061411. You may have noticed that I’ve been MIA for the past month. Thanks for being patient. It’s been a busy month.
Here’s a brief re-cap:
- The Cottage is going on the market in July and we’ve had last minute work to do (like having the trim painted and a new screen door installed). We’re also doing some paring down for “staging,” which I’m sure you can imagine makes for some interesting (read: intense) debate over which photos stay and which ones go to storage.
- We’re deep into a new home search for a house a little further from town center (but not so far that we can’t get in for gymnastics and the library) where we can keep the horses, dogs, people and new addition of chickens and cows and a cat in one place.
- I'm 21 days in to a 40-day meditation that I'm leading for four of the most soulfully beautiful women I can imagine.
- The Cowboy’s still hard at work on the new Batman movie in Los Angeles, so the LO and I packed our bags and drove down for a month-long visit. In the middle of which, I jetted off to Philadelphia for a week-long seminar about early childhood development that has done two things … given me a few new friends-for-life …
(not the best picture of any one of us ... but I think 2011 is my year to be introduced to amazing women ... and I'm thankful!)
- … and changed my perspective on children so profoundly that I’m still figuring out how it’s all going to play out in my day-to-day living.
- I’m over-my-head at work building the mommyandmemontana.com website (that will be launching in about a week if I can ever find a time to call dreamhost and figure out the final steps!) – stay tuned for the launch!
- Oh … and I’m 18 weeks pregnant. So then there’s that.
- Aaaaand … after being gone for a week, the LO’s hair grew long enough to wear her first ponytail!
But back to the seminar … because of all the things happening in these past five weeks, the event that had the most profound affect on how my life is unfolding is what happened over the course of 7 days in Wyndmere, Pennsylvania, at The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, a non-profit organization that has, since the 60s, been working to rehabilitate severely brain-injured children.
(me with Glenn Doman, his wife and daughter Janet Doman ... the powers behind the gift of the Institutes)
They’ve had incredible (unbelievable, actually) success teaching blind children to see … paralyzed children to walk … and profoundly brain-injured children to read. Their work with kids with Autism is amazing. And Cerebral Palsy. Downs Syndrome. And the list goes on and on.
Three times a year, they invite parents of well-children to get a glimpse at their work and it’s amazing what happens.
The movement is called The Gentle Revolution … which presupposes that we can create a more peaceful world if we raise our children to be a more peaceful generation (i.e., give them access to their own god-given potential). And here’s the gist:
Lessons from the Gentle Revolution that seem so obvious we shouldn’t have to learn them:
1 – if you love a child, she will spend her life loving.
2 – if you show a tiny child respect, she will respect her world.
3 – if you tell a tiny child the truth, she will live her life honestly.
4 – if you teach a tiny kid to read, she will spend her life loving to learn.
5 – if you feed a tiny child good food and teach her how to move her body, she will have a lifetime of good health and happiness.
I know I sound like a PSA for the Institutes … but it’s a challenge not to after witnessing their work.
Anyway … I’m back … and I hope to see you around the blogsphere again soon!
Q: What’s the one thing you looked for when buying (or renting) your home … the non-negotiable, gotta have it, thing that you can’t live without?
