Why is it that I always get all these great ideas to blog about when I am on the treadmill or at school, but no where near my blog?  Then I get to my computer and my mind goes blank.  I guess that is just life - when the mind and body are moving, so are the thoughts and when there is a moment to rest, my brain rests too, lol.

The children are doing well.  Samantha is loving first grade and I am really happy with her teachers.  She is in the Montessori Lower Elementary program.  Her teachers get her and her thirst for knowledge.  She is already learning compound words, nouns, adjectives and writing in a journal.  Christopher is thriving on his own without Samantha.  He is engrossed in art right now - color mixing is the end all, be all.  I am glad to see him attracted to art - it is such a great form of expression.  Susanna loves her daycare.  It is set up like a pre-k class.  She has friends that she knows by name and is always coming home singing songs from school.  She was even invited to a bday party.  When we got there, she introduced me to all her friends.  Susanna freaks me out on a regular basis.  She can ride and two wheeler with training wheels and the other day she tells me she can see my epidermis.  When I ask her what that is, she smiles and said, "your skin, silly."  She is two going on twenty.

Ben is getting used to his new store.  He was faced with some staff who lack in the work ethic department - so he is weeding out and hiring.  He is so calm and even tho in his demeanor and a diligent person, so I have no doubt that in 6 months it will run smoothly like his old store did.  It just can be tiring going having a store going from not working to working well.

I love being at school.  I was born to be in the Montessori environment.  My head is always exploding with ideas and being with the children is so rewarding.  Altho, I still think of myself as a SAHM.  But then it dawned on me that all moms are SAHM in that all the responsibility of being a mom is there - it's just that there is time spent out of the home as well.  Working regular hours has certainly given me a new perspective as well as bumped my time management skills up a notch.  I do feel lucky that my workplace is where two of my children are and as of March all of my children will be with me.  They are not in my class, but I get to see them and I know all there teachers personally - which allows me to really know what is going on.  We also share materials, so some of what will be taught at the primary school (Kit and soon Susanna) is stuff that is mine - so via vi I get to teach them.  I can say for the first time in my life I feel like I am doing something with real purpose and this is what I was born to do.  I am so lucky that I am married to the man that I am supposed to be.  I love him, he is my best friend and we are two parts of a whole.  I have three healthy, wonderful loving children who I love more than life.  And now I am working, doing something that I love, that is for me as Wendy the person.  I am very, very blessed.

Spiritually, I have come out of the broom closet.  I am an eclectic with, pagan, earth-based woman.  This is how we are raising the children and it is the right fit for us as a family.  We follow the Wheel of the Year, which is Agriculturally based.  Altho we do celebrate traditional holidays and teach the children what they are about.  The most important thing is that the children know that there is more than one way of seeing things and although they may be different, all can be equally valid.  Tolerance.  Acceptance.  Non judgment.  Peace.  Global thinking.  These are the important things to me.  I have spent some time studying Wicca/Witchcraft.  Wicca is not for me - to many rules of being told what to do - altho I share many of the same traditions.  I like being able to think for myself and making up my own mind.  Right now I am studying the Chakras and mediation.  I feel a real pull to Eastern philosophies and that is where I am putting my energy right now.  I would also like to learn Reiki I.   

The fall Equinox is approaching - Mabon - celebrating the final harvest.  I will be taking the children to Fall Frolic, which is a pagan festival.  We will get to go to a Mabon ritual together, do some drumming and spent time out doors. Yeay.

Basically to sum it up, I believe that there is a higher power - probably genderless - but I think people see what they relate to.  Some religions see a male God, others see a female Goddess.  Some see both.  People may know God as Jesus, The Green Man, Allah... People may know the Goddess by 10,000 different names.  The point is to make a connection with something.  Climb the mountain - who cares how - it's the journey, not the destination.  Personally, I am feeling a closer bond the the Goddess.  I think growing up with more male God religions left me feeling short-changed, so that is where my connection is.  With the children, we teach balance - Goddess and God - Yin and Yang, Mother and Father, Positive and Negative.  This works for them and us.  And I fully respect that people that I know as well as complete strangers will have completely different views.  That is okay.

So there you have it.  Kids good.  Husband good.  Work good.  Wendy out of the broom closet. 

Peace.