We have been working a lot with my singing bowls this year, with Ashley and the kids, I meditate almost every day, we are focusing in being thankful to nature and the Universe for having the great life we have, we have so much!, we are the richest people on Earth and we are putting all our energy to recognize this.

We say thanks before eating too, I really needed that !! we say:

"Earth who gave to us this food

Sun, who made it ripe and good.

Dearest Earth and dearest Sun

we'll not forget what you have done"

The kids love it!

I also developed a set of guided meditations to work with women in opening the chakras, yesterday I had the first one of 3 consecutive weeks, and it was lovely, I felt so much energy and it was healing for myself too, I could feel the vibration of the bowls moving my body... I hope it helped the 4 great women that came last night, we worked with the root chakra and the sacral chakra focusing our energies in the lower part of our bodies, envisioning roots coming out from our perineum and going deep into Mother earth and giving ad receiving from her. It was so nice!

Each one of us will keep working at home , meditating and releasing blockages until next week to work with the Solar Plexus and the Heart chakras.

Today after watching the news about what happened in Japan, we sat down the 4 of us, (me and the kids) turned on a candle and sent energy to the people on Japan..... I cried like a little girl after seeing the images of the earthquake and tsunami.... maybe it is because I have lived an earthquake , maybe it is because I can't handle death, maybe it is because my country is still trying to recover from the earthquake last year.....

I am so emotional .... everything affects me so much....

The Earth is shaking

Japan, we share your grief .

December, was the last time I wrote here, we had a great month and also in the last day of the year, we went for a nature walk with the kids and Ashley, we talked about our year and try to set up goals for the year to come. My goal was to take the next step in my studies, I want to become a professional herbalist , Ashley said he was just waiting for something, he felt a bit lost, Vincent said he would like to go to school and the 2 little ones didn't care about anything else but trying to get their feet wet in the river. The first day of 2011, after a big night of celebrations in my friend's house, I signed up to a curse to be a professional herbalist, I am so happy and excited!, this course has everything I need right now, I am learning about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda, there is SO much to learn, it is like a whole new way to see life, the different concepts and the different theories are unbelievable!.. it is fascinating, I love it...So I am in the slow process of changing our diet and understanding about our own constitutions, this studies are not just about herbs, it is nutrition, philosophy, anthropology, etc..

In the middle of January a big window open for us, talking with Ashley's aunt and owner of the best Montessori school I know, she told me to start bringing the kids there if we wanted, Vincent always wanted to go to that school but we knew we couldn't afford it, so we thought about it, because for us homeschooling is a big part of our lives now, but also our main focus is into give the freedom to our kids to take their own decisions, to be the architect of their own lives, we want to give them the right to choose what they want to explore and trust them with all our heart...So we decided to let the kids try school for a while, because it is not the public system and this school gives us a lot of the freedom we need...so I am working there now, teaching Spanish and my kids go there just 3 times per week, I love it, love it!.... It is such a small school, the whole elementary classroom is just 30 kids, and Vincent is so happy, the first days he was telling everybody "This is like homeschooling"! so cute... they have a big sofa in the middle of the room, the kids set up their own goals, they are not forced to do anything they don't want, they pick what they want to do during the day, I love the fact that all the kids from 1 to 6 grade are all together because they learn from each other, Vincent really feels empowered by the fact of being with other kids learning together, he loves to go there and we have the best of the 2 worlds now, we are part time homeschoolers, part time schoolers.. it can't get any better...I have seen a big change in Vincent, he wants to work in history at home and science he really wants to learn more now, he got inspired!!. He told me he likes this better than the classes he was taking with other homeschoolers and I asked why and he said the school is more relaxed, that the other classes were too serious... it got me thinking.

And I am really proud of Vincent for wanting to give this a try, and for talking to us and telling us what he needed, I think it is great that he REALLY wanted to try it... he wanted to feel how it's like to go to school, so I don't have to fight anyone about getting dressed , he is in charge! and he is not forced to do anything, I don't ask him to do his homework, or anything, if he needs some help I am here, until now he has been super responsible.... I am so proud.

I am there 3 days a week and I am all the time with Luciano and Josefa, because I work in the 3-6 room, so nothing has really changed for the little ones, we are together all the time , and they really like to go play there.

So here I am now, working and studying and trying to survive to all the work I have to do...but it is worth it, the kids are having a great balance between school and home...

Big changes for this family this year, Ashley changed his job too... we were struggling for a while and like I said he was a bit lost but with faith something would come, and it did... he was offered a good job for his uncles company and he is super excited about it. I am proud of him for being open minded and do what he has to do to help the whole family.

I love him so much!

So here we go 2011.... a whole new year and a lots of challenges . Let's see what will happen next.