Thursday, April 19, 2012

April 19, 1995

It was a Wednesday morning. I was newly married and living in a little 2 bedroom apartment in Southwest Amarillo. I was getting ready to go to a science class at WTAMU in Canyon. I turned on the TV to watch Good Morning America while I ate a quick bite of breakfast and there it was.

A bomb had exploded in Oklahoma City.

I skipped the science class.

Fear gripped my heart and for days I was glued to the TV. I was in shock. The pictures were the most frightening thing I had ever seen and the children. . . . . . My heart broke for the children.

The photo of the little girl wearing yellow socks, being carried by the fireman changed my life. I was haunted by that image for years.

 My nephew, Ben, wore little yellow socks. He was three years old. He saw the image of this sweet baby on TV and asked, "Where is the mommy?" He knew she needed her mommy.

In the days that followed, family members were interviewed and we found out the baby's name was Bailey. I loved that baby. I loved all of those babies who were snatched away that Wednesday morning. I wanted to do something. I seriously considered jumping in my little red car and driving the short drive to OKC. Why? I don't know. I don't know what I thought I could do. I just wanted to do something.

Years passed, but I didn't forget Bailey. When we first began our adoption journey, we traveled to Tulsa for a meeting with our adoption agency. On the way home, we stopped at the OKC memorial and I found Bailey's chair. I couldn't stop the tears. I still felt the overwhelming desire to do something.

I did the only thing I knew to do.

Two years later, my sweet daughter traveled from Korea to Texas to be my little girl . . . .

and I named her Bailey.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Natural Playground Part II:I Didn't Know Kids Still Climbed Trees

A while back, a lady walked by and saw our children sitting in a tree. She stopped and watched them play for a short bit. "I didn't know kids still climbed trees", she said.

There is a new "disorder". I don't like all of the labels we smack on children, but this one is interesting. It is called "Nature Deficit Disorder"

Richard Louv first introduced this new disorder in his book, "Last Child in the Woods". He says,"Nature Deficit Disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses."

He also writes, "Not too many years ago, a child's experience was limited by how far he or she could ride a bicycle or by the physical boundaries that parents set. Today ... the real boundaries of a child's life are set more by the number of available cable channels and videotapes, by the simulated reality of videogames, by the number of megabytes of memory in the home computer. Now kids can go anywhere, as long as they stay inside the electronic bubble."

You already know how I feel about children being exposed to too much technology, so I won't get on my soapbox about that again. Being a nature lover, I could go on and on about the joys of being outdoors and the importance of children having unstructured playtime outside.

As I wrote a few days ago, we are working to create a natural playground in our backyard. It is a project that has taken on a life of it's own and I can't wait until it is finished!

Our backyard is being transformed. What once was a land of plastic and metal is becoming a natural play space for our family. There are still plenty of man-made toys, but we are trying to incorporate more natural elements.

The swing set is gone. I had nothing against that wonderful play structure, but it was getting dangerous, rusty, and was taking up too much space. There was no room for a trampoline, so we decided to go another direction.

We now have a butterfly garden, or at least a raised bed full of tiny seedlings, ready to grow into plants that attract butterflies. There is a new raised bed for vegatables and a rock garden.

The sandbox went the way of the swing set. Why? Well, because, as Zack says, "You can't dig up worms in a sandbox. What I really want is dirt." He now has a beautiful, raised, "Dirt Box"; a designated spot for him to dig a hole to China.

We found a beautiful log that is being used as a balance beam and a huge tub of water for floating, splashing, and filling cups to take over the the "Dirt/Mud Box".

The treehouse is still a favorite with it's pulley bucket. It is getting a new rock wall and birdfeeders to hang from the side.

Our backyard is far from perfect and far from finished, but we are enjoying it. As Zack says, "I wish we had done this years ago."

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Thursday Ramblings

I love teaching violin lessons. I love hearing sweet, squeeky sounds coming from tiny violins and I love hearing beautiful classical pieces flowing freely from the larger instruments. I love sharing the joy of music with young musicians. It is a gift.

I only teach 3 evenings a week. Yet, those 3 make for very long days. There is the job of homeschooling in the mornings and then I am off to the string studio. I return hours later, tired and hungry. Sometimes Kris has dinner waiting, sometimes I cook a simple meal. Then, I fall into bed with strians of suzuki pieces running through my brain. There are times I have dreamt of "Twinkles" and I have to laugh.

While I love teaching violin lessons, it is nice to take a break now and then. My "now and thens" happen to fall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are the days I am "Twinkle-free" and I can just relax with my family.

Today we finshed school before lunch. That gave us the entire afternoon together to just stay home and play. And play we did. We spent time outside, enjoying this warm, windy day. Then we went inside for some art time.

We started by planning our projects, then decided to eat a snack before the "messy" began. We couldn't decide on a snack, so we made kool-aid popsicles. While they were freezing, we started making mosiac paper weights, but what to do with the left over clay? Sculptures of course! Should we paint them? Maybe. Oh, wait, let's paint pictures instead! The sculptures need to dry, anyway. So, out came the water colors and beautiful, thick white paper. Oh, the popsicles - are they ready? Maybe, but it's too close to dinner time, so they will have to wait for dessert.

It's been a fun day and tomorrow I will make my way back to the string studio and teach a Bach minuet to some sweet little violinists.

I love my life.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Natural Playground Part I

The kids have outgrown the swingset.

It's funny how a little thing like a growth spurt can start such a mammoth chain of reaction. Something as simple as a growth spurt has changed my way of thinking and has taken over every waking moment.

My poor husband has the patience of a saint. He just smiles and nods when I tell him about my latest project.

The kids grew too big for the swingset. Oh, they still played on it, but it was getting dangerous and I was afraid they were going to tip it over. "So, let get a trampoline!" I said. But, yikes, our backyard is tiny! There is no room for a trampoline.

I sat the kids down and said, "What do you want to do with the backyard?" Ideas started flying and the next thing I know, we have a list a mile long of things they want to do in the backyard.

I started researching and discovered a wonderful new trend called "natural playgrounds". To my amazement, the kids were already on the road to creating a natural playground in our backyard. We put our heads together and came up with a plan.

Our homeschool curriculum took a backseat yesterday as we enjoyed a day of planning and working in the yard. Our natural playground is far from being finished, but it is well on it's way!

Today, however, we have to get caught up on math and history. I will post more details tomorrow!