"Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure."
- John McConnell, founder of International Earth Day
RIGHT NOW, and then again tomorrow and then again the next day and on it goes day after day,
1/2 OF THE WORLD lives on LESS THAN 2 DOLLARS each day.
Psalm 27:4
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Do all you can and don't worry about the odds against you. Wield the miracle of life's energy, never worrying whether we fail, concerned only that whether we fail or succeed we do so with all our might. That's all we need to know to feel certain that all our force of diligent effort is worth our while on Earth.
Carl Safina, Voyage of the Turtle
Kiki and the girls before the big outing...Mim first time T or Ting
The four cousins.
Mim is enjoying it more than the expression on her face. She had a hard time with the cold.
Funny thing is that this year was
WAYYYY warmer than last year and yet
Mim was freezing.
The four later in the evening, finished by 4:30pm
At Grandma's G' house (uncle J's Mom) The girls grossed way over 3 huge Tupperware bowls of candy..we will be eating on for some time. As usual it was
Tuki's favorite time of the year,
Ve loved it as well and
Mim enjoyed it, but was too cold by then end. Without a doubt it was a bountiful harvest of sugar, thus a success and well worth it in all the girls eyes.
I am posting these two letters here so that they are contained within my children's childhood journal. Mim and Ve wrote letters to their Haitian Moms tonight. I scanned and emailed them to a friend who will get them to the girl's Haitian moms. I also sent them to M, the O director. There is some overlap between the letters because we discussed a little as to what they think their Haitian Mom's might want to know about them, and what they wanted for their Haitian Mom's to have. Ve had a more difficult time deciding, but it is hard for her to be detailed (that is unless she is lying, then very detailed(a dead give away LOL)), but Mim wrote her letter rather quickly. I hope we receive some response back from them as well. Their true names are written here as well, but since this blog is private I will hope that what is seen here remains here.
Mim's letter
Ve's letter
Wish us luck. Tomorrow at Noon - 5:00pm we (the school's HOPE-Science Club) are conducting their first ever ecycle fundraiser drive. I am nervous because this fundraiser was initiated by me, so if it fails then the outcome is a reflection on me too.
Why the fundraiser, well for the obvious reason, it is an environmental act, keep all electronics that contain toxic chemicals out of the landfills.
Secondly the funds we raise will hopefully be applied to erecting solar panels on top of our school, thus saving a great deal of energy. We need to do more assessments of our building for structure support, costs etc., but what an important message if we are able to do this. I along with my principal, the district's superintendent and the Maintenance manager are meeting next week to discuss this idea further.
Thirdly the best part of all, the kids are driving the passion and energy behind it. This one act alone shows the kids that they CAN make a difference for their world in their lifetime. How incredibly empowering to know that. My hope is that they will embrace this one concept and take it into their adult hoods for further use.
If you are in our area, then bring your old or outdated electronics to the junior high and support a worthy cause.
Weekend run down
Friday night I chaperoned a Halloween dance at my junior high. Obviously Mim went, but I also brought the wee ones along too. There was a dance, bouncy and jousting blow ups and of course a haunted house, and best of all it cost me NOTHING for the night's entertainment. They loved it, as I would hope they would have since they were talking about it all week long. We came home late and we paid for it all weekend. We slept in both days so we didn't get as much done as we (I) would have liked.
Saturday we checked out yet another farmstead for sale. The thing I liked the most was it was next door to my sister and her husband, the house was nice, but similar to mine, but I didn't like the horse barn. It looked like a mobile home...so not too sure of it and naturally it cost a great deal more than I'd like to pay. I also made a yummy acorn squash stew with ingredients that were all grown in our garden. For some reason that made me feel really good.
Slept in late so we didn't make it to church. Today raining all day (as was yesterday), we ate the stew, sorted the winter clothes (hats, mittens etc.,) to see who needs anything new, and then I made a double batch of carrot cut out cookies. I had to improvise alot (new recipe and trying to stay with healthy ingredients) so not so sure how they will taste. Tomorrow I will roll the dough, and then cut out into Fall and Halloween shapes.. Again the girls are excited about it.
Health Update:
My thyroid is at the good level 1.5, I feel good energy wise, but no weight loss. My feet are slowly getting better, so I have still been running and biking as often as I can, my feet hold up and the goal is to just prevent anymore weight from coming on. I hope that once my feet allow me to run more miles more consistently during the week and still be on my feet all day at school I will start losing the weight that I have put on this past year.
My NEW health problem is a hoarse voice for over 8 weeks. I plan to see an ENT soon since sometimes my throat is quite raw and it takes great effort to get a volume from my voice. It seems lately there is always something wrong with my health...is it my age or am I falling apart...I don't know but I sure am sick of it.
Another plus is we only have 3 work days this week.
Kiki and the girls before the big outing...Mim first time T or Ting
The four cousins. Mim is enjoying it more than the expression on her face. She had a hard time with the cold.
Funny thing is that this year was WAYYYY warmer than last year and yet Mim was freezing.
The four later in the evening, finished by 4:30pm
At Grandma's G' house (uncle J's Mom) The girls grossed way over 3 huge Tupperware bowls of candy..we will be eating on for some time. As usual it was Tuki's favorite time of the year, Ve loved it as well and Mim enjoyed it, but was too cold by then end. Without a doubt it was a bountiful harvest of sugar, thus a success and well worth it in all the girls eyes.
