Blog Archives
TeenStreet in Uruguay has begun for the 8th time. We are excited to be doing the
“HUMAN ~ a quest for connections” theme.
Our program team pictured here is: Darwin, Facundo, Rosie, Giovana, Suzie, Dan, (and in the evenings we are joined by) Natie & Roland.
It is exciting as we have had all of them (except Natie – who daily joined us by skype) for one of our imagiNations trainings. We love our little Uruguay family!
Our yearly event for going to Bob & Kaye Sim’s Hidden Hollows to walk through their woods in all our winter ware, including our boots, scarves and gloves with hand saw in tow was a wonderful event again this year. We waited for Joshua this year, because we wanted to! Last year we had Kim and two dogs accompanying Dan, Josiah & I. This year, it was once again the 4 of us with Joshua too! We found a beautiful “fir” tree, and cut it down.
The trip was not uneventful as Josiah at the base of the tree in the lead and Joshua at the top, but got going too fast on the slippy ice. Josiah kept going on his own, once he lost Joshua in his speed. But the fir on his hat kept slipping down lower and lower. Josiah miscalculated the distance he was from the big flatbed truck and crashed his elbow into it full force, causing the tree and he to bounce on the ground, while we all watched. Note to self: “when running and your hat slips over your eyes, stop running!”.
We have the tree up in the living room, lights, decorations on and the hot drinks have all been downed in the process . . . now it is time for Christmas! Let the celebrations begin!
Joshua came into Detroit Airport at 6:16 pm after about 24 hours of traveling including 3 flights. It is so good to have the 4 of us together again! We are enjoying him!
Josiah went all out again for school spirit week . . . Wednesday was “Christmas Character Day”. Dan did an excellent job on make up and costume assistance. Teens in school told the “old man” they liked his hat, and didn’t realize he was a student! He was excellent in looks, character and walk. In the middle of the day we took him to the orthodontist, where he went in complete character too!. His graphics teacher didn’t recognize him and wanted to know if she could help him. That’s my boy, going all out!
Lisa Bruder, from Germany performs the song she wrote for the Girl’s “I am a Princess” meetings in November, 2009!
I am a Princess by: Lisa Bruder 2009
Verse 1:
D A2 (Dmaj7)
Lord, you’ve created me.
G C D
You formed my heart and gave me life.
D A2 (Dmaj7)
And you’ve made me beautiful.
G C
You know my heart and everything I am.
Chorus:
A2 D A2 G
Now I can run into your arms.
D A2 G
And you crown me with your love
D A2 Bm7 G
Cause I’m a child of the Highest King
C D
I am a Princess – I am a princess.
Verse 2:
D A2 (Dmaj7)
I can find love in you.
G C D
Find peace in you and everything I need for life.
D A2 (Dmaj7)
And I’m made complete in you.
G C
You satisfy me and you make me whole
Bridge:
Em7 G
You are my father, and you are my Daddy.
Em7 C A2
Now I can say: I belong to you – I belong to YOU!
Today is a multitasking day. This morning started out with our United Hospice Servce team meeting (and this photo taken for advertising purposes).
Though I am not working for Hospice these 6 weeks during imagiNations, I still go to the weekly meetings on Thursday mornings, so I can keep up with all the changes that are made.
After the meeting, I joined Dan who was teaching creativity (magic tricks and interaction skills). I stepped in and helped everyone with their ideas of transforming their clothing (from our trip to the thrift stores last week).
They are all at the Jr/High School right now on lunch visits to the teens they have connections with and are mentoring. We meet back for lunch . . . then on to ConneXellence!
Today was SIMPLE communication day, and the day for the imagiNations 2nd talk. They all did very well, and improved from last week. They put a lot of effort into the talks that reflected them and what they find interesting! 
Lisa inspired us that we can dance by discovering our “3 M”s”: Motives, Music, & Moves. She had us all dancing free style & a hip hop she created.
Roland swept us off our feet with whistles, short Uruguayan light blue shorts, and enlarged wallet dress shirt and great smells . . . telling us we should play soccer because of the benefits.
Facundo let us know we could enjoy photography by taking the 3 pictures: 1. Picture of LOOK, 2. Picture of DOCUMENTATION, and 3. PICTURE OF MEMORIES.
Giovana gave the talk that WILL change the rhythm of me in this coming week. She informed us that we all have a “biological clock”, an internal clock called our “Circadian Rhythm”. This rhythm is regulated by daylight. Our nervous system takes the daylight, through our eyes, into our brain, to the pineal gland which secretes melatonin, the sleeping hormone. Basically, if we are able to adjust our EATING and EXERCISE to the natural rhythm of our body, we can enjoy an healthier lifestyle.
So the basics of this cycle (what our body is predisposed to do best) is:
* between the hours of noon and 8pm should be our time to eat (before or after that it should be only fruit or low carbohydrates. That is when we should let our bodies take in and digest food.
* from 8pm to 4am is the time for our bodies to extract the nutrients that we have eaten. It is the sleeping time.
* from 4am to noon is when the body is gathering wastes and preparing for removal. When our bodies are in the right rhythm, we will generally have elimination at the same time daily.
* between 4pm and 6pm is the best time for us to exercise. Our muscles are more flexible, our reaction time is quicker, our blood pressure is lower, and our strength is at it’s peak.
So, I have taken the challenge to try to adjust to the Circadian Rhythm of my body. Let’s see how it goes, Giovana, thanks for the challenge!
We took an imagiNations outing to Frankenmuth, MI today . . . yes it rained and was cold, but we could still have a short tour in Broner’s (the largest CHRISTmas store in the world), have our picnic under a shelter, take group photos in our new imagiNations artisTREE hoodies, and even have an hour to spare walking down the main street.
According to Lisa (our German girl) there isn’t too much like Germany that she saw until we got into the main part of town:) We did our “exibitions” in the car on the way, and on the way back learned about our “human” theme for the week with fire as our symbol: “I am human. I battle. I live connected to my conflicts.” Near home, Lisa gave us HUGE belly laughs as we helped her “choose” here theme for her Wednesday talk: You can dance! 
Red & White day of Homecoming Week is the biggest and best . . . We were up late last night gathering parts for the costume, trying them all, and rejecting many combinations that just weren’t right. Josiah & I had fun with scissors, trying to get the cuts in exact circles (sort of) and making little “snips” in the surrounding areas. The sock combinations and shorts to go with the main element of the slitted shirt came together nicely. Then the head . . . his favorite red afro wig was not to be found, too much loaning out and no returning. So new options were tried, ending with a knit scull cap, which was the perfect one to go with the socks.
This morning came, and the outfit pieces that were laid out for the night were jumped into. Breakfast was consumed, and the artist painting of the TARGET began. Josiah was cushioned with the sheep skin and blankets laid on the table. Josiah was laid out, so he could hold still. He said it is much better than sitting in a chair. Dan made the beginning outlines / design in white. I painted white “M”s for “Marlette” on his already red fingernails and they were laid to dry on his belly. Then together, we both painted the red (notice I am not in the photos because I am the photographer). I did the red outlines near the white, and Dan filled in the red.
Kyle Mero (dressing up as Leaf Ericson) arrived and put his touches on his Leaf / Viking outfit. Dan & Josiah designed and created his shirt last night for him. He arrived to announce that it is “awesome”. We learned that Christopher Columbus gets a day for his discovery of the USA, where it was actually Leaf Ericson long before who was the original discoverer. So Kyle (who looks much like a hippee today) was celebrating his day. No red on him . . . but that is OK Kyle is an original.
I had to jump out from behind the bush as the two of them were walking to school . . . neither of them could stop for a proper photo of the full outfits. The one here was taken of them walking backwards, so they could get to the school in time to strut their outfits!
As Dan & I stood in the kitchen looking out the window at them entering the High School . . . we commented, “one more homecoming week has come and gone”. Only 3 more of these to go. There probably isn’t any other parents more involved in the preparation for Homecoming as we are. We also love this week. It isn’t only Josiah the TARGET!