Welcoming 2012...

...with a little shot of performance joy. 

It's been awhile since I've spent time here, and as is always the case when that's my reality, I have missed my little blogging sphere, much like an old friend.  These days there is little creative room in my daily schedule, and the right side of my brain is beginning to feel the pinch.  I am hoping to make the necessary adjustments in 2012 to gain a better sense of "brain-balance."

Meanwhile, it's been (and still is) great having our whole brood home for the holidays and having a few days off from work.  This holiday season our entire family (with the exception of Job, whose semester ended too late in December) participated in the Nutcracker performances of Maia and Montgomery's dance school.  Although there are parent roles every year, and Maia has danced with this dance studio for about eight years or so, Craig and I have always held back because of the rehearsal schedules and the fact that there has usually been a very small child in our arms.  We had promised Maia, however, that we would participate at least one year before she graduated high school.  Well...she's a senior this year...sooooo...this was the comeuppance year.

Surprisingly for the two of us, other than the stress of timing and family schedules with the rehearsals and other holiday season activities, we all had a really good time.  We just might do it all again next year too.  I'll post more on our Nutcracker experience in future posts.  The photo above is just a small slice of those festive days: Montgomery, of course, costumed out as a "small peppermint from the Land of the Sweets," enjoying some giggle time with her fellow mint-lets...and loving wearing the required stage makeup!  You'll notice that she's lost her first tooth since my last post in October.  That was a funny story, one I'll try to be sure to tell in days to come.

(By the way, Maia begged me not to post this particular photo because she thought Montgomery's make-up left quite a lot to be desired that day, and then she insisted on applying Gommy's makeup herself from then on...so her baby sister wouldn't look -- in her words -- "jacked-up."  Teenagers!)

Take care.  Much love.  Happy New Year!

This Land

This photo speaks to me on so many levels. As I think about what September 11th means to us as a nation and to me personally, my mind roams to the beauty of the American people in the days and weeks and months following that awful tragedy. My heart fills with more of the joy of solidarity than with the remembrances of grief. Perhaps I have that luxury because I did not lose anyone close to me on that day. Or perhaps I have that remembrance because we are so often a nation divided, but in the aftermath of that tragedy we were so much more a nation unified...unified in supporting each other and helping each other, and in many ways appreciating each other more.

Perhaps I have the luxury of that sentiment because I am not a Muslim American and did not experience the suspicions and backlash of that day.

Our world is very complex and there is much I cannot fathom.

The photo above is of Montgomery playing in the street at our neighborhood's 4th of July bike parade this summer. At the end of the bike parade, our local fire station opens the hose in a primary neighborhood intersection while the kids dance and play in the spray, and a local church on that corner hands out free red/white/blue ice pops to the crowd. Usually the hose is mounted on top of the fire truck (just out of view on the left of the photo) and sprays in the air at varying intensities, creating showers that sprinkle or drench. The kids love it!

This year, however, something wasn't working properly on the truck's mounted sprayer, so the firefighters took turns on the ground holding the hose for the spray action. This is by far not my best photo of that day, but it is the one that compels me to linger for a moment. When I look at this photo, I almost don't even see Montgomery in the foreground, because the scene in the background always captures me.

For African Americans, fire hoses hold many disparate memories, but often the first one that leaps to mind is negative. The horrible images, and for some, the horrible memories, of fire hoses, created to protect and defend, but so often in the 1950's and 60's used to inflict pain and preserve a way of life that desecrated the ideals of our unique nation, are what instantly leap to mind. As a native of South Carolina, that is often the case for me.

So this photo, of an African American firefighter, holding a hose on (at that particular moment) Caucasian young people, always gives me pause. And then my eyes roam to the other firefighters and the easy camaraderie their body language displays, and the relaxed crowd all around, and the mother squatting in the lower right corner to take a photo of her children...and my daughter Montgomery, happily oblivious to anything but the fun of this particular day. There are no mixed messages in her mind when she turns to see the fire hose. She is living the dream of the dreamer, and doesn't even know it: "I have a dream that one day... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Of course, one day I will have to show her the photos and footage from the Civil Rights movement, and plant that awful fire hose imagery in her mind. I will have to do this because a people who forget their history are doomed to repeat it, and in my motherly love and protection for her, I never want her to experience a fire hose turned in her direction for anything other than protection...or a little 4th of July fun. I need her, we all need her, as part of our nation's future, to know and remember all aspects of our country's history, both the wonderful and the awful, so that hopefully, we, as a nation, will never be doomed to willfully repeat the awful.

But...

...not that day...

...and not today...

...and not this year.

There will be time enough yet for her to know the uglies of the human heart.

And, so, on this September 11th, I choose the remembrance of the unification of the American people. I choose to see the silver lining. I choose to hear over and over again in my mind the lyrics of Woody Guthrie's old folk song...

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California to the New York Island

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

While all around me a voice was sounding

This land was made for you and me.

And I choose to delight in a photo that speaks to me something of how far our nation has come. We have much road yet to travel...but we have progressed.

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord..." Psalm 33:12a

Much Love. Take Care.

Hanging Out POP

Here's a POP (Post of Previosity) from Thanksgiving weekend 2009.

Our family tries to take an annual Thanksgiving photo and has totally given up on any kind of dresswear. We try to all wear the same color tops at least, to give the appearance of some kind of photo session foresight, but it's truly all about the casual with us. It was a liberating moment for me when I figured out some years ago that photos are about the people, not the attire...from then on I much better enjoyed taking family photos, rather than dreading the process (and pomp) of them.

The photo above shows our hometeam pride...Baltimore Ravens BABY (Craig is a self-described "Ravenoid"...his personal term for a rabid Ravens fan!). The kids were clowning around in my parents' backyard and their grandfather captured this fun shot of them. We used it on our emailed invitation for a 2010 New Years Day gathering, inviting folks to "Come on over and hang out with us!"

That was fun.

Much Love. Take Care.

 

I Know My Redeemer Lives!

...and He loves me!

and...He loves you!

There's a song I sang in church growing up in South Carolina and the refrain went: "Look to Jesus, look to Jesus, look to Jesus now and live!"

Hebrews 12:2 reads..."Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

 King James Version (KJV)

What was His joy? Eternal relationship with us was His joy. You are His joy! I am His joy! We are His joy!

The Amplified Bible (AMP) puts it this way..."Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.^(A") 

How amazing to be the joy of Jesus.  Look to Jesus now and live!

I know my Redeemer lives!!  How awesome.

Happy Resurrection Day!

Much Love! So Much Love!

A Neighborly Nicety

Look at these adorable bunny cookies! Such a sweet surprise from our good neighbors to the south (Johngideon's fun-tastic block buddies) Connor and Carson (with their nice Grandma Evelyn's help).

They're actually made from a stiff pound cake recipe...delicious!!

Needless to say, they didn't make it very long in our house.
(By the way, no we did not adopt a child...the other little girl in the photo is Montgomery's school ace Isabella, who was spending the day with Gommy.)

Take Care. Much Love.

St. Patrick's Day at "Big-Girl" School

Montgomery didn't get pinched today!

Take care. Much love.

 

POP

Thought I'd continue in the same vein as yesterday...

Easter 2007...the whole beautiful brood!

Can you tell we take it cas (that is, casual) in these parts

...quite a bit different from my coastal S.C. upbringing!

Hmmm...never noticed that leaf hanging off of Josie's head before...

...as he's the jokester in the family, that probably was not accidental  :o)

Here, let's try this one...

We were all hanging outside a bit after church, enjoying the really nice weather.

That's the cozy carriage house in the background...a nice, quaint, 2-story,

2-bedroom feature of our old home that I really miss.

While we're at it, let's call the roll of all the friends and family

who've lived there over the years:

Auntie Danise

(Job's godmother and my beautiful close friend from college)

Auntie Adriene

(Johngideon's godmother and my beautiful close friend from early adulthood)

Auntie Joanne

(Josiah's godmother...and the only real-live-actual-family auntie in the bunch

...and yes, she's the same frequently mentioned "auntie" of our blog)

Uncle Desmond

 (nobody's godfather!...just kidding Des...

...an awesome family friend from our college days)

Grandma Tee

(everyone's grandmother...Craig's mom who came to give me a hand

when I was adjusting to life with five children, just after Montgomery was born)

and

Ms. Bobbi (someone else's close family friend who came with

her vicious dog "Kujo" (not his real name but should have been) 

and her portable six-foot-high fence to keep him from killing our children

...while she went away on business trips to other cities

...needless to say, that didn't last too long...but longer than it should have!)

Craig and I used to joke that because we moved to Baltimore with no family

and knowing next to no one, we brought out "own" family village with us

through the series of carriage house residents over the years.

Maybe so, but they all enriched our lives immensely in the process

...and we like to think we've enriched theirs too!

Much Love. Take Care.

 

POP!

Easter 2007

Job and Montgomery playing on the tire swing at our old house.

Montgomery's wearing a sweet little smocked dress that Maia wore
when she was that age...I'd kept it...just in case.

When I find the photo of Maia in the dress, I'll be sure to share it.
Meanwhile, aren't Gommy's chubby little baby legs just beautiful!

So, it came to me a few days ago...just what I should call these
occasionally frequent random "blasts" from our past...that is to say,
posts of photos that are more (sometimes much more) than a year old...

How about a Post Of Previosity?
More simply known as a "POP"

I like that.

Hope you do too.

;o)

Much Love. Take Care.

  

A Homemade Valentine...Always the Best Kind

Art class...week two...Johngideon is loving it...so are we!

Happy Valentine's Day.

Take Care. Much Love.

 

Poignant Performance

Well, (sniff) it was joyously sad watching Joby perform in his last school holiday concert in late December. We've been watching him perform every Christmas season for the past 7 years. This year he sings baritone with the a capella group, the Ipso Factos. Although primarily a capella, they enjoy rousing piano-accompanied Christmas and Hanukkah carols from time to time as well.

I am proud that he has managed to hang in there and stay with the choir even as life pulls him in so many different directions; many seniors who'd been in choir with him for years dropped out this year. There are so many enriching benefits to singing in a choir and I think he finds it a peaceful oasis in an often hectic schedule.

His school advisor for the past two years is also the high school music teacher and choir director (not to mention also the coordinator of a merit summer enrichment scholarship initiative Job's earned a spot in), and the layering of roles has been a wonderful blessing in Job's life. Mrs. Harcum truly loves music education and she loves each of her students just as they are. Needless to say, we love Mrs. Harcum.

We must have worn poor Johngideon out traipsing from one sibling performance to another that day, so this is how he spent most of Job's performance...

Josiah and Grandma Tee, however, had a different appreciation for the music.

Sing on, Joby!

Much Love. Take Care.

MLK Day...and Maia's Misfortune (maybe?)

Despite my intentions the day after MLK Day every year to plan wonderful activities for the next year to make sure the kids appreciate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr and how his life's passion has affected theirs, I have yet to make really good on the action. Today, Josiah and I watched a documentary on his life (from the 1970's!) that impressed Josiah on how much Dr. King was a regular man (yes, with family and fun times and flaws and all)...I think knowing he is more man than legend has blessed Josiah. I talked a bit about what Dr. King stood for with Montgomery, but she was a little confused with the idea -- or maybe it was the way I presented it -- and she wondered aloud "I thought Jesus and God were the best?" I tried to clarify. Hopefully I got the general idea across.

Job and Maia were both out for the day with various necessary activities (more on that below). Johngideon watched bits of the movie with Josiah and I, but it was a little intense (and boringly age-inappropriate) and so, unable to find anything better to show him from home, I made do with Mommy commentary too. Once again, hopefully I got the general point across. Next year, we do better!

What impresses me most about the life of Dr. King is that he got up every morning in the midst of such turmoil and concentrated negativity (dare I say evil?) and pressed on. Its that daily pressing on that resulted in a legacy of such intentional purpose and progress. Our generation has quite the luxury comparatively speaking. Surely we can get up every morning and press on.

One thing I've learned on my journey is that a misfortune is often a prelude to an opportunity.

Over the holiday season, Maia is truly performance central. For the first time, however, due to school performance conflicts, she had to miss her tradition of performing in The City Nutcracker...this would have been her first year with Montgomery  :-( ...which was rather disappointing to us all. She was scheduled though to perform in something like 17 or so shows of The Nutcracker with the Baltimore School for the Arts, but landed funny on pointe in a rehearsal the day before the first show, and ended up nursing a hurt foot for the entire Nutcracker season. This is what that first weekend looked like for her...a couch instead of a stage.

Assuming it was simply a pulled tendon, she avoided the point performances, but still had a great time doing many flat-footed Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) Holiday Spectacular performances over the next two weeks. She was great! From our nose-bleed seating, I couldn't get photos of her in the aisles in the outrageously awesome Vegas showgirl costume, but I delighted in my photos (flashless, of course!) of her as a tap-dancing Santa one Sunday afternoon...

She also played the "big-headed" Santa in that show as well (yes, that's actually what the cast affectionately calls that role!)...

 ...she is such a wonderful performer and entertainer!

 So gifted...

...and such a joy to watch!

Craig, Johngideon and I darted out of that show early to make it to Job's school for his holiday a capella group concert (photos coming soon) and then I made a mad dash back to a different theatre to catch the tail end of Gommy's last City Nutcracker peppermint performance! Whew!! And that was just ONE day of the logistical whirl...what a ride...but what wonderful experiences for all our performers. We are blessed. On the way out of the BSO, I snagged a photo of the lobby screen showing Maia's final role of the day, a toy soldier...

...and Johngideon hopped in the Santa chair for a super quick holiday photo...I think he was starting to drag a bit by then.

Craig decided to join him for a shot.

And then, today, after a few weeks of a foot that just wouldn't bounce back to normal, and after an orthopedic visit and MRI appointment last week, Maia came home this evening after an orthopedic follow-up, looking like this...

Turns out she's got a broken bone in her foot, one that apparently only dancers on pointe manage to break. The call from the orthopedist last Friday said it was a fracture, but a good look at the MRI films today showed the bone was actually broken, and he's put Maia in crutches and an immobilizing boot for two weeks, to be followed by six weeks of just the boot after that! Poor Maia. So much for the dance performance in Los Angeles at the end of this month! She'll still go (the tickets are paid for after all!) but it'll be for the experience of being surrounded by that wonderful IABD dance community, not to take any classes or perform. She'd hoped to just make it through the main performance, but the doctor says this bone is a tough one to heal, and if it doesn't heal on its own she'll require surgery. I think she'll have to be good and wear that boot!



Waiting and watching for the opportunity just around the corner from this apparent misfortune...will testify on the praise report as soon as we know it!

Take care. Much love.

2011!!

Happy New Year! So grateful and blessed to see 2011 roll in! 2010 was an interesting year, fraught with challenges yet rich with blessings. I imagine that is the whole of life, joyfully experiencing the wonder and delight of the journey while participating in the learning and growth that comes from navigating the potholes and rough places along the road.

I was determined that no matter how busy our lives became, I would not let a month pass between updates...so, I'm skating in just under that wire, but with a hearty new self-challenge: daily blogging! Think I can pull it off? Not so sure myself, but want to give it the old college try. Life seems so fast-paced these days, I want to be sure to take a daily pause to marinate in the wonder of it.

So, that's my 2011 fun challenge for myself...lets cyber-toast to new beginnings!

Mid- to late-December for our family was saturated with holiday performances. But, while logistically challenging, they were delightfully heart-warming, poignant, entertaining, sweet, and rather soul-feeding. All of the Bedford children did their things and I did the Mommy thing and captured it all on film (well, on nano-technology :-)

Moskie performed with his trusty trombone in several holiday concerts. From my "arriving-not-so-early" vantage point at his school's auditorium, it was hard to get a performance photo I could really see him well in,

 ...so I settled for some behind-the-scenes shots to capture the moments...

...until his band went to perform at our city's school headquarters -- a smaller setting that provided a great opportunity to capture him and the brass in action!

Wow, a bit of a solo too!

You did great, Moskie!

And here's Josiah with the best band teacher ever! We feel so fortunate to have Mrs. Schmitt at OUR neighborhood school. She goes the extra mile and then a few more for these musically interested kids. We think she's awesome!

And of course, after performances, there must be grub! This sweets reception might just be Josiah's favorite part of the whole performance idea...so many sweets, so little time....

...better take up residency at the sweets snack table with a best bud, Emmett...

...but gotta take a grub break to horse around...

...then back to the snack table!

 (The subject in the mural behind Josiah is rather interesting;

 they must have the same barber!)

;-)

I think Johngideon was in sweets satisfaction too!

More on performance central tomorrow...so many starlets to choose from...wonder who'll show up next?

Take care. Much Love.