Remembering the Dreams of MLK

This morning Riley and I listened to Martin Luther King, Jr's famous "I Have a Dream" speech from Washington DC. It is beautiful to hear this set against Obama's inauguration this week and reflect on the progress toward that aspect of King's vision & dream. My kids can't even imagine pre-civil rights America. I can't fully, either, for that matter.

I also listened to another of his speeches that resonates deeply with me, the Riverside Church speech in which he talks about the "giant triplets" of racism, poverty/materialism, and militarism. How sad that we could just change the names of the countries, the types of weapons used, the ethnicities of the victims/"enemies" du jour, and trade "communism" for "terrorism", and this same speech still needs to be heard and acted upon today.

Can you imagine if our children's children could only conceive of all 3 of those "giant triplets" as the stuff of history, long past?

"I don't know about you, I ain't gonna study war no more." -- MLK, Jr


Dreams still waiting to be realized.

Jump Zone

Last week we met some friends at Jump Zone, an indoor climbing, bouncing, playing place to blow off some pent-up winter energy and have some fun. Little did we know that this week we would get a taste of "really* cold weather. Down from the hovering-around-freezing temps that we are used to in January and into the single digits and even freaking subzero temps!

Riley



Seth



Airborne Seth


Maya, giving her usual picture pose while Riley and their friend, Hayes, play air hockey.



Maya, Riley, and friend, Chooj



Icees Maya bought for herself and her brothers with some money she had been saving



Hayes, Chooj, and Riley



Seth



Moi



Maya



Maya, again with the thumbs up pose



Seth


Maya & Hayes

World Views

This is from Dr. Seuss' book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Seth and I were just reading it again, but it's a book I've had since Riley was a baby. When we got to this page, he made a comment about the big red fish treating the other two badly, hitting at them. Riley and Maya have both made similar comments in the past when I've read this with them. It always makes me smile because *I* used to see the picture as depicting the two little fish being the ones who were "very, very bad" and getting in trouble with the big fish. I honestly never thought to see it as possibly meaning anything else until the first time Riley said something, years ago.

I wonder which way Theodor Geisel meant it?

Whatever he intended with this picture, I'm grateful that my kids know that big people hitting little people is not a good thing.

Winter Hike

Last Saturday was one of those Northern Kentucky winter treats -- temps in the upper 40's. We took Pablo along with Maya, Seth, and two friends from the neighborhood to an out-of-the-way park that has trails that run through a wooded area. It was so great to get outside and run free and explore and play. I even got to let Pablo run off the leash after the lone jogger left, leaving us the only people in the park.

Christmas Past

Here's a bit of what last month looked like here. We had a small get-together at the Cincinnati Museum Center with local unschooling families and a met up there a couple more times with our friends, Amie, Sam, & Eric. We went to a really fun charity carnival set up by some homeschool friends (Sara and her boys, Blake & Noah)at their house, and met some new friends there as well. Riley and Maya went to their last pottery class and brought home their abundant projects from previous classes over the last couple of months. There was lots of cleaning and baking and decorating and prepping for Christmas day.



Decorating




A beautiful winter sunset



Museum Center Trips





Playing Spiderman on the flagpole-base-turned-skyscraper



Looking at Christmas books





Making ornaments




Christmas Program at our local library






Christmas Morning

I actually woke up before everyone else and had time to fill the house with candlelight and to spend a long time reflecting, meditating...

"For my heart has become the sacred crib
The birthing place of God-among-us."

--Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim




And then the celebrating began

"...a feast for the young of heart,
a feast for finding beneath the tree
gifts to surprise and delight the eternal child."

--Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim










"Peace on Earth and justice for all
will only become manifest in our lives
when enough of your sons and daughters
awaken to your divine design
that has made each of us
an emerging Emmanuel."

--Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim


Peace & Love to You All