#30 of 365~Thinking of Haiti

For some reason Haiti has been on my mind.  Today especially.  I'm not really sure what triggered it, but my heart yearns to see the faces of those who made the Caribbean country feel like a second home.  I've thought a lot about my time there before Nick and them my time there with Nick.  That first trip is forever burned into my mind.  17 years old with a group of 5 adults over 40, traveling to the "poorest country in the Western hemisphere," without a friend or family member to help me process the fact that my life would forever be altered.  The fact the Haiti would burn a hole within my heart.

These pictures are just a few of my favorite memories. Working at an orphanage, visiting Sister Elsie's and seeing my friends, listening to the heartbreaking story of a 14 year old pregnant after being used in a tent camp after the earthquake, my dear friend and Haiti traveling companion Dr. Dada and our first trip friend Stephanie.

This picture is my all-time favorite of Nick and I visiting the same orphanage as the one above, seeing the same kiddos and have them sadly still there for us to remember, but loving on them together, and praying hope ver their little lives.

#26 of 365~Missing My Dad

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of my dad.  Though I have yet to dream of him, I feel the memory of him hovering even after I am fully awake to a world without him. He comes up in conversation frequently and try as I might, my words still do not speak of him as if he passed.  To me, it's as if this is just one of those spells we went through off and on throughout my life where daily going-ons got in the way of our relationship.  The comfortable silence we knew from each other since I was born, was still evident when we could sit next to each other a just be.  My heart aches for my family still trying to figure out the craziness that comes with his absence. When I see the pain etched on his friends faces, it's the only thing that reminds me that this is all real. Everyone has a story to tell, an inclination of how he would feel, what he would say. He's always at the forefront of our minds.  His love reaches far from wherever he is, which is a small sort of comfort.

#24 & 25 of 365~ A Day Away

This last Thursday, I went on a small day trip with a lovely bunch of fine arts individuals from Brownell to a Private School in Kansas City-Pembroke.  The goal was to observe and check out educational procedures in the 21st Century of learning styles, Pembroke being the closest leader in Independent Schools to us.  While the group visited middle and upper school, I had the pleasure of spending my whole day in the Early Childhood department.  A lovely circular building with love and light radiating throughout the hallways in the lit of child's laughter, the pen and ink drawings of life arranged on the walls with the utmost respect for design, and clay sculptures with a view that only comes from a child's eye of imagination.  The school's belief on education for their youngest learners stems from the Project Approach where every part of their day is a learning experience expertly through play.  The following pictures are my favorite images from my day.

 Only in Preschool can you find pots of watercolors and glitter paper in buckets

 "Doll Tents" made of colored tape and molding clay my sunlight.

 Lunch consisted of the "best BBQ in KC" which happened to be housed in a gas station!

 A multi-purpose room full of color and materials, clay sculptures of Cicada's gracing the hallways.

#21 of 365-Remebering a Song

This morning on my way to work, a distant tune popped in my head leaving me to guess the lyrics.  Low and behold, it happened to be a song I wrote when I was nine years old!  I couldn't help but smile remembering my sister and I with permed mullets and matching rosebud printed dresses.  In our innocence, we sang this song at a revival meeting called "Stars and Stripes" in Kansas.  We were filmed. And with a learned southern twang, not knowing that the memory of this performance would turn out to be nothing but a haunting of another life we used to live, we sang with gusto and a "love for the Lord deep in our hearts."

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you-"Glory Land."

As we walk this narrow road to Glory Land
I know our trials will be many
If we look to the Lord and keep our eyes
On heaven as we go
On that day Jesus comes to take us home
We will glorify His name
He will save our souls and make us whole
And take away all our shame
He will save our souls and make us whole
And take away all our shame

#17 of 365~Jon's Song

For my Father-n-Law Jon.

Jon's Song

Hiding beneath the old pine tree

Nature’s silent battle cry washes over me

Whispers of loved ones passed, skim across the frosty frontier

The depths of my despair, won’t let me shed a single tear

The wolfs sly stare, the footprints of a winter hare

Fragrant dreams of spring dance across the morning air

 The ice around our hearts, melt once more

As our roots gather strength from the darkest core. 

#10 of 365~Married to the President

This last November, Nick was voted in as the Neighborhood Association President for the second time in a row!  He did an amazing job and the Leavenworth Neighborhood Association grew in membership and collaboration.  Some of the neighborhoods achievements were raising money and hosting artist to paint a mural on the VFW,  picnics in the park, feeding teachers at our partner school, Membership growth, monthly meetings, flags on Leavenworth project,  Neighbor Night Out party, bocce ball team, kickball team, and raising over $1,500 for our Christmas Cheer project.  As his "first lady,"  I find myself extremely proud of my hubby and ready to get to work for the 2014 year.

The fallowing is Nick's letter to the neighborhood for January.  I thought I would share:

A Letter From The President....

I am embracing the turning of the calendar as a man who embraces his freedom. A time to drop the shackles and put on your running shoes is upon us.

Who cares about the mistakes you made last year? What are the possibilities of this year? I know there are good things ahead of us as a neighborhood and I look forward to seeing them come to fruition.

Now, I know you can bounce back to the old frame of mind and say, “What is the point Nick? In a month we will be back to our old habits and picking up the shackles that we just put down a month ago.” But what if we did not have to think like that? What is it that makes us progress from a moment of hope to a feeling of despair? Notice earlier I mentioned who cares about the mistakes you made last year. Is it our mistakes that haunt us at the end of the year and the fear of making them that ties us down at the beginning of the year?

If this is so, then perhaps our fear of mistakes can be replaced by the opportunity to be creative. One of my favorite kids cartoons from when I was young had a crazy red headed teacher with the motto, “Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy.” I hope that this can carry us through this year as a neighborhood.

We have permission to take risks. We have permission to make mistakes. And through the messiness of it all I hope we birth something new and creative for our neighborhood in the 2014 year. So, drop off those worrisome shackles and please join me in making a mess of things at the January meeting.~Nick Mayo