OUCH! Again

I should not be permitted to handle sharp objects- ever. Particularly those that are knife-like. I tend to cut myself with them and today I did just that. Cutting up a pineapple (*&%*#$%! those things sting like crazy in an open wound!) today I sliced into the side of my thumb all the way to the nail. Fingers have a lot of nerves in them, it hurt so much- still does. And I am a cry baby. I wonder if this needs switches? Sometimes I find it very strange that I could sing and dance in high heels at the same time but I can't use a knife without cutting myself. Seriously! Something's wrong with that picture.

On the Web again... I just can't wait 'till I'm on the Web again...

The past week and a half have been freakin' nuts. I have to formally apologize to all of you that have felt neglected and ignored because of my lack of responsiveness to e-mails or blog comments. We just got web access today after a week and a half without! For someone that prefers e-mail to the phone (and, until very recently didn't even have a cell phone) to go a week without e-mail is a major crisis. To make it worse, all of my contact information is kept in an online address book. Yikes! I am seriously addicted to the web.

So I'm dying to post pictures of the new house, the girls, and other such exciting images but that's just not going to happen right now! More to come soon and when it does, I'll let you know... I suspect it will be around Halloween picture time.

Later!

The Stinky Move Continues...

We're about 90% moved, exhausted, wet (thanks to the TON of rain yesterday and today), I (Jessica) have lost my voice, Jeremy's sore, and we have one very dirty house and another house that has boxes and furniture everywhere. Can't wait till this is over!

Moving Stinks

I'm not ready for tomorrow, there's just stuff everywhere. Moving should be a full time job and it always takes longer than I think it will. Moving Stinks. At least we have good friends coming to help. That should be fun.

If you don't get the e-mail announcement this weekend saying we've moved and our changing contact information (even our phone is changing, we are moving 4 miles, how is that possible?) e-mail me to let me know and if you are someone we know (read: not a strange web stalker) I'll send it to you.

Have a great weekend, I know I will...

Rag Curls

Remember the Little House on the Prairie TV show with Michael Landon? I watched that every chance I had as a kid (and was one of the few shows I was allowed to watch, that and old Star Trek episodes). If you were as into the show as I was then you probably remember how Nelly (Laura's nemesis) often had her hair in rag curls. Well, we used the old rag trick to give the girls each a head full of ringlets for the wedding. We had a few practice runs before the wedding and the picture above is from one of those tries. For Lavinia and Helena we discovered we had to use a lot of product to get the curl to hold so we used setting lotion the for the wedding and the curls lasted for days! They were beautiful curls but I just loved how cute they were with the rags too! As soon as we have pictures from the wedding I'll post them here for you to see how the curls turned out.

Playtime

I came across this article today, share it with the parents with young children in your lives and then see when you can pencil in some free play time for yourself.

Doctors Urge More Play Time For Children

Numerous studies have shown that unstructured play has many benefits. It can help children become creative, discover their own passions, develop problem-solving skills, relate to others and adjust to school settings, the academy report says.

"Perhaps above all, play is a simple joy that is a cherished part of childhood," says the report, prepared by two academy committees for release Monday at the group's annual meeting in Atlanta.

A lack of spontaneous playtime can create stress for children and parents alike. If it occurs because young children are plopped in front of get-smart videos or older children lose school recess time, it can increase risks for obesity. It may even contribute to depression for many children, the report says.

Go here to see the rest of this article.

You know what makes me angry?

Sexual abuse. All of the nasty, ugly and evil forms of sexual abuse. It pisses me off and it makes me want to swear and hurt somebody... namely the one doing the abuse.

In preparing to move I looked up the sex offenders in our new neighborhood on the Family Watchdog registry list (thanks to Kendra Glazer for passing this link on) and though I know that statistics and I've looked before I can't help be shocked at the number that pops up. Looking at all the dots on the map I can feel my anger growing. This time I was struck by the number of red dots on the map indicating that the offender's crime was against a child. There is more red than any other color and there is a LOT of red.

But I know that's not all of it. There's a lot missing from that map, offenders that have moved and didn't report, offenders that were never caught, and offenders that are under the age of 18. All of those people are there too but won't show up on any map with a color coded dot to inform parents and others of the potential and proven danger in their neighborhood. I don't know what solution there is to this problem but I do know that with or without little dots to tell you where these people are that we need to be educating ourselves and our children about the danger of sexual abuse because it's real. And it's not enough just to talk about it as the possible threat to them but also understanding how they could be a threat to others if they don't have respect for other people- the truth is any of us could also be the perpetrator, not just the victim. We don't want any more victims or perpetrators.

It's been two years since we learned of the girl's abuse and though dealing with it has gotten a little easier with time, education and therapy it won't ever just go away, it just won't be as close to the front of our hearts and minds. Healing has been a process and education and awareness have been important steps on that journey.

But it still makes me angry.

Stuff

My goodness we have a LOT of stuff. We've lived here for almost 4 years now and I remember when we moved it seemed as though we had a lot of stuff even after selling most of our furniture in Illinois but when we got into this house it felt very empty. I guess in four years you can accumulate a lot more stuff again. I see a garage sale in our future!

Sad Accordions

Ecclesia friend, Seth Woods is coming back to Taft Street Arts Center with the Sad Accorions, Sunday, October 15th at 7.30 pm. Get your tickets ASAP so you're not left out Sunday evening like so many were for the Derek Webb concert! Be sure to check out the Sad Accordions MySpace, you won't regret it!

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

Have you ever noticed the rest of the lyrics to that Queen song? It's kind of a cross between "Bicycle Built for Two" and Gershwin's "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" but on drugs. "You say bark I say bite... You say Lord I say Christ... You say coke I say caine... You say smile I say cheese," yeah, a little bit high. But I love the chorus and I was singing it today!

Jeremy and I both got bikes this morning! Not exactly high quality, though I believe they may kind of have been once but they work (need some work too), were very cheap (yay church rummage sales!) and have already provided tons of fun. The bikes are kind of old fashioned: one looks like a beach cruiser, one speed and the other is similar but with thinner tires and three speeds. Today we have ridden primarily up and down our street enjoying the beautiful weather (yes, I did say beautiful weather and yes, we're still in Houston) in between our other various activities though we did venture off our street late this afternoon for a ride into our neighborhood. It was great! All of us getting out together on our bikes and working together to confront Lavinia's fears of starting and stopping without training wheels. It was a blast and with the weather cooling off (all the way down into the 80's- WOW!) we are going to enjoy many more bike rides.

New School

Ophelia is in a new school, 40 mi. away from home. I don't mind the drive and am grateful for the carpool opportunities! I figured I'd get that out of the way before I explain why.

Second grade started for Ophelia with the usual back-to-school excitement, looking forward to a new teacher, seeing old friends, making new friends, thrilling classes, fascinating field trips, etc. She loved going back to school and her enthusiasm was contagious. We met the new teacher who seemed friendly though a bit overwhelmed perhaps as a first year teacher, scoped out the new class room, check the student roster for her class and thought we were prepared. The new outfit and supplies were in order and the first day of school came and we took two little girls to elementary school for the first time and Ophelia introduced beginning Kindergartener Lavinia to her school. The first three days of school were simply wonderful. We thought Lavinia might have some adjusting to do but she fell into the school rhythm quickly and we settled in for smooth sailing in the new school year.

Three days into the second week of school I began to have my doubts but not for Lavinia, for Ophelia. They were little things at first that we thought would get better as the year progressed: Homework came home and was... boring and WAY too much. Spelling words seemed random and they took a test on Monday without even finding out what the rule for the week was. Red ink showed up on homework. The teacher seemed stressed all the time and didn't smile or great students when they came in.

Then it got worse: Number grades showed up. A strange grading system (actually, three different systems including numbers, checks/x's and letters) that was explained but didn't make sense. Homework was only worksheets- ugly and boring ones at that (I could only describe them as "ridiculous" and "stupid"). The Friday folder contained a large stack of worksheets that were done during class = 5/day. Ophelia would ask to stay home from school "just today." The school's e-mail system blocked my e-mails and the teacher and I couldn't seem to find a time to conference. Ophelia began to intentionally miss words on the easy spelling list so she wouldn't have to take the hard one for fear of a lower grade (never mind that she was getting high grades already). Homework became a fight and Ophelia didn't want to read, draw, or do anything but be away from people when she got home. She didn't want to tell us about her day.

And then, it got even worse: A few nights the homework took two hours (or nearly). Ophelia would cry saying she hated school. There was a test that Ophelia didn't feel prepared for and stressed about for days to the point of tears and not wanting to eat. I made the executive decision one night that Ophelia didn't have to do all of the homework (in second grade it doesn't count as part of the grade) and sent a note explaining why and what we did instead- when we met Ophelia at the bus she was in tears because that morning she had to walk to the front of the class and put her name on the board for not turning in all of her homework. Still couldn't get a meeting with the teacher. I sent in a letter explaining why we wouldn't be doing the homework sent home most of the time but that we would create our own "homework" that would be creative and engaging, we got no response. Ophelia begged us not to send her to school.

I was furious. Four weeks into school we had a child that had loved school and now suddenly hated it. We felt we had to do something. When the teacher became ill and was in the hospital for a week (not her fault and we're so glad she's better) and I still couldn't get a meeting with her we started to look for other options. Some of the issues we encountered, such as homework, were the same for the entire grade (and the whole school for that matter), others the entire district and few were just our class. We began looking for magnet/charter school options but struggled in finding something that we felt comfortable with. Then we began looking to move into another district and magnet school opportunities there. We couldn't find a home zoned for the all Montessori school we wanted in HISD and we were just praying that God work something out. For the first time we seriously talked about homeschooling. Ophelia got sick and we had to keep her home for a few days, homeschooling seemed to work but Ophelia needed to be with other children more and Jeremy and I had to admit we still aren't homeschool parent material. There didn't seem to be many options.

I had asked a friend at church about the school their children attended and began to more research on the pedagogy there. After a few conversations we were invited to visit the school and told there may be a full scholarship for a little girl in second grade. So Ophelia and I went to the school to visit. By recess that morning Ophelia found me to tell me that she loved it and wanted to stay. The second day was even better. She was offered a full scholarship effective immediately. Watching Ophelia in this new environment it felt like she had found her educational home. Surrounded by art (used as a tool to teach every subject), a gentle rhythm to the day, plenty of time outdoors (lunch is eaten outside, many subjects are experienced outside, an long recess time, and nature walks) , other languages (they study Spanish and German), a nurturing atmosphere, singing and music every day, hands on learning, and beauty Ophelia quickly was her old self again. She couldn't wait to go to school, excitedly shares her day with us, paints and draws again, engages her sisters, brings neat things home (Monday it was persimmons, Tuesday it was cracked geo-rocks with crystals inside), learned to finger knit, can tell you all about worms and how they make compost after making a worm column, makes up math games on her own, reads everything in sight, sings her math facts while jumping rope and approaches learning with wonder and mystery in every moment of every day. This school rarely has homework for second grade but Ophelia enjoys learning and sharing what she's learned every day after school- the best homework a kid could have.

The Harvest (the new school) is a Waldorf school which has challenged us in many ways including how we view education (they teach reading much later that traditional education), extreme views on children's exposure to media (we agree with but it's easy to get lazy), healthy living and reminded us of our responsibility in guiding our children's faith. Waldorf education isn't based in any one religion but does believe that we are spiritual beings and encourages this in the children. They recognize and celebrate several different religious holidays including those outside of the Judeo-Christian calendar. Teachers are not responsible for teaching faith though there are discussion as to what different groups believe and time is given to learning about different cultures and belief systems.

The school's tag line is: "Because education is a journey, not a race." We love that and taking the race attitude out of Ophelia's education experience has restored her joy of learning. This is an answer to prayer and a huge blessing. We believe that some competition is healthy but too much too soon can kill a child's learning spirit.

This is a long post, I know. If you'd like to know more about Waldorf education, google "Waldorf school" or "Waldorf education" or e-mail me. The school's website is under construction right now but as soon as that is up I'll link to it. We are looking at how we can get the other two into this school and are praying for God to open doors.

I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!

Yes, I know I'm an adult and it makes no sense for me to believe in little winged folk that care for nature and have magical powers, it's just plain silly. Yet, I do. Not exactly in the literal sense of little winged people that grant wishes, help you fly with their dust (really, that thought is just plain strange... dust from a person no matter how small is gross, not magical but whatever...), or fall over dead if you say you don't believe in them. Still, don't say it, just in case. I believe in the fairies of a child's imagination, fairies that teach children about nature, to walk carefully and to tend gardens, fairies that encourage children to dance with abandon, to respect persons big and small and to believe in things you can't see, fairies that give children the magical properties of story and imagination and yes, even flight. I do believe in fairies. And so do the girls. So we built a fairy house in our front flower bed at the base of the crepe (is it "crepe" or "crate?") myrtle that is still spreading tiny soft pink blossoms all over our green lawn making it feel just like... Magic.

Enjoy the pictures and consider building a house for your fairy friends.

The Fairy House and Garden

Bushels of Candy

It's fall, or so says the calendar, shops, and everything inside me. I think every year about this time I make some kind of warm, fuzzy and some-what pseudo spiritual nostalgic post about fall and then complain about how in Houston it doesn't feel like fall because it's so darn hot. This year isn't about to be an exception.

It is in fact fall though I'm really only sure of this because of the fake fall leaves, witches, ghosts, and bales of hay in every store not to mention bushels of candy. I always find it interesting that stores put their Halloween candy out in the bushel baskets but the apples are in plastic bags. Anyway, it is hot but we are in Houston so I can't act surprised that we're into October and still melting with temperatures in the 90's and humidity at 80%. But that's ok. No, I'm not getting used to the heat (I know I'm from Florida but even growing up something inside me knew it was supposed to get cool in the fall!) I've just started to accept that this is the way it is and there's no point in bemoaning the heat.

So now to the warm and fuzzy part: fall is a time for change, for introspection and yet global awareness, for celebrating the fuits of the earth, sharing with others and preparing for winter. This past week in school Ophelia learned about St. George and the Dragon and how overcoming the dragons (or fears) within us gives us strength to help others...Oh forget it. While those things are true and good and I'm sure a whole bunch of other great thoughts apply I can't get warm and fuzzy when it's hot and humid. So here are my fall update bullet points.

Coming changes:

• We're moving! We're out of here and into the new house on the 14th. The new house has a large front and back yard, on a cul-de-sac, and more rooms. I'll post pics once we move.
• Ophelia's changed schools! This one deserves it's own post and I have one coming.
• We're going back to teaching full-time and Jeremy's a contract tutor for a company that helps international families relocate- he's teaching French.
• Jeremy's working his way out of the coffee shop, has learned everything he feels he can there and is teaching full time. Only so many hours in a day.

Recent adventures (Big and Small):

• All 5 of us were in Anna-Lynn (Jeremy's lil' sis for those of you that don't know) and Jason's wedding on the 23rd of September- it was beautiful and deserves it's own post as well when we have pictures to share.
• Traveling to CA for the wedding- what a nightmare! And not just because we were traveling with three young children (they were the easy part!) but because we felt we were in a C movie: "Planes, Hotels, Concerts and Automobiles."
• Broken water pipe in the ceiling/wall while we were out of town= flooded dining room.
• School- always an adventure sometimes in a positive way and other times... not-so-positive.
• Derek Webb concert so sold out we actually sold seats again after the concert started and still had to turn many people away- first wildly successful concert I've run.
• Strange sickness for Ophelia who is doing MUCH better now.

Maybe I'll get around to an introverted fall post later- when I get a chance to slow down and be introspective which happens a lot during the long car drive to and from Ophelia's school, when I'm' working in the garden, or writing music but these days I'd rather do those things in between packing, cleaning, fundraising, work and all that other stuff than to sit down with the computer. Sorry. It's not you, it's me. But maybe soon, soon I'll get back to writing.

For those of you living where leaves change, send me a picture! I am seriously missing Lincoln Park right now and could use some fall colors in my life. Happy Fall!

Jessica