Friday, September 30, 2011

Dangerous Items

One may encounter these items anywhere in the world, perhaps.  Be careful or as we say here, 'hati hati' as they are rather dangerous, I am learning.  Even from Bali, some of these zingers are coming across the internet from the USA so we cannot be exempt because of location alone.  Here is my Top Ten Dangerous Items that either my family or I have encountered in the past two weeks. 

1. Dull knives

2. Shoes without traction on fine gravel on a road

3. Skipping the homeopathic Diarrhea for two days b/c no one's gotten sick.

4. Three day old bread (I actually scratched my finger on it!)

5. Gossip and "she said you said...".

6. High blood pressure immediately post partum.

7. Letting newly born babies cry when they need to nurse.

8. Pride

9. Forgetting to lather on Moondance's Bug Repellent Lotion.

10. Not wearing one's listening ears.

We're working on what we have some level of control over as individuals and as a family.  Learning as we go and helping as we are able.  Remembering.  Being grateful.   

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Etsy Indonesia

From beautiful beads to belly dancing costumes, Etsy Indonesia has one's essentials in waiting.  Honestly, I am a huge Etsy fan so naturally, I thought to browse by country tonight when stuck half-awake. 

Here are a few of my faves:

from Mamadini's shop


African Beauties from Smile Stars






from Ikat & Batik
from Ikat & Batik
for a monkey lover i know from Digital Chic Parties

from Kamalika

from KainKain
from 3littlemice
This is my favorite for someone's upcoming birthday!  from Cheeky Monkeys Bali

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Thankful for

* learning opportunities

*yummy lunches with stretching conversations

*a new friends' new pregnancy

*settling in

*guides along the way

*email and keeping in touch

*fellow bloggers sharing their lives

*Robin Lim & our clinic winning $50,000 this week

*the library and the services they offer (dance classes for the gals, language classes for me, lending books, comfy space to read and Waldorf homeschooling materials!!!)

*walking and riding my bike

*Moondance Soap bug repellant in lotion and spray and soap

*healthy tummies so far & homeopathic remedies to keep them that way

*the most amazing husband in the universe (sorry to let you all know this but he really is)

*my family all hand washing and hanging our laundry while i am at work

*seeing the clinic in new and different ways after almost 5 years of looking

*healthy growing babes both inside and out

*Skyping with my mom and his mom

*cherishing our dear friends back in NC

*already planning E's birthday

*celebrating Ibu Duah's birthday

*a playground for the girls to burn energy today

*the courage for heroes to sleep on plastic covered couches and eat buffets, oh my!

*reading the Bible when I am so discouraged and sad

*crying all over that best hubby in all the world when so discouraged and sad

*being able to see a nurse and a doc for my funny water in the ear thing while at work

*helping people find their way to Bumi or not

*palpating bellies and hearing heart beats

*team work, compassion and humility

*cross cultural solutions

*not knowing how to navigate some relationships but trying just the same

*the capacity to mourn losses

*feeling the love

*being cherished by that hubby and the babes we make

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Camera Sadness

Our camera is broken.  It won't even turn on.  It hasn't worked since we got here.  At first, we thought it was just the battery wasn't charged or wasn't keeping a charge any longer.  But, then we got a brand new battery and it still wouldn't turn on.  Know what this means, don't you?  A whole incredible week in Bali with no pictures. 

That's right.  That's sad.  No pictures of how awesome our gardens have grown since we've been gone.  No pictures of the day at the beach.  No pictures of the walks around the village or to the river.  No pictures of B and her BFF playing soccer.  No pics of E in the temple brushing her own hair.  No pics of E and her BFF drawing on the chalkboard for hours.  No pics of Ibu Duah's birthday party dinner. 

We're looking for a new camera and our friends offered to take our camera 45 minutes away to the big city to get it fixed.  Ugh.  Until then, it's all words and memories.  No visual images saved on my computer or to share here with you. 

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sanur

Tomorrow is our dear friend's birthday.  So, today we went to the beach to celebrate.  We borrowed a car from her uncle-in-law.  He reminds me of my hubs in a lot of ways, one way is how generous he is to let us drive his car to the beach each year!  He's never even asked to see hubby's driver's license.  Last year when we were here, he was building a neat house so when we went to pick up the vehicle (it's called a Kijang) , we got to see the outside of the finished house.  A fellow birth center family is staying there so she invited us to come for a tour anytime.  The Kijang has 3 rows, no car seats and limited functioning seat belts.  But the bigger worry for me is not those things or my hubby driving it but the state of the roads combined with the 'fend for yourself' mentality of drivers here.  Goodness, I had forgotten.  Makes for an interesting prayer inducing drive.

We made it to the beach with my friend's daughter and I feeling rather car sick.  The ocean tide was out or the water had been swallowed by a giant greedy frog, as E's storybook explains.  So, we went to the pool at a fancy hotel and ordered food. They have installed slides for the kids since our last visit.  We never actually stay at the hotel but if you order food and ask nicely, they will let you swim in the incredible pools.  There's a fancy spa, which my friend and I should have taken advantage of probably but our families were having too much fun to leave them.  The girls went down the slides a million times and jumped off of fountains into the water.  I drank a young coconut and ate fries and spaghetti (which wasn't gluten free so it wrecked up my now sensitive stomach).  We spent the whole afternoon here after a long stroll down the beach.  We strolled back to our car after changing into warm, dry clothes.  The drive home was a bit more sane because we took a back road that we like.

Tomorrow, we celebrate Ibu Duah's true birthday with a lunch handmade and cooked by her hubby!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

This Always Happens

We get so busy with everyday life stuff that I don't make the time to sit still and write about it in the quiet of the night.  So far, I have already attended 2 births and 1 mom just after her babe came.  This evening, I spent time helping the wonderful student midwives acclimate to our busy prenatal visits.  We were rather slow since it's Saturday.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are our busier days.  I got to do a prenatal visit with Ibu Robin for a fellow Southerner living here and a Japanese woman planning a homebirh with us.  Having not yet been to a homebirth in Bali, it will be wonderful to attend her with Robin and my dearest midwifery partner friend here. 

This month is a little different from my previous trips to Bali.  I am acting as the Volunteer Coordinator for the next month as we are in between Coordinators after a year of the most wonderful D and all here improvements to the program.  So, my primary role is not as a student midwife but to help the student midwives along and to manage the incoming requests for volunteer placements.  I am honored to have been asked to fill this role.  And, so far, I am enjoying it.  Next week, we'll have more requests for me to address.  We've already started our weekly check-ins with the volunteers here.  These will continue and we're doing a study/skills meeting each week, as well. 

The food is incredible as usual.  Seeing familiar faces followed by their warm embraces are so delightful.  The love of our Balinese family here woos us in each time.  From the young 4 year old to the grandpa of the bunch, we feel so welcomed.  With this being a week to settle in, we are collecting groceries, art supplies, & pants for the girls (we packed few clothes), setting up our cell phones, renting library cards and having books made.  It was incredible to find Waldorf homeschooling books at the local library today!  Yay for Kindy Fairy Tales for my lil E bear.  We also are signing both girls up for Balinese dance lessons each week since B decided to join her big sister.  We'll see how it goes.  Thankfully, if she doesn't get into it, she can go flip through a book with her dad in the next room.  We're fighting off mosquitoes and the tiniest touch of Bali belly, which means we are also hand washing lots of clothes.  That part always happens, too but our goal is to lessen it as much as possible this time.

My hope is to share many pictures and stories of our days here this time as the internet connection has tripled in speed since our last visit.  And, I have incredible news to share so each of you who read can donate a trunk full of money without having to write a check.  Very exciting.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

We're Here

We arrived safely and sanely after our 22 hour flight.  It was incredible to see the girls really be clam, patient and even laugh through our flights.  The Bear had minor upsets, nothing like what I expected.  E slept on the plane lots which is usually hard for her and she even ate some of the airplane food, which she usually rejects.  We are settling in here.  Up super early this morning eating yummy breakfast. 

Friday, September 16, 2011

Transition

Over the next week, our family will transition from life on one side of the world to life on the other side on this world.  This is our third time doing so as a family in the past few years.  We welcome the opportunity to serve abroad for a few months.  As we go from here to there, please keep us in your prayers.  We'd appreciate prayers for smooth travel both in cars to planes to shuttles back to planes and finally arrival at our destination: Indonesia!  Once there, our dear Pagi will pick us up from the airport in the van.  He's so excited about us coming that he already went to the airport last week and waited for us!  We have about a 45 minute drive to our small village from the airport near the beach. 

We are each beyond excited.  Honestly, I am a little nervous about the flights.  On on our first flight, we had E in a bassinet and B was still on the inside!  E was nursing which was such great comfort for her.  On the second trip, B was in the bassinet and E had her own seat.  They took turns sharing these two spaces.  B wasn't nursing much but the little bit did help her, it seemed.  This time, no one is nursing and they each are required to be in their own seats.  

B is a screamer and not easily consoled when she is really upset.  I worry about how often and loud this may happen on the plane.  Our plan is to take her on walks & to the bathroom if she's getting upset and needs a change of scenery.  We have packed new, novel items for them to enjoy and items that we normally don't use like temporary tattoos, sticker books, and glow in the dark sticks.  We have some treasured books to read and favorite songs & stories downloaded for listening among other things.  It's a long 22 hour flight though with one short layover about 15 hours into it.  That last leg feels shorter somehow.  Maybe people headed to Bali are just way more relaxed so we feel less pressure.  Bali- the land of the loved child! 

Thank you for praying.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Two Teeth

Forgot to update you all that E lost another tooth yesterday!  Yep, she has lost her bottom two teeth in the order that they came in.  She is taking the advice of our angel neighbor: once the tooth feels really loose, give it a twist.  It will pop right out. 

She does not want to give her teeth to the tooth fairy and isn't even so interested in the tooth fairy coming visit.  She did dictate a letter to me for the tooth fairy though.  Maybe I should figure out what to do with said letter.  Any suggestions?

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

safe spaces

sometimes, a person just has to grab their doll and snuggle up in the jogging stroller and that's all there is to it.  cozy and small, it's just right for a late afternoon break by the compost pile. 


If she feels safe and happy, who am I to mess with that? That's about just what I would hope for her right now.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Drinking From the Saucer, Again

Raise your hand, if you hand an incredible weekend filled with the love of your dear friends & family.  Yep, that is me, raising both my hands with a big ole smile plastered on my face. 

After a long absence from Mom's Night Out, a small group re-gathered rather last minute.  From garlic fries to thought-provoking conversations, it was fabulous from the moment Aimee jumped into my car.  In the past year or so, honesty and transparency within my friendships has taken a center stage.  Valuing the real life stuff of our days is what has come forward.  But, not stopping with the concerns...actually being will to process in hopes of growing, changing and improving, as hard as it is to put words to...as vulnerable as that makes us.  Yeah, that is what we've been doing.  It's happened in this fluid, organic way in the midst of raw hurts.  And, it's brought us each into deeper relationships as well as revealing our authentic selves.  You know what Marsden Wagner says about our authentic selves!  Pretty fabulous when we can stay close to them.  This night, I struggled to make sense of some things that I have noticed with a precious child.  I felt so supported in hearing my fellow mamacitas talking about something they know more about than me.  On first impact, I had to begin to unpack my backpack in front of them.  It was incredible to be held in such a supportive space as I unloaded my uncertainties.

At Saturday's bonfire, the best of the evening (besides the obviousness of VEGAN BISCUITS and homemade jam) was 25 kids enjoying each others' company without a single disagreement that I noticed.  At one point, probably half of them were working together to get a ball out of a tree with no adult supervision.  They just rolled, the whole evening.  It was awesome.  Getting to chat with dearest friends & family and catch up was so fabulous.  The bear found her place in Uncle Anthony's lap at various intervals.  It's so wonderful to watch her get her cup filled when it's been low on Uncle Atny time.  She knew what she needed and sought it out.  I so appreciate the ease of that for her.  Seeing her snuggled between him and his girlfriend made my heart so happy.  Such a gift.  E was surrounded with her best friends and stuffed puppies with real collars and leashes (for her birthday wish in Bali).  Anne is now convinced to shop in the pet section for kid's gifts!  She asked a couple of times where another friend was but I could tell she, too was super content with the evening (and seeing that little friend at church made it better).  The very saddest part was discovering my camera battery was dead!  It hasn't been keeping a charge since the beach.  Some days are meant to be held in our minds' eye.

Sunday was so hard to say "see you later" to our amazing church family.  We have the most wonderful church to attend.  As much as I appreciate our church in Bali and am soooooo looking forward to worshiping with them, again, it's bittersweet.  The dynamic will change in Bali b/c our whole family will attend and it's a very small English service.  We're hoping to attend the Indo service more often this time.  We attended two different churches while out of town this summer, one was a sister church and one was a totally different denomination.  It was neat to visit our sister church; it felt like home away from home.  But, it was revealing to me just how great of a fit our church is when we attended the other one.  E sits through the service with me each Sunday and even she commented, "People don't yell like that in our church."  Yeah, even when the theology may go over one's head, the spirit rings clear.  We cherish our place here and will be praying for the stretching attending a different place will be for us.  Ultimately, we are grateful to even have a place in Bali and we rejoice that the Indonesian people are brave enough to risk what they risk to drive up that steep hill on Sundays.  For my girls, we'll see if visiting the dogs on the church steps holds more intrigue, yet again than sitting in the actual service.  Thank God that the Balinese people are the epitome of 'kid friendly".

You've heard me mention it before, about Jessica and that poem back in college.  Well, I am doing it, again.  Drinking from the saucer because my cup has overflowed.  Actually, I think my whole family is.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Remeber This

Today, so many neat words were said or actions done that I want to imprint them on my long term memory.  When we were in the kitchen making dinner, E was slicing the polenta for our chili lasagna (which we later devoured/recipe made up as we went).  She said, "Mama, who is the King of Polenta?"  My, what a great question.  Immediately, I think of King Corn which she has of course, never seen but may have heard the term.  Instead of mentioning this, I just say, "Oh, I wonder who is.  Polenta comes from corn.".  She follows this up with, "Well, then, God must be the King of Polenta."  Clearly.  Must be.  B wonders in to the kitchen and seems to agree.

After dinner, we were in the backyard straightening up for our weekend fun.  I was weeding when B comes over with a purple flower in her hand and says, "I want to bless you."  I squat down with fireworks in my heart as she proceeds to rip the flower apart and then suck the inside parts of it.  "This is the juice.  Here, get some."  Guessing she was imagining honeysuckles which we ingest at her Glammy's house, each time with me reminding them that I loved doing this as a little girl.  I get some.  Then, she sweeps the inside bits across my face and closed eyes.  Incredible.  Then she tries to tackle me.  Fabulous. 

Her sister, who is usually my flower blesser, turns the hose on full blast which alarms hubby.  She explains that she needs to get her hands wet.  Why?  To make the blessing stick to the middle of my forehead, of course!  So, the sage is picked from the herb garden and applied to my forehead.  A purple flower is placed behind each of my ears.  And, I am fully blessed.  More than they could ever imagine, I am blessed by them, their presence and their thoughtfulness. 

As hubs went out for DNO, I got to snuggle the babes to sleep.  The bear was already asleep when E came in after her daddy stories.  She said, "Are we having a snuggle fest in here or what?"  Affirmative, my daughter.  We settled in and it was so precious to see her turn to her lil sister, place her arm around her and squeeze knowing full well the lil'est one was already slumbering away.  Was it just for herself to get her arms around that gooey lovey one while she was still or was it for the gooey lovey one to know E's love even in her sleep?  Either way, it was an act of love and connection that I cherish seeing. 

There were more moments like this today where I told myself to please remember and right now, this tired mama has already forgotten.  Two nights of little sleep start to catch up with a mama used to getting enough of it.  The bear was restless last night as her fever had come back up a bit.  Another round of garlic was applied.  She threw up randomly in the middle of the night after taking a sip of water.  I was lying with my back to her, so yes, my hair was the recipient of puke.  Thinking I had cleaned everything up, it was such a mothering moment when this morning in the playroom, the girls say, "Mom, you have throw up all over your back, your shirt.  Look at yourself."  Uh, who knew?  I headed up to the shower without delay.  Yep, I am blessed.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Garlic Fever Reducer

You all will be happy to know that after applying minced garlic+coconut oil+olive oil to the bottoms of her feet, that bear's temp went down almost immediately.  It was incredible to feel her body's temp decrease as I sat beside her reading books and feeding her some dinner.  I almost couldn't believe it was happening so quickly and doubted what we were experiencing.  Silly, yes.  A wonderful mama friend of mine today said, "Oh, after we applied garlic to his feet, the temp went down instantly."  I was like, woah, that is what happened to the bear!  It was great to see and hear this works.  Yay.  Her temp was 98.4 and she played at a birthday party all day today as if yesterday wasn't her highest fever ever day.  Wow.  We'll be taking it easy for the rest of the week to let her recover. 

Here's the recipe interpreted by me from my herbalist friend, Erin:
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons coconut oil

The coconut oil may need to be warmed a bit so it's liquid and not solid.  Put all of these in a food processor for a bit.  Strain the liquid portion off.  Put the mash in the fridge to get it to congeal up.  You can keep it in the fridge in a sealed container for a while but I am not sure exactly how long.

How we used it:
I dubbed it Pirate medicine since B is so into that sort of thing right now.  And, honestly, I would guess that pirates may have used something similar to this...maybe.  ;)  I placed a big glob of it on a long piece of guaze then centered that in the middle of her foot.  I wrapped the gauze around tight enough so the ingredients would stay put but kept her comfortable.  I placed her wool socks over this to keep the gauze in place.  The socks were too small, we learned!  They are last year's socks.  So, I took them off very carefully and used tape to keep them in place.  She slept with them on overnight & was walking around in them this morning before we decided to take them off.     

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Fever

The Bear woke up happy and laughing, calling my name.  I went in to snuggle her goodness and we laughed lots.  I noticed that her body felt a bit warm.  Sometimes kids have fevers, no biggie.  But I mention it to her and to hubs as she kisses him good bye.

Neither of my kids has ever spiked a fever very high though.  I rarely even take their temperature with the thermometer b/c I can tell by touching them it's not so high and they bounce back easily.  I give them Temp Assure to help it come down and we take it easy.  So, when B crawled back in bed instead of hopping around, I noticed but just kept snuggling her.  She drank lots of water & asked for a blanket.  This kid empathetically throws off blankets even when I try to sneak one on her in the middle of the night.  She actually fell back asleep, which never happens.  She is an early bird and likes to get going.  She will even get herself dressed, do her business and come on downstairs for breakfast without asking for any help.  She's been like this for as long as I can recall.  She likes to get into her play in the early morn, too.  Not today.  She slept all morning and asked for a blanket all day.  Hmmmn...

E and I took her some raspberries and coconut milk yogurt.  She ate half the carton off of her sister's fingers but was almost back to sleep before starting the yogurt.  Another nap?  Wow.  I tried to take her temp twice but she resisted so much.  I tried both her mouth and her armpit.  It got almost to 103, at which point I put her in a cold bath.  She lasted maybe 4 minutes before saying it was tool cold and refusing to stay in it.  I called hubs for a reality check, which he graciously reminded me all the trust things I do know and believe.  I gave her ice water and rubbed an wrapped ice pack on her while E told her stories.  The bear slept all day!  She usually pushes through colds or sickness and plays away.  E is the one who shuts down for a day or two and gets it over with.  B will linger on for twice as long b/c she doesn't stop to rest in the same way.  Not today.  She totally rested, slept, ate and drank but barely left the bed.  Her temp went down to 101.6 right before dinner and she was in good spirits, not lethargic anymore but playing and laughing with us.

At dinner, I had to run an errand to the hospital that I was honored to run (EBM to a babe in need) so missed out on some of B.  She did eat some dinner and then went back to sleep.  Hubs said her temp was 102.  She woke up later and I fed her the rest of her dinner.  The wise woman herbal (aka my dear friend, Erin) gave me the reminder on garlic+coconut oil+olive oil smashed together for the bottoms of the feet.  Calling it Pirate Medicine, the Bear complied with letting me wrap it onto the bottom of her feet and cover with wool socks.  Hubby's friend came over for drinks and told me it's worked for their kids, too.  So, on one hand, I am embarrassed that this is our first time using it.  But I realize that is b/c this is our first major fever for either kid in almost six years.  So, yeah, scratch that, I am uber thankful.

As hubs was about to leave work, he calls to say he is bleeding a bunch from cutting his finger/hand.  OMG.  Thankfully, he finds a first aid kit, gets fixed up, has a snack and brings Chinese food home that we devour.  Ultimately, I drove to the ER after dinner to drop that EBM off.  As I was heading out of our house, my very selfish thought was, I am so glad I am the one going to the ER by myself and not for myself or anyone else in my family.  Thankfully, we are all okay.  And, this will be a day of continued wellness for whatever these two are working out with their bodies and the family of that precious babe.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

TTLY

They had become the best of friends, soul play mates TTLY.

Unity.

Always asking, "Can I get my balance?"  and I reply with, "Yes, you can!"

Monday, September 5, 2011

First Tooth (Loss) & Oh, So Much More

Searching for the pictures of her first bottom teeth brought back so many incredible memories.  Clearly, she's much older than those precious baby days.  Can you see her two lil bottom ones?  They are getting loose and coming out in the same order that they came in.  Her second one is loose now!  This gaining and loosing has really got me thinking. 

What I am truly reeling from all of her newness in the past two weeks.  She was brave and happy in the ocean water, lost her first tooth, started kindy, is more content with herself/by herself than needing to be right beside me, got her first haircut of significant length, initiated staying with the kids at church (as opposed to sitting in the service with me) for almost 10 minutes, and is physically getting healthy for Bali without mama's reminders.  She's making plans for how she wants to do homeschool in Bali from volunteering with dogs and orphaned children to taking Balinese dance classes at the awesome library.  All of which equally excites this mama! 

It's just wonderful to see her feeling confident and brave- two things that have not been super comfortable places for her.  I've expected her to just be who she is and have worked with her over the years to instill confidence but often lost my patience with her needy and clingy self all day every day when only mama (and right on top of said mama) would do.  I did not expect her to be willing to try new things like this or feel so sure of herself when she wants to do something.  It's new and wonderful.  As much as I am impressed with her initiatives, I see this as just the beginning of her gaining independence and these small steps will continue into larger territories.  I am doing more than hoping that her community gives her those tools that go along with having such precious freedom to grow up.  What a privilege, what an honor it is to watch and guide this child.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

So Many Gifts

It's hard to count our blessings right now b/c they just keep dumping on us each day.  It's rather incredible. 

We've really wanted to have a great homeschooling year and it's upon us.  It's been just dreamy the whole week.  We did a soft beginning this week and just flowed into full-blown days of joy.  I have been surprised by big things already.  1. B wanting to do E's work that B had no interest in last year or just last week!  B got rather upset but was so wise and asked for her own.  We're learning how to balance both of their needs.  Most of what we do is easy to include both kids without reaching.  When it wasn't that one time, it just really struck me.

Which leads to 2.  I am so thankful for talks on Aimee's couch, emails from TN, blogs from all over the USA, Waldorf guidebooks that don't guilt trip and an incredible partner.  Even though my chicks are not attending the local Waldorf school, we get to be a part of the community there.  I am thankful for our recent Wed. night discussion groups and the amazing group guide plus the caring teachers who show up and offer support to us.  But, it's the fellow homeschooling families that I learn so much from.  These wise ones who have been here in my shoes already are treasures.  Thankful for the way they all support me in my Waldorf approach even if they are not having the same approach; that is the gift of a true friend, eh? 

3. To see the babes just taking to our precious songs, rhymes, blessings and circle time in a way that was lost this summer.  Is it just b/c they are new, again after a break or is my intention different?  Are they older now and ready?  Is it b/c she lost her first tooth a week ago?  I have noticed that they want more involvement and can stay with it if I can let go a bit to the form I think things are supposed to take.  Then, I pick right back up after they have had a minute (or just 10 seconds) to share.  That investment in them comes back to us as a family doubled. 

We are also thankful for the many physical gifts from friends like special hand me down dresses, new to us soft star shoes, just-in-case and just right plane ride dipes, an incredible necklace from a friend's great grandmother that was beyond generous and so meaningful.  The amazing mama (there are two really) who has cared for my girls deserves an entire Ode post and I have been reflecting on what this has meant a lot lately as it draws to a close for now.  Still forming those grateful thoughts.  The incredible Waldorf teacher who we want to adopt into our family somehow is beginning her own new journey this season.  We are going off in separate spaces for a while but that longing to come together, again remains.  

In this new season of life, it's incredible to have the support our family has.  Personally, it's so clarifying who I want near me in this time (and the times to come!) and who I want to draw even closer to right now.  Having amazing friends and guides in this journey our family is on really humbles me; how did such incredible people come to us?  So thankful.

Friday, September 2, 2011

For Zoe

A dear friend recently asked me for links to some of my favorite blogs.  Some people who keep blogs will include a list of their favorites so I decided to do the same.  It's nice to share the incredible resources out there in one place.  And, it will be so easy to click on them from here if you come to read my posts.