Yes, Virginia...There Are Still Miracles

If you've been following my blogs in the past few days, then you know that little Robert Wood, Jr. a severely, non verbal autistic boy has been missing since last Sunday.  Thankfully up until today, the weather wasn't too cold.  70's -80's in the day, and mild nights...that was about to change tonight.

Cold front blew our way, and today's highs were mid 40's, tonight down past freezing...throw in heavy rains, sleet, and possible snow tomorrow, and all the searchers knew that after the weekend our rescue search was going to turn...for the worse.

I am completely OVER THE MOON tonight, that I can say ROBERT WOOD, JR was found today, around 2 p.m....ALIVE!!!  I swear, if I hadn't of been driving down the highway when I heard the breaking news, I would have hit my knees!!!  He was taken by Med-Flight to MCV medical center where he was reunited with his family.  Other than minor issues, he's going to be just fine!  M.D.s haven't stated how long they will keep the little boy, but I'll try to update as I hear the latest news.

Over 6000 citizen volunteers came out over the past 6 days to search through densely thorned woods.  I never heard a negative comment, and they covered 80+ square miles...grid style.  The view was astonishing to see hundreds standing shoulder to shoulder on the edge of roads, clad in fluorescent vests...just waiting on orders to enter the woods.

This little boy will never know how many prayers, volunteers, love and concern we all had for him...and that's   ok with me!

Today we all witnessed a miracle...Tonight...his mother's arms are NOT empty!!

You can read Robert's rescue HERE.

Humbled.

That's the first word that comes to mind tonight.  Along with fortunate, heartsick, blessed, determined, and awed.  The search for Robert Wood, Jr. continues tonight...sadly, he hasn't been found yet...

The outpouring of volunteers (over 1200 not including professional searchers, law enforcement, dog handlers, FBI, etc)...whether they were searching, donating food, or attending the nightly vigils, are truly awe inspiring.  The love, and the need to help bring a child back home to their family, brought us all out to search.

The terrain was intense (and we're avid hikers) to say the least, we encountered swamps, snakes and so many thorns and thickets that I think I'll be picking them out of my skin for days...but none of that mattered.  You heard no complaints, no whining and absolutely no negativity!!

I took a few pictures, but I'm too exhausted and emotionally drained to post them tonight....so I'll leave you with these....

I also learned that more women than men, were willing to tough it out, crawl on their bellies, spend hours raking through leaves, and would have stayed there all night if allowed...because we know the ache his mother feels.  

Finally, as I walked out the woods this afternoon in tears that we had failed....I realized I was with my daughter, and my younger children were safe at home.  She came home with me tonight....both of us, never will forget this day...no matter where we are, or where we go...we have this day.

...This little boy needs a miracle...his mother's arms are empty tonight...

On A Serious Note...

I'm not one to lead a "serious" life.  I laugh as often as possible, and am generally lighthearted in nature....with that being said...today, I am blogging as a mother of four children...NOT as a jewelry designer, artist, etc...

Last Sunday, approximately an hour away from me, a severely autistic, non verbal, little 8 year old boy went missing.  Tonight will be the fourth night he might be alone/hurt in the dense woods surrounding Lake Anna State Park.  You can read Robbie's story HERE.

Robert (Robbie) Wood - Richmond Times Dispatch Photo

Tomorrow, my oldest daughter and myself will join the thousands of volunteers, some coming from as far away as South Carolina, to search for this little boy.  Please, any positive thoughts, prayers or other spiritual words would be greatly appreciated...not only for little Robbie, but also his family, friends, law enforcement and volunteer searchers.  "We are going to continue this until we find him,"  said Hanover County, VA Sheriff Capt. Mike Trice today....

Most of us have children, and I can't begin to fathom the heartache....

Edited 10/26/11 6:08 p.m. - Tonight searchers are leaving glow sticks with food/blankets attached deep within the woods, in the hopes that although Robbie is cautious with people he doesn't know, that the glow sticks will catch his attention.  Not only giving him warmth and food, but also allowing searchers to know where he might be!  Just Awesome!!

Thank you...

Tania - Mother of four

Let's Talk Boho

I ordered quite a bit of sari silk last week, and I can't seem to put it down!  Sweet Baby Jesus!!!  I can't believe I've never really worked with this before...it's AMAZING!  It brings much needed texture and whimsy to jewelry designs.  I've climbed aboard with the boho/gypsy style (a girl can only make sweet and dainty flowers for so long), and thought I'd share some of my favorites from Etsy.

Velvet Crushed Vintage

Happy Go Licky

Daimblond

Teka And Zoe

Lucys Room

Maslinda

I believe I feel an obsession coming on!! :)  

Lori Anderson's - The First Annual Virtual Craft Show

Please check our Lori's site for all the details...but HURRY...spaces are filling up soon!!  I'll be there, along with MANY others!  

It's An Eye Candy Kinda Day

I've spent the morning listing a few new bracelets to my Etsy store, and it's been a while since I shared recent works here on my blog...so.....

Hammered & patinaed vintage spoon bowl cuff bracelet

Upcycled silverware spoon handle bracelet featuring an artisan cupcake lampwork bead

Ok...this is sort of a joke in our family.  Every single show, someone asks if I make western themed jewelry...so here you go...now I can say I do! :)

These hand stamped spoon bowl bracelets are quickly becoming my favorite.  We always sell

all that we bring to shows...down to the one I'm wearing for the day!

I'm not giving up on summer!  

Vintage beaded pearl charm...love this!

And of course I've done cancer awareness bracelets!

From my favorite poem by E.E. Cummings

"Paint the town red" stamped spoon bowl bracelet

And finally, a few of the new components I've started creating.

Whew...listing is almost as demanding as art shows!  All of the above (and more) can be found on our Etsy store HERE

Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!  I'm off to enjoy the 80 degree temperatures we're having today!

Who Are You?

I, like most, fight to be myself, and express myself each and every day.  It seems that what I thought I was yesterday, I'm not today.  The dreams I had last night, have morphed in to something entirely different by the time I wipe the sleep from my eyes this morning.  I know I can't be alone in this realization...can I?

Maybe the explanation is simply we dynamically change with each passing day, what we experience today, effects us to the point of adding many other facets to our personality, dreams and philosophy by the time the sun sets?  Funny how when I was a "rat" on the corporate wheel, I never noticed this...I imagine that I was completely out of tune with myself, and the world around me.  Now that what I do is so heavily centered around who I am, and how I feel (amongst a million other things), the realization can't help but slap me in the face!

How does one make sense of all this?  Please let me in on the secret if you've figured it out!  If we look back,  this seems to be a pattern...after all, many artists have driven themselves mad...

Pinterest

Tadaa!!!!!

And so....the Etsy shop has listings!!!  Whew!  That's hard work!  Ok, now...don't get all excited just yet...it only has 9 items at the moment...but there's more to come!!

AND...I had my first sale within 10 minutes!!

You Can Find Me...

...On Facebook HERE


...And on Etsy HERE (hopefully will have store listings by mid next week!)

St. Mary's Falls...Here We Come!!!

Hopefully, providing I can get my tennis shoes on by the weekend, we're going to take a much needed day trip to St. Mary's Falls trail/hike near the Blue Ridge Parkway with the kids.  We're regulars up that way.  We've regularly hike to  Crabtree Falls, and Spy Rock (you can read my recent blog about our Spy Rock hike HERE).  We'd like to hike to The Priest, but I'm not sure my younger ones could make the hike...so we'll save that for a little later.

St. Mary's Falls...it's more of a trail than a hike...which is a good thing as I limp along with a broken toe!  I can't wait to pack a picnic lunch, and spend the days with the kids...without gameboys, PS3, DVD's, iPods, cell phones and the like to interfere!  

Hopefully, we'll see some of  this:

And this:

So, while I gripe and complain about living "in the middle of nowhere" quite often, I love that within 2 hours I can have the mountains or the beach for our viewing pleasure and memory making!!

I'm Not Getting Back Out of the Bed Again Today!!

Broken toe...what a way to start the week off!  Who knew a little toe fracture could hurt so darn much?  Oww!  I've already banged it again and dropped the box of Splenda on it this morning...figures.  I'm waving the white flag and retreating back to my bed for the rest of the day!

I have lots of crochet projects to finish, but my new soy yarn keeps whispering my name from it's hiding spot in the corner...so much for "out of sight, out of mind" theory.   Let's see if I have the will power to block the temptation and finish the 7 sets of fingerless gloves I have started (don't think there's a huge demand for singles) but never finished.

And while I'm sitting still (that rarely happens) I couldn't help but wander over to Etsy to peruse the yummy crocheted wares!

Japanese lace crochet pattern from Kakaeight

As much as I'd love to crochet an afghan, my ADD tendencies would get in the way.

Beautiful!!  Wool n Hook

My youngest would LOVE this owl purse pattern from Angels Chest

And how adorable is this viking hat from Heather's Things?

I want this!!!!  MODA Crochet

Ok...time to stop procrastinating and work on mates for gloves!

Darn, Patty....

of My Life Under The Bus....has made me want to learn how to etch...like I need another obsession!

Just take a look at these:

And these....

One of my favorites....

I can't stop myself.....

You can find your favorite on Etsy (click the pic)

Although, Patty's shop is closed for a "hot  minute" she'll be back soon....just prepping for a show, and believe me it takes lots of WORK!!!

BUT...you can enter to win her give-away HERE and you can find her on Facebook HERE

I'm Warning You Now....

I just need a vent...a school related vent (surprise, surprise).

**Let me preface by saying that I don't expect teachers to do all the teaching...we work diligently at home on a daily basis.  Everything I'm posting here, I've already voiced to the school...and I just get blank stares.  We live in a "one school" county, meaning the school she is in, is the ONLY public school in the county.  Period.  We simply can't afford private schools or even tutoring until I find a full time job. 

My youngest is dyslexic...well the school can't deem her that because it's considered a medical diagnosis, so her IEP has decoding deficit listed as the learning disability...doesn't matter how they word it to me...it's the same thing.  Anyway,  my child is 10 years old and can't read or write more than her name...and I'm dead serious!!  She's been receiving "special ed" classes for 4 years now...and in my opinion, there should be a little more progression.

This year = new school for her.  I walked in the first day and requested an IEP meeting with all of her teachers, and although they didn't understand why I wanted all her teachers present (don't you have to read in every subject?) they obliged.  I thought we were off on the right foot, and I was being a proactive, concerned parent advocating for her child....instead I feel like I got the old brush off!

It seems that her "special ed" this year consists of the special ed teacher in her regular reading class with the reading teacher assisting WHOEVER needs assistance..."integrated learning."  Now, I'm no educator, but you can't just pick up a 5th grade reading book and expect her to catch on...it doesn't work that way!

Fast forward to last week, when for the 100th time, I receive a letter to sign her up for "optional" after school tutoring.  I declined, as in the past these are usually more of a group-everyone-into-the-cafeteria-and-we'll-do-homework-together sessions, and that doesn't work for her.  Well the principal didn't like my "no thank you" comment I wrote on said 100th letter and quickly picked up the phone to call me.

Gracie failed her math SOL (Standard of Learning) last year, so this year not only does she have her regular 5th grade math class, she also has an additional remedial math class as well.  I understand the remedial math class is mandatory because she failed, I've gotten over it. 

Back to phone call from the principal...  She tells me that the tutoring is also mandatory, even though the sign up sheet clearly states "optional."  I bucked her on that, and requested state/county documents stating the exact policy...still haven't received them!  Ms. Principal then goes into chipper motivational speech mode and says "we just want her to pass this year's SOL!"  Fire lit through me!!  My response was "well that's where we have our problem...see, I just want her to learn to read & write!"

So here it is the first week of October, and the kids have been back in school almost two months, and still no confirmation on getting her in the remedial reading group!!  If their actions don't give someone a clear view of their priorities, I don't know what would!  They could care less about teaching her to read/write...as long as the school is accredited....over my dead body!

I won't even go into how today, the so called special ed teacher called me...after getting Gracie out of class, asking her for my phone number and then using Gracie's cell phone (because she didn't want to take the time to go look it up) to call me about a meeting she said she scheduled but "forgot" to notify me about??

Guess where I'll be bright and early tomorrow morning? :)

Now, because I didn't want this to be a complete b**chfest, here are just a few examples of how dyslexics "see" words/numbers on a page:

Click Here For Interactive Examples

And also two other examples:

Now...how is she EVER going to pass their precious SOL tests without learning to read?  They can put her in every remedial math class but if she can't read the printed material, she can never pass!  Why am I the only one who gets that?

AARRRGGHHH!!  If you've gotten this far...God bless you!!

Having a Ball

...of yarn that is!  I have such an addictive personality.  I think I love yarn just as much as I revel in beads, wire and clay!  I have bins, upon bins of colorful balls of yarn....and just as many bins of finished/mostly unfinished projects.  I'm not the expert crocheter, and you can forget knitting...it seems I don't have enough coordination to knit more than a huge knot of yarn!  But, what better way to spend an autumn morning than perusing for more scrumptious "must have" balls of fun?

Woodlands super chunky from Funkyarns

Recycled sari silk yarn from Amber Threads

Thick & thin merino wool from Autumn Rose  I love the colors in this one!

Recycled T shirt yarn from Mike's T Shirt Yarn

And finally, my favorite yarn to work with...bamboo!!!

Bump on a Log bamboo yarn from Quovadishandspun

Hand spun carbon bamboo yarn from Larkspur Funny Farm

Yep...it looks like it's going to be a crocheting kind of day today...anything to avoid delving into the show jewelry to what can and can't be repaired/reworked!