Here are excerpts from our May '98 newsletter.

Special Baby Announcement! Books for Babies So.....What's royal blue, displays a white logo (similar to one we all know), holds superb baby books, a fuzzy white Teddy Bear, and has already brought hours of pleasure to tiny babies and their parents? It's the Books for Babies book bag! Actually, the Books for Babies project is in its own infancy. It will celebrate its first year in June. And what a first year!

The project began as a partnership between Prospects and the Edmonton Junior League, but as all babies do, soon grew quickly. The Jasper Place and Eastwood Health Centres agreed to help identify parents of newborns that they felt would benefit from and enjoy this literacy program. An Edmonton women's book club contacted book publishers and chose books for the program. Edmonton's Success by Six and the Norwood Community Centre met families and gave out books. The Jasper and Sprucewood Libraries provided library tours, library cards and a place for the young families to gather. Other organizations and individuals donated time, materials, creativity and tasty treats. The goals of the Books for Babies project were to help families with newly born babies discover the long term benefits of reading and to encourage them to begin reading to their infants from the very first weeks. The outcomes were better than expected. Not only did the parents love getting their book bags but they had an opportunity to discover, or rediscover, the library, make new friends, learn of other local literacy programs and nurture their babies. Now that you know what this amazing book bag looks like, and all of the work that went into it, you might want to keep an eye out for it. It's easy to spot, in the company of a happy parent and offspring, and holding books for babies.

A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to all those who show their support in many, many ways, i.e., through donations of new and used books to our library, assistance in moving furniture, contributions to the coffee/snack corner, words to encourage and so on. We also thank our supporters who give their time and financial assistance at fund raising events.

Our volunteer library helpers are Brenda Cunningham, Virginia El-Zorkany, Louise Green, Evelyn Eaman, Kirstine Ross, and Alan McLaughlin. Their work is a great benefit in helping to keep our resource library organized. This is much appreciated.

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Prospects will be closed July 3 to July 26.
Daytime hours will begin again on July 27 (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday to Thursday).
Evening hours will begin after the Labour Day weekend.

Have a happy and safe summer!

Canoe Journey by Bev Stal On May 25, 1977, I was preparing to go on a canoe trip. There were five men and one woman. We drove over to the Devon Bridge and brought over all the camping equipment and paddle and canoes. Our destination was from Devon Bridge to Quesnell Bridge. As we left for the destination of Quesnell Bridge there were many things that happened. One thing that happened was we almost lost our food just about in the middle of the river. How that happened was the person in front wasn't sitting properly. The food wasn't properly stored. It wasn't in the proper seat. There were so many beautiful things on the river. The quietness of the river. It is so beautiful.

What is Motherhood?
by Susan A. Ouellette

It's the day you find out, as your heart fills with joy,
and waiting to see if you're a girl or a boy.

It's those long hours of feeding in the middle of the night,
and these strong tender arms to hold you so tight.

It's the teething, the feeding, the worrying and woe,
and make sure that you're happy and healthy as you grow.

It's the first day you go off to school all alone,
and to hear the excitement when you return home.

It's kissing all better, the bruises and bumps,
and nursing you through chicken pox, measles and mumps.

It's helping with problems that sometimes arise,
and watching the happiness and joy in your eyes.

It's hoping and praying I've raised you just right,
and taught you to keep your morals and insight.

It's the sadness I feel when I know you're all grown,
and wishing you well as you leave out on your own.

It's many years later, still feeling warm and good
to realize that you love this thing called . . .

"Motherhood".

Susan Ouellette is a full-time Mom with four children, three girls and a boy, 3 to 11 years of age. Susan has attended two B.O.O.K.S. sessions at the Ben Calf Robe Society offices. She is currently attending a third B.O.O.K.S. program there. "Our family has really enjoyed this program,'' she says. "The only thing is, every time my youngest children see a book they like, they ask me what craft goes with that book!" Susan loves writing poetry and has offered this poem for all the moms on Mother's Day.

My Grandmother by Mohamed Husen I used to visit my Grandmother before I was one and a half years old. My mother's grandmother is nice. She knew how to do cooking, gardening, milking, farming and spinning cotton. She lived in Ethiopia, all on her own. My Great Grandma by Shaun Clarke My great grandmother likes to watch TV at home and she likes to wash her clothes and she likes listening to Trojan Jamaican oldies music and she has over ninety nine hundred big Trojan LPs and little forty five speed Trojan EPs. She has quite a lot of Bob Marley Jamaican Island Records.

It Took My Heart Right Away
By Palmira Baretta

A long time ago we lived at 11536 - 97 Street. That was the first little house we bought in Edmonton. At this time my older son Arthur was about 3 years old and my second son Tilio was about 6 months. In those days, to warm up the milk for the kids, I used to put the milk in a pan full of water.

One night I was in the kids' bedroom changing Tilio's diaper but he was crying so bad because he was hungry. Arthur thought he would do the mommy job. He went to the kitchen to get the milk bottles for his brother. He was reaching for the bottles when the whole pan of boiling water fell on him. The screaming was so painful and loud. It took my heart right away.

I went to the kitchen and I saw my son all burned. At the time I had no car and there was no 911 number. I phoned my sister-in-law Mary. She drove us right away to the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Arthur never stopped screaming for a minute. My heart was crying so bad but there was not a tear was in my eye.

The doctor came and gave a needle to Arthur and stopped the pain. Arthur was in the hospital for three months. He went through a lot of pain. Still today the scar from the burn shows.

Hear the Voices and Sounds
by Karen Klarke

I sit here in my apartment with the kid's father. I hear so many voices. I hear this: the TV, "Mommy, Katelyn is crying", phone ringing, someone knocking at the door, ball bouncing up above my apartment, Katelyn coughing, "Mommy, Stephanie, Daddy can you sharpen this pencil?" "Thank you Daddy. Can I have some chocolate milk?"

Stephanie asking Mom, "Can I have some paper to write some poems? . . . Here Mom, listen to my poem I wrote, Mom." It's better to give than to receive. "Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you. Moms are lovely and very sweet but kids are cool!"

It's night. I hear the sound of the clock &emdash; tick-tock. The door opens and some people walking down the stairs and down the halls.

So if I was somewhere quiet. There is no such place called peace and quiet, because wherever you go there will always be the noises. For me to have peace and quiet would be to sit in the candlelit room, drinking hot tea, listening to the music playing in the background and writing in my book or doing my homework. That's what I call my place only what I can hear. I learned that hearing is not only with your ears but with your mind your thoughts.

Disneyland Adventure by Karen Baum I went to Disneyland with my two friends, Kim Fischer and Cam Petty from Skills Training and Support Services. Our trip started by going to Cam's house Sunday for supper and a sleep-over. We packed everything before we went to bed, so it would only take us one hour to get ready in the morning. We got up at 5 a.m. then Cam's wife and children drove us to the airport. We got there at 6 am to catch our 7:30 shuttle to Calgary. In Calgary we got on a plane to Anaheim, California. When we got to our hotel we walked around Disneyland to find a restaurant for lunch. It took so long that we had to have lunch and supper together. I had steak and it was very good. The next day, it was raining so we went to the mall to do some shopping. The bus tour driver gave me a coupon book and I bought souvenirs at a discount. One of them was a necklace. We had tour buses that would pick us up and take us wherever we wanted to go.

The next day we went to the zoo and by three o'clock Kim got sick with the flu and we had to go home. Wednesday, we went to Disneyland and we went on some rides: Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park. We also went to a couple of plays. One was Beetle Bug and one was a western. It started to rain when we were watching the western. We had to get out our raincoats and umbrellas. Then we went for supper. Thursday I stayed at the hotel. At supper time we went to another hotel that had the Knights of the Round Table. We had to wear crowns of different colors for each team. We had to eat with our hands like in the olden days. The knights had sword fights and we had to cheer for our team colors. They took pictures of us. Friday we went to Universal Studios. We took a tour ride through the studio. We went on one that was like an earthquake and Kim got scared and had to cover her eyes. I got to see all the new things that they had made since I was there last. On Saturday we saw the chipmunks and Jasmin from Aladdin and we took pictures of them too. We did a lot of shopping. I enjoyed everything we did. The only bad thing from the holiday was we all got the flu. Kim was sick all week and I was sick in the evening. We got home Monday at midnight. The plane trip back was three hours and then a half hour wait for the shuttle from Calgary. Cam's wife picked us up and drove us home. We sure had fun on our adventure.

A Wedding in Jamaica
by Enid

On Valentine Day Feb. 14/98 my nephew had his wedding. Myself and some other family members from abroad came out to this wedding. Some of the family stayed at my place and some stayed at my mother's place.

It was quite a day, lots of confusion. Some of the family was not ready at 4 pm. They stay in the house and did not come out and wait for the car. We thought they were at the church already when they weren't. There were only three cars to take the family so it was a problem to get to and from.

While I was at the church I was taking pictures of the people and I tore my dress when I stand to take the pictures from a nail at the back of the church bench. I went and told the pastor what happen and he said it is the work of the devil.

Child Safety in the Home
by Dorothy Loh

When the child is crawling round the house, never leave any cleaners or any medication within reach of small children!

Never let small children play with plastic bags because plastic bags are not toys to play with! They can put plastic bags on their heads and of course they will suffocate themselves. Then they have to be rushed to the hospital by the parents.

Never leave any sharp objects hanging around because children think they are toys to play with. Never give small children small blocks, especially buy Lego to play with, because the blocks are so small that they can swallow them. And never let them play by the oven or the stove because they can get burned and they will suffer with a burn on their arm or their hands.

Never let children play with china or if they drop the cup or plates they will cut themselves very badly. The children should always have a night light or else they will get very scared and they can't go to sleep if all the lights are shut off in the house.

Even you have to watch children when they are playing outside. Make sure they don't hurt themselves or watch the children so they don't play on the road. If you don't then they might get run over by a car. Or you have to watch that the children don't go near the tracks by LRT. They don't know the difference at all.

That's why you have to watch them all the time, so they won't do any thing wrong or play with stereo, electric wires, or the dryer or the washer or else they will get electrocuted.