Sorry to hear about your brother being ill, with all the well wishes / prayers from family, friends and the Clan of the Lair Bear he will be hale and hearty soon. The more you reveal about yourself places me almost in awe and complete admiration. The oldest of souls.

so sorry to hear about your brother hon :( healing vibes go out to him:D I thank you as have many of the others for sharing such a beautiful part of your life may this give you much peace and happiness :D

Hope your brother is doing better! It's so scary the way a person can get seriously ill in no time!

I loved reading about your finding out your identity! My sister-in-law is 25% native American and I always love hearing the stories about Nature and spirits and the relationship to the land, which, quite frankly, most of us seem to have lost....

What an interesting tale about your heritage, thank you for sharing. Your brother is in my thoughts, as are you, and I am sure all will be fine.

MikaNaak Kwe what an awesome thing to share with us. I am so happy for you that things make more sense and fit together now. Curious what does Button up your house mean? Also what is smudging? I have the teensiest bit of cherokee in my blood. (probably in my little finger..lol) When I lived in Illinois, my friend and I would always go to pow wows. They were so much fun. I loved watching all the indians and the traditions they follow. We would always join in on the dancing and celebrating and I would always leave at the end of the day feeling closer to the earth and sky if that makes sense. Sincerely hoping you get more insight down the line. What an awesome feeling!

I am sending prayers for your brother that he will heal quickly and you will be with him soon again. Love ya!

, I hope your brother makes a very quick recovery so he can be back to his usual self and spending time with you. I'm happy for you that you found out about who you are. I found it very interesting to read about, so thank you so much for sharing it with us. I didn't know much about it before, but it is fascinating.

Prayers being sent up for your brother hon. It's always a blessing to find out who you are! So glad you were able to get some closure on that. ❤

How to start? Your brother, your anchor, your heart...prayers for him and his family. prayers for you to be strong and hold up those that need you.

Your heritage! It is wonderful! I am so proud to call you friend, sister in the lairbear clan. Hearing your story and being in your clan here help me not to feel so lost and in limbo without my mother who was my anchor. We always thought we had Native heritage but when all the i's were dotted and t's were crossed, alas, it wasn't so. I still feel it in my heart but maybe that is because so many I love in life are Native. I am so happy for you.

XOXOX ❤

Not much I can add to the conversation as I have no idea what you're going through. All I can offer is: hugs. Hugs help most times. Also sending prayers for your brother.

Thank's y'all and guess what?!!? My brother decided to share for once in his life and gave that crap to ME! What'd I ever do?! LOL! Seriously tho, my head is killing me, I had to do a neb treatment for the first time in months and tomorrow I'll have to go to the clinic to get tamiflu before it gets too far. I thought I was free and clear but noooooooo, these aches the coughing that causes tightness in your chest came outta nowhere and I feel awful x.x

Please keep that energy flowing for my brother, ya'll. I was talking to him on the phone when the doctor stopped in his room. Of course he asked to come home and we both learned that he was almost intubated. They were taking him to the OR when he caught his breath and came back around. I knew he was sick but I had no idea how sick he was until I heard the doc say they could have lost him. I still can't quite wrap my head around that one. Nor do I want to. He's alive and if I could clear my head that's what I would focus on.

The Art of Smudging

ciebreeze tammy That's a good way to describe smudging ^

Tammy, Marianne Beach I read somewhere that native blood, no matter how thinly spun shines like the sun to be recognized by all nations. If you feel it, you are. Remember, many people hid the fact that they were "filthy drunken injuns" as to avoid being social outcasts for decades.

Buttoning up the house in this case means finish hanging sheetrock. We're trying to renovate the house (it was built in the 1800s and needs some serious tlc) but it's not going as planned. After getting the entire house fully insulated and plasticed over, we need to hang sheetrock then on to mudding and taping.

I wanted to go room by room to avoid a mass of chaos that comes with too many irons in the fire but the guys didn't listen.. and now I've got part of this wall up, half of that one, a few more sheets hung as an afterthought in the hallway and no one seems to have remembered the upstairs needs some too.. LOL! When all the walls have been covered by sheetrock it'll be all buttoned up. ^^

brenda I checked into the dna thing but that's way too expensive for me. I'll keep learning as I go and accept what I feel in my heart as fact <3

GreenRowan Ya'll didn't make a trip to Minnesota this weekend did youuuu? I had to giggle when I read that because in his vision Bill found himself sitting on a log at the river, watching as a little painted turtle made it's way up on shore. The skys darkened, the thunderbeings began to rumble but the storm overhead did not get more intense, quite the opposite in fact. After a few minutes of threatening to rain, the clouds began to disperse as another turtle came up on shore. And another. And another. Dozens of them. Snapping turtles, sand turtles, painted turtles, every turtle you can imagine.

He said people change as they walk their path in life. What he saw told him that my time of being one with the storm was coming to a crossroads and now I choose a new path. He said the responsibility of being a turtle comes with great power and great reward but it's up to me which path I choose to walk.

I don't quite understand everything he said but it'll come to me.

silverlunarfox bcsam Anyone else who touched on this - Not knowing ate at me from the day I realized she wasn't being honest about things. It made me crazy at times but I know this is who I am, where I'm from. I can feel it.

EurusFaeriewillow I hope so, Eurus. I cant risk getting really sick too, we'll never get this house finished if at least one of us can't work on it.

Thank you again for joining me in this journey. And now Im going to neb, take a tylenol and go to bed. You wait till I talk to him in the morning, "Gee, thanks bro, you could have kept this part of whats going on to yourself ya know xD

Thank God your brother is where his being watched over by medical staff. Plz if you feel really bad, and cant think or function good get to a dr. I get sick, and dont have common sense.

Always having dearly loved friends, besides you, who are Native American, here is an interesting tale from my life. I'm a music minor in Orff-Kodaly music, which is based on the fact that pentatonic tones are always harmonious, so kids (and anyone) can play an Orff instrument, not matter what the assortment of folks or their skill, and it will sound good. When we were in Arizona for a while because of hub's design job, I ended up teaching that music for a brief time to kids on the Hopi reservation, to help them succeed in school. (Great job the state did with the Hopi--right in the middle of the Navajo Nation, which is a mixed bag, to say the least.)

Anyhow, my efforts were appreciated, and I am unofficially a "member" of the "Fourth World." I say unofficially because to my knowledge I am not even a tiny shred Native American. However, I am very Celtic, so at least that's tribal. :D

After that, I taught Computer Camp for the Native Americans for my school district for years. A lot of folks there couldn't believe hubby and I weren't part of some tribe, which always makes me sad that they thought no one else would care. :( It seems so strange to me that people don't enrich their lives by living in this wonderful multi-ethnic world, but hey, their loss, ya know.

I'm so glad your brother is hanging in, and NO, you may NOT be sick. You didn't get permission for that!! Take care, and hugs, hugs, hugs!

Love carries a long way and never ends.

Yikes! Sorry to hear your brother shared his illness with you :(. I'll keep both of you in my thoughts! Feel better!

I loved your post - so informative! I don't know if I have any trace of native blood, considering I was born in The Netherlands and my relatives were all from there, as well as Germany and Poland, but I identify more with spirituality based on Nature. I've sometimes been in places where I feel some sort of benevolent spirit, most recently in Snow Canyon State Park in Utah. I later found out on a hike that many years ago the Anasazi were there and I saw some petroglyphs they left behind...

you better take it easy sweet, not good getting ill, family love to share bugs and all that,

I loved reading about smudging thank you for sharing, I have always loved reading about the culture of native americans,

- glad your brother is on the mend...now for you too to get better. Very exciting news about what you learned Laurie. You are a wonderful writer and I would buy your book in a heart beat...so write it already :)

Also exciting about the work on your house! Will it help to stay warmer in the winter?

Big hugs ❤

sending good thought to you as well as to your brother hugs

your brother just can't please you, lol! Hope you both feel better soon... ❤

: I hope that your brother is doing better now.

Isn't it good to know about your past as well? Chokeree huh...