Dear All,

You know I rarely ask for anything. Today I’m asking that you please consider donating to support our friends the Kulps as they do the WALK NOW FOR AUTISM SPEAKS in honor of their daughter Grace.

The Kulps are dear friends of ours who adopted their two beautiful daughters, Joy & Grace, from China. Gracie is autistic. We’ve learned so much from this family. Please support their support of autism research and activism.

The walk is Saturday. Please donate today!!!

DONATE HERE: Team Gracie Walk for Autism Speaks

This cause is near and dear to our hearts. As I’m sure it is to so many of yours. Even $5 would be a great symbolic message of the importance of autism research and support. Thanks for reading y’all,

~Heather

Tonight, on our way back to Sayre from the dining hall at Rathbone. This campus could not be more gorgeous. Trees flowering everywhere.

Yesterday was Lehigh’s 26th Annual International Bazaar. We had the best time.

Again, as with many other events (most recent example, Spring Fling), in years past our family had never attended the International Bazaar. I remember hearing about these things and always thinking, “Wow, I’d love to bring my kids to that,” but then when push came to shove we rarely did. It just seemed like too much hassle to pack everyone up, make the drive in (even though it was only 20 minutes), and take the risk of the thing being a total flop. Plus, to be honest, on the weekends I usually felt like I wanted to stay away from Lehigh and not run into students/faculty/staff.

I feel really differently about it now. Living here, it is so easy for us to just go do it. It is right in our backyard, our kids are 100% comfortable here, and there is no hassle. If it is a total flop, we can easily find something else to do or just go home. And I’ve done a 180 in my feelings about meshing (or not meshing) “work” and “home.” I’m feeling totally seamless in my ‘work-home-self’ these days; it is all running together; and I’m finding that it is much easier for me this way than in trying to separate it all out. And so, more often than not, we decide to just go for it. I’m so glad we went for it yesterday!

It was a really good time. We ate so much great food (we marvel in our kids’ willingness to try it all — and try it all we did — and it all we ate! the bambinos cannot get enough of this stuff!). We heard/saw great entertainment. We ran into so many of our favorite students. We had so much fun. The bambinos were in their glory loving every minute of it. Kyle, especially, was in heaven. “Mommy!,” he kept saying to me, “this is MY KIND OF THING!” “Mommy!,” he kept saying, “I love this!” He is all about soaking up everything he can in/about/of other cultures. This boy is a diversity junkie if I ever knew one. He is all about it. Kyle’s current obsession/fixation is where he’ll go for study abroad (“Mommy! What will I do?! There are just so many places I want to go!”). I’ve assured him we have a solid 12 years before we have to figure that out.

It was a beautiful day and we were so glad we went. Kudos to the Office of International Students and Scholars, all of the many student clubs and organizations who contributed to making the day amazing. Thank you from the J-Ms!

The past couple of days it rained and rained. But this morning we woke up to a beautiful clear day… and a campus in full bloom with daffodils.

We had been watching and waiting for the past couple of weeks. We watched as the first shoots of green peeked up through the ground. And we watched as the stems and leaves grew. And we watched as the blooms looked closer and closer to bursting. And now there are hundreds of thousands of daffodils everywhere we look all over our campus. It is amazing.

We know they won’t last long, and especially after the rain, many of the stems were leaning over. Meera and I decided today that it would be ok to cut some. We had so much fun. Meera has been waiting and wishing for this chance. Today she got it!

And tonight we have a vase full of gorgeous daffodils. Spring is in full bloom.

Ten years ago, when our niece Sadie was born, Braydon and I got in the car and made the trip from New Jersey (where we were living then) to Maine to see her. It was a very memorable trip. Sadie was twelve days old when we met her — so tiny. She was the first grandchild in our family, and I’ll never forget how precious she was. There is just nothing like a family expanding with a new child. There is nothing like seeing your sister with a brand new baby. And there is nothing like a newborn — it is such a special time for all involved.

So when my sister Stina approached her due date with her second baby, ten years later, I knew without any doubt that nothing was going to stop me from making that trip to see the newborn baby. And I really wanted my kids to know where I stand on the importance of such a trip: that when a new child enters the family we make all sorts of special exceptions (skipping school! missing work! re-arranging everything!), and we go all out (all out! way out of our way!), to meet the new member and mark the occasion. I want my kids to know that this is one of those milestone times in life where you just pull out all the stops. These things happen far too infrequently in a lifetime, and are much too important, to be taken lightly.

Lukasz Maksimowicz was born on March 15, 2013. Twelve days later we packed up and schlepped our kids from Pennsylvania to Maine to meet our nephew/cousin. It was a very special trip. We all were able to welcome our new family member and see his precious little newborn self right up close.

Kyle and Meera each got to hold Lukasz one time (precious photos above). And they were somewhat ok with that (I had tried hard to keep their expectations for holding-time reigned in). Owen got to hold him twice, but would have held him non-stop if he could have.

Much of the visit Owen spent doing something along the lines of this (see below!), just hoping against all hope that he could hold/touch/touch/hold that little baby cousin of his:

I am like Owen– It is hard for me to be around a newborn baby (let alone a new family member!) and not want to just snuggle him up! And Lukasz is just incredibly precious. Braydon and I took over 100 photos of our beautiful new nephew! I narrowed it down to these six favorites:

There is something amazing and breath-taking about seeing your own family’s family grow. Sadie is now a big sister! And Mark and Stina have a baby boy!

My parents have a new grandson!

And there are now 5 grandkids on the couch!

So, now, there is Lukasz. We have a new nephew/cousin. And all is good.

And we are so glad we made that trip. A once in a lifetime opportunity. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

(Below: my favorite picture from the trip — all four big kids crowd around to view The Changing Of The Diaper!)

It feels official: we’re in our third season in Sayre. Spring is here! These days certain boys (ages 8 and 18) are playing pick-up wiffle ball. And certain girls (ages 4 and 40) have broken out the bubbles. A new season begins!

Yesterday was Lehigh’s Spring Fling. This is a huge event for the local community (you can read about this annual event here). We had never been before (to tell you the truth, I never even ever knew about it before we lived on campus). So when Carolina Hernandez, the Director of Lehigh’s Community Service Office, invited our family to attend, I didn’t quite know what to expect. But I know Carolina, and I know she’s the real deal, so I wanted to both support her and her office — and check out what it was all about — so we went. Little did we know that we were in for such a treat.

It was amazing. It takes a lot to blow me away. And this thing blew me away. I was just totally impressed with every single aspect of the whole entire event. All five of us — as well as the 1,100+ community folks in attendance — had an absolute blast! Highlights for Meera: crafts! & she got to have 2 — yes 2! — pink cotton candy! Highlights for Kyle and Owen: pony rides! & finding a few of their friends from their Little League team and having an impromptu playdate with them on campus! Highlights for Braydon and me: a gorgeous sunny spring day & feeling genuinely good about this institution at which we live. THANK YOU CAROLINA! You are a sincere blessing to this place.

We go to a lot of sports events here at Lehigh. We have not been going to as many music events – particularly “classical” music events.  It’s in no small part that western art music is so darn white. Dead white (mostly male) composers, living white (mostly male) composers, white performers, conductors and audiences. It’s a bit of a bummer since there is so much awesome classical music – much of which completely informs the way we all hear music in the US today.

So, when one of Heather’s students, who is also a Gryphon (aka RA) in Sayre, and who is also black, let us know her senior recital of 20th century art song was today, there was no way we were going to miss it.

Frankly, I was concerned that our kids wouldn’t last.  I’ve tried classical/art songs with them in the car with very limited success.  And the audience expectations for live art music are absurd (and as a historical side note – sitting there, quietly dressed up with rules abou when you clap, is a pretty recent occurrence – and in my opinion one of the major reasons classical concerts are dying…but I digress), the lyrics often in foreign languages, the music in a “musical language” that  can also be a bit foreign to our ears.

But Arielle Leacock did an amazing job tonight.  Her diction in French and Italian was gentle but precise. After loosening up on the first song cycle, her pitch was spot on and her soprano filigree was executed  beautifully. Her voice is not large, but she makes good use of that characteristic and doesn’t push it – she makes you lean in, listen, pay attention and grab each word.

And our kids did just that.  Though Meera said a few times to Heather “…what did she really say?!?!” when it was in French (and those around us chuckled at that), the boys sat enraptured through the entire thing.

To see this beautiful young black woman in a gorgeous pink dress pull off a senior recital of 20th century Spanish, French, Italian and American art music with nothing but piano accompaniment.  That was really amazing.

In my first few years of teaching I had a bunch of students who had a profound impact on me. They taught me that I love to teach, and I will always be grateful to them for that. A handful of them hold a very special place — near and dear — deep down in my heart. I’ve always had favorites; students who have captured my heart and inspired me to go the extra mile; students who become unforgettable for one reason or another. But those first few ‘special students’ of mine are irreplaceable– they really do stand out as extraordinarily instrumental in shaping who I am, as a professor, today. To say I have a permanent soft spot for them is an understatement. At the tippy top of that list is my old student Oscar Guerrero.

During his Lehigh days, everyone on campus called Oscar “The Big O.” He was the biggest and sweetest guy I’d ever met. I was this tiny, brand new, professor. He was this huge, extremely popular, football player. We bonded over the sociology of race and class and education and inequality. By the time he graduated I knew him, and his girlfriend Jessica (now wife; due next month with their first baby!), and many of their friends, very well. During Oscar’s senior year Braydon and I were in the process of adopting Kyle and Owen. And then they came home, and Oscar got to know K & O a bit when he’d come back to Lehigh to visit Jessica (she was still a senior). That became another thing we bonded over: Oscar, like many of my students over the years, had a soft spot for my sons. And they shared the island of Hispaniola in common (Oscar is Dominican).

When we were choosing names for K & O, we chose “Owen” with Oscar in mind. In the photos we’d receive from Haiti, Owen always looked bigger than Kyle. Long before we got K & O home we always knew we’d call Owen “The Big O,” and this conjured up all sorts of warm and fuzzy and good feelings for me… my special student’s namesake.

Today Oscar came for a visit. I won’t go on and on and on about all the incredible things that he’s doing with his life, and how incredibly proud I am of this guy. Just trust me, it is awe-inspiring. Just a short visit with the original ‘Big O’ reminded me of just why I developed that soft spot for him in the first place. And it also reminded me that I have the best job in the world: To get people to think, and then to be able to watch all the incredible things they go and do with that?! What could possibly be better?

{Sidenote: We have this picture of Oscar holding Kyle when the boys were about 16 months old. Today I made sure we re-did it with a now smiling (and much bigger!) Ky Ky!}

Meera has had one too many bad experiences in the kitchen with pungent ingredients making her eyes sting and tear up. As a result she’s developed a full-fledged 4-year-old-phobia of cooking with (or even being around the kitchen during the cooking of) certain eye-tearing-up-root vegetable/spices — namely onion, garlic, and ginger. Last night she desperately wanted to help me cook dinner, but she knew the recipe (one of our favorites: you can find it here), involved lots of chopped fresh garlic and ginger. Dilemma! To cook or not to cook? Oh how she wanted to cook! But oh how scared she is of those dreaded eye-tearing vapors! Suddenly she had the most brilliant idea! Her swimming goggles! Yes! Problem solved. She cooked that dish right up — (and did a very good job of it, by the way!) — and then ate every bite on her plate. Cooking with goggles! Perfect!

The bambinos stayed home from school today, playing hooky to recover and re-acclimate after our pretty exhausting 5-day trip to New England. So… lucky, lucky, lucky them: the boys got to watch the first game of the season for the Red Sox. And… !!!…. it was an opening day win for the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium!! The game involved them sitting on the couch, chatting, eating, and generally acting like super serious Red Sox fanatics (while Meera played in her room and I worked at my computer in the kitchen). I think there were about 20 phone calls back-and-forth between these two Red Sox loving boys and their MorFar. And there were many exciting moments, complete with jumping up and down, fist pumping, extreme cheering, and intensive yelling at the t.v. Oh my word. Are they 8 or 18? And so another season in Red Sox Nation begins.

Owen, Meera, Kyle before church this morning, in the parking lot of Trinity Lutheran Church, Worcester Massachusetts

We just got home from a 5-day whirlwind trip through New England with major stops in Boston, Maine, New Hampshire, and Worcester. The highlight (and main point of the trip) was meeting our new cousin/nephew (post on that someday soon). Right now it is 10:32, the bambinos are asleep, the car is unpacked, 3 easter baskets full of goodies are sprawled out on the table, there is a mountain of laundry to do, Braydon and I are deliriously exhausted from a long Easter Day, and I am so grateful for so many things.

One of the many things I’m grateful for today is our Easter Sunday tradition. I have gone to Trinity Lutheran Church in Worcester, Massachusetts for church on Easter Sunday morning every Easter that I can remember of my entire life with only two exceptions (my junior year of college, when I was in Chile, on study abroad; and the year Braydon and I lived in Charleston, SC and I couldn’t afford to fly home). I think there were a couple of Easter Sundays early in my childhood that we spent at my mom’s parents’, but I don’t actually remember those. My dad grew up going to Trinity Worcester. Kyle, Owen, and Meera have never missed an Easter Sunday there any single year of their lives. And ever since he met me, in 1993, Braydon has only missed going to Trinity that one Easter in Charleston.

Singing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” and listening to the Hallelujah Chorus sung from the balcony of that grand place, knowing that this is what my dad did, what my grandparents did, what I remember doing as a child, and what my children are now doing, makes the work and annoyances and aggravations that sometimes come with keeping up with a tradition feel completely worth it. Hugging my grandfather today, seeing my cousins, seeing my kids hug their great-grandfather, seeing my kids play with my cousins’ kids… that’s the stuff right in the middle of the worth-it-ness of the whole thing. Because, honestly, keeping up a tradition like that takes a lot of commitment. But today, despite having been up since 5am, despite a total of 9 hours in a minivan on the highway, despite several near-misses with “bad backseat behavior” in the car, despite 3 stops at Dunkin Donuts, despite a couple of melt-downs from the youngest member of our 5-person-crew, despite a bunch of sugar-and-cumulative-exhaustion-induced-patience-trying-moments… not to mention the planning and packing and strategizing that go into a trip like this… despite all that fluff/nonsense/superficiality/detail… it is all so, so, so worth it.

At least until we can’t do it anymore, or until it truly doesn’t make sense to keep the tradition going any longer, until then– it will be Easter in Worcester.