Oct 18 C/YRE

Roots Class w/Marie:

So nice visiting with everyone today. The children have exciting updates for each other about what Halloween looks like this year in a year of doing things differently. We heard joy about fall gardens and hopeful family gathering plans, sisters that play violin really well, and learning new skills like weaving. So much life in our rose and thorn weekly shares. Thank you for being with us this morning. 

Today’s read aloud is The Two of Them by Aliki, a little girl is born and grows up making many memories with her grandfather, and after he dies, remembers and cares for his apple trees in his memory. We talked about remembering those we love when we lose someone. A memorial service is something we do at Wildflower, the children remember the service held for Gerry. My best memory of Gerry is how kindly he greeted me in my first visit to our church and everyday after doing his job as a church greeter. Sharing our stories of those we have lost is a very powerful way we can do deep listening together. 

Seedlings Class w/Piaf: 

This week we continued with our theme of Deep Listening by remembering our ancestors, friends, or pets that have died. How can we keep “listening” to those who pass on? What role does sharing our stories and memories of them play in this listening? Then we made connections between celebrations that honor the dead and the Halloween traditions common in this country. Finally, we played a new game, 15 Monsters in a Row, and revisited a favorite listening/drawing game from past weeks.

Wildflower Youth Group w/Solveij:

Today in Wildflower Youth Group we began with a land acknowledgement: “This year, we recognize Indigenous People’s Day by making space to Honor Native Land. We acknowledge that we all sit on indigenous land. The Tonkawa lived in central Texas and the Comanche and Apache moved through this area. Today, various indigenous peoples from all over the globe visit Austin and call it home. We are grateful to be able to study and learn on this piece of Turtle Island.” We shared about how indigenous friends, neighbors and family members are part of our communities today, many of whom continue their traditional values and practices. We also talked about alternatives to policing when it comes to people experiencing a mental health crisis and unhoused community members. Finally, youth brainstormed ideas for how to bring new youth to join us, including hosting small, in-person events and making posters, folding posters into paper airplanes, and sending them flying towards people at a park. 🙂