................................
                               Dr. Jordahl is an Ethics Professor, a
                                Pastor, and a Retired Army Chaplain,
                                         living in Roanoke, Virginia


                               * * * * * * * *


                          Appreciating Our Loved Ones
                         .............................


                                               by Victoria Clevenger

                So many silly things keep us from being happy during
           each moment with the ones we say we love.

                A teenage girl lost her temper with her
           seven-year-old brother Timmy when she found him looking
           at her lipstick, even though he was being very careful.
           He tried apologizing several times, yet she continued to
           be cold and cutting, to ...

                          "make sure he learned his
                     lesson... But as I hurried out the
                     door to school, something about the
                     sadness in his eyes brought a guilty
                     feeling, and I remember thinking,
                     `I'll make it up to him later.' That
                     was my trouble. I was always in too
                     much of a hurry to get close to
                     him... and I could have made time so
                     easily."

                The next time she saw him, he was lying under a
           white sheet, dead from a bike accident on his way home
           from school.

                She wept for days, remembering all the kind things
           he had done for her. If only she had one more chance...

                          "...if I could just talk with
                     him for five minutes... And when he
                     would ask me, `Are you still mad at
                     me?' with his brown eyes studying my
                     face, I would take him in my arms and
                     say, `No, my darling, I'm not mad
                     anymore, and I'll never be mad at you
                     again.'" *

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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 12

                My mother died of cancer when I was 20. Even worse
           than the sense of loss was the wrenching regret that I
           hadn't really conveyed how much I loved and appreciated
           her, not as a teen nor during the process of her dying. I
           remembered being resentful more than being kind - normal
           for a teen, I guess, though certainly not desirable.
           After her death, I became much more mindful of treasuring
           the person and the moment, but I still forget too often.

                In "A Sacred Dying", Barry "Bears" Kaufman
           chronicles the true experience of a family dealing with
           the 39-year-old mother who is dying of cancer. The
           father, son, daughter -- and mother -- are trapped in a
           lonely yet common pattern of denial and painful silence.
           Then Sam, the 17-year-old son, begins long walks and
           talks with Bears and learns how to transform his family's
           last days with his mother into a time of closeness and
           intimacy they never experienced before. With courage
           gained from Bears gently helping him confront his fears,
           Sam comes to his mother to talk ...

                          "about how I feel and you feel
                     and what we both think. That kind of
                     stuff." "I think I'd like that," his
                     mother asserted. "Before, when you
                     asked me what it feels like, there's
                     one thing I didn't tell you. It can
                     get very lonely being sick because
                     everyone's afraid of talking about
                     it. Even the person who's sick ..."

                Fears, irritations, hurryings -- these pollute our
           appreciation of loved ones. In this book, and in others
           (e.g. "Happiness is a Choice"), Kaufman shares from a
           deep source of emotional intelligence about how to make
           love and happiness tangible and useful, even while
           someone we love is dying. Living in such a way can help
           prevent the "if only's", and the addictions and abuses
           that blight our lives because we are starved for the
           simple joy of warm human interactions.

                * From "If Only," Anonymous, "The Art of Loving
           Well", published by Boston University.

                    ................................................
                     Victoria Clevenger lives in Seattle, Washington
                    and is the  Editor and Publisher of "HeartWing",
                a family oriented newsletter. You can email her your
                  insights and experiences at "hrtwing@pacifier.com,
                or write to: 12715 NE 7th Place, Vancouver, WA 98684


                               * * * * * * * *



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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 13


                         Developing the Musical Child
                              - In Every Child -
                                    Part 2
                        ..............................


                                                       by Greta Ward

           INFORMAL PARTICIPATION
           **********************

                Music is not for ears alone; it is a full-body
           experience. To encourage your child's natural inclination
           to sing along and move to the sounds, try some of the
           following ideas:

                1. Do finger-play songs together. These are easy to
           learn, enjoyable to do, and ever so helpful in the
           development of manual dexterity. They are also invaluable
           while waiting in long lines in busy offices. Check the
           children's room at your library for a complete selection.
           Three standards on the toddler circuit are these: "Eye
           Winker, Tom Tinker, Chin Chopper: Fifty Musical
           Fingerplays" by Tom Glazer (Doubleday, 1973); "Finger
           Frolics: Finger Plays for Young Children" compiled by Liz
           Cromwell, Dixie Hibner, and John Faitel (Gryphon House,
           1983); and "Fingerplays" by Marion Grayson (Robert B.
           Luce, 1969).

                2. Move to music together. Bend, sway, jump, and
           twirl around to your favorite recordings, Much of Hap
           Palmer's work is specifically geared to body movement,
           and children love his mellow, easy to follow style. Look
           for Palmer's "Getting to Know Myself", "Creative Movement
           and Rhythmic Expression", "Sally the Snake", and
           "Learning Basic Skills Through Music" (vol. 1), all of
           which appear on the Educational Activities label.

                3. Form a family rhythm band. Triangles,
           tambourines, castanets, small xylophones, finger cymbals,
           maracas, and drums of all sorts are definitely worth
           having around the house, Ask grandparents to give rhythm
           instruments as gifts, or split the cost with another
           family and trade them back and forth. Then create a
           family band, and encourage free improvisation.

                4. Dance with your children. Also let them "perform"
           for you - in outlandish outfits fashioned from yard sale
           remnants. And be sure to take the children to a ballet or
           a family contra dance session.

                5. Give your children folk instruments of their own.
           Although an array of plastic instruments can be found in
           toy stores, traditional folk instruments such as

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 14

           autoharps, ukuleles or small guitars, wooden flutes or
           recorders, dulcimers, and kalimbas (thumb pianos) are
           just as easy to learn to play, and often much more
           rewarding. [For sources, see "For More Information."]
           Children play for real on instruments that are for real,
           whereas "pretend" instruments just don't sound or feel as
           inspiring.

           FORMAL PARTICIPATION
           ********************

                The third level of involvement is music lessons.
           Enrollment, though, is not the best option for every
           child. For example, you may prefer to invest your money,
           time and energy in athletics, dance, or second-language
           studies for your child. If so, keep music appreciation at
           the informal level. Young children can lose their
           enthusiasm when they are lessoned to death. And busy
           parents lose much of their enthusiasm when their energy
           is widely dispersed.

                Music lessons require a family commitment. And
           because they do, they provide an enjoyable and rewarding
           experience for the entire family. Children feel proud of
           their accomplishments as they learn to play an
           instrument. Later, with proficiency, comes self-esteem.

                Parents today have the option of choosing between
           traditional music lessons and a variety of recently
           developed techniques. The Suzuki Method, for instance, is
           an instructional approach designed specifically for young
           children. Dr. Suzuki's ingenious program, incorporating
           both games and an understanding of early childhood
           development, is based on two main points. One is that
           music development can be encouraged in the same way that
           language development is encouraged: through listening
           immersion and expansion into skills, all of which are
           explored within the nurturing framework of the
           parent-child relationship. The second point is that the
           skills for each instrument can be broken down into
           several components - among them, posture, fingering, and
           note reading - each of which is taught separately,
           reinforced, then combined gradually with the other
           components.

                Some parents choose music lessons for their children
           because they themselves never had them and wish they had.
           Other parents choose lessons because they did have them
           and spent some memorable times playing music. Those
           familiar with the intensity that flows through an
           orchestra playing a Beethoven symphony, or with the
           lively give and take of a Haydn string quartet, or with
           the sheer fun of playing show tunes for musicals or of
           improvising at a folk festival, want to open doors to the
           same kinds of experiences for their children.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 15

                Yes, music can drive parents to distraction.
           Especially the endless repetition of a child's favorite
           tune. But it can expand upon basic intellectual ability
           and body movement. It helps develop self-confidence,
           creativity, and personal satisfaction. Simply said, music
           goes a long way toward developing a child's potential as
           a human being. Tune up your child's love of music, choose
           your level of involvement, and head for euphony. Music is
           one sure way to resolve discord and restore harmony - at
           home and in the world.

           FOR MORE INFORMATION
           ********************

                Alcazar / PO Box 429 Waterbury, VT 05676 /
           800-541-9904. Call or write to request a great catalog of
           recordings, books, and music videos for children.

                Andy's Front Hall / PO Box 307 Voorheesville, NY
           12186. For information: 518-765-4193. For catalogs:
           800-759-1775. Call or write for a comprehensive folk
           music catalog with recordings, books, and instruments for
           both children and adults.

                Music for Little People / PO Box 1460 Redway, CA
           95560 / 800-346-4445. Offers a good selection of
           children's recordings, music videos, children's
           instruments, costumes, computer software and kidproof
           tape recorders. Call for a free catalog.

                Suzuki Association of the Americas / PO Box 17310
           Boulder, CO 80308 / 303-444-0948. Call or write for
           information on the Suzuki method of music instruction, or
           for a listing of local teachers trained in this approach.

                                    .................................
                                    Greta Ward lives in Wakefield, MA


                               * * * * * * * *


                             My Assignment, Please
                            .......................


                                                  by Olga S. Hardman

                                    O, God,

                          Let me be teachable today.

                          Open my heart to kindness;

                            Open my mind to wisdom.

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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 16

                 Let love be manifest in the world through me.

           Master Teacher, help me to know my assignment for this day --

                    And grant me the grace to carry it out.

                      I am aware of all your gifts to me

              And I thank you for my many blessings, especially:

                         My parents and grandparents,

                        My children and grandchildren,

                   My talent for words, teaching, and music,

                        My faith, my friends, my home,

                And all of my senses which allow me to perceive

                   The beauty and loveliness of Your world.

                    Let your blessing be on all whom I love

                              And that I cherish.

                               .....................................
                                         Olga S. Hardman is a writer
                                      and a retired music supervisor
                                 for the West Virginia school system


                               * * * * * * * *



                           Reflections on the Rails
                          ..........................


                                                by Richard R. Radtke

                Two silver rails, set straight and clean, reaching
           into the distance, the sun shimmering on their polished
           surface as it slowly makes its journey below the horizon.
           The ever-deepening darkness creeping onward, and the wind
           silently rustling the boughs of the trees around us. In
           the distance a dog howls, and lights flicker on the
           horizon. My brother and I share this moment of beauty
           together, no words between us as the dark night creeps
           over us. We stand silently, each in our own far off
           place, but yet only inches between us as we stare, trying
           to see that distant point, that seems just out of sight,
           where the two rails meet. We both know, even as we stare,
           they don't meet and they never will. Rather, side by

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 17

           side, they run along forever, each one knowing the other,
           each one depending on the other to give it the support to
           carry out their combined purposes. They both run on --
           straight and true, shining in the last dying rays of
           sunlight.

                After a time, my brother speaks. "There sits a
           truth, you know, you have to keep on the track, go
           straight and go on, don't stop. There will be times you
           will want to take the detour or rest at the siding, but
           life isn't like that -- you have to stay on the main line
           to get anywhere." I nod my head in reflective
           fourteen-year-old agreement at the wisdom contained
           within his statement, as we both turn and slowly make our
           way into the house, leaving the two moonlight rails
           behind us.

                As the years have gone by, I find that when I am
           faced with a problem, that night outside with my brother
           and the rails comes back into my mind. Am I taking a
           detour? Am I sitting on the siding? Or am I still on the
           main line? Over the years I suppose I have taken quite a
           few of the detours. I know I have sat on the siding, but
           so far I have always managed to find my way back to the
           main line. I even wonder, time to time, if the rails are
           still there. Are they still straight and true? Do they
           still shine with a glistening gleam in the moonlight? Not
           that it matters, because they will always be in my
           memory. More important is that my brother is still here
           and I know that when I need him he will be there, the
           support that carries one on, through the place we call
           life.
                             .......................................
                             Richard R. Radtke is a dad and a writer


                               * * * * * * * *


                             The Movie Mom's Guide
                       to Movies and Videos for Families
                      ...................................

                                                       by Nell Minow

                Reviews for parents of the best of current films and
           old movies available on video and cable, by Nell Minow,
           author, film critic, and mother. Reviews [on the Movie
           Mom web page, see address below] will be updated each
           week with recommendations and replies to questions about
           movies on special topics, suitability of particular
           movies for children, and movie trivia -- try to stump me!
           I'd also love your suggestions for a new book on movies
           for families. The best kids' comments I receive will be
           published.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 18

           RECOMMENDED
           ***********

           Flipper
           .......

                This movie version of the old TV show reminds me of
           the punchline of the old joke: "I know what I have to do;
           I'm just trying to figure out how to make it
           interesting." For anyone who has seen "Free Willy," (or
           even "Lassie," or any other kid and animal movie ever
           made) there are no surprises here. Aside from that, it is
           a perfectly pleasant family movie, with not too much
           scary stuff, first-rate actors (Elijah Wood as the sullen
           teenager and Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan as his aging
           hippie uncle), an exceptionally endearing dolphin
           (portrayed by three different dolphins and a mechanical
           replica), beautiful photography, and a satisfyingly
           loathsome bad guy (not only does he have a shiny, fancy
           boat, but he shoots dolphins, dumps toxic waste into the
           water, and is willing to kill a kid.)

                Wood is the sullen teen, Sandy, dumped on his uncle
           while his mother copes with a divorce. When he makes
           friends with Flipper (and with a pretty local girl), he
           begins to feel less sorry for himself and becomes more
           responsible. Hogan, whose idea of hospitality is bread
           toasted with a butane flame, begins to think about
           whether his commitment-free lifestyle could use some
           improvement. His girlfriend, a marine biologist, has a
           mechanical genius son who won't talk, but finally is
           willing to say, "Flipper."

                Kids may want to talk about the way Sandy feels,
           being sent to stay with his uncle, and about how to help
           the dolphins and prevent pollution (there is an 800
           number at the end of the movie.)

                For my list of the best movies for families, see "A
           Practical Guide to Practically Everything", published by
           Random House.

                         ...........................................
                            Nell Minow writes the Movie Mom's Guide,
                                           on the World Wide Web at:
                     http://pages.prodigy.com/moviemom/moviemom.html

                            "Movie Mom" is a trademark of Nell Minow



                               * * * * * * * *




------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 19


                   Mother Linda's Rhubarb-Strawberry Crunch
                  ..........................................


                                                  by Linda Forristal

                     6 cups chopped rhubarb
                     4 cups sliced strawberries
                     1 1/4 cups sugar
                     1 1/2 cups spelt
                     1 1/2 cups Sucanat
                     1 1/2 cups oatmeal
                     1/2 tsp. baking powder
                     3/4 cup butter, melted

                Mix rhubarb, strawberries, and sugar until the fruit
           is well coated. Pour into the bottom of a greased
           9x13 inch baking dish. Set aside.

                Mix spelt, Sucanat, oatmeal, and baking powder well.
           Add melted butter and mix until all the dry ingredients
           are moistened. Pour over the top of the fruit; pat down
           slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately one hour.
           If the berries are especially juicy, it might take a
           little longer.
                                   .................................
                                    Linda Forristal is the author of
                        "Ode to Sucanat: The First Sucanat Cookbook"

                               * * * * * * * *


                              - HeartQuestions -
                         Questions & Reflections about
                      Marriage, Parenting & Family Issues
                     -------------------------------------

                        The Eternal Castle of True Love
                       .................................


                                                   by Peter F. Brown

                When I was a young child, one of my favorite
           activities was to snuggle up in a soft, friendly chair
           near a window and read story after story from one of the
           many volumes of classic fairy tales that I found at our
           local library. I enjoyed many of the typical "boy"
           stories -- tales about knights and dragons and adventures
           -- but one type of story impressed me the most. I have an
           indelible memory of an image of a castle far off on the
           horizon, surrounded by white clouds and magnificent
           trees, with pennants whipped by the mountain wind.
           Standing on the parapet are a man and woman -- a prince

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 20

           and princess, holding hands and smiling. They've found
           "true love", and their story never ends, for they will
           live "happily ever after."

                This, I thought to myself, was something I wanted.

                I believe that many people would consider that
           vision attractive. The idea that we can find ourselves,
           someday in the future, holding hands with our husband or
           wife, knowing that the love between us will continue
           forever and that we will live happily ever after, is a
           dream that tugs at the deepest part of our hearts. Even
           today, in an age when many people have become cynical
           about marriage, hope has not been entirely abandoned.
           Otherwise, no one would get married at all.

                I like to think that the prince and princess were
           standing on the wall of not just any castle, but their
           very own "castle of true love" -- an environment that
           surrounded them and buoyed them with the security of
           home. The big question for me was, "how does one obtain
           such a castle?" (They're not listed in the Yellow Pages.
           I already looked.)

                I've reached the conclusion that the castle of true
           love must be built, brick by brick. The unique aspect of
           this type of castle is that no one else can build it for
           us. It's built with every kind deed or word, every smile,
           every hug, every repentful tear -- every ounce of
           unselfish love that the husband and wife give to each
           other. Wonderfully large castles take a long time to
           build, sometimes at the cost of great suffering. One
           might say that castles of true love are sometimes built
           "brick by *bloody* brick."

                Why can't we just "fall in love" and suddenly find
           ourselves ensconced in our castle? It is definitely true
           that people do "fall in love." Their eyes meet, across
           the room, and boom -- they're married. Emotions are
           powerful, there's no denying that. The issue really isn't
           whether couples love each other at the outset -- although
           that is indeed very nice. The real issue is how to
           maintain and build upon that love -- to turn an initial
           emotional attraction into a burning, roaring furnace of
           stellar quality love that will last literally forever.

                Forever? Happily ever after? What about "'till death
           do us part?" I believe that unselfish (and therefore
           "true" love) didn't haphazardly evolve from inanimate
           rocks and dust. It's illogical to think that the
           powerful, invisible, boundlessly creative force of
           unselfish love could have sprung from anything other than
           a creative being. Let us assume then, that God not only
           created love itself, but the very concept of loving one's
           spouse in marriage.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 21

                A vital aspect of our love is that we want it to
           continue forever. When a person whom we love dies, we
           grieve, because we want to continue loving them -- we
           want to be with them, more and more. It's also not
           logical to think that the God who created limitless love
           created it to terminate at the end of our physical lives.
           That would be cruel. It makes sense to assume that God's
           original desire would be that husbands and wives love
           each other forever, continuing on after their physical
           deaths, and expanding their love for each other
           eternally, in the "spiritual world."

                It may not be popular or common to state that true
           love comes from God and that true love was created to
           continue for eternity in the spiritual world -- but these
           points certainly aren't negative factors when one
           examines the prospects of marriage. The idea that
           marriage can be eternal, and not simply "'till death do
           us part" is an exciting, joyous concept that entirely
           changes the way that we think about marriage.

                Theology complicates matters here, for there are
           many different views about where "fallen man" actually
           goes after death. For the sake of this discussion let's
           limit our range to the ideal situation that both God and
           humankind would prefer to see happen. Let's use the
           "heartistic logic" that God is a loving Creator and would
           like the love of a husband and wife to continue forever.
           This viewpoint also rests upon the premise that love is
           an immutable, eternally attractive force that everyone
           wants to experience.

                The knowledge that we marry "for eternity" creates a
           tremendous change in our perspective about our
           relationship with our spouse. The subsequent commitment
           to stay married for eternity helps one develop long-range
           patience when difficulties in the relationship arise.
           Difficulties are inevitable, aren't they? Why do married
           couples struggle so much, even though they may have loved
           each other deeply in the beginning?

                We are waylaid by our own selfish, corrupted
           natures, and by our wretchedly inadequate capacity to
           love others. Are these words too strong? Not if we
           compare our quality of love to what it should be.
           Naturally, this viewpoint requires humility and
           repentance -- which are hard to muster up. Arrogance is
           horribly sneaky, and it's very easy to blame our spouse
           for all of our marital difficulties. "If only he ... (or
           she) loved more... ." It's true. He or she does need to
           love more. But what about me? Have I really, really,
           really loved enough? Determining, with repentance, to
           love more will liberate us, and stimulate us to improve
           our relationship with our spouse.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 22

                Although our spouse may, at certain times, inflict
           suffering upon us (or vice versa), our own commitment to
           love our spouse has amazing power. Love is like magic.
           When we express beautiful, unselfish concern, care and
           love for someone, and serve them with the same heart, the
           other person can't escape the impact of our love. The
           person may ignore it, or try to run away from it, but if
           we give our love to the other person endlessly, without
           limitation, the object of our love will inevitably
           respond. Why? Because ultimately, everyone wants to be
           loved, and to love in return. That one fact should give
           us unlimited confidence in the power of unselfish love.
           After fourteen years of marriage to my wonderful wife, I
           can see the walls of our castle rising around us, built
           by our mutual commitment and effort.

                When we're at the ground level of our castle of true
           love, and we've just been hit by a falling brick, it may
           be difficult to look into the future. We always have a
           choice. We can stop building, and walk away,
           relinquishing our castle, or we can determine to love our
           spouse "beyond death", beyond any limitation or boundary,
           for 1,000 years into the future (and more) until we and
           our spouse have the most beautiful, magnificent,
           delightful relationship of true love in the universe. At
           that moment, I believe that the husband and wife will
           have become so close in heart that their relationship
           will be unbreakable and eternal. We will be a prince and
           princess, gazing out over a beautiful realm of heart that
           will continue forever.
            ........................................................
                           Peter F. Brown is the author of the book,
                           "Striving for Parental Love" and lives in
                      Virginia Beach, VA with his wife Kim and their
                   four children, Tymon, Thea Grace, Ranin and Tadin

                   HeartQuestions is published as a weekly column on
                                   The HeartThread Resource Page at:
                                            "http://futurerealm.com"
                                    Send your questions by email to:
                                        "peterbrown@futurerealm.com"


                               * * * * * * * *



                             Anatomy of a Nickname
                            .......................

                                                 by Kim Korman Brown

                My brother was dubbed "Pud" when he was a baby. Both
           of my parents have passed on, so I can't ask them where
           they came up with that doozy of a nickname. His given

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 23

           name is Fenton, and he is the third Fenton in a line of
           Fentons. He never liked his name. In high school he
           called himself Baron Von Stompinboots, and later, he
           became Dutch. I don't know where that came from either,
           but now as he pushes the golden age of 50, he remains
           Dutch.

                We live in Virginia and I have noticed since we've
           lived here that many of the politicians have nicknames.
           Driving along country roads in Virginia, you see campaign
           posters that read something like: Billy Bob "Lard-Boy"
           Horseknuckles for Dogcatcher; Clarence "Ringworm"
           Foggybottom for Tax Sniffer; or Lurlene "Tickly" Buford
           for Hog Inspector.

                I have often wondered where such nicknames come
           from. In my family we have a few odd little names that
           emerged as I was singing my children to sleep, or bathing
           them or diapering their bums. Tymon became, "Tymony Boo",
           (or Tymony Boop de Boo) which is sung to the tune of
           "Winnie the Pooh". Gracie was "Gracie Gumdrop" and later
           became "Gracie Goobadee" which turned into a little
           jingle that goes "Gracie Gracie Gracie Goobadee, Scoobie
           Scoobie Scoobie doobadee". (I love a song with deep
           lyrics.) Ranin became "Raney Rooney" -- "He's a little
           Raney Rooney, and he's such a little cutie pie; He's the
           apple of my eye; He's a little Raney Rooney pie -- Chubby
           bump bump bump." (He was also known as the "Chubby Bump"
           or "My little Egg-Shaped Boy".) Tadin has been called
           "Tadey Toodle" (or "Toody Loo") which transformed into a
           song that goes: "Tadey Toodle like a noodle, Tadey Toodle
           deedle doodle."

                At the ripe old age of two and a half, Tadin has
           started talking. Except for me, he's renamed everyone in
           our house. I'm "Mama", but Tymon is "Deebah", Gracie is
           "Dada", Ranin is "Ray-ay" and he called himself, "Weh."
           Curious as these names are, the most peculiar is that he
           calls his daddy, "Weo."

                Peter says to him everyday, "What's my name?" Tadin
           smiles up at him and says, "Weo." Peter says to him, "I'm
           not Weo. My name is Daddy! What's my name?" And Tadin,
           grinning because he knows it's not the right name, but
           now a family joke, says, "Weo."

                So Peter started calling him "Son of Weo." And I
           took that further to, "Big Weo" and "Little Weo." Now
           Peter calls him, "Little Wee." If we were Scottish, he'd
           become "Wee Wee". Where does it stop?

                I imagine Tadin grown up, the father of five
           children, the husband of a lovely wife, the founder of a
           thriving business. He gets the inspiration to run for
           Congress. There it is, on all the campaign posters; Tadin

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 24

           "Little Wee" Brown. Can the public have faith in a
           candidate with a name like that?

                Peter might run for office in the future, so I
           suggested to him that we give him a commanding nickname
           that would bring him respect in Virginia, like: "Buck" or
           "Pete Doggy Dog". Then Tadin could become "Little Buck"
           or "Little Doggy Dog". Peter responded by offering to
           give me a nickname like "Puddin'head" or something
           equally dignified.

                Oh well. Now I'm thinking of changing Tadin's
           nickname to "Rambo" or "T-Rex". Anything will be more
           merciful than forcing him to spend his entire adulthood
           living down a name like "Little Wee."

                            ........................................
                             Kim Korman Brown is a writer and a Mom,
                                  living in Virginia Beach, Virginia





































------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The HeartThread Journal                                    Page 25 


                        The HeartThread Resource Guide
                - Resources for Couples, Parents & Families -
               ...............................................

             If you have any books, products, services, seminars,
                 or other helpful items that you would like us
                 to mention in this space, please email us at
                         "peterbrown@futurerealm.com".

               Ad spaces are 23 character wide x 18 lines long.
            Submissions should be formatted correctly and emailed.

              This advertising space is FREE for a limited time.
             Items do not have to fall within specific categories,
              but we do reserve the right to selectively approve
                          any and all advertisements.

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| Fit For 2 Step Aerobic  | "Sex and Love: Teaching | "Angels Bar & Grill"    |
| Workout For Pregnancy   | Our Children in the Age | by Richard Panzer       |
| Video                   | of AIDS"                |                         |
|                         | by Richard Panzer       | New comic book. College |
| The video is a          |                         | students, Bill & Sandy, |
| variable-intensity,     | A 60 page booklet which | after Woodstock II,     |
| high-energy 60-minute   | discusses different     | encounter Malcolm X,    |
| program led by          | approaches to AIDS and  | Marilyn Monroe, Sigmund |
| ACE-certified pre- &    | sex education in U.S.   | Freud, and Jack         |
| post-natal exercise     | $6.95 plus $2 S&H       | Kerouac, the 50's       |
| specialist Lisa Stone.  | $19.95 for Video        | "beat" writer, at a     |
| $19.95 + $3.00 S&H      | version of booklet      | mysterious diner and    |
| Fit For 2,              | 1-800-221-6116          | discuss the roots of    |
| P.O. Box 70062,         | (credit cards accepted) | the Sexual Revolution   |
| Marietta, GA 30007-0062 | Center for              | and the results 30      |
| 1-800-729-7837          | Educational Media       | years later.            |
| (http://www.nav.com/    | P.O. Box 97,            | $2.95 + $2 S&H          |
| mainstreet/fitfor2.htm) | Westwood, NJ 07675 USA  | (see other ad for addr) |
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| "Striving for Parental  | "The HeartThread        | High Quality Websites   |
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| parenting and family.   | call FutureRealm        | "peterbrown@            |
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| (VA res. add .045% tax) | (804) 468-6848 or visit | or call (804) 468-6848! |
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| Beach, VA 23454 / USA   | futurerealm.com"        | design. Call Now!       |
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     The HeartThread Journal                                     Page 27