Fun Website

        Welcome to the world of Polka-Dot Star Flowers! Grab a cup of tea and come get comfortable for a while. Everyone needs a place to curl up with a warm drink and a sweet word. Make this your place.
         My name is Barbara and I married my High school sweetheart in 1980. I am the mother of 14 children, 9 of whom still live and learn at home. Two years ago, I decided I wanted to lose some weight. I found an online support group. That was my first experience with online chatting. As people found out I was happily married and the home schooling mother to so many children I began to get emails asking for advice. Lots of emails.
        I realized that most of us have few support systems left in our lives. With our mobile society, we don't live next to our extended families any more. We move and change jobs frequently, so our friendships change often too. We have no one to turn to with questions. We have few people we can be totally honest with. We are busy trying to keep it all together, while making our lives look perfect from the outside. Inside we are alone. Often very alone.
        I started answering those emails. Then I started a few threads to be able to share those questions and answers with others. After we hit about 20,000 posts, I began getting emails asking me to put it all in book form. It was hard for the readers to find a specific teaching with over 400 pages to wade through. This year I have done that. I will put a link here so you can take a look at the book if you would like to. I named it Polka-Dot Star Flowers. Real Help for Real People.
        Funny name huh? So what is a Polka-Dot Star flower anyway? Polka-Dot Star Flowers are the flowers of the heart. They are what make little children dance with happiness in the sunshine. We adults have mostly forgotten that feeling of joyous wonder, of simple abandon. We are afraid to be silly or we have been wounded by life's trials. It is not too late though. Happiness is peeking at us right around the corner. I have learned how to reconnect with true joy. I want to share that secret with you. You do not need to dwell in the past but you can look with bright anticipation to the future. You can be happy. You can learn to smile and laugh. Be expectant! Miracles are all around you!
        After I wrote the book, I decided to start this web site. Please make yourself at home here. Browse around and make yourself at home. There is room for you here. The door is always open, and there is room for you at my table. I want this to be a place you can come and find answers, and peace, and friendship! This site is about learning how to love, and how to live. It is about joy and wonder. It is about freedom and acceptance, hope and forgiveness. Your life can be a fabulous journey of discovery. I want to hold your hand as you learn to dance! The sun is out, grab your dancing shoes, Polka-Dot Star Flowers are beginning to bloom!
                                                            Hugs, Barbara