Lightening up

Things are heavy in the world right now. I feel like writing anything trite right now is not appropriate. There are local events: The one-year anniversary of the deportation of the parents of the Village of Hope with no changes in sight and the news that the kids are not doing well. Then there's our near-neighbor, Gadaffi, slaughtering his own people. I think of all those young college kids who thought they could change their government with as little bloodshed as Egypt did, now being tortured and killed in prison for dreaming of a life they've never known. And of course, news and videos coming out of Japan that is hard to even begin to fathom. Tragedy that will be remembered forever.

So I feel rather sheepish for putting up pictures of our amazingly peaceful life - but I think we all need a lift or distraction too - so here goes!

A rare shot because Cache-Cache does not like Kendra terribly much. She has many gifts, but cat whispering is not one of them.

Panorama shot by Gerald from the hill we like to go to for sledding

One day the girls in Katrina's class were upset because apparently their teacher had told them they would NOT go on ANY more field trips this year because they were so very BAD. I find this hard to believe and rather dramatic. There are nine kids in their class and I know all of them. With the exception of a firecracker or two, this is a dream class. But the teacher must have been in a bad mood so cast the spell on the class. So Gerald and I (with the help of another parent) decided to take them and a few others on a field trip of our own.

It probably wasn't the best idea to take a bunch of girls from a society that does not encourage girls playing, having any adventure or taking any risks (like not wearing 4 layers of clothing every day) to the most dangerous place we know around here. But we did it. And besides a few scratches and bumps, we all survived the Valley of the Rocks outing quite well. In contrast to most of their lovely friends, Katrina and her buddy (Zahra - front right in the third picture) climb pretty much anything as soon as they meet it before I have time to make all the necessary Mother Comments regarding potential dangers. I guess I can't condemn them, I love a good rock scramble myself.

Gerald took this picture as the sun was setting - I love the colors!