Living Now, Looking Forward

Our kick-off awareness event, "Hoops for Haiti," at one of Chad's boys' basketball games was a heart-warming success.  The media took interest in reporting it, and thereby launched the wider Decatur Area support campaign for the work of Jamie and Ali McMutrie's "Haitian Families First."   (www.HaitianFamiliesFirst.org -- click here or on the icon in the sidebar.) 

T-shirt sales was the sole fundraising component, and today we prepared a check to be sent off to HFF in the auspicious amount of $2,012(topped off by a few extra bucks).  We hope this will provide some medicine for kiddos and families while we continue our work in the community, and across the U.S., to bring to fruition HFF's goal of a self-sustaining community center in the heart of Port-au-Prince.

Our grassroots committee is interested in visiting your civic organizations, fielding questions, and listening to your ideas.  Comment here, or email me at cs95cluver@sbcglobal.net .

Donations are great (see the HFF website), but moral support of HFF is equally valuable -- add your address to their private list on the bottom of their homepage "Stay Informed..." (3 seconds to do), and "friend" them on Facebook. 

Talk with your friends and neighbors. 

Follow the progress.

"Honor the Past by Changing the Future" (Commemorating 1/12/10)

  .  .  .  my favorite phrase in a bold new post by my good friend, Jean, on the new Haitian Families First web site -- click in, go to "blog" tab and take a read; what a quick, easy way to commemorate the Haiti Earthquake of two years ago today.  You will be moved -- powerful stuff!

http://www.haitianfamiliesfirst.org/

Share it on Facebook, sign up for their mailing list as a visible show of support, donate if you are able, Tweet about it, invite friends and family via email. 

Show support.
Spread the word.
Follow our progress.

(I'll be posting some day this month for HFF  .  .  .  )

Moved by this graphic.  Deeply.

Sounds of Haiti and Smiles All Around

Super fast read with awesome pics and two short and wonderful sound clips at

http://mytriptohaiti.wordpress.com/

Click and enjoy!

Lost in Translation

Jameson to Hunter (in a happy, teasing, brotherly voice to the older brother he adores), "You better be good or Santa's gonna bring you 'clue'."

"I mean 'clay.'"

"What do he bring?"

Stylin' T's

For a fun, easy way to support Haitian Families First -- order one of these crisp, white, happenin' T-shirts!  Net profits go to Haitian Families First, and you'll raise awareness for HFF wherever you wear it, not to mention lookin' pretty cool, too!  Hoops for Haiti w/ bball graphic on front, and the HFF logo with hopeful hands is the 3-color graphic on back.

If you live in the Decatur, IL area, just send a quick note to "Sherry Cluver; MFHS; PO Box 738; Maroa, IL 61756" indicating quantity and sizes (youth small through adult XXL) along with your name and phone number (so we can reach you when it's t-shirt pick-up time) and payment ($15 per shirt) made payable to "MFHS Boys' Basketball."  (At the conclusion of all shirt sales, my husband's ball program will write one check to Haitian Families First.)

A Catholic Christmas in Central Illinois

What looks more like Christmas time than a young girl in her Sunday best, covered with an additional wrap of heavenly white (extra bed sheet), her head topped with a golden, tinsel halo, and a pair of poster board angel wings?  Or shepherds (and in 2011, also shepherdesses) with their belted tunics and over sized crooks for corralling their flock?  "Little Gray Donkey" followed by "Silent Night" and other classic selections both sacred and secular.

Anna, Bay, and Jameson sang their hearts out while Hunter, not so much the performer, spectated from the pew with Mom and Dad.  We met back in the parish hall for a festive gathering and nourishment (cookies, sandwiches, hot drinks) put together by the ladies of the Altar and Rosary Society.  Perched upon the cold, metal, folding chairs, sharing time with community members young and old, we couldn't have felt warmer.

To Light . . .

Mario Batali jarred Tomato Basil pasta sauce -- ingredients:  "Plum Tomatoes, Fresh Red Onions, Fresh Carrots, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Basil, Fresh Garlic, Sea Salt."  Period.  Really.  Buy a jar, microwave in casserole dish while 50-50 whole grain penne boils.  Mealtime!  No preservatives, pastes, or artificials.  Um, and I found it at Wal-mart.  Seriously!

Indian and Pakistani snacks at the corner gas station, and three kids (American and Haitian) sampling them (still waitin' for the day that Bay is less timid of "new").

A second self-styled hairdo by oldest daughter -- this time the ENTIRE un-do, wash, condition, and style done on her own.  And she's got some imaginative 'dos -- good for her for so many reasons!

My Dad's humor  .  .  .  Explaining the holiday of Thanksgiving to Jameson a few weeks back, "It's when we give thanks for everything we have and eat all of it in one day."

Salt and pepper popcorn.

Stuffing!  I could live contentedly the whole of Thanksgiving on stuffing alone.

"Caramel Brulee" sprinkles that, upon request, can be strewn atop the whipped cream of any latte (like, um, decaf Cinnamon Dolce).  Love them seasonal sugar crystals!

A 3rd grader who typed an original story on the computer at school today while I worked in my classroom, and she knows what "genre" means  .  .  .  came home and created "illustrations" for her tale, and set up a "writer's binder" organized into sections for "typed" and "not yet typed" stories.

A 6th grader who asked "What color is a basketball?" as she sat down to paint  .  .  .  showing thoughtfulness for coaching daddy.

Feta and spinach pierogies!

The "new" Karate Kid movie -- "Being still and doing nothing are two very different things."

Christmas greens galore, trees, ribbons, stockings, candles, soft sofa blankets -- all in place for the cozy season!

The three youngest enjoying their kids' tree in the living room -- trimming (by all four) and then playing "I spy" over the ornaments.

Humungoid dinner rolls from Covington, Indiana's "The Beef House" -- couriered to us by a traveling friend -- carbo coma!

Hot, spiced cider.

The Muppets Christmas w/ John Denver music CD.

That fresh baklava, after frozen, thaws perfectly -- scrumdillyicious!

Pictures from Bay's teacher from the Veterans' Day assembly  .  .  . My LITTLE Bay  .  .  .

 

A Legit, Smart, Dignified Hand Up -- Haitian Families First!

Stolen from the "Haitian Families First" website:

"  .  .  .  families still overcoming the devastation of their country to find employment, supply their loved ones’ most basic needs, and provide for their children’s educations  .  .  . 

Once, a woman named Junia faced this devastating reality. Junia was raising two daughters on her own after leaving their father, who was abusive to her. A cook at one of Haiti’s few beach resorts, Junia was laid off one day when the company unexpectedly downsized. With no one to help her, she thought she would have to place one of her daughters in an orphanage while she looked for work to support her other daughter. She thought she had no other choice.

But thankfully, Jamie and Ali thought differently, and offered Junia a job working for their organization. Junia not only got to keep both daughters with her, she also got to fulfill a life-long dream: to work with children. Jamie and Ali also helped Junia raise the money she needed to send her daughters to school, something many women like Junia cannot afford to do.

Although she's a busy, working single mother, Junia recently took into her care another child, Jeremie, whose mother had died giving birth to him and whose father is unknown. Jeremie needed very special care—he weighed less than 2 pounds at birth—and Junia gave it to him. She plans to adopt Jeremie because, as she told Jamie and Ali, someone helped her, and now it’s her turn." 

(http://www.haitianorphanrescue.org/our_story.html)

Here's MY two cents, whether it's worth a hill of beans  .  .  . :
Damn, they're good!  You see, a lot of children can and should stay right where they are -- with their birth families who want to raise and parent them.  Too often families lose one another due to the singular factor of poverty.  There are also some children who do actually need a chance to have a family through adoption; they legitimately need a forever family, and the causes can be any one or several of many.  This is why a small (hands-on) operation like Jamie and Ali's Haitian Families First (HFF) makes the best sense -- they get to know personally the people to whom they extend a hand.  A not-for-profit, low-overhead organization (the McMutries don't even earn a salary) is able to focus without distraction on their aim of individualized and appropriate service with dignity.

Did it stop anyone else in their tracks to read the last line of the HFF website excerpt above?  "She plans to adopt Jeremie  .  .  . "  SHE plans to!  How often do we, service-minded folks, offer to fulfill the best hopes of a parent who placed their child for adoption by joining our families and stepping in as the child's new, forever family?  Or donate money to the orphanage that houses the kids until they move to their destinations overseas?  After we've been fortunate enough to be taught, and humble enough to learn that the numbers of children left to orphanages could be reduced through serious family preservation efforts, we may channel our resources in that direction.  How astounding it is, then, to see HFF empower a step beyond even that -- a hand-up to a fellow human who now stands so firmly on her own two feet that she is already paying it forward byhelping a tiny Haitian boy have his own new family within his native homeland, and a healthy future.  Her choice.  Her power.  Her dignity.

THIS is why I am so passionate about supporting the work of Jamie and Ali McMutrie.

Big Times for the Cluver Girls

Well, Wee Cluver Girl donned some red, white, and blue for the 11-11-11 Veterans' Day assembly at school, and despite being a bundle of nerves, performed nicely her reading part at the microphone. 

Older Sis' took to the stage in her choral part (in the Mission Band) in "Guys & Dolls Jr." for her middle school (hence the plain white blouse and black slacks -- h/t Rem & Karen), and two hours before heading out from home for the final performance, she got an uber, ginormous, shocking, can't-believe-it surprise visit from her dear Pittsburgh friend, Grace!

The Tjelmeland family was traveling from St. Louis back to Pittsburgh, and Mama Kay had prearranged with me for this delightful stop-by for the girls.  They hugged, and giggled, and talked, and hugged.  Gotta love girlfriends!  Chad and I had the chance to get to know Grace and her family and it was a really nice, relaxed two hours of interesting conversation.  Delightful!  We look forward to seeing them again when we make our way out east.

Bay and I attended the Friday night performance of Anna's play with my parents, Pap and Grandma Finch, where we encountered a family friend who is also a parent of one of my students, has a daughter in Anna's class (in the play), and younger children at the gradeschool.  She stopped to expound excitedly about Baylor's great job reading confidently, clearly, and proudly earlier in the day at the assembly;  Bay grinned and blushed excitedly.  Earlier that night, during our pre-play dinner at Panera, we ran into a couple of my parents' friends from Freeport who, by happenstance, were in this neck of the woods 2 1/2 hours from their home.  Sometimes I take better notice and pause to appreciate the people around me, around us, and it's comforting.  It grounds me, supports me, lifts me up.

Chad and the boys enjoyed the play Saturday night with Pap and Grandma Cluver, and so, for today's final performance, we did the drop-of, pick-up approach.  Reappearing at the school at the time of the final bow, I made myself available to help with tear-down and/or clean-up before leaving for home, and while I did what I was able, so many parents with power tools and know-how really make quick business of the real work.  I ran into the parents of several of the kids' friends and quite a few of my students, spent some time, in particular talking with the father and then the mother of one of Baylor's dearest gal pals.  (They have older children, also, one of whom was in the MS production.)  We smiled and shook our heads slowly as we appreciated how alike are our younger girls -- so full of energy and creativity; how they delight in each other's company.  Connections.  All of these connections that in the "to do's" of daily life I have taken not enough time to relish.

Friends from my old stomping grounds, friends in the community into which we've settled as adults, and new friends from my birthplace of Pittsburgh.  Reassuring.  Reminding.  Exploring.  Two girls at microphones -- stepping up and standing tall.  Roots and wings for the Cluver girls.  All three of us.

Lights

Twenty-ish "burning bushes" all around the front porch are now their autumnal, vibrant red.

The sun is out!

A daughter moisturized, combed, and styled her own hair (2+hours of work) for the first time -- with (wait for IT...) positive, helper-attitude!  (ALL the angels are singing a chorus of Amen AND Allelujia on this one.  Way seriously epic proportions of hooray.)

Have I ever mentioned that I like decaf coffee? 

A son is reading aloud, alone, and with fluency and inflection "Green Eggs and Ham."  Big jump in reading skills and confidence!  (BIG smile -- from us both.)

When the big $19.99 Target investment in a daughter's wardrobe

continues  to be as big a hit once home as it was at the store. 

(And is paired happily with last year's leggings and the $7 clearance boots.)

The $5 mini-pillow-pet.  Yes, Target.  Daughter had just enough allowance saved up for "Mango."



Strangely enough, one of life's delights (to me) is evidence that "Baylor's been here."

Notice the brand-new, unsharpened condition of the pencil -- certainly so as to assure that LilyAnn doesn't make any stray marks on the beloved coloring page of Jesse.

Rainbow princess, I believe in distress. Clone Trooper, scratching his knee? 

Pumpkin Princess all "Oh, no, you dinn't." 

Ninja revival ('stume of a few years back) with throwing star injury to the right orb.

Some of the boys' "Adoption Day" gifts.