giving thanks for my life, physical work, and lovely weather

Sat., Jan 7:  I give thanks for my life.  We went to a memorial service for a friend who chose to leave this world at the young age of 28.  The outpouring of love for this person was tremendous, and he left behind a family and huge crew of friends who will miss his presence so very much.  Life is such a gift, to be treasured, and though the road can be insufferable at times, we must always remember that others suffer too, that no matter how great our suffering, someone has it worse, and that 'this too shall pass'.  Count your blessings, and keep moving forward.

me & my sweeties in our backyard.  what you see is only a small fraction of the wood around here.  good exercise.  :) 

Sun., Jan 8:  I give thanks for physical work and a healthy body.  I stacked a ton of wood on the front porch today (all of which my darling husband first cut and stacked at the back and side of the house) - which was a good thing apparently, since we got snow yesterday.  I love work like this; it can be very meditative for me.  I am so happy to have a body that works well, with no major aches and pains, in cooperation with my mind and spirit.  During my last pregnancy I was so incredibly sore for a good number of months that I really understood how difficult it must be to live with chronic pain that never goes away.  At least I knew, or hoped, that mine would subside once this lovely little being finally emerged into the world.  I cannot imagine suffering like that with no end in sight.  I will offer the insight, however, that meditation helped me tremendously with the pain, on the days I had the wherewithal to make myself sit mindfully still for at least ten minutes. 

Mon., Jan 9:  I give thanks for the weather!  The snow was lovely, and it's nice to have a change of seasons, change of scenery, change of ambience, and yes, even a change of temperature.  It's so silly when we complain about the weather, and some people always seem to want it to be something other than what it is.  I love it all.  True, I'm a bit wimpy about the cold in wintertime, however, I have my awesome wood stove and that makes it so much more enjoyable.  I love keeping the fire burnin'.

giving thanks for networks

Jan 5:  I give thanks for my awesome homeschool tribe.  We went to the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum in Winchester for the day with some of our posse, and everyone had such a great time.  If you've never been there, well worth the trip.  Similar to the way DC Children's Museum was set up for those of you who grew up in the area, except way smaller.  Totally awesome.  We wrapped it up at a yummy Thai restaurant there on the pedestrian mall a few doors down, and then stopped by a coffee shop a couple more doors down to refuel for the ride home while the kids ran around outside a bit longer.



These mommas and their kids (shout out to Kristen, Melanie, and Stephanie) are such a vibrant part of our network, and I'm so thankful for our freedom to explore and learn in a natural & fun way. 

Jan 6:  I give thanks for Facebook.  Yes, it's true.  Such a great centralized wealth of information, a great virtual community, a great voice for those who want to share their thoughts with any segment of 'their' public, whether mundane or profound, a great place to network, and of course, a great place to reconnect.

What are you thankful for?

last week: learning & playing

     Life feels so full right now, not in a rushed, frenetic, stressful way, but in a fulfilling, energizing, refreshing, and inspiring way.... I'm totally loving it.  Last was a good week, and last Monday seems like such a long time ago.  I thought I'd share a recap (which I'll do here from time to time, partly for myself, because sometimes I wonder, where did the time go?)
     Most days we begin with our morning routine of waking (well, waking for the kids - I'm up from the ripe hour of 4:45 AM with Atom!), teeth, face, make bed, get dressed, have breakfast, & do some work (not Phoenix of course).  All this happens in a fairly stress-less leisurely manner unless we have some place to be first thing in the morning (meaning by 9:30, 10, or even 10:30).  Then I usually have to find myself saying to Adobe a whole bunch of times, "Come on, we gotta get into hustle mode!  Move along or we won't make it to x, y or z."  And I try to stay calm, and not yell :)  (That's where the meditation comes in handy remember?  Being present and aware of how I say something.  The same exact thing said with a genuine smile sounds so different.)  Typically, morning routine goes from around 8:15-10:30/11, but there's a flex & flow to it, just the way I like.  And my girl is definitely a night-owl and late riser by nature, just like her momma.
     So then, after all or most parts of the morning routine, last week went like this:

Monday - Morning play outside in backyard clubhouse.  It was totally gorgeous out, so Adobe took a bunch of stuff out into the grape arbor and made a really cute club house, and she and Phoenix played outside for awhile.  Then, I called Jeneen to see what they were up to, and we decided to go join her, Stash, Haiku, Rilke, & Amelie at River Farm Garden Park in Alexandria.  

What an absolutely beautiful spot.  The kids had a real blast, making house, picking flowers, exploring, and frolicking barefoot.  Amelie's mom Danielle joined us, and we had great talks.  We stayed for about four hours.   

Tuesday - We went to the homeschool drama club performance of The Crazy Zoo.  This class is led by the fabulous Joshua Rich who creates a new play each session for the group based on the characters they want to play.   Joshua also happens to be a fabulous pianist (sounds a bit like George Winston) so if you're looking for some new good, soothing music, check him out.  Afterwards we went to Hayes Park where the kids all played for about 3 hours.  Phoenix absolutely loves chasing after all the big kids, trying to keep up, alternating between boys and girls.  The whole time at the park, he was off doing his own thing, alone, or with the other kids, and only asked for me once, to help him get on the swing.  Then, on the way home we had a fabulous curb find of two playskool cars and a trike to add to our collection of kiddie vehicles. 

Wednesday - In the morning, we went to a class at Hidden Pond Nature Center.  The kids got to drag the borders of the pond with nets and see what living creatures they could find.  

My first find was a dead turtle :(  But, I got to bring him home so I can dry him out (aka let him rot) and do something cool with the shells.)  We also found freshwater shrimp, a backswimmer, and a damselfly larvae.  Here I learned something new. The damselfly is very similar to a dragonfly, but their bodies are much thinner, and usually when they're at rest, their wings are folded back whereas dragonflys' are out to the sides.) 

     Others found a live turtle, a couple small fish, and other cool stuff.  The guide had containers at pond side to hold the critters, and then, we went back inside the main building where he identified each species, put stuff under the microscope and had a cool setup with a camera looking into the microscope that showed the image on a screen we could all see.  It was very high quality & crystal-clear image.  Super cool.  Then, we played at the playground there for a while, snacked on our lunch, came home to defuse for a few, and then Adobe went to her voice lesson with our friend Kisha, wife of Groovy Nate.  Kisha is helping Adobe prepare a song for her upcoming Talent Show party.

Thursday - We met up at Melanie's house with the families we are doing our collaborative vibe with.  The mommas talked, the kids played.  A good time was had by all. We solidified a little more what our collective will be looking like as we get it going to the point of rotation so that 2 or 3 of us are 'off' during that time.  For the next couple more weeks, we will all be together.  It is so awesome to see the kids of differing ages all playing together, not segregating themselves.  Phoenix, who is the youngest, was going between hanging with the 'big boys' (a 4-yo & two 9-yos), and being babied by the girls (who are turning 6 and 8, on the same day, two Fridays from now!)

Friday - We took a workshop on the Chinese Lunar New Year, offered by Stacy Clark.  That was fun.  She read a story about the Chinese Lunar Year, meanings & symbols, the kids got to make a few different crafts and sample traditional Chinese New Year foods - dumplings and tangerines.  Then, we ran a few errands, and went to Chuck E. Cheese for an hour.  We were supposed to meet up with a couple of friends, but that fell through, so we came home and chilled out for the rest of the day.

Saturday - Adobe had the last class of a drama class she's been taking through Encore Stage.  They did a portion of the Wizard of Oz, and Adobe was the wicked witch.  They had a performance for parents at the end of class.  (I'll have to get pics from our friend - I was shooting video & will share when I get it uploaded.) Afterwards, her friend Katy came over and they hung out, Phoenix slept, Atom was running errands, & I had some alone time for a bit... (That's when I began working on this post, but didn't get to finish... Domestic duties were calling me.)  In the evening, we went to our friends' house in Mt. Rainier - Sara & Domingo.  Great conversation, lovely raw food dinner, yerba maté, fun, & laughter.  And some healing energy. 

Sunday - I spent the day doing a Reiki I, II, & III Master/Teacher workshop.  Very exciting to tap into something I have felt instinctively and begin down this path.  More on that in another post sometime... Adobe had a double-birthday party to go to, and Phoenix and Daddy got some bonding time. 

      I look forward to the day when we can figure out a way for Daddy to have more freedom in his life too.  He has a grueling job as a union welder, working 6 am to 2:30, or 4:30 when they're pulling tens.  Sometimes even longer.  Playing with fire and moving and lifting lots of really heavy stuff, while being really cold about half the year.  I know it's hard to go bust his tail all day every day when we're having fun.  Hopefully as I get my business going more over the next couple years, we'll have more stability and find a different way for him to make a living, hopefully being his own boss.  In the meantime, I think a new job will come his way this year that is not going to be as hard on him.  I'm willing it to happen.

     Atom, I love you, and we really appreciate all the hard work you do, even if we're not always good at showing it; we know that as it stands right now, we owe a large part of our freedom to your hard work & self discipline!  Thank you!!!

today was a good day

Beautiful Adobe woke up wart-free this morning.  Our beautiful girl developed a wart on her chin some months ago.  First it appeared as a tiny little bump, and then it grew, and grew, and grew.  Atom teased her that she got it from being mean to her parents.  She was very self-conscious about it.  So, last night Atom proved his skills as family surgeon.  He very carefully cut it off with an Exacto blade.  Yes.  I know it sounds crazy, but it barely hurt her at all, and it seems to have worked like a charm.  So that was great, because it made her so happy that it was gone.
   I've been in a bit of a funk recently - I think partly that the suffering of the world has been weighing heavily on my heart.  But today was a pretty good day.  Trying to stay in the moment helps me so much.  Phoenix and I went to visit with our mama friend Jeneen and our two smaller friends Haiku & Rilke.  It was kind of a surreal morning somehow.  We haven't seen them in over a year, and it was very grounding.  On the way there, I was listening to WPFW & they happened to have a show which was addressing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  Atom & I have been talking about that recently, & I've realized that I know very little about what is at the heart of the conflict.  So I turn on the radio, & there was a program that helped make the whole picture a bit clearer to me.  Then, I was very moved by something the hostess said at the end of the broadcast, which is that the people have Haiti have paid a great sacrifice - the souls who gave their lives in this catastrophe have brought people together, united the human family in compassionate acts to help our fellow brothers and sisters, whether we send them food, money, doctors, or our love & prayers.  And that is exactly what humanity needs right now, solidarity, compassion, empathy, love, and peace and justice, which are much harder to obtain.
   So I really appreciated what she had to say, & then we had a wonderful morning with the munchkins, playing at their house, snacking, chatting, strolling, & exploring down by the creek... For a little while, it was raining little ice balls & then started to snow, big fat wet clusters gently floating down through the sky.  Wish I'd gotten a picture dangit!  It was captivating.     
   Then we had some lunch together, Phoenix and I came home (he was screaming & crying - he did not want to leave, but passed out within 5 minutes of being in the car), I did some work, picked up Adobe from the bus stop, invited one of Adobe's newer best friends Katy over, all went for a treat at the local coffee shop.... Then we came back here, the kids got to play, Atom & I hung out in the studio for a long while diggin' deep in conversation while he tidied up & worked on a xylophone he's making from wrenches, ordered some Thai food, and little Miss Adobe got to have Katy spend the night.
  Yeah.  It was a good day.  And now, I'm exhausted.  Time to fold up.