More Videos

We've been playing a dance game (which really ends up being more of a stepping and stomping game) called Step Mania. This is a video of Sukhjot playing before a toy caught her eye.

This one is the baby laughing her worn out laugh - she'd been cracking up for quite a while already and by the time I got the camera, she was doing this funny laugh.

Inner Beauty

This is Satvinder's video entry to the New Moon Girls' Inner Beauty Contest. The first step is to create 7 statements about your own inner beauty. Then make a video sharing the statements. For 10 days following, watch the video and journal thoughts and ideas about inner beauty and what it means. Finally there is an essay to be written about the experience.

I think this is a great process for girls and I love that it has been made into a project of affirmation and self reflection.

Post Easter Egg Hunt Goody Inspection

Yummy food with friends. Too many sweets. Cutie girls in dresses. Breeze and sunshine. Today has been a good day.

The Clearing

Yesterday we had our yard sale fundraiser for SPOON Foundation and by the end, we'd made a humble $134 for the charity. But there's more...

I was shown, once again, how the Universe shows up to support. It is not always on my time table or in the way I expect, but it happens. Even when I doubt. It happens.

Since it was a fundraiser for a charity, it attracted some really amazing people - people living the path of service, who speak it and breathe it just because it is who they are. And some came in unlikely form - people that at first glance, you might not expect are profoundly giving, transcending their own challenges and pouring forth love and help to others. The universe sent some real gems yesterday and I am still really touched just from interacting with them.

The weather was beautiful. We cleared out a lot of stuff. Many people got things they wanted and/or needed.

And when afterwards, I was feeling kind of down about the money aspect (I had hoped for more funds to be raised for SPOON), Satvinder made me a card that said, "Every penny counts. I love you and care about you. You are the best mom in the world" and added all her piggy bank money into the donation jar.

Then this morning, an amazing lady I met yesterday came by and bought things from the yard sale plus donated extra - adding another $100 to the donations. That was totally unexpected.

So $236 in actual money and an undetermined amount in unexpected blessings.

One of the many things that has touched me about SPOON is all of the synchronistic events in the story of how they started. This article shares their story. You just never know what life is going to deliver or how it will unfold you in unanticipated ways along your winding path.

Yard Sale for Charity

This Saturday we'll be having a yard sale to benefit SPOON Foundation, a charity that helps provide proper nutrition for orphans in developing countries. Click on the link to learn more about their efforts and be sure to watch the short video.  Like they say in the video, we can't adopt them all but we can help from afar.  And basic vitamins and minerals can be a very simple way to make a big impact in their health and well being and give them a chance in this wild world.

Saturday, April 23
8 am -12 pm
my house
I welcome donations of stuff to sell, donations of money for the charity, shoppers who want to buy great stuff for cheap, friends who just want to stop by or tell their friends.  All support welcome.

As I've mentioned before, I've got a special aching in my heart for all the children who are without the basic care that most of us take for granted.  I am really grateful that there are people working together collectively to help. Look at those sweet little ones in the video. Don't you just want to shower them with love and blessings? Geez. I sure do.

Anyways...come by on Saturday if you are in my town. If not, please check out the charity and support them if you can.

Burning Words

Last weekend I burned 15 years worth of journals. For many of those years, I journaled every single day, without fail. There was a lot of paper, lots and lots of words, and a whole history of daily emotional outpouring. I came to realize that I just didn't want to carry it all around anymore.

It is a good time to let things go. Yes.

Other things:
Things like this excite me and give me hope for how this world can change/evolve as we open our minds and our hearts: Open sourcing the blueprints of civilization

The last couple weeks we've been working with the theme of The Golden Rule, thanks to the suggestion of a helpful counselor. Satvinder made a booklet of actions and behaviors that demonstrate The Golden Rule. And then we acknowledge when she has done something that fits with that intention and we talk about how it feels inside to be helpful, kind, etc. It may seem obvious but putting more intention on learning, discussing, and acknowledging it has been really effective in expanding that kind of behavior.

As mentioned previously, Sukhjot's most used word is ahh duh (all done.) But now she has combined it with another word to create her most used phrase. At bed time, she announces nat nat ahh duh (night night all done) to let me know that she really isn't into that whole sleeping thing anymore. Night Night all done! Nice try, little one.

All at Once

People keep asking us where and when we are moving. We have no answers. We could be moving soon...or not. We could be staying in Phoenix or moving to Austin or some other city in the US. And then my husband keeps talking about moving to Bangalore, of all places.

But we are here now, living our daily lives. Sweet and wild and ordinary and wacky all at once.

Happy Baby

Satvinder feeding animals at the fair

Maricopy County Fair

Books and Mermaids and Perfectly Designed Chaotic Nature

Sukhjot with her favorite books

Satvinder dressed up as a mermaid - going to a friend's Harry Potter themed birthday party. She was counting the days for this one. I dressed Sukhjot as a house elf but those pictures didn't come out so well.

Oh, and you know what is exciting me right now? Permaculture. I've been interested for a few years and looking into it now and then. But for some reason, right now, I am just eating it up. I may not know exactly where our family is headed but I project for it to involve more of these principles. How is this not being adopted everywhere? It has certainly been around long enough. So smart! So juicy! So exciting.

My friend, Liz, told me about this community that is in development, One Community, where they are going to utilize permaculture in addition to creating a whole new model for how people live. People are doing amazing things all over the place.

Yes, amazing things are everywhere. Everywhere.

"Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple." - Bill Mollison