l i f e

i love babysitting life! sorry, i don't know how to turn the video...i don't have a cool imac.

::: hk :::

just for clarification {@trenthorner, @melaniefrazier, @scottschardt, @abbydecicco, @brittany tavenner, @ryanharms} my father has confirmed that my mother was related to Helen Keller. Helen Keller was my mom's grandmother's cousin.

Both Scott and Anne passed the Texas Bar !!!!!!!

Going {out} to dinner tonight to c e l e b r a t e !

I am SO proud and SO happy! Yeah Schardts, Yeah Oliviers!!!

[bon ee-VAIR]

Whether documenting for work, feeling liberated driving home from class after a long day of work, or reading quietly in my room, Bon Iver hits home.

Hello talent.

Hello entertainment.

Hello traveling.

Hello accents.

Hello gents.

Music is provoking.

Provoking to see the world.

Provoking to make a change.

Provoking to give love.

Provoking to receive love.

Provoking to be still.

Provoking to just listen.

Provoking to share life.

Provoking to contemplate life.

Thank you for making music, Bon Iver.

Behind the scenes with them here

Live concert here

Myspace with them here

B & W

Love this post from Elements of Style.

homelessness.

Just educating myself. You should too! Don't you see homelessness all over Dallas? This is quite interesting. I found it here.

Dear Citizens of Metropolitan Dallas:

There are a number of frequently asked questions about the status of homelessness in Dallas. The 2009 Homeless Count and Census helps provide some answers:

(1.) Given the state of the economy are there more homeless in the Dallas area?

The actual number went down this year. The number of homeless persons counted in Dallas decreased from 5,869 in 2008 to 5,675 in 2009. However we learned that the number of people who reported that they became homeless because of unemployment increased from 51% in 2008 to 65% in 2009. We are of course concerned that the economic downturn does put Dallas and most American communities at risk for increased homelessness.

(2.) How is Dallas doing towards our goal of ending chronic homelessness?

The number of chronically homeless people counted was only slightly down this year (611 in 2008 compared with 601 in 2009). When we compare the number of chronically homeless individuals in 2004 to those in 2009, however, the number has dropped by almost 50% in the last 5 years.

( 3.) Are there still many homeless people sleeping outdoors in Dallas?

Yes; and just one would be too many. We counted 145 people sleeping outdoors this year; down 21% from last year before the Bridge opened. Five years ago we counted 358 persons sleeping outdoors.

(4.) Is Childhood Homelessness on the rise?

Yes. Since 2007, the number of homeless children has increased by over 15% (1,139 in 2007 compared with 1,319 in 2009.) This is consistent with the trend nationally; women and children are the fastest growing population of homeless individuals. This year MDHA is working on a strategic plan to better identify the services gaps which have contributed to this disturbing trend.

(5.) What is working well?

Public and privately funded homeless services providers and other health and human service agencies are increasingly better organized and working collaboratively to help people recover from homelessness. We have many terrific agencies in Dallas, including those working in partnership at the Bridge, that play a key role in enabling people to move towards permanent housing.

(6.) What more can Dallas do to end homelessness?

We need to evidence more commitment to developing permanent housing with services attached for people who are homeless and need extra help because of disabilities. We consistently see that the more permanent supportive housing units we develop in Dallas, the fewer chronically homelessness individuals we count.

As a community we need to support and welcome the addition of new housing with state of the art services for our citizens who need our support the most. And creating additional affordable housing for low income people in Metropolitan Dallas and a better funded system of mental health and substance abuse services will help prevent the tragedy of homelessness in the first place.

(7.) Is the Homeless Count accurate?

Yes, it is a valid count that identifies trends, progress and setbacks. The census is a point in time count but can’t count every homeless person throughout the year. Each year during one night in the fourth week of January, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance conducts a count & survey of the homeless population. We strive to keep the structure and process of the count exactly the same every year so that our results are as consistent as possible. This information is used to monitor our progress as a community in preventing and ending homelessness. The process also provides us the opportunity to hear what large numbers of homeless persons wish to tell us about themselves and their needs.

The Count is conducted both indoors and outdoors. The indoor counting and interviews are conducted by each local homeless program facility (emergency shelters, transitional housing, permanent Supportive Housing) as well as other locations including hospitals and treatment programs.

The outdoor count is carried out by over 100 community volunteers and agency professionals who are accompanied by Police Officers. Along with the count, a structured interview or survey is conducted with each homeless person who consents to participate. The interview is administered by agency staff or trained community volunteers. The sample size of homeless persons who share information with us exceeds 50% of the total population counted (58% this year). Given the large sample size, we are able to draw some conclusions about our homeless neighbors and their needs. So the Count is an important way for us to gather information that can help provide solutions.

Thanks for taking the time to read this report. We have come a long way over the last five years as the numbers reflect. Because of the economic downturn, risks to our continuing progress have increased. However, we truly believe that an informed and caring public will continue to create the solutions and political will needed to end homelessness in Metropolitan Dallas.

Sincerely,

Michael M. Faenza President & CEO Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance

today...

today i am reading the book of Luke. making banana nut bread with chocolate chips. and making and old pair of shoes a new exciting pair to wear.

happy tuesday.

One of the better CPS articles..

Blame game in boy's death ignores difficult, thankless job facing Child Protective Services

07:46 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Given his mother's woeful inadequacies, it probably would have taken a village to raise Darrell Singleton – capable relatives, watchful neighbors, family friends ready to step in and help out.

Darrell did not have a village. All he had was CPS, and that wasn't enough.

The toddler, a sunny-faced kid as cute as a Huggies ad, slowly roasted to death last month in his mother's truck. Unable to make day care arrangements, she had purposely stashed him there while she went to work.

Darrell's death was not exactly a shining hour for Texas Child Protective Services. Caseworkers knew the mother, Keashia Matthews, had a history of neglecting her children.

As our reporters have documented, CPS knew she had lost custody of two older children in another state and that she had left Darrell and his sisters unsupervised in the past. Their own records show they knew she had a history of violence and erratic behavior.

The agency is the safety net of last resort for Texas' most endangered children, and it failed Darrell – as it has at least three other children in recent months. Like Darrell, they died on CPS' watch, while caseworkers were supposed to be overseeing their safety.

The evidence strongly suggests that child-welfare workers could, and should, have done more to protect these children.

That said, I think those of us who are quick to blame Texas CPS workers for leaving kids in danger or, conversely, for callously "breaking up families," need to take a hard look at what we are asking the agency to do.

We are asking a corps of government social workers to address a cultural paradox. We want them to make sure no child is ever harmed, yet we don't want any interference with adult rights and liberties.

We want CPS to bird-dog the after-the-fact consequences of a culture in which perfect strangers may bawl you out for smoking, but where there's some sort of antiquated bigotry implied in suggesting out loud that immature, irresponsible people should not be parents.

We not only lack the political will to teach young people how to prevent pregnancy, we don't even bother telling them that having babies should be a serious and deliberate choice, not a biological function as inevitable as catching a cold.

Americans, to a large extent, are free to make their own mistakes. Men are free to have sex with as many willing partners as they can find and to casually opt in or out of the lives of the resulting children. Women are free to have babies without bothering to get married or to let men they don't really know very well move into their homes.

The children, of course, are not free. Some are cherished and well cared for, but others are as trapped and helpless as a goldfish in a scummy bowl.

Which leaves us with beleaguered CPS caseworkers, often young, overworked, poorly paid and (initially) idealistic – ripe candidates for burnout.

"I don't know what the answer is. I wish I did," said Paige McDaniel, president of Community Partners of Dallas, a nonprofit group that provides support and resources to Dallas County CPS caseworkers.

"The statistic is that 60 percent of new caseworkers leave within six months. It's that kind of job."

The bureaucracy's sense of being overwhelmed and under siege, of being constantly second-guessed by a critical public, has sometimes led to a circle-the-wagons defensiveness. For reporters, it can be tough prying information from CPS; the vague invocation of "confidentiality" often feels like a smoke screen for departmental screw-ups.

But we should keep in mind that caseworkers are taking on a job that most of us wouldn't do for a million dollars.

They're dealing with parents who often regard them as the enemy, who will sometimes lie, hide or leave town to keep CPS from "taking the kids away." They're trying, within a suffocating framework of legal rules and political imperatives, and before an ever-judgmental public, to make life-and-death predictions.

In Darrell's case, they got it wrong. That's not good, but it doesn't make them monsters.

"What we finally have to realize," McDaniel said, "is that the mother killed that child.

"It was not CPS.

obtained here through the Dallas Morning News

to post or not to post...

Sitting here at my window, I watch people go by. Watch them walk their dogs, walk down the street, either casually or on a mission. because we live in a fallen world, where man is sinful, i know they have pain, just as i do.

so i sit here, crying for my pain. and theirs. praying for them, that they may know christ and his hope, peace, truth. its the only thing that makes me feel better.

c.s. lewis says, "the reason for the difference is only too plain. you never know how much you really believe something until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. it is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. but suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it?"

jack and scott have fun together :)