Several friends have approached me with questions about what to look for in a spouse.  My husband and I came up with a list of questions to ask yourself when getting to know someone.  Please add more to the list.

1. Do they give you the space and support to be the person you are supposed to be not the person they want you to be?
2. Are they kind?
3. Do they create unity around them (what is their relationship with friends and family)?
4. Do they bring out the best in you?
5. Do you communicate well together?
6. What are the things about them that annoy you or you don’t like and can you live with those?
7. What are the spiritual qualities you see in them?
8. Do they put their faith at the centre of their lives?
9. Are they in a learning mode and are they trying to overcome their challenges?
10. How do they deal with challenges?
11. What is their attitude towards life? Are they optimistic, positive thinkers?
12. Do they see stumbling blocks or do they see stepping stones? Do they see the problem or do they see the opportunity?
13. Do they bring you peace of mind?

I would love to hear your thoughts and if you have more ideas of what to look for please post them below.

During the fasting period, I often remind myself of those I am grateful for in my life.  I think you’ll have an idea of who that is once you read this lovely passage below (click on the passage itself for a larger view):

A talk recorded in Star of the West, vol 11, No. 1, March 1920, pp.20-21, taken from the Birds of Love gift set.

Dear friends of mine recently adopted a baby boy.  Hearing them express their feelings of joy and elation has made me so excited for them but also so appreciative that I am a mother of two wonderful children.

Parenting a child is unlike any experience I have ever encountered in my life.  I remember so vividly the day they were both born and the emotions and love that stirred in the delivery room.  I was so elated with the miracle of life that I could hardly contain myself.  I remember gazing at my son and daughter and couldn’t quite believe that they were actually right there in my arms, to hold, to love and to care for.  The love is truly indescribable.

As they grow and mature and go through challenges through different stages of their lives, sometimes we forget how precious they are.  As a society we tend to brush them aside rather than embrace their needs.  We sometimes forget to allow them to express themselves in their unique way.  They deserve respect and our time to allow them to blossom under our care, guidance and protection.  There have been times when I was running out the door in a hurry and one of my children wanted to show me something or explain something in detail and I didn’t give them the time they needed or acknowledge them the way they wanted…. I’m sure we’ve all had those moments but what a lovely reminder I’ve been given in the past few days from my friends to cherish every moment and not take for granted the gift we have been given – to nurture our children at all times.

I read this passage from time to time by George Townshend and it always moves me:

“While they are at your side, love these little ones to the uttermost.  Forget yourself.  Serve them; care for them; lavish all your tenderness on them.  Value your good fortune while it is with you, and let nothing of the sweetness of their babyhood go unprized.  Not for long will you keep the happiness that now lies within your reach.  You will not always walk in the sunshine with a little warm, soft hand nestling in each of yours, nor hear little feet pattering beside you, and eager baby voices questioning and prattling of a thousand things with ceaseless excitement.  Not always will you see that trusting face upturned to yours, feel those little arms about your neck, and those tender lips pressed upon your cheek, nor will you have that tiny form to kneel beside you, and murmur baby prayers into your ear.  Love them and win their love, and shower on them all the treasures of your heart.  Fill up their days with happiness, and share with them their mirth and innocent delights.  Childhood is but for a day.  Ere you are aware it will be gone with all its gifts forever.”

Here are some photos of our children and the family!

The music video we’ve been working on for ‘Where There is Love’ from my CD Birds of Love is finally ready!
We started working on the video last summer in Vancouver, Canada and the shoot took place on a beautiful beach.  Even though we only had a couple of hours and a limited budget for the video, we made the most of the time we had.

I had asked friends to contribute photos for the video and I’m delighted that we managed to add several of them (thanks to all of you who responded and sent photos – I wish we could have used them all)!  For a long time, Jarome has tried to convince me to be in one of my videos as he felt it makes it more personal.  I resisted for quite some time but finally gave in (thanks for your patience Jarome)!  I have to say that I didn’t expect it be so much fun and walking on the beach was so inspiring as I love the ocean!

In the video we wanted to represent different forms of love.  We tried to capture younger couples and older ones as well as love for God’s creation.  The video was inspired by the first part of the song where the quote is attributed to Abdu’l-Baha ‘Where there is love, nothing is too much trouble and there is always time’ and develops from there.  The quotations were all so beautiful that we wanted to capture them in the beauty of the images that we found.

If you would like to read more about the song, I’ve talked about it in more detail here. Thanks again to those of you who gave us permission to use your beautiful photos and thanks to those of you who participated in the video and thanks also to Jarome for all the time and creativity he put into making yet another lovely video! I really enjoyed being a part of it! I hope you like it and will share it with your friends :D

For more information about the Birds of Love gift set, please click here.

For those of you living in China, please scroll down below this video and you’ll see the youku.com version! Enjoy!

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Youku.com version for those of you in China!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of singing ‘Birds of Love’ at the wedding of one of my friends.  This must be the 6th or 7th time in the last year that I have been asked to sing it.  It has been awhile though since the last wedding so I made sure to practice a couple of days in advance.  I felt very prepared yesterday as I had run it through my mind several times and sung it in the morning…

As the program started, I began to review the lyrics of the song in my mind and suddenly realized that I had forgotten some of the words of the song! I began to panic as I tried to remember the words and couldn’t.  I took some deep breaths, calmed my racing heart (as it was just about my turn to sing) and finally remembered the words just in the nick of time (seriously)!  I’m glad to say that the performance went very well and that the lyrics weren’t an issue (I’m never a good judge about performances but my friends informed me later).

One thing I learned from this experience is to practice the song many more times in advance so that it becomes so natural to me that I can sing it without thinking.  Sometimes as an artist, I think we try and get by on the minimum because it takes time and lots of hard work to achieve perfection.  Definitely an important lesson learned and one I don’t want to repeat again. :D

It’s my birthday today and I would like to share a gift with you! For the first time, I’m having a Year-End special!

We’re offering a special for the ‘Birds of Love’ gift set (buy 1, get 1 free) as well as a discount on our ‘Fire and Gold’ CD from now till Dec 15.  The ‘Birds of Love’ gift set is ideal for weddings, anniversaries and loved ones.  For more details and info on the special, please click here.

I look forward to sharing another special gift in the next blog so stay tuned…

Hoping you have a wonderful year-end celebration with friends and family wherever you are.