The sun is shining.

Well, it is a lovely shining day, but we are studying for exams.... Dane seems to have found something called tenacity. Tenacity is a wonderful thing when it is motivated by the fact that if the goal is met there will be a period of rest. I am looking forward to summer vacation as well. I have some serious painting that I want to do. I have a night jungle scene made of 3 panels complete with jungle plants and wildlife. I also have the Blue Footed Boobies doing the night club scene. I also want to do a 4 panel painting of life outside the cathedral of Banos. I would like to do that one as I would be poking fun at the tourists. I am thinking that I would do it in the tradition of "People that I have Know" series but also follow it up with writing a short book about how I get the painting done. It is often that people ask where I get the inspiration and want to know how I think. I also think that this will be a very abstract and silly book as that is how I think...... Doing this painting would take a good break from doing the animal paintings and have a little bit of fun. But this would be a giant project. I am thinking that it would be three panels on the bottom of the front of the church and courtyard and the third above the middlish 2-3 to show the spires of the Cathedral. I am also looking at getting more exercise. I have been playing hermit and rarely going out. I would like to feel my muscles working again. The dogs would like us to be exercising in the mountains again too.
I have been looking and researching and buying acrylic paint off of Ebay. I have done this for several reason. A) I don't want to spend tons of money on art supplies and B) I don't want to spend my time in Canada shopping. Oddly enough, the only places that I like to shop are in second hand stores. I like second hand stores as it is a great place to get new ideas and find inspiration to create more. The kids also love shopping there. Going to second hand stores are like having an adventure. Hunt and seek and create.
Speaking of second hand stores,...... a dear friend of our family is in transition, she is going to leave the planet soon. We were just informed the other day that she has cancer and that it has spread through her entire body. We were all heart striken at first and then decided to remember to honor her life with the fond memories of sharing time with her. She is a wild, and wonderful individual living life totally by her own terms. She loves intensely but also lightly. She is crazy fun and is living with passion. She is also a wild card. We lovingly and admiringly nicknamed her "Mustang....." I learned so much from her, especially: accepting people for what they are, calling a spade a spade and they either are in your life or they are not, Don't cry over spilled milk, because life is meant to be lived not sobbing about the could have been. She has done things in her life that no way, things that I could have done, and that is awesome. She has intense bravery and ballsiness that if you knew her you would totally understand admire and sometimes be shocked. She is. Thank you for letting us be apart of your being here and kicking me in the butt to open my eyes to other possibilities and not to be so closed minded.
On that note, I am looking forward to my choice of teaching the kids but also having a summer break. Yipeeee. For those of you who don't teach you can never understand the releif of summer holidays. I don't even understand it, but it will feel so good but also very strange.
I will go back to my Ecuadorian coffee, and my schooling and studying on a Sunday for Science exams. Dane has a much different way of thinking than I do. For one thing he thinks almost compartamentally, and does really well in boundaries, but he also NEEDS the freedom to have free thinking and exploring, hey wait that is like me.....ooops. He totally understands chemistry (never me, as he explains it to me and corrects me) and physics. I don't really worry about the outcomes of tests as I see him understand the concepts and use them in daily life. Tests often don't show how much a person learns for the most part but how much they memorize. I focus on having the kids learn to think and figure it out. But here in this moment, when memorizing is important, we will focus on memorizing. I also love tests that are confusing with their wording, they make you think and often I fall for that trap. I am dyslexic and ADD so I already have issues about reading with confusion. I would have loved all my tests, when I was young, to be done verbally. I would have aced them. But that was not so. Often in school when I finally figured out what was going on, I totally got it and could also apply it to my life, and often it stayed with me even now how many people can say that they remember concepts from highschool?????. Dane also thinks that way. I remember one time in my youth, (there were many times where my symptoms of my learning issues were more prevelent than others), this time a so called friend of mine, who was taking teaching in university, came over to my house to help me study. She said that her teacher felt that people with learning issues like me, were just lazy and that is why they did badly in school. This is just after I said an entire sentence,,,, backwards.... I remember the feeling of rejection and shock and praying that those people like me would NEVER end up in her classroom where she would be a part of the destruction of those whose self esteeme was already damaged just by not learning like everyone else. I am so thankful that I can be here to help my kids who both have learning issues, and will not ever have to be victims to that kind of person. I am also thankful that both Dane and Rachelle are now in a school system like Heritage Christian Online School (plug for my friends) where they are for the first time helped and encouraged through school and are helping me too, with kindness, patience and understanding. I thank you folks for being there, if you are reading this. Normally I never drop names for plugs but these people changed our lives for the better. So for those of you who are thinking of doing homeschooling, look their way and they, I am sure, will try to help you find your way. So nuff said, back to my coffee and chemistry and studying.
Try to live your life inspiringly not only to yourself but to others, love well
Robin