to be honest, this has been kind of a long week. maybe you have had one of those, too...

but here are some uplifting tidbits from the kids at school:

1. my kids like my clothes. you know you are doing something right (or maybe a little nutty, depending on how you look at it) when a lot of two and three year old girls like your sweaters and earrings, because of how sparkly, bright or big they are...yes some of my clothes are similar to those that i wore when i was five...

2.you learn how serious you are when you are around a bunch of children all day. i think i am pretty jovial, pretty fun and interesting. but there are those days when i can't seem to hold anyone's attention, and whatever i have planned from them to do is nowhere near as captivating as running around in circles or slamming a micro-machine into the wall...

i still have a lot to figure out.

i find myself dialoging (with yours truly) in my head during those times, "you need to lighten up...what could possibly change this situation to make the odds in your favor...what exactly am i missing here...?" not very many answers yet.

some quotes from the week:

1. (in response to me saying, "you are getting to be so grown-up!")

"usually i am a big boy, but sometimes i still poop in my pants. big boys might not do that too much, right?"

2. (in response to a conversation concerning winter animals, antarctica and humans freezing without special gear if they set foot in antarctica, unlike the winter animals that live there)

- me, "what keeps a whale warm in arctic temperatures?

- my class, "the ice, pizza, running around and a house"

- me, "what could we do if we went outside on a sunny day?"

- a little boy (with fair skin in my school), " the sun is hot. the sun will burn you. it is hot. the 

  sun will make you hurt and it is really hot." 

as you can tell this either happened, or a parent is trying to prevent it from happening.

3. (this one happened last week) "when i grow up i need to get big. big muscles. right now all the ladies think i am pretty cute, but i need some big muscles if that's gonna happen when i'm older."

and with that, i leave you.

"if you want to sing out, sing out

 and if you want to be free, be free

 'cause there's a million things to be you know that there are..."

oh cat stevens. or should i say yusuf islam. :) been listening a lot to him lately. such great stuff for the heart. :)

speaking of hearts, mine is breaking for palestine. i heard on the news today that red cross/red crescent keeps finding in the rubble and desecrated villages along the gaza strip, not bodies of palestinian soldiers (which would be heartbreaking enough), but of women and children. and the few that are still alive are little children that are sitting by their mothers who are no longer living, and they are so wounded and starved that they cannot walk. schools and homes are bombed out, not army territory. and no aid is getting through to these areas. and the death toll keeps climbing.

something needs to be done. god of mercy who forgives me, forgive this and heal this land.