Walking the Highway

Here is the song that Mouse wrote (in the most recent post), performed by Mouse and her good friend in her bedroom:

Poems and Songs by Mouse

Baby

A baby is joy and laughter
all concealed in one small
bundle of soft baby skin.

It is the beginning of a life,
the beginning of many
birthdays (and cake) yet to come.

Someday, they will become our senators and our priests, our deacons
and our presidents.

And someday, maybe, they will grow up
and become mothers and fathers
to another
baby.

Even in the most hard-hearted
mothers and fathers, babies are able
to weave a thread of everlasting
love,
in a parent’s heart. And eventually, the thread will weave itself
into a blanket of love. So many people wear that blanket, and the ones who do
usually give the baby
a blanket back.

Some Songs

Walking the Highway

Walking the highway,
on a rai – ai- ai – ny day,
umbrella in hand,
with me feeling sad,
walking the highway.

Splashing in puddles,
feeling all in a muddle,
you’re feeling so grand,
I’m feeling so sad,
why can’t we switch for a while?
You’ve got tons of fans that I haven’t,
you’ve got the better friends, too,
so maybe it’s time to establish
something entirely new!

Maybe it’s true
maybe they deserted you
while you were walking the highway
but don’t let that get you down, girl,
‘cause now I’m here in this town, girl,
the two of us, the two of us, two of us, two of us, two of us, two of usssss! Walking the highhhwayyy!

Rock and Roll

I’m getting higher above
the earth below
as I’m flying, flying, flying,
towards Albany’s home.

I’m gonna see the sights,
gonna rock and roll,
when I’m at – at – at – at
Albany’s home! Oh yeah, oh yeah, Albany’s home, oh yeah, oh yeah, Albany’s home…gonna rock and roll! Gonna rock and roll! Gonna rock and roll! Gonna rock and roll!

River, river

River, river, flowing, sparkling in the water towards the sea.
In the water swim the fish,
they get faster every swish;
the birds are gliding in the sky,
then I see the frogs hop by!
Then on the flowers are the butterflies,
then comes night, the owl comes out
hunting for mice and hunting for trout.

Then comes morning, birds come singing,
let it happen over again.

Why Don’t You Come Home

No one here with me to hold my hand
it’s almost too much to withstand.
Oh my sweet baby, why don’t you come home,
why do you have to go out and roam
beyond the valleys, beyond the trees?
Oh my sweet baby,
come back to me.

Losing You

It’s a loss and I can’t even bear it
it’s a sadness seeping to my bone;
to get it away, I just can’t scare it,
so let’s just say I’m done!

It’s just something I can’t admit
because it has just begun
my heart is everything but moonlit;
my soul just feels so barren;
He was so full of humor…
why, why did he have to die?
Why did he have to die?

Why did he have to die?

Why did he have to die?

Bear's Poems

Ice Cream

I like
eating ice cream
on a hot summer day.

The fantastic, refreshing cold
like ice.

Haiku

The good banana
delicious to be eaten
banana goodness.

The Grocery List

Cheese, cheetah chews,
apples and apricots,
cool canned carrots,
grand granola,
for free.

Tipping

The bucket is tipping
l
e
t
t           that water is
I                                   po
n                                       ur
g the water out then           ing

out
of
the
buck-
et
and

            onto the floor.

Poems by Jubilee Girl

(Seven-year-old Jubilee Girl has been working on writing poetry, with the goal of creating a book.)

The Apple Tree

A tree wiggles an apple—

The apple wiggles
and wiggles and it falls.

Crunch!

The Sea

The water splashes.

The waves swish.

But she swims

faster….

The sea is fun!

The Whale

Splatsh!

The whale…

Splatsh!

Oh the whale…

Splatsh!

Plop! Splooth!

Spray

Wish Star

Oh wish star oh wish star.

I will tell you my wish,
but keep it a secret—
oh I forgot!

Brothers and Sisters

She did it!

No fair!

You guys stop!!

Rrrrr….

He hit me!!!

nooooooooooooooooo

(sorry and sorry)

'Every day is a good day'

Today Alleluia Boy and I ran some errands, and we ran into an old friend working at one of the stores we were visiting. I asked him how it was going, and he said, "Every day is a good day...some are just better than others."

I was really struck by that line -- what a positive attitude! And how true, especially if we have ever had a brush with a perspective-changing crisis (cancer, a brush with death, etc.). This particular friend -- I will call him Joe -- is someone we met at the local Catholic Worker houses years ago. At first he was a guest, then a regular at evening hospitality. We still see him there and around town about once a week. Our friendship has grown gradually, as has our admiration for him. Without going into the gory details (which actually I am a little fuzzy on anyway), he has really come through quite a lot in terms of personal crises. For a while there, his life seemed like it could go either way.

Today, he's doing so well, no one at this major big box retailer would ever guess anything about his past history. In fact, he's one of the kindest, considerate, generous, gracious, cheerful people I know. He rides bike everywhere, I think because his license got revoked a while back and he never bothered to get it again, but you will never hear him complain, not even in the worst weather. He is also very gentle -- he reads "Winnie the Pooh" to our girls -- despite being very athletic (he did a triathlon last year). He is working in a good, upwardly mobile position, and makes his time with his teenage son (also a great person) an absolute priority.

He's just one of the many people we've been privileged to call friends as a result of our time at the Catholic Worker.

The photo up top? Totally unrelated -- Alleluia Boy taking a bath -- but it seemed to fit the theme: "Every day is a good day!"

(Also, I fixed the video of Starling singing "Bless the Lord" with the girls, two posts back.)

Alex's orphanage

I am re-posting this from the Adopting Alex blog, since not everyone who follows this blog follows that one, and this is a pretty significant bit of information....

Well, we didn't get a travel date today...it could come any day now, really...but we did connect with another family who is adopting another child from Alex's country, a 15-year-old girl who we were considering adopting at one point (in addition to Alex). And they have a connection to a U.S.-based organization, Serving Special Orphans, that visits that institution about once a year. Here are some videos from the institution; one is from Serving Special Orphans, the second is from another organization's 2008 mission trip, and the third is from February 2011 (also Serving Special Orphans).

Here is a link to the third video, which I can't embed:
http://servingspecialorphans.blogspot.com/2011/02/orphans-in-znamenka-sing-their-hearts.html

The woman who runs this organization has also described a couple of her recent visits; you can find those descriptions here: February 2011 visit (scroll down to last paragraph); June 2011.

I think the videos and the descriptions capture the complicated picture in the orphanages over there. On the one hand, you will see smiling and happy children there -- and that's good. On the other hand, you will also see children living in inhumane conditions. Another take-away for me...as the author describes, this orphanage is vastly improved over where it was 10 years ago. The trend is in the right direction. International organizations and the families who adopt these special needs children are contributing to that trend.