I stumbled onto a site, looking for the lyrics of a Sixpence None the Richer song. Whenever it comes up in my iTunes shuffle, I sing along, whether I know the words or not. Since Puedo Escribir is in Espanol, even my abilities to butcher the real lyrics were hard pressed to make sense of it. What is this haunting melody singing about? An epic story of love lost, words of praise or teen angst amid a storm of grief.

Cartoon Network recently announced a new 2 hour block of programming targeted at 2 to 5 year olds. In response, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CFCC) publicly lambasted the channel for being,

“The latest attempt to get young children in front of screens — which is exactly where marketers want them.”

This holiday season take a journey of adventure and discovery and prepare to write your family history. Your mission, if you decide to accept it, will be to interview your family members and learn what makes you who you are today.

Visit websites and chronicles of ancient documents to discover who landed where and who married who, and who in your family made the news.

My father, Frank N. De Marco, died on Tuesday, July 26, at his home in Ormond Beach, Fla. He was 80. I had the honor of being with him, when he closed his eyes in this life and opened them in his new life to behold the face of God.

It’s been a surreal circle of life for me this summer. On June 15 I welcomed my second baby girl, Olivia, into the world, and some 40 days later said goodbye to my father for the time being.

A visit to Forever Florida and the Crescent J Ranch is like a romp through the terrain that once dominated this State. The unfortunate part is trying to figure out where we will show our children this amount of unspoiled land in the future?

Of all the challenges facing organizational leaders today, the biggest may be engaging and motivating people to embrace the organization’s mission and vision of the future. We all know the difference between staff who are punching the clock and biding their time and those who come prepared to be part of a team that is building something great. How do we get people to see that future and want to be a part of it? It comes down to communication.

Children’s Home Society of Florida, Brevard Division is still in search of a few good men and women for its MODEL (Mentors Opening Doors Enriching Lives) program.

Six months ago, CHS received funding for this one-to-one community-based mentoring program that pairs 4-14 year old children (who have a parent incarcerated in a federal or state prison) with a volunteer mentor.

Coping with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

Through tears running down his face, Andrew tells his mom, “I can’t think when I’m angry, it is just like a big rocket blasting off!” His mom’s heart breaks for her child as he struggles to make sense of the world around him. Andrew, like an overwhelming number of children today, has Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder sometimes called High Functioning Autism.

Last month you were introduced to Plus-ing up your life with Emotional Intelligence. This article will focus on the ‘me, my’ aspects of the model. The crux of this part of the model is the ability to recognize the “what” and “why” behind our feelings.

Plus-ing Up Your Life With Emotional Intelligence, Part II
How many times do we go through life out of touch with our emotions only to have a sudden rush of emotion? When we have the rushes, it’s usually a generic “mad” or “happy.” To understand the “what” of our emotions we need to start by increasing our emotional vocabulary!

Kris Urquhart is the publisher and editor of Natural Awakenings, a healthy living magazine for Brevard and Indian River Counties. Mother of two energetic boys 8 & 10, wife & manager of their household in charge of miscellaneous life duties. Kris is an amazing person, energetic, focused, and always working to promote health and wellness. We spoke with her about Balance.

Taking Great Strides to Cure Cystic Fibrosis

As a child what if your only wish as a child was to run and play like all of your friends. If only your lungs could get enough air. Sounds like easy tasks for most children, but not for a child with cystic fibrosis.

Everyone’s meaning of the word organized is different.

Some people are at one end of the spectrum like Monk, the obsessive/compulsive detective, who can’t stand clutter and everything must always be in its place. Others are completely comfortable with leaving their stuff anywhere and everywhere, living in totally chaotic surroundings and can never find anything. And still others are freaks of nature that no matter how much clutter they live in, they can always put their hand on anything at a moment’s notice. Most people fall somewhere in between and usually in the “tolerates clutter but can usually find something within a reasonable amount of time” category. However, the definitions of tolerates and reasonable can vary significantly from household to household.

Plus-ing Up Your Life With Emotional Intelligence: An Introduction

GreenBrevard’s mission is to help individuals, families, businesses and organizations reach their fullest potential and accomplish their evolving goals. Through teamwork and synergy we will better able to achieve the goal. The synergy is enhanced when individuals use emotional intelligence.

Sheryl Lyons is a Program Director at Children’s Home Society for the Behavioral Health & MODEL (Mentors Opening Doors Enriching Lives) mentoring programs.

One of Children’s Home Society’s many programs is Targeted Case Management. This program is a service with a track record of linking children to success by advocating for them, coordinating services, and following up to ensure excellent outcomes. It’s staff is dedicated to the program and to the clients…so dedicated in fact, that this year, Case Manager Luann Thompson, was named Employee of the Year.

Easter Seals has been helping individuals with disabilities and special needs, and their families, live better lives for more than 80 years. Whether helping someone improve physical mobility, return to work or simply gain greater independence for everyday living, Easter Seals offers a variety of services to help people with disabilities address life’s challenges and achieve personal goals.

Easter Seals Florida has its headquarters in Orlando, Florida. In business since 1948, Easter Seals Florida has seven regional offices providing developmental preschool and child care services. These regions are located in The Keys, West Palm Beach, Stuart, Tampa, Orlando, and Melbourne.

We all want the best for our children. We want them to be knowledgeable, capable, and self-confident human beings, able to one day make important contributions to both their own lives and the lives of others.

Sometimes, though, we get caught in the frenetic pace of life and find ourselves stuck in the “doing-ness” of life. So we enroll our children in after-school clubs, private lessons, and special activities in the hope of giving them an advantage in life, expecting that they practice and do the things that we may not have had the privilege of doing as kids. And when they don’t do their part, we often find ourselves doing it for them. It’s enough to give us a metaphysical hernia.

Across time, I have come to learn that all of life is a unified story, woven together by the threads of everyone’s individual stories. This patchwork of truths and lessons has much to teach me and much joy to give me-but the key is to train myself to discern the patterns of the fabric and interpret what they are saying.

We recently had the opportunity to talk with Leslie Gaskins, the Development Director of Easter Seals, Florida’s East Coast Regional Office.

Chartered in 1948, Easter Seals Florida provides a wide range of programs for Floridians of all ages with disabilities and special needs, including early intervention and child care; outpatient rehabilitation and therapy; a summer camp for children and adults with disabilities; adult day health care; and vocational services. In addition, Easter Seals Florida plays a critical role as an advocate for people with disabilities and special needs. In Brevard County, Easter Seals Florida provides critical programs for adults with disabilities.

Children’s Home Society of Florida, Brevard Division’s mission is “Embracing Children. Inspiring Lives.” This is accomplished through prevention, intervention and mentoring programs for children and their families.

Founded in 1902 as an orphanage in Jacksonville, Children’s Home Society has grown to 14 divisions throughout Florida and become the state’s premier child welfare agency. Our goal is, and will remain, to build, mend and strengthen Florida’s families. CHS, Brevard Division provides comprehensive services for the entire county. From infant and child services, to teen counseling, abuse prevention and intervention (including a shelter for foster care girls ages 10-18), as well as parental counseling, CHS provides a full continuum of care, empowering individuals to lead productive and meaningful lives.

Writing this in the midst of the nasty and passionate 2004 general election season, I remember my political coming of age of 12 years ago-or perhaps it is better described as a political balancing act.

I was extremely naïve as a young person and a college student, seeing society, politics, government, social needs, and so forth through a narrow prism, colored and shaped by limited exposure to homogeneous reading material and editorialists in the flesh and in the press. To that end, I postured one mainstream political party to be evil, corrupt and snobbish, and the other to have the answers for all of our societal ills, if only we could open our eyes to their logic and good intentions.