Cherishing Life
Needing to slow down
Take time to reflect upon—
Smallest victories

Paying Forward
Old-fashioned kindness
Offer gentle courtesy—
Always in style

Blossoming Keepsake
Creative journey
Endless imagination—
Peaceful contentment

Needing to slow down
Take time to reflect upon—
Smallest victories

Old-fashioned kindness
Offer gentle courtesy—
Always in style

Creative journey
Endless imagination—
Peaceful contentment


Family is always a mirror. You can hide from other people, you can hide from yourself, but your family is going to reflect what you’re doing right back at you.
It doesn’t matter how great your shoes are if you don’t accomplish anything in them.
Martina Boone is a Czech Republic born author who has lived in the United States since turning seven years of age.

Dreaming of conquest
Favorite game show
Awesome contestant
Answer’s fandango
Sleeping wide awake
No longer dreaming
Clock striking midnight
Netflix still streaming
Sailing oceans blue
First mate now sleeping
Craft found, back on course
Prize’s safekeeping
Shifting direction
Away from sailing
Compass pointing west
Dreamtime’s unveiling
Sweeping “Price is Right”
Morning now shifting
New day with new wheels
Sports car downshifting


The thing that looks the most ordinary might end up being the thing that leads you to victory.
If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Aim to be you.
Matt Haig (born 1975) is an English writer and journalist. Much of his writing focuses on novels with fictional themes for adults as well as children stories.

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.
You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.
Beverly Sills (1929-2007) was an American operatic star with few equals during her performances from the 1950s into the 1970s.

You need a team. You need people to push you. You need opponents.
Jazz can show us how to work together, while also celebrating our obvious differences.
Wynton Marsalis (born 1961) is an American trumpeter and composer. He promotes both classical and jazz music, and he has spent numerous hours sharing his music and message with young people. He has received nine Grammy Awards.

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.
To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) was an American writer, philosopher, and artist. Much of his work became more recognized in the years following his death when both he and his wife perished with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania during World War I.
Morning alarm rings
Summer vacation over—
Teacher calls my name

Flashing traffic lights
Driving with care in school zones—
Give these kids a BRAKE!

Another school year
Effort, attitude, action—
Ready for success


Stirring in early morn
Feeling approaching tide
Future’s hope now airborne
Flying without clear guide
Standing still at crossing
Waiting for next green light
Future now crisscrossing
Hiding in hopeless night
Looking for place to rest
Stumbling along dark road
Future stalls at hill’s crest
Spilling hope’s heavy load
Waking to darkest gloom
Hoping for one sure thing
Future trying to bloom
Hanging on threadbare string
Seeing fresh hope renewed
Shifting life’s paradigm
Future no longer skewed
Finding success to climb


Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
From Romans 5:3-5: “And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.