It’s Native American History Month.
At the beginning of this year, I published a list of books by Native American authors to introduce kids to the original inhabitants of our country. People who were abused in every way, and yet survived and are still telling their stories.
Here are three more titles to read with your kids.
Last fall, I made a quilted vest by hacking the former Kochi jacket pattern, now called the Luna Jacket, from Papercut Patterns. I made enough alterations that the collar was the only thing that looked like the original. I still wear it often, but for some reason, when I saw Geri In Stitches Fibre Mood Irma, it occurred to me that maybe I hadn’t achieved the holy grail of quilted vests yet.
Just wait.
Your teenagers will make you laugh. Sometimes it will be because they were trying to be funny, and sometimes not. You’ll typically know the difference, which will make it even better.
They’ll introduce you to music you didn’t know existed. You’ll hate some of it, but sometimes, you’ll listen to the playlist they made on your phone even when they’re not around. Sometimes they’ll even surprise you by knowing one of “your” songs.
They’ll impress you with their perceptiveness. They’ll observe things about themselves, and you, your family culture, and the world, that will make you stop and think, or laugh in recognition.
There’s a store where we grocery shop that on a clear day with no traffic and all green lights, it takes ten minutes to get there.
On other days, it takes about 15 minutes. I made that number up, because while it hasn’t taken ten minutes since the one time it did, I refuse to do any real research about how long it actually does take — anything more than ten minutes will be a disappointment.
Since it’s centrally located in an area with a number of other places we go to sort of regularly, I always have that ten minute drive in my head whenever I’m headed that way, as a sort of measuring stick for planning when I’ll need to leave to get to a counseling appointment, how long to give myself for a trip to the craft store, or figuring out a trip to that place that has a bull’s eye on my wallet.
A safari truck came to pick us up on a Sunday morning from our lodgings – I don’t want to call it a hotel, but it also kind of was. Called Ndaza Escape, it’s located in Kinigi, Rwanda. It had three rooms and was really nice.
The safari truck driver took us to the welcome center at the foot of Mount Bisoke where we’d meet our guide and the rest of our group.
This was an act of trust. The Chaplain and I knew the hike would take all day, but we had no idea about the elevation or the level of effort it required, and we hadn’t packed proper mountain climbing clothes. We knew we’d be hiking, but didn’t realize we’d be climbing a volcano.
