DALT

I've already emailed this to some of you, but I just wanted to take a minute to share an amazing experience I had over the past 4 days. This could get sappy, but here we go....
Over the past 4 days I had the pleasure of taking 18 of my kids from school to an overnight camp with 4 other high schools, called Diversity Awareness & Leadership Training (DALT). There were about 25 staff, including 2 other Parchment staff and myself, and 80ish kids. The premise of the program is to help kids to break down stereotypes, etc. and through that comes a lot of self awareness. My kids were so amazing. The culminating activity in which all of the participants (including staff) stand across from one person holding both of their hands and look into their eyes for about 15 seconds (while music plays in the background). Then you rotate through all of the participants. This was SUCH a powerful experience and there was not a dry eye in the place. You get to look into the eyes of 100 other people and can actually see what they live with, and for a lot of these kids it was some pretty shitty stuff. It was another one of those days (that are too few and far between) where I LOVED my job. I was able to hug all of my kids, and many kids that don't attend Parchment, and tell them I loved them while they cried on my shoulder. One student who had been cutting up all week and had a tough, gangster exterior actually hugged me by at the end and just cried. I think they all got so much out of it and so did I. It reminded me that we've all got a history, a childhood, and a story that makes us who we are. None right or wrong, but it's something that is so critical to keep in mind when interacting with anyone. And how we need to take the time to be there for others in a genuine way.

Whew.. anyway... that's really all I've got. I'm all dried up and exhausted. And I'd love to post pictures of this experience but I'm not sure of the legal issues with posting pictures of minors without parental permission, so I'll refrain.... :-)

New House!

Are we honestly blogging? We thought we'd give it a try to update everyone on our oh-so-interesting lives! Some of you had wanted to see pictures of the new house, so thought we'd post some pictures. We're all moved in and settled and loving it! Griffin is a big fan of his new backyard and is doing great without a fence, and has yet to take off after a deer or wild turkey (keep your fingers crossed for this fall!) Take care and enjoy!