Superheroes Like Jax

Today I'm over the moon because our friend Jet Stream Jax is at it again, 
working with intention and purpose to be the rainbow in someone's storm.

Photo courtesy of Kids For Peace
This morning we set our alarm a little bit early to catch him 
on the Channel 13 ABC Houston morning news. 


With so much bad press looming in our world today, I am grateful that this reporter came to Bales Intermediate to let Jax share our story of restoration and recovery, of healing and of hope. It's fun, too, that they filmed in our Leadership Central learning space and enjoyed an impromptu jam session in our ukulele lab.


It makes my soul sing knowing that our world has
superheroes like Jax.

And while I feel Jax has a special and rare quality about him, I also tend to think that there are more superheroes like him than we might ever imagine, 
on the periphery, just waiting to be discovered,

SUPERHEROES on display in the front office at Landolt Elementary.
to be given a voice,
to be empowered to cape up, and
and to be afforded opportunities to come to the rescue.

Tonight I'm going to sleep with a hugely happy heart,
filled with hope for a better tomorrow 
because of superhero helpers like Jax. 

Thank you, Jax, for spraying a high-level jet of 
kindness, compassion and care wherever you go
and for taking the world by storm to make it better.

You are my hero.





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Supersizing Kindness

Today I woke up energized by the incredible week of kindness we've had. The hurricane may have detoured our lives for a bit, but it hasn't damped our spirit. On Monday, we started this year's counseling classes with a meet-the-counselor and storm debrief feelings lesson. We really enjoyed Marianne Richmond's 


I told my students this story; when I first saw it in the stores I didn't buy it, because my students aren't littles, but middles. {For fun, I did rearrange the books on display at our local Barnes & Noble to seize a photo opp for a shot to send to the author.} 
Just days later, Hurricane Harvey blew through and this treasure trove of courageous things took on a whole new meaning, so back to the bookstore I went to purchase a copy for us and am I ever glad I did. 

My favorite line might be, "Be brave to be scared," although the page about being brave to be with our feelings is a strong second. Actually, the entire text and its beautiful illustrations {especially the girl on the tree swing!} are picture perfect. I absolutely loved reading this rhyming gem aloud; check it out because I think you'll connect with it, too. 

Compare and contrast it with these titles. 



After our discussion, we each chose a comfort card to take home,


from this creative collection from all over the nation.


We have been incredibly touched by everyone's generosity and love; here's our visual to show students and stakeholders where each seed of kindness was planted.


By Monday afternoon, the map was up on our wall of fame,


just in time for our friends from Kids for Peace to arrive.

They met my friend Jax; click the picture to donate to his Harvey Relief Fund.
Executive Director Jill and her friend and film maker Kirsten 
came to Texas to bring their Undy 500 donations from CA,

The California Undy 500 quickly became the Undy 5000!
 and see what else they might do to help us 
recover and rebuild our community and state.

We had a glorious three days; they told us that they left Texas 
with oversized hearts from the super-sized kindness.

On Friday, this kindness came in the mail from my friend Tanya.


A year ago this week, I was at her school talking with her counseling colleagues and school family. And, without talking, we were both making maps, they to help us recover and let us know they're praying for us, we to thank school families like theirs for their empathy, compassion and kindness. Providential, don't you think? Thank you, Tanya, for our priority mail.


Friday afternoon, I got another box, this one from young Ayel in Florida who was determined to cheer us up even as she and her family were going through Hurricane Irma. Check out the Keppy cap this caped kindness crusader painted. 


Talk about being the rainbow in someone's storm. She also sent bookmarks with a lucky penny and a hand-written inspirational message for our flood survivors because she never wants anyone to lose their page. Thank you, Ayel.

And then, Stefanie in the Dallas area sent us ten of these scripture cards attached to a gift card for our staff members whose homes flooded.


It felt so good to be able to put these in their boxes
to treat them to a little something after a long day of caregiving.


In the middle of all of that, we celebrated
We didn't plant pinwheels this year but instead,
a character rock garden is planned for February.

Have we had fun supersizing kindness this week or what?






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Kindness Unleashed

Today, more reflections on the kindness that Hurricane Harvey unwittingly unleashed. So many stories of rescue and relief.


This morning, an email from a school in Pennsylvania whose student leadership team has planned a Dance/Hop-A-Thon and will donate all of their proceeds to help us recover. I can't wait to see the pictures of them dancing up a storm for us. 

A family moved out of their home so that another family that flooded could live there. Others are lending their cars. Can you imagine? 

A real estate agent new to our area who took it upon himself to go shopping for clothing and shoes that he donated and delivered to school. How kind is that? 

This flood survivor. Once they could get back into their home, she asked her mom if she could donate some of her clothes for other children who flooded. 


When I asked her why she gave away things that still fit her, she told me that the flood made her realize that she didn't need so many things.  

Then there's these boys, who made and sold rubber-band wristbands on a street corner for funds to give to their PE coach, who lost everything in the flood waters.


Earlier in the week, a care package with comfort cards from FL,
another from Allen, Texas, two from Colorado, two from Missouri,
and this priority mail from counselor and author Laurie Mendoza
and two of her school's classes in MA.


Today, news that another special delivery is headed our way
from WA and yet another from VA.
So much kindness ... unleashed!

Still, I'm reminded that it doesn't have to take a natural disaster
for us to show kindness to one another.
Before anyone ever heard of Harvey,
my Godmother Sue sent this beautiful book to me,
just to be kind and because she liked it so well.

Written by Lisa Barrickman, a friend of theirs from church, this treasure trove details the forty acts of kindness that the author set out to do as a way to celebrate her forty years of life. Every chapter is better than the next as Lisa weaves in how she made kindness actionable and how it positively affected not only her as the giver but also the person on the receiving end. Each chapter concludes with an inspirational verse from the Bible. 



I especially love the reference to Dr. Patty O'Grady's work about how kindness changes our brains. Turns out the experience of kindness imprints on our brains not just by talking about it or thinking about it. Instead, we have to actually feel it so we "can reproduce it." (p. 29)

Clearly we are experiencing kindness in a big way in the Lone Star State; 
its wave of compassion and love is more powerful than that storm called Harvey ever dreamed of becoming. 

Check out A Case For Kindness and prepare to be inspired. Join the movement at their Facebook page {here}. Then check back and let us know how you've unleashed kindness in your world.

  




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The Tree Stands Alone

Today I'm exhausted, just dog tired.
It has been a difficult, emotionally-loaded week.
Shock has worn off and a grave reality has begun to set in.
Just over 10% of our students have been displaced because of flooding and are living in apartments, campers, hotels, with family, with strangers who have become friends by necessity. On Friday, there were lots of tears, because they're tired, too. But I'm also energized because this morning, this happened.


Dressed in a live generously shirt, FISD School Board member Pastor Ralph, knocked on the door at about 9 am with his chainsaw in hand; not too far behind him, a crew led by my friend Carol showed up with their tree removal equipment,


to help us get rid of this Arizona Ash tree that Harvey toppled.


It took our crew about three hours to go from this ...  


to this. 


I was especially touched that this man, Forest, would be a part of our crew as his home was one of the 3,000 houses in our town to flood. His sister lost her home, too, and yet, there he was, in our yard, helping get that tree out of our back yard.


 When the truck filled up, the rest was neatly stacked to the side,
ready for us to fill and carry off a second load later in the week.


It's sad to me, to lose a tree like this, but also interesting to get a sneak peek inside. Pastor Ralph was quick to point out that its rings tell its story; the thin rings were bad years for this guy, the thicker ones, good. It tells a story of survival through tropical storms, a ground saturated with flood waters, hurricane-force winds and the draught.


And finally, it fell right over in Harvey because it was
the last tree standing in what used to be its protective grove.
And so it goes in real life with human kind, too.
When we are surrounded by that community of family and friends
to hold us up when gale-force winds threaten to topple us,
it's a whole lot easier to survive and thrive than when
we, like this tree, attempt to stand alone.



And so, another Harvey lesson is this:
 Life is too hard to go it alone.
Together we're stronger.
All. As one forest.


Last night at our first home game under Friday Night Lights,
we saw evidence of this truth when we played the Kingwood Mustangs.
Many of these teenagers lost not only their homes, but also their school. They are now attending school somewhere else; among their losses, band uniforms and football uniforms. But life must go on, so they borrowed football garb and the band wore casual dress. To honor their burden and support their healing, our band opted to not wear our uniforms, but to go casual as well. A small thing that meant a lot to our friendly rivals, the other Mustang blue team.

And this, the message from our Superintendent
that played on the jumbotron to kick off the game.




So many of you have sent cards of empathy and encouragement; thank you, thank you. Each student that I saw on Friday got to choose one of your beautiful expressions of comfort and love. I coupled them with a reading of Marianne Richmond's treasure, Be Brave Little One, after which we each shared a one-word reflection about the storm and/or the notes.


Out of that natural disaster known as Hurricane Harvey
have come supernatural acts of compassion and care.

We have appreciated every single note, text, email, phone call.
Each one helps us move forward into our healing with hope.
On Tuesday night, our parents at Orientation will be invited
to fill out a card for our school's hope chest.


Faculty and staff have already filled ours out; 
students will be sharing their hopes and dreams, too.

In case you missed my We Are Teachers guest post this week,
click {here} to read about how it went on our first few days back.







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Our Mindfulness Button Bin

Today I'm excited because the Green Bay Packers are playing and we actually get to see it on television down here. Somehow it just feels so good to watch the green and gold battle it out on the football field. This week has been a good but difficult one; laying on the couch to root for my childhood team comforts like home.

Did your learners start school this past Tuesday?

We actually celebrated a happy re-new year on Wednesday when our superheroes returned from our Harvey detour for a second start. And while we are officially back in business, we're going to go easy on assigning homework so our families whose homes flooded don't feel hammered again trying to get homework done. My cousin said that in her district that was also flooded, there will be no homework this entire year per district leadership. I think it's awesome that they're putting emotional recovery needs first. 

As academic pressures do mount this year, consider these strategies 
for helping in my guest post at Free Spirit earlier this week. 


The most intriguing idea I found is the backward breathing.
Have you ever tried to intentionally exhale first?
It's kind of cool, in a challenging sort of way.
At the very least, it takes my mind off of my hard emotions
and helps me to be in the moment, mindfully aware.
It's one of my goals this year, to increase mindfulness in my personal life
 and in my professional practice. Inhale calm, exhale chaos.

Click the above image to check out my mindfulness Pinterest page.

Enter our Button Bin; its backstory is kind of an interesting one.


Last Saturday, we left town en route to see our sons, help Jacob finish moving into his grad-school house, and take them to dinner. On our way to eat, we decided to swing through downtown Bryan and do a little antiquing. Just inside the door of our first stop, a bowl of buttons caught my eye. At a cost of ten cents a button, buying them wasn't on my radar, but once I put my hands into these little treasures and started to manipulate them a little, I found myself feeling oddly calmer and I was sold. When I told the owner my plan to use them for mindfulness with my students who are recovering from the flood, she said I could have them for five cents a piece. So the boys helped me select two hundred of our favorites, then when we got home I added all of the buttons I could find around the house.

So what makes the Button Bin a mindfulness tool 
that feeds the senses to keep us in the here and now?
Here's what I envision:

Sound: The clanking as you run your fingers through the buttons, picking them up and putting them down, makes a musical sound.
 Sight: The cacophony of shapes, colors and sizes appeal to the eye. 
Scent: By spraying an essential oil on them, you can scent them with lavender, ginger, tea tree, or eucalyptus. Or let them smell nostalgic, like Grandma's house.
Touch: The buttons feel big, small, rough, smooth, thick, thin, cold, warm.

I can also see using the buttons to talk about diversity {Every button is different, every one equally as important.} and empathy {Who do you think wore this button? What do you think their life was like? How was it easy? How was it hard?}.
How might you use a Button Bin?

Speaking of empathy, check out my book review and read-aloud of
You, Me and Empathy at Ripple Kindness {here}. Comment below if you'd like to review your favorite book for them.

And finally, I'm so energized by all of the ways that people are working to help with Hurricane Harvey Relief efforts. Today I've made a huge batch of Chili Soup to feed three displaced families tomorrow after school through our community Meal Train. My son Jacob made this Bottle Cap Artwork and our friend Rachel added the word strong so we could auction it off on Facebook with 100% of the highest bid donated to help the 86 teachers in our district whose homes flooded. It was a fun delivery to make today.


And my friend, third-grader Jet Stream Jax, is still collecting donations {here} to help his neighbors and friends
 recover, 
restore 
and rebuild.
Grab your tissues and some tea and prepare to be inspired
by and fall in love with this mini-meteorologist
whose heart is bigger than that storm ever dreamed of being.


If anyone has a connection to Ellen or Oprah,
Jaxson is the kind of kid they want to meet,
so please share this video with them
to help him meet his giving goal.







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Embracing Adversity

Tonight, I'm exhausted, emotionally spent. We went back to school as a staff to prepare to launch the 2017-2018 school year, take two. Students will return to us tomorrow after having endured the fury of Hurricane Harvey. I spent today making phone calls to listen to their stories. 
Scary stories. 
Sad stories. 
Sensational stories.
Stories of grit and grace. 
Stories of loss and starting over.
Stories of healing and hope. 
And I cried. 
Sometimes with a mom right there on the line. 
Others silently after we hung up.
Because this is what many of their homes look like now.
At least until the FEMA trucks get to town.


We started the morning together as a district in a convocation led by our new Superintendent, Thad Roher. That superhero was on a mission when the flood waters started to rise, to not only save his district, but to save his town. He drove a school bus to nursing homes and through neighborhoods in search of people who needed to be evacuated and taken to safety in our makeshift shelter. This morning he reminded us that this year's theme ~ Mustang Pride ... Unleashed ~ is more than just a mantra; it's a way of life. It's not just something fun that we had put on our blue shirts; it's who we are and what we do when flood waters threaten our very existence. Forget the capes; those of us wearing those mustang-blue shirts are called to come to the rescue. He normalized and validated our feelings. He challenged us to embrace adversity and to make it our friend. And he asked us to remember what our children have been through and to be the anchor that they need when they return to class tomorrow. 

If you want a peek into our town's Harvey experience, click {here}. 
Every view will bring in a little donation for our survivors.

Steve Hartman's On The Road coverage is brilliant;
Check it out here.

Harvey reminded me that there's a reason we're called humankind.
As we continue down our path to recovery,
people have reached out to see what we need
as we embrace adversity and move into our new normal.
Prayers for comfort and care,
for empathy and encouragement,
and warm wishes for lots and lots of Perseverance, Appreciation, Togetherness, Hope.

Wanna be inspired?
You must see this creative, therapeutic musical
 Les Harveyables made in a neighborhood down the road.
Now that's what I call embracing adversity!






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