the winter is past...mostly

My beloved speaks and says to me:
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away."
--Song of Solomon 2:10-13

Oh, how I love spring. It is my favorite time of year. I have memories of previous years where my soul was truly nourished with new birth as the flowers so depict to us during this time of year. Winter is usually a hard time for me as I am one of those people who have a bit of the seasonal blues. This year wasn't so bad, partly because of the greenhouse effect making it a lesser winter for us:( But mostly because I have have had such fun with India over these past several months. Even still, I do liken to the dramatic scene of spring where new life breaks through the hard packed "winter-weary soil" (as written by the midwives).
I thought of my friend Alison who lost her baby last year, and now she is 5 months pregnant. The depths of despair that she was in this time last year brought her to a darkness of the soul and a winters grief that would soon bring her to a place where she could decide to shrivel up in anger and a hope that was broken. But instead she chose life. As the coldness of winter brings the land to an appearance of death, there still lies hope. A dormant seed, and the potential for rebirth. This hope brought new life within Alison.
In the celebration of our Christ's death and resurrection, in the earths shift from sleep mode to vibrancy, in our own souls depths of depression moving towards spiritual growth and wholeness. I celebrate the "sacred process we share with the natural world: tender shoots of green hope push up through the dark earth, bulbs break open and leave their dried up casings behind, and buds awaken." (Midwives)

Can I finally say that my kids resemble me?

For the most part, for the past 8 and a half years, I have heard that my children look just like Chris. Sure, there are the random "she looks like your mom," "she looks like your dad," (don't all babies look like old men anyways?), and even a few people lately have said that Alexa looks like me. So I pulled out the scrapbook my mom compiled for my 30th b-day present. I found a picture of me when I was 8 on Christmas. Then I flipped through my camera and found a picture of the girls this past Christmas with Alexa smiling kinda like me. What's the vote?? Does she still look like Chris, or can I have some credit??







Recently someone asked where India gets her cheeks from. After looking at some old photos, I can clearly take the credit for that. Heck, a co-worker told me the other day that I am cheeky.



So, post your vote and let me know what you think. To all of those non-comment leaving friends of mine...It isn't so hard...Really, I want to know what you think:)

"Stars on Earth"

I saw this amazing movie that I had to share about. It is a Hindi movie, so if you can get past the subtitles (sorry mom), and some funny looking teeth, and oh yes, a clown scene, then I think you will be moved to tears by this one. Maybe it is because I myself have dyslexia, or maybe it is because I have an eight year old who is struggling to learn how to read. But for any of you who work with children, have children or have been through this as a child, I highly recommend this film. It is about an eight year old boy named Ishaan who is severely dyslexic, but he doesn't know it until half way through the film. He struggles with letters, numbers, fine motor skills, following directions, and just about everything that a child in school is expected of. He was usually lost in his imagination and had an amazing ability to materialize that imagination onto paper. He was an artist. He was sent off to boarding school where he just became more angry and lost his faith in life and art. It wasn't until a new art teacher came to his school and noticed him and began to reach out to him, that Ishaan was able to learn in his way and begin to function as a student and flourish as an artist.
I could sympathize with Ishaan at times because of what I went through at that age, though to a lesser extent. And I could sympathize with the mom at times because of what I am going through with Alexa, though also at a much lesser extent. I am so thankful that I was able to go to a highschool for dyslexics and learned how to learn. Our schools do not make adjustments for the kids that learn differently, and it is a constant battle if you have a child that doesn't fit the mold. India (the country) is much worse. I know this because in my friend's orphanage, there are a hand full of kids who are not passing. They are expected to learn at least 3 languages at this age!! Dyslexia is having difficulty with written and/or verbal language, and these kids are expected to learn three!! SO, I am thankful that we are not a society that expects that much from our little ones, but I also know that we have a long way to go in the classroom to accommodate these special children, who are "stars on earth," as the movie says. If I had not had the education offered to me in highschool, there is no way I would be a nurse right now. We need to look at our children as the future (sorry for the cliche). Who is to say that the child you know that is failing school now won't find the cure to cancer in the future or write a book that changes your life. Einstein, Edison, Picasso, Henry Ford, da Vinci, & Ansel Adams are just a few people who had dyslexia and changed out world. I embrace my daughter's creativity, knowing that this is the most precious gift she has. I pray that we can help her to read well and foster who she is as a person so she can live to her greatest potential.
Another great film to see is Martian Child. This is about a child who doesn't fit in for a lot of reasons, but is brilliant. We both cried in this one. And I just love John Cusack.

Tween Talent Show

Alexa was in a talent show last night. She tried out for it last week and was the only one in her class to get in. She was super excited to say the least. Her and her friend Molly made up the movements to go with this popular hannah montana song. After seeing all the other acts last night, I am thankful that my tween has stayed as sweet and innocent as she has. Hang in there for the first 20 seconds or so, I am new to this videoing with a camera thing. I started too soon with the recording.

Quilter Woman God

I have been reading this amazing book over the past several months. It is one of those books you have to read a little at a time. In one of the chapters, the authors depict God as the quilter and our lives as a quilt. I love this analogy so much, partly because I love quilting (though I am not so great at it-I've only done one)and partly because I love thinking of God as a woman putting together the ragged pieces of scrap material to create something beautiful that tells a story. Sometimes I wonder about the purposes of experiences I have had. Sometimes I feel my life is so mundane and boring. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the thought of so many issues in our broken world that I just can not be passionate about all of them. How beautiful that our God takes each of our experiences and sews them together carefully so that each square compliments the other. Here is a wonderful quote from the book:

Indeed, the image of the quilt stands as a compelling metaphor for our own relationship to the whole of creation and how much we need one another on this journey to wholeness. When we listen to each others stories and tell our own, the quilt begins to take shape. The interplay of patterns offers richness and diversity. Gradually, we begin to see our common threads. Perhaps it is when we can stand together and embrace our differences that we will begin to grasp the profound connection that unites all of life. Maybe then we will sense how healing our own lives and relationships has an impact that is far-reaching. In a way that is truly mysterious, we might even begin to notice how our personal healing somehow contributes to the mending of our churches, the Earth, and even the world.

A wonderful friend of mine, Catherine, sent me a gift today that she created. I had shared some of my thoughts with her about this book. I cried when I opened a paper collage quilt square that she made for me. Each piece represents part of me. The hands represent my passion to heal and work for justice in U.S. healhcare. India is in there, my friends belly is in there, and of course philly is in there, and much more. Thank you Catherine. Though you are on the other side of the pond, we are connected like pieces to a quilt.

As Promised...

So, after an hour and a half, the use of various tools, and a half bottle of conditioner, and the loss of a good and faithful comb, we managed to save moriahs hair from a bad haircut. I owe that one to a husband who loves long hair so much that he had the patience to try everything imaginable to get the comb out. It was the fattest dread lock I have ever seen!




Her hair is a bit thinner on the side, but it sure is better than what it could look like. She was trying to curl her hair with a comb. She'll never do that again.

I have to say that I was very impressed by Moriah's patience during the ordeal. She sat quiet the entire time. If it had been Alexa, we may have had to deal with a panic attack at the same time as the comb in the hair. She was so tired by 11pm that she was almost sleeping while I was pulling her hair out! She woke for school the next day with a bit of a headache but wasn't tired at all. Amazing.

a girl of many hats

This winter has gone by so fast and there have been no real snow days. Today I ran in my capris and t-shirt in 61 degree weather!! And I had to cut my dead mums down since my tulips are coming up. Well, I couldn't end the winter without taking pictures of India in all of my favorite hats.
Here is my favorite hat from nepal, but it is a little itchy so we never used it much for any of the girls.

This one is another fave, that aunt hayley gave Moriah. India actually loves this one.

And last, we bought this one at world gifts in wayne, a fair trade store. It is make in bolivia. She says ahh gugh (oskar), everytime I put it on her. I am hoping it will fit her next year.

Here she is with her favorite entertainment, emptying all the drawers of its contents while I am trying to do dishes. Oh the joy of toddlers

I guess it isn't just toddlers. Moriah just came down stairs after we thought she was sleeping for the past hour and a half. She has gotten a comb so matted and stuck in her hair that we may have to cut it out. Chris is pretty frustrated. He got hs tools out! Pictures later...