“
Ladies and Felines," he stated grandly, grasping the doorknob, "Welcome to Tir Na Nog. Land of endless winter and shitloads of snow.
”
”
Julie Kagawa (The Iron King (The Iron Fey, #1))
“
If you are gone then I will welcome nonexistence. There will be nothing left for me to live for.
”
”
Julie Kagawa (The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, #3))
“
I wish I was close to Jace Herondale," Julie sighted. "He is so gorgeous."
"He is foxier than a fox fur in a fox hole on fox hunting day," Beatriz agreed dreamily.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy (Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, #1))
“
Dead woman are not romantic,' Sophie said flatly.
'Okay, she's not dead,' Phin said. 'The bear ate her, and she came her brains out.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Welcome to Temptation (Dempseys, #1))
“
I invited a few people to help celebrate your birthday," Cameron said sheepishly. She threw up her hands. "Surprise."
"We sort of come with the package," Collin explained. "Think of it as a collective gift from all of us to you: five bona fide annoying and overly intrusive new best friends."
"It's the gift that keeps on giving," Wilkins said.
Jack grinned. "I'm touched. Really. And since it appears I'm going to be moving in, let me be the first to say that all of you are always welcome at my and Cameron's house. Subject to a minimum of forty-eight hours prior notification.
”
”
Julie James (Something About You (FBI/US Attorney, #1))
“
I told you not to take off work for this."
“And miss your big finale? No way.I’m all atwitter to see how things turn out.”
“That’s cute, Jordo.” Then he frowned as
Nick McCall was suddenly there, in their lives, and
Kyle was therefore being a little…cautious before
welcoming him into the family.
“Be nice, Kyle,” Jordan warned.
“What?” he asked innocently. “When have I ever
not been nice to Tall, Dark, and You Can’t Be
Serious About This Guy?”
“I like him. Get used to it.
”
”
Julie James (About That Night (FBI/US Attorney, #3))
“
I can't believe you didn't say you were Simon Lewis," she said. "I thought you were just a mundane."
Simon leaned slightly away. "I am just a mundane.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy (Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, #1))
“
So you’re saying that on Friday night I have an equal chance of getting vomited on as I do of getting kissed?” “Welcome to high school,
”
”
Julie Buxbaum (What to Say Next)
“
Today, the lines between mentoring and networking are blurring. Welcome to the world of mentworking.
”
”
Julie Winkle Giulioni (Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want)
“
You might have started out with a clever plan in mind, but you fell in love with her somewhere along the way, didn't you?"
Iain refused to answer him. Douglas wouldn't let it go. "Do you love Judith?"
Iain let out a sigh. Judith's brother was turning out to be one hell of a nuisance. "Do you honestly believe I would marry a Maclean if I didn't love her?"
Laird Maclean let out a snort of laughter. "Welcome to the family, son.
”
”
Julie Garwood (The Secret (Highlands' Lairds, #1))
“
- Teach me something new, she said, and he bent her back onto the bed and she shivered as his body slid against hers.
- Okay, Phin said. But pay attention, Julie Ann, there'll be a quiz.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Welcome to Temptation (Dempseys, #1))
“
Oh, the future. I see.” A shadow fell over the doctor’s face. “You’re wondering if your son will get cancer? Or be hit by a car? Or be bipolar? Or have autism? Or drug problems? I don’t know, I’m not a psychic. Welcome to parenthood.
”
”
Miranda July (The First Bad Man)
“
Can we get on with this?" Father Laggan cried out. "In the name of the Father…"
"I'm inviting my aunt Millicent and uncle Herbert to come for a visit, Iain, and I'm not going through the council to get permission first."
"… and of the Son," the priest continued in a much louder voice.
"She'll be wanting King John next," Duncan predicted.
"We can't allow that, lass," Owen muttered.
"Please join hands now and concentrate on this ceremony," Father Laggan shouted, trying to gain everyone's attention.
"I don't want King John to come here," Judith argued. She turned to frown at Owen for making such a shameful suggestion. "I want my aunt and uncle. I'm getting them, too." She turned and had to peek around Graham in order to look up at Iain. "Yes or no, Iain."
"We'll see. Graham, I'm marrying Judith, not you. Let go of her hand. Judith, move over here."
Father Laggan gave up trying to maintain order. He continued on with the ceremony. Iain was paying some attention. He immediately agreed to take Judith for his wife.She wasn't as cooperative. He felt a little sorry for the sweet woman. She looked thoroughly
confused.
"Judith, do you take Iain for your husband?"
She looked up at Iain before giving her answer. "We'll see."
"That won't do, lass. You've got to say I do," he advised.
"Do I?"
Iain smiled. "Your aunt and uncle will be welcomed here."
She smiled back.
....
Judith tried not to laugh. She turned her attention back to Father Laggan. "I will say I do,"
she told him. "Shouldn't we begin now?"
"The lass has trouble following along," Vincent remarked.
Father Laggan gave the final blessing while Judith argued with the elder about his rude comment. Her concentration was just fine, she told him quite vehemently.
She nagged an apology out of Vincent before giving the priest her attention again. "Patrick, would you go and get Frances Catherine? I would like her to stand by my side during the ceremony."
"You may kiss the bride," Father Laggan announced.
”
”
Julie Garwood (The Secret (Highlands' Lairds, #1))
“
There will be many times in your lives--- at school, and more particularly when you are a grown up---when people will distract or divert you from what needs to be done. You may even welcome the distraction. But if you use it as an excuse for not doing what you suppose to do, you can blame no one but yourself. If you truly wish to accomplish something, you should allow nothing to stop you, and chances are you'll succeed.
”
”
Julie Andrews Edwards
“
Sucks, doesn't it? Welcome to my world. That's what happens when you grow a conscience.
”
”
Julie Kagawa (Inferno (Talon, #5))
“
Welcome back,sleeping beauty.
”
”
Julie Kagawa (The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey, #4))
“
Welcome to Final Forum. Use this board to communicate with other who are completers. Please note: Participants may not attempt to dissuade or discourage self termination. Disregard for free will informed consent will result in immediate removal from the board. Future access to Through-The-Light will be denied. This board is monitored at all times."
That's comforting. I've been to suicide boards before where people get on and say stuff like, "Don't do it. Suicide is not the answer."
They don't know the question.
Or, "Life's a bitch. Get used to it."
Thanks.
"Suicide is the easy way out."
If it's so easy, why am I still here?
And my favorite: "God loves you. Life is the most precious gift from God. You will break God's heart if you throw His gift away."
God has a heart? That's news to me.
People on boards are very, very shallow.
The Final Forum has a long list of topic, including: Random Rants, Bullied, Divorce, Disease, So Tired, Hate This Life, Bleak, Bequests, Attempts.
Already I like this board.
I start with Random Rants.
”
”
Julie Anne Peters (By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead)
“
Puck, darling.” Leanansidhe gave me a smile that
was about as welcoming as a viper eyeing a mouse.
“Why am I not surprised to see you here? It seems I
just got rid of you, pet, and here you are again.”
“That’s me.” I raised my chin. “The bad penny that
always pops up. But you didn’t answer my question.
What do you want, Lea?
”
”
Julie Kagawa
“
I knew pain. Intimately. I'd welcomed it at times because it meant I could still feel, that I wasn't completely frozen.
”
”
Julie Kagawa (The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey, #4))
“
There are a dozen St. George soldiers hiding in that maze,” my trainer said. “All hunting you. All looking to kill you. Welcome to Phase Two of your training, hatchling.
”
”
Julie Kagawa (Rogue (Talon, #2))
“
Simon rolled his eyes. Apparently, all Shadowhunter dudes were underwear models, including his new roommate. His life was a joke. Julie seemed
”
”
Cassandra Clare (Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy (Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, #1))
“
I shall wish her well and be the first to welcome her to "the writing life," which, despite its horrors, is possibly one of the few sorts of lives worth living at all.
”
”
Julie Schumacher (Dear Committee Members)
“
THANK GOD," sighs Ares.
Aphrodite says: "You're welcome.
”
”
Julie Berry (Lovely War)
“
A lifestyle of learning begins at home - with parents who create a context that is welcoming of children as they are and that offers them happy experiences, accessible tools, and parental involvement.
”
”
Julie Bogart (The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life)
“
Look who's talking,' Darren repeated, angrier this time. 'I might've welcomed her along in hunts, but I wasn't tripping over myself to talk to her every night. Everyone could see the way you looked at the girl. You weren't exactly subtle, you know. Ruth nearly had kittens every time the two of you went off to do something. So don't lecture me about getting attached, Zeke. You were falling for that vampire - we all knew it. Maybe you'd better check your own neck before you go pointing fingers at other people. Seems to me the vampire could've bitten you anytime she wanted -
”
”
Julie Kagawa (The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1))
“
I even yelled at you last night." Phin eased up. "For which I apologize."
"It was kind of nice," Sophie said. "At least you know I was there."
"Oh hell, Spohie, I always know you're there." Phin rolled twords her on one hip, and Sophie felt felt a flare of hope, but he was just digging something out of his back pocket. "Here." He weld out an emerald-cut diamond ring the size of her head. "Marry me, Julie Ann. Ruin the rest of my life."
"Hello." Sophie gasped at the ring. "Jeez, that thing is huge. Where did you get it?"
"My mother gave it to me," Phin said sounding bemused.
Then the other shoe dropped. "Marry you?" Sophie said, and the sun came out and the birds to sing and the river sent up a cheer. Marriage was probably out- Liz as a mother-in-law was too terrifying to complete , and Phin would never get elected agian if he was married to a pornographer- but suddenly everything else was looking pretty good.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Welcome To Temptation / Bet Me)
“
One may be strengthened & fed without the aid of Joy, & no one knows it better than I do; & I believe I know the only cure, which is to make one’s center of life inside of one’s self, not selfishly or excludingly, but with a kind of unassailable serenity—to decorate one’s inner house so richly that one is content there, glad to welcome anyone who wants to come and stay, but happy all the same when one is inevitably alone.
”
”
Edith Wharton (The Letters of Edith Wharton)
“
He took a few small steps toward her. Without realizing it, Landon had moved them toward his studio wall. The chill of the wall was a welcome relief to the heat rising in her body. “You were meant to love and be adored by all of us.” He ran his fingertips down the length of her arms, to her hands, then back up along her sides. “I wish to kiss and taste every bit of your body.” He leaned in and peppered kisses along her jaw line, then her earlobe. “I speak for all of us, we all wish to taste you.
”
”
Julie Morgan (The Concubine and Her Vampires (The Covenant of New Orleans, #1))
“
But days like these offered sights more welcome to tired eyes, when autumn colors brushed the leaves, when cooler air meant grapes and olives and relief from August's oppressive heat. The blue of the sky, sharper than memory, bluer even than la mar itself.
”
”
Julie Berry (The Passion of Dolssa)
“
A happy house for homeschool is one where every inch is used for learning, messes are welcomed, people are more precious than furnishings, and household maintenance is a varying standard with fluctuating amounts of help, and we’re all okay with it most of the time.
”
”
Julie Bogart (The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life)
“
She was courteous but not condescending, a treatment children welcome as unusual. Her bearing reminded Ursula of one of those women who are sometimes interviewed on TV, with a caption pointing out to younger audiences that they are magical and did great things in the past, like Julie Andrews or Madonna. Her waist was set high, and she had the kind of stance that said, I was a sexy blonde once, but also the wrinkled forehead and the glint of an intelligence never patronized by Bridget Jones or Carrie Bradshaw that added, And luckily, I got over it.
”
”
Edgar Cantero (This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us)
“
I found that those friends of mine who welcomed the unseen into the realm of their seen offered immediate understanding. Some are Christians, some are not. Most are artists of some kind or other; artistry can extend to a way of being, of living lovingly in this world. Many seem to have almost a spiritual affinity for the unmarked trail, armed only with True North. ["Leap With Faith" Blogpost By Carolyn Weber — July 27, 2011]
”
”
Carolyn Weber
“
I was just going to say, I really like the Fourth of July. It's the only time of year when" -- she yawned -- "the whole town comes together like this. It feels like I'm part of something."
Ethan wished he could agree. It was hard to feel patriotic in a place where he wasn't welcome. It seemed impossible that this could be his country, too, when he so obviously did not belong. As if sensing his unease, Juniper felt around for his hand and, when she found it, squeezed it tightly and didn't let go.
”
”
Daven McQueen (The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones)
“
I pulled Slayer from its sheath and pushed the door open with my fingertips. It swung soundlessly on well-greased hinges. Through the hallway, I saw the living room lamp glowing with soothing yellow light. I smelled coffee.
Who breaks into a house, turns on the lights, and makes coffee?
I padded into the living room on soft feet, Slayer ready.
“Loud and clumsy, like a baby rhino,” said a familiar voice.
I stepped into the living room. Curran sat on my couch, reading my favorite paperback. His hair was back to its normal short length. His face was clean shaven. He looked nothing like the dark, demonic figure who shook a would-be god’s head on a field a month ago.
I thought he had forgotten about me. I had been quite happy to stay forgotten.
“The Princess Bride?” he said, flipping the book over.
“What are you doing in my house?” Let himself in, had he? Made himself comfortable, as if he owned the place.
“Did everything go well with Julie?”
“Yes. She didn’t want to stay, but she’ll make friends quickly, and the staff seems sensible.”
I watched him, not quite sure where we stood.
“I meant to tell you but haven’t gotten a chance. Sorry about Bran. I didn’t like him, but he died well.”
“Yes, he did. I’m sorry about your people. Many losses?”
A shadow darkened his face. “A third.”
He had taken a hundred with him. At least thirty people had never come back. The weight of their deaths pressed on both of us.
Curran turned the book over in his hands. “You own words of power.”
He knew what a word of power was. Lovely. I shrugged. “Picked up a couple here and there. What happened in the Gap was a one shot deal. I won’t be that powerful again.” At least not until the next flare.
“You’re an interesting woman,” he said.
“Your interest has been duly noted.” I pointed to the door.
He put the book down. “As you wish.” He rose and walked past me. I lowered my sword, expecting him to pass, but suddenly he stepped in dangerously close. “Welcome home. I’m glad you made it. There is coffee in the kitchen for you.”
My mouth gaped open.
He inhaled my scent, bent close, about to kiss me . . .
I just stood there like an idiot.
Curran smirked and whispered in my ear instead. “Psych.”
And just like that, he was out the door and gone.
Oh boy.
”
”
Ilona Andrews (Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, #2))
“
Millions have been taught that if they don’t believe, if they don’t accept in the right way, that is, the way the person telling them the Gospel does, and they were hit by a car and died later that same day, God would have no choice but to punish them forever in conscious torment in hell. God would, in essence, become a fundamentally different being to them in that moment of death, a different being to them forever. A loving heavenly Father who will go to extraordinary lengths to have a relationship with them would, in the blink of an eye, become a cruel, mean, vicious tormenter who would ensure that they had no escape from an endless future of agony. Does God become somebody totally different the moment you die? That kind of God is simply devastating. Psychologically crushing. We can’t bear it. No one can. And that is the secret deep in the heart of many people, especially Christians: they don’t love God. They can’t, because the God they’ve been presented with and taught about can’t be loved. That God is terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable. And so there are conferences about how churches can be more “relevant” and “missional” and “welcoming,” and there are vast resources, many, many books and films, for those who want to “reach out” and “connect” and “build relationships” with people who aren’t part of the church. And that can be helpful. But at the heart of it, we have to ask: Just what kind of God is behind all this? Because if something is wrong with your God, if your God is loving one second and cruel the next, if your God will punish people for all of eternity for sins committed in a few short years, no amount of clever marketing or compelling language or good music or great coffee will be able to disguise that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable, awful reality.[32]
”
”
Julie Ferwerda (Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire)
“
When a Southerner took the trouble to pack a trunk and travel twenty miles for a visit, the visit was seldom of shorter duration than a month, usually much longer. Southerners were as enthusiastic visitors as they were hosts, and there was nothing unusual in relatives coming to spend the Christmas holidays and remaining until July. Often when newly married couples went on the usual round of honeymoon visits, they lingered in some pleasant home until the birth of their second child. Frequently elderly aunts and uncles came to Sunday dinner and remained until they were buried years later. Visitors presented no problem, for houses were large, servants numerous and the feeding of several extra mouths a minor matter in that land of plenty. All ages and sexes went visiting, honeymooners, young mothers showing of new babies, convalescents, the bereaved, girls whose parents were anxious to remove them from the dangers of unwise matches, girls who had reached the danger age without becoming engaged and who, it was hoped, would make suitable matches under the guidance of relatives in other places. Visitors added excitement and variety to the slow-moving Southern life and they were always welcome.
”
”
Margaret Mitchell (Gone with the Wind)
“
But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. Many of its most eloquent Divines. who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity.
For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! welcome atheism! welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines! They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! These ministers make religion a cold and flintyhearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs. It is not that "pure and undefiled religion" which is from above, and which is "first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains, stay there; and to the oppressor, oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man. All this we affirm to be true of the popular church, and the popular worship of our land and nation - a religion, a church, and a worship which, on the authority of inspired wisdom, we pronounce to be an abomination in the sight of God. In the language of Isaiah, the American church might be well addressed, "Bring no more vain ablations; incense is an abomination unto me: the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting…. Yea! when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge for the fatherless; plead for the widow.
”
”
Frederick Douglass (What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?)
“
The National Socialist Movement has, besides its delivery from the Jewishcapitalist shackles imposed by a plutocratic-democratic, dwindling class of exploiters at home, pronounced its resolve to free the Reich from the shackles of the Diktat of Versailles abroad. The German demands for a revision were an absolute necessity, a matter of course for the existence and the honor of any great people. Posterity will some day come to regard them as exceedingly modest.
All these demands had to be carried through, in practice against the will of the British French potentates. Now more than ever we all see it as a success of the leadership of the Third Reich that the realization of these revisions was possible for years without resort to war. This was not the case-as the British and French demagogues would have it-because we were not then in a position to wage war. When it finally appeared as though, thanks to a gradually awakening common sense, a peaceful resolution of the remaining problems could be reached through international cooperation, the agreement concluded in this spirit on September 29, 1938, at Munich by the four great states predominantly involved, was not welcomed by public opinion in London and Paris, but was condemned as a despicable sign of weakness. The Jewish capitalist warmongers, their hands covered with blood, saw in the possible success of such a peaceful revision the vanishing of plausible grounds for the realization of their insane plans.
Once again that conspiracy of pitiful, corrupt political creatures and greedy financial magnates made its appearance, for whom war is a welcome means to bolster business. The international Jewish poison of the peoples began to agitate against and to coroode healthy minds. Men of letters set out to portray decent men who desired peace as weaklings and traitors, to denounce opposition parties as a “fifth column,” in order to eliminate internal resistance to their criminal policy of war. Jews and Freemasons, armament industrialists and war profiteers, international traders and stockjobbers, found political blackguards: desperados and glory seekers who represented war as something to be yearned for and hence wished for.
Adolf Hitler - speech to the Reichstag Berlin, July 19, 1940
”
”
Adolf Hitler
“
Kennedy said, “I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination, where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba....” Castro fought for the liberation of Cuba.
The Castro rebellion had its start on July 26, 1953, with an attack on the Moncada Barracks, in Santiago de Cuba. The military success of this raid was limited, but other skirmishes followed, brought on primarily by young people and university students. A strategy of terror on the part of the Batista régime followed, but this brutal behavior backfired and led to the signing by forty-five organizations, in an open letter supporting the revolutionary July 26 Movement. From his encampment high in the Sierra Maestra Mountains, on the eastern end of the island, Fidel Castro and his rebel troops dug in and began a campaign that would eventually lead to Batista’s defeat.
For a time the United States continued to supply Batista with ships, planes, tanks and equipment. Napalm was used against the rebels and bodies filled the streets outside the Cuban capital. In March of 1958 the United States stopped the sales of arms to the Cuban government, however bodies continued to appear in increasing numbers until December 31, 1958. On December 11, 1958, the U.S. Ambassador Earl Smith informed Batista that the United States would no longer support his régime. Once again, Batista wore out his political welcome. On January 1, 1959, Batista fled Cuba by air, for the Dominican Republic. Repeating his performance of 1944, he again raided the Cuban treasury and absconded with about $300 million of personal wealth, and an estimated $700 million in art and cash. One hundred and eighty supporters accompanied him to Ciudad Trujillo. A week later on January 8, 1959, Castro and his army of revolutionaries rolled into Havana….
”
”
Hank Bracker
“
Yet, as the Fourth of July approached, the Tulare residents welcomed the distraction and took to their beloved holiday with gusto. They organized a full schedule of events, including a three-quarter-mile-long parade, sumo and judo contests, relays, and a tug-of-war.
”
”
Pamela Rotner Sakamoto (Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds)
“
The Castro rebellion had its start on July 26, 1953, with an attack on the Moncada Barracks, in Santiago de Cuba. The military success of this raid was limited, but other skirmishes followed, brought on primarily by young people and university students. A strategy of terror on the part of the Batista régime followed, but this brutal behavior backfired and led to the signing by forty-five organizations, in an open letter supporting the revolutionary July 26 Movement. From his encampment high in the Sierra Maestra Mountains, on the eastern end of the island, Fidel Castro and his rebel troops dug in and began a campaign that would eventually lead to Batista’s defeat.
For a time the United States continued to supply Batista with ships, planes, tanks and equipment. Napalm was used against the rebels and bodies filled the streets outside the Cuban capital. In March of 1958 the United States stopped the sales of arms to the Cuban government; however bodies continued to appear in increasing numbers until December 31, 1958. On December 11, 1958, the U.S. Ambassador Earl Smith informed Batista that the United States would no longer support his régime. Once again, Batista wore out his political welcome. On January 1, 1959, Batista fled Cuba by air, for the Dominican Republic. Repeating his performance of 1944, he again raided the Cuban treasury and absconded with about $300 million of personal wealth, and an estimated $700 million in art and cash. One hundred and eighty supporters accompanied him to Ciudad Trujillo. A week later on January 8, 1959, Castro and his army of revolutionaries rolled into Havana….
”
”
Hank Bracker
“
Julie, Idris born and bred, made a face. "What is Brangelina? It sounds like a demon."
"It does not!" George protester. "I believe in their love.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy (Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, #1))
“
Welcome the distraction with a “Hello, restless mind” or “Hello, soreness,” and explore the present-moment experience. Chances are excellent that paying attention to it will lead to its disappearance. Find out for yourself. Play with distractions or have a conversation with them such as, “Hi, it’s you again. How about going on vacation for a while,” or “Bye-bye, off you go.
”
”
Julie T. Lusk (Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief)
“
Now, draw your awareness to a time, circumstance, or place of experiencing your senses, engrossed in what you were seeing, feeling, smelling, or tasting. Perhaps it was out in nature, like watching the sky. Or maybe you were doing something with someone, or experiencing something special. Make it a time when you felt fully present and aware of what you were feeling and sensing. Feeling emotionally alive, sensual…creative… And noticing whatever your experience is right now. Noticing how it shows up mentally and physically. Solar Plexus Chakra Bring to mind a situation when you felt really good about yourself…when you felt on top of the world…happy about an accomplishment, possibly feeling really confident. Use your mind’s eye to bring it back alive… And noticing how it feels in your body now, sensing it, here and now, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Welcoming into awareness whatever you experience.
”
”
Julie T. Lusk (Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief)
“
During the meal I consume every last bite of my shrimp and grits, relishing the uniquely Southern combinations: tart lemon juice, savory scallions, crisp bacon, and a dash of paprika all mixed in with freshly grated Parmesan and creamy white cheddar. It's been tossed with sautéed wild mushrooms and minced garlic, cayenne pepper, and Gulf shrimp, all atop a bowl of steaming Mississippi Delta stone-cut grits. My belly sings a psalm of thanks with every flavor-punched drop, and that doesn't even count the homemade biscuits baked big as fists and the silver-dollar pickles fried deep with salt. Drown it all together with a swig of syrup-sweet tea, and the name of this country song would be "Welcome Home.
”
”
Julie Cantrell (Perennials)
“
Do We Need a Eulogy or a Birth Announcement? Like most African-Americans my age and older, I have been touched by the virtue and disturbed by the failures of the African-American church. I have had some of the richest times of celebration and praise in local black churches. And I’ve also experienced some of the most perplexing and discouraging situations in this same institution. It was an African-American preacher who vouched for me when I was facing criminal charges as a rising junior in high school, making all the difference in my future. And it was the membership of a black Baptist congregation that nearly poisoned my love for the church when, as a new Christian, I witnessed the “brawl” of my first church business meeting. The preaching of the church gave me biblical tropes and themes for building a sense of self in the world. But a low level of spiritual living among many African-American Christians tempted me to believe that everything in the Black Church was show-and-tell, a tragic comedy of self-delusion and religious hypocrisy. I left the Black Church of my youth and converted to Islam during college. I became zealous for Islam and a staunch critic of the Black Church. I welcomed much of the criticisms of radicals, Afrocentrists, and groups like the Nation of Islam. I cut my teeth on the writing and speaking of men like Molefi Kete Asante, Na’im Akbar, Wade Noble, and Louis Farrakhan. The institution that helped nurture me I now deem a real enemy to the progress of African-Americans, an opiate and a tool of white supremacy. I had experienced enough of the church’s weakness to reject her altogether. The immature and undiscerning rarely know how to handle the failures of its heroes, to evaluate with nuance and critical appreciation. That was true of me before the Lord saved me. In July 1995, sitting in an African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) church in the Washington, DC, area, a short, square, balding African-American preacher expounded the text of Exodus 32. With passion and insight, he detailed the idolatry of Israel and exposed the idolatry of my heart. As he pressed on, more and more I felt guilty for my sin, estranged from God, and deserving of God’s holy judgment. Then, from the text of Exodus 32, he preached Jesus Christ, the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world and reconciles sinners to God. He proclaimed the cross of Jesus Christ, where my sins had been nailed and the Son of God punished in my place. The preacher announced the resurrection of Christ, proving the Father accepted the Son’s sacrifice. Then the pastor called every sinner to repent and put their trust—not in themselves—but in Jesus Christ alone for righteousness, forgiveness, and eternal life. It was as if he addressed me alone though I sat in a congregation of eight thousand. That morning, under the preaching of the gospel from God’s Word, the Spirit gave me and my wife repentance and faith leading to eternal life. I was a dead man when I walked into that building. But I left a living man, revived by God’s Word and Spirit.
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Thabiti M. Anyabwile (Reviving the Black Church)
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On the occasion of the gathering of all Freemason Lodges on July 16, 1782, an alliance between the Illuminati and Freemasonry was created in Wilhelmsbad (Germany).[38] Adam Weishaupt welcomed the powerful support of the Masonic Protestant princes and rulers of Germany and Europe. They brought with them control of the Masonic Order. But he realized that he must not permit them to suspect that, in furtherance of his internationalist goal of One World Dictatorship, the Order was dedicated to destroying them also. Weishaupt craftily solved this problem by limiting the princes and rulers to the lower degrees and barring them from the knowledge of the true purposes of the Order, that were revealed, cautiously, only to those in the higher degrees.[39]
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Robin de Ruiter (Worldwide Evil and Misery - The Legacy of the 13 Satanic Bloodlines)
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New Economic Policy Since the announcement of the New Economic Policy (NEP) by the Government in July 1991, several important legislative and administrative policy changes have been brought about, which have had an enormous bearing on the economy. The NEP is very clear in its intent to dismantle control on business, make Indian industries globally competitive, move away from am import substitution regime to an export led growth oriented regime and welcome foreign equity investments to meet the growing demands of technology, products, and capital.
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Anonymous
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Bring it alive in your mind’s eye, sensing it now, a feeling of being completely comfortable and protected… How does it look?…What does it feel like?… Were there sounds or smells involved? Sensing what it’s like to feel secure and protected. Embellish it any way you want so that you’re feeling more and more secure and protected… And noticing how and where feeling secure and protected feels in your body. Welcoming in whatever you experience.
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Julie T. Lusk (Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief)
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Let it be effortless. Trying to concentrate or analyze your experience will only bog you down. Honestly, all you really have to do is listen, participate, stay aware, and welcome whatever happens with an impartial attitude.
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Julie T. Lusk (Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief)
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Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the NYU Stern School of Business, made the case for why in an essay in The American Interest on July 10, 2016, entitled “When and Why Nationalism Beats Globalism.” “Having a shared sense of identity, norms, and history generally promotes trust … Societies with high trust, or high social capital, produce many beneficial outcomes for their citizens: lower crime rates, lower transaction costs for businesses, higher levels of prosperity, and a propensity toward generosity, among others … The trick … is figuring out how to balance reasonable concerns about the integrity of one’s own community with the obligation to welcome strangers, particularly strangers in dire need.” Minnesota
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Thomas L. Friedman (Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations)
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There will be many times in your lives - at school, and more particularly when you are grown up - when people will distract or divert you from what needs to be done. You may even welcome the distraction. But if you use it as an excuse for not doing what your're supposed to do, you can blame no one but yourself. If you truly wish to accomplish something, you should allow nothing to stop you, and chances are you'll succeed.
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Julie Edwards
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Make memories not madness.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Fight for not with your spouse.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Remember your future and dream with your eyes wide open.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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What we feed grows. What we starve dies.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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See the best, believe the best and speak the best.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Prefer one another's need over your own.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Pursue intimacy not just sex.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Lift the lid and dare to dream together.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can do.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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When you can't change how you feel, change the way you think.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Manage for margin. Replenish together.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Extend the same love, acceptance, and grace that you need and forgive freely.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Begin with the end in mind.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Live intentionally to stay connected.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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We will be intentional, be present and seek to understand,
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Be a partner, not an opponent. Change your me first to we first.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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You reap what you sow. Plant the right seeds.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Don't let you How To get in the way of your Want to.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Don't let what you don't know stop you from remembering what you do know.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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The power of life and death are in the tongue. Speak life!
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Vision trumps discipline.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Build on common ground.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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You will find what you are looking for...we will find what we love, not what is lacking.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Serve instead of expecting to be served.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Speak gratitude not complaints.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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The strength in a team is found in its diversity. We will celebrate our differences.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Envision your ideal marriage and seize it.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Progress involves process. Do the next right thing.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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What you feed grows. What you starve dies. Starve the lies. Feed the truth.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Instead of thinking about what you don't want, think about what you want.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Concentrate your attention on God's intention.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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Don't settle for what's good. Pursue what's great.
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Greg Gorman & Julie Gorman (WELCOME TO YOUR MARRIED FOR A PURPOSE REBOOT FACILITATOR’S GUIDE: A handbook to assist Married for a Purpose Certified Coaches in leading personal one-on-one Reboot Retreats for Married Couples.)
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We pass under a sign that declares WELCOME TO PIXLEY’S HIDDEN MAGICAL VILLAGE, ESTABLISHED IN 1875.
I roll down the window, staring at this new world.
At this hour, only a few people are strolling on the sidewalks. It’s a typical small town, with one main road that runs through, with shops and quaint restaurants. But it’s magical. Each shop looks like a world of its own, with stately brick fronts or sleek glass minimalistic buildings or quirky cottages in a rainbow of colors. And the signs take my breath away:
ELIXIRS OF EUPHORIA
MYSTIC HAHN’S HAVEN FOR THE OCCULT
SARAH AND SUE-O’S SCONES AND SWEETS
QUILL TREE FOX ART GALLERY
LEON THE LION’S TOY EMPORIUM
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Julie Abe (The Charmed List)
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Just as a traveller, gazing out to contemplate a vast panorama, seeks some human figure in his surroundings to bring the distant objects into perspective, so do we look towards God with amazement, but can identify and welcome a purely human figure at the side of his throne. A ship has finished its passage, a destiny has been fulfilled, a human perfection has existed. Through her, his masterpiece, we see God’s relations with humanity more clearly and with greater insight.[231]
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Francisco Fernández-Carvajal (In Conversation with God – Volume 7 Part 1 Feasts July - September)
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She had stayed with him. She hadn’t left and called for pickup; she’d just stayed here, where he’d fallen, and watched over him. Julie dug in the bag. “I grabbed some food from the food cart passing by. It’s not deer babies, but you’ll just have to suffer through it.” He reached out and touched her hand. She paused and looked at him, her eyes bottomless. “Thank you.” “For what?” “For staying with me.” “You’re welcome, Wolf,” she said quietly.
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Ilona Andrews (Magic Stars (Kate Daniels, #8.5, Grey Wolf, #1))
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Welcome here too, in this ordinary patch of Connecticut soil, will be the honey-green fleshed Jenny Lind, beloved musk melon of the 19th century, cast aside by commerce just because it is said that her rind wasn’t tough enough to travel… Incredible don’t you think, to have two such different women of the 19th century commemorated in one garden, the wife of Josephine’s gardener, certainly one of history’s faceless and forgotten, and then the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind, perhaps the most famous woman of her time, soprano idolized on both sides of the Atlantic, the century’s Madonna. It is said that her beauty and coloratura set millions to swooning. Come July when those melons start to swell I will be thinking of her, and of her bosom, I guess, for why else would someone name a melon after a sex-symbol?
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Michael Pollan
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And after Julie’s anger about “Welcome to Holland” subsided, it occurred to her that there would always be somebody whose life seemed more—or less—enviable. Would Julie trade places with Dara now? Her first instinct: yes, in a heartbeat. Her second: maybe not.
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Lori Gottlieb (Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed)
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These are thought paths you will not give yourself permission to travel any longer. They are now out of bounds or forbidden to you. Instead, grasp on to the positive patterns described in these chapters and visualize yourself putting up a large Welcome to Joy and Enter Here sign with green lights. These are the new thought patterns that your brain will travel and eventually own.
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Julie Winter (ReNew: Breaking Free from Negative Thinking, Anxiety, and Depression)
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The degree of Russian penetration of the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016 can scarcely be overstated. In June, Trump’s son and campaign high command welcomed Putin’s representatives to hear dirt from them about Trump’s opponent; in August, a suspected Russian spy put forward a plan to consolidate Russian rule in Ukraine—with the implied offer of millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign chairman. And in between those two events, in July, Russian interests had convulsed the Clinton campaign by releasing emails hacked from the accounts of the Democratic Party.
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Jeffrey Toobin (True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump)
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They had nothing.
In their houses, there was nothing. At first. You had to stay in the dark of the huts a long while to make out what was on the walls. In the wife's hut a wavy pattern of broad white and ochre bands. In others - she did not know whether or not she was welcome where they dipped in and out all day from dark to light like swallows - she caught a glimpse of a single painted circle, an eye or target, as she saw it. In one dwelling where she was invited to enter there was the tail of an animal and a rodent skull, dried gut, dangling from the thatch. Commonly there were very small mirrors snapping at the stray beams of light like hungry fish rising. They reflected nothing. An impression - sensation - of seeing something intricately banal, manufactured, replicated, made her turn as if someone had spoken to her from back there. It was in the hut where the yokes and traces for the plough-oxen were. She went inside again and discovered insignia, like war medals, nailed just to the left of the dark doorway. The enamel emblem's Red Cross was foxed and pitted with damp, bonded with dirt to the mud and dung plaster that was slowly incorporating it. The engraved lettering on the brass arm-plaque had filled with rust. The one was a medallion of the kind presented to black miners who pass a First Aid exam on how to treat injuries likely to occur underground, the other was a black miner's badge of rank, the highest open to him. Someone from the mines; someone had gone to the gold mines and come home with these trophies. Or they had been sent home; and where was the owner? No one lived in this hut. But someone had; had had possessions, his treasure displayed. Had gone away, or died - was forgotten or was commemorated by the evidence of these objects left, or placed, in the hut. Mine workers had been coming from out of these places for a long, long time, almost as long as the mines had existed. She read the brass arm-plaque: Boss Boy.
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Nadine Gordimer (July's People)
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Elmwood UFO Capital of the World Stop through Elmwood at any time of year other than the last full weekend in July, and you’ll think the aliens have already come and gone … and took everyone with them! Not much seems to be happening in this sleepy little burg. But that hasn’t always been the case. The first UFO sighting near Elmwood occurred on March 2, 1975. A star-shaped light chased a local woman and eventually landed on her car’s hood when she stopped to get a better look. A year later, in April 1976, another fireball—this one the size of a football field—shot out a blue light beam that blasted all the sparkplugs in a police cruiser driven by officer George Wheeler. Little green men seem to have trained their laser sights on Elmwood. And Elmwood welcomes the extraterrestrial attention. A few years ago Tomas Weber of the UFO Site Center Corporation in Chippewa Falls proposed that a two-square-mile UFO landing pad be built near town. The price? Twenty-five million dollars. The project has yet to get off the ground, or on the ground. Nobody talks much about it anymore, perhaps due to some type of black-ops “shadow government” cover-up.
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Jerome Pohlen (Oddball Wisconsin: A Guide to 400 Really Strange Places (Oddball series))
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You’re saying that on Friday night I have an equal chance of getting vomited on as I do of getting kissed?”
“Welcome to high school.
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Julie Buxom
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You’re saying that on Friday night I have an equal chance of getting vomited on as I do of getting kissed?”
“Welcome to high school.”
What to say next
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Julie Buxbaum
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of my France travels. Although when I spy the trepidation on Katie’s face as she sizes up the teeny-tiny bedroom and the single bed we are supposed to sleep in together, I know we’ll have to make other arrangements. That’s the thing with my France friends—they are all so lovely and welcoming and hospitable, but they are also very last minute and sometimes hard to pin down when it comes to plans. They don’t have the obsession with planning that we Americans have—the way we plot out our entire lives down to the minute on a Google calendar, send Evites ten weeks in advance to book friends for a simple dinner party, and start planning Thanksgiving and Christmas in July. In France, my friends don’t
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Juliette Sobanet (Meet Me in Paris)
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them, she could see them. But for once it didn’t seem to matter. She was in costume, among welcoming hearts. At least for this little stretch of time, it felt safe to stop thinking about how she looked to the world. For once it felt like she could just be. Zenobia July took in and blew out three long breaths. She smiled at herself in the mirror, then smiled more at how pretty the smile was. She checked her costume one more time. She reached up and gently touched the beautiful old earrings her grandmother had given her. Then she put her shoulders back, lifted her chin, turned to the door, opened it, and stepped back out among the people she loved, to be with them and one of them, into the warmth and music and joy of what was starting to feel very much like a family.
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Lisa Bunker (Zenobia July)
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JULY 22, 1971 This morning on Hunter Street, I passed a black woman at the bus stop. She was simply dressed in a green-and-white checked shirtwaist dress. It was a little too big and little bit too long, but not really sloppy. It had a little fabric-covered belt to match, too. But on top of her head was a huge, platinum blond wig. It was curled and flipped and teased and in general fixed to look as hideous as possible. It wasn’t even pulled down very far. It was just sitting there like it was a bird who had decided to light there and visit with her for a while. She had a very serious expression and she was looking down the street intently for the bus. The wig was looking, too, but I don’t think it was looking for the bus. It looked like it had had a hard night and would welcome an Alka Seltzer.
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Pearl Cleage (Things I Should Have Told My Daughter: Lies, Lessons, & Love Affairs)