Enough

 

perfection:

the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects.

 

I ran into the lawn mower in our garage this winter and now it is busted. busted.

I wear clinical strength deodorant. clinical.

I never make my bed. never.

Sometimes I feel totally overwhelmed. totally.

I always leave the laundry until Sunday. always.

Awkward. I feel this way always.

Not good enough. I feel this way always.

 

Perfection. Trying always.

Reading that definition. Why do we do that to ourselves?

It is not happening. Ever.

 

His grace is enough. It really is when I slow down long enough to think about it.

It is sufficient. Everything we need.

 

Love to you this Monday.

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Summer!

We are on an eleven and a half day countdown until the end of school! June 10 (pending survival on field day.)

Exciting opportunities are coming this summer…

 

Questions about the Holland Summer Serve Play Groups? Click here! 

About Proximity is joining kindness experts and host Sheila of Pennies of Time for Virtual Kindness Summer Camp.

This is a Facebook Group where great conversation will take place and lots of ideas will be shared about serving with our kids. About Proximity is sharing Talk Justice Play Groups.

We’d love to have you join in. Click here and request to be a part of the group.

 

I love that summer changes speed, and the space it makes for friends and family.

I love the bike riding, beach hanging, ice cream, and the kids Nerf squirt gun fights.

(The only thing I don’t love is our neighborhoods love affair with fireworks. All DAY and ALL NIGHT, yet only legal the day before, of, and after the ten federal holidays.)

I love being able to sit at my desk in my office/guest bedroom/kids creation zone and write. I will be working on two big projects this summer. They have been wake up at 4:00 a.m. freak-out projects, but I know that God is bigger then my fears.

• Finishing up Changed for Life, a curriculum about entering into short-term missions as a long-term partnership, with respect and humility for the work already occurring in the host community. (I’ve been a co-writer on this project for some time, and I am so excited to see it moving to completion.)
• 88 Playgroups that Make a Difference: Helping Children Engage Justice Issues that Really Matter. You can pray with me that this project might become more than a document on my laptop.

Also, I should clean my house.

Mostly, I share these things because I want to know what you are doing this summer! What are your plans, fun activities, the ways you are going to slow down, projects? What you are most excited about? 

 

 

 

Summer Serve Play Groups

About Proximity is so excited to host Summer Service Play Groups in Holland, Michigan!

Let’s come out to make a difference as a community with our families.

 

Here is our Facebook Event Page. 

 

Printable PDFs to share with others. Included are the service opportunities for each week and all the activities we have planned! 

Summer Serve Play Group Schedule Summer 2015

June16: If the World Were a Village

June 23: One Hen

June 30: The Red Bicycle

July 7: Mimi’s Village

July 14: Planet Ark 

Serve Projects: 

Bringing donations is completely optional! Even if you are unable to participate in the donation part of the service project, still come out to the play group! We’ll learn together and have fun. We want everyone to feel welcome. Click on the printable PDFs to see what we are gathering for each week.

A few ideas:

• When shopping for donations for Holland Rescue Mission and Community Action House involve your kids. It’s a great opportunity to talk to them about needs families might have and what items can be a support and encouragement.
• When bringing $1.00 donation for Shot@Life, World Vision, and World Renew encourage your kids to earn the money by doing a small job around the house, helping will feel even more meaningful to them.

 

Want to learn more about the organizations we are supporting? 

Holland Rescue Mission

Community Action House

Shot@Life

World Vision

World Renew 

All our stories are donated by Citizen Kid Books.  

 

We can’t wait to see you this summer! 

Questions? 

Email: Lisa Van Engen at aboutproximity@gmail.com 

 

 

 

Do NOT give up.

One evening this week my whole family had crashed asleep by 8:30. I sat up writing in the dark. I am a quiet girl, but it is funny what happens when we are left to ourselves. The doubt began as a little trickle and by 10:30 I was typing and crying at the same time. It’s the same mix tape that runs through my heart.

Everything I offer is not enough. I am not fully and completely good at anything. I am letting everyone around me down. I keep having dreams about owning multiple houses with countless rooms, so many I can’t keep them all straight. I keep forgetting that I am enough. We are all enough. It is not what we accomplish.

For three years, my one word has been kneel. I keep forgetting to do that. Then it comes quietly, don’t give up. Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly. Kneel.

Those things I can do. Again and Again. I know that the tape will play again, it never really ever fully goes away, but it also doesn’t matter.

I won’t give up. I will keep clinging to what I can do, even if imperfectly.

 

Again and Again.

 

#TalkJustice: Race

Race. Not an easy topic.

Walls shot up immediately. Emotions high.

How can we talk about race in our families? Do just that… Talk. Learn. Listen. We would do well to humble ourselves and open up dialogue. Expose our kids to people from different parts of world, different cultures, different skin colors. Our lives grow wider and richer. Help them remember history and why hurt remain for cultures and groups of people. Listen.

Discussion Starters:

Help Your Family Go Deeper: 

• What is privilege?
• Are there certain groups with advantages or disadvantages?
• Why do you think race is such an uncomfortable conversation?
• How can we do more listening?
• Can prejudices go both ways?
• Are some places or activities still very much segregated?
• How are race and class connected?
• How would it feel to carry a history of slavery as a people?
• When you are judged on appearance how does it feel?
• How do different cultures deepen our lives?
• How can you respect people even when they don’t do things the same as you do?
• What is a stereotype? How easy is it to move beyond a stereotype?
• Do we tend to lump people together in groups without sifting out their unique qualities?
• How often do you describe someone by their race or culture?
• How often do you see people with different skin colors in television, movies, books?
• How can you expand your global consciousness?
• How honest are we about history? Are we honest about how that effects present day? Are we honest that we still have a long way to go?
• If God created us all equally, should anyone be treated differently because of the color of their skin? or where they came from?
• Is race a challenge everywhere in the world? Are there inequalities everywhere in the world?

Kids books about Diversity and Race

Lee and Low Books (a multi cultural publisher)

The Colors of Us by Karen Katz

Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester

What We Wear by Maya Ajmera

Delivering Justice by Jim Haskins

Same Same but Different by: Jenni Sue Koseckti-Shaw

I Lay My Stitches Down by: Cynthia Grady

21 Ways to Take Action

• Take the Turn the Tables Quiz about how much you know about racial inequality in the United States.
• Look at what school lunches look like in 20 countries around the world.
• Participate in “The Sneetches” (by Dr. Suess) activity. 
• Read about Schools around the World.
• 40 Maps that explain the world from the Washington Post.
• Help your school try a mix it up lunch day.
• Try this working against assumptions activity from Scholastic.
• Over 100 lesson plans from Race Bridges for schools.
• Over 100 activities from Teacher Vision on diversity.
• Check out Teaching a People’s History by the Zinn Education Project.
• Learn about heritage months through Smithsonian Education.
• Explore the website of Lee and Low Books a multicultural publishing company.
• Lee and Low also has extensive Pinterest boards.
• Watch the World is as Big or Small as you Make it.
• Visit the excellent website Kids World Citizen to explore cultures around the world.
• Check out Faces Magazine from your local library about kids all over the world.
• Use global events like the Olympics or The World Cup to start conversations.
• Resources to celebrate Black History Month.
• Resources for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
• Resources for Hispanic Heritage Month.
• Resources for Native Americans and American Indians.

A Twitter Race list to follow.

Follow our About Proximity #TalkJustice Pinterest Board.

#TalkJustice Summer Serve Play Groups! Come over to our Facebook Event Page to learn more. Invite friends! We will be exploring topics and making a difference in community, using a series of books donated to us from CitizenKid. Hosted by About Proximity (that’s me) and my Mom, a public school family advocate for two decades.

How can we listen more and talk less? 

#TalkJustice Health Care

Kids #TalkJustice Access to Health Care

Access to health care is an issue that really affects everyone. Even when families have insurance they may lack funds for co-pays, or still be in need of secondary services like vision, dental, and specialists. Beyond debates, because there is probably no country that has found the one-hundred percent correct answer to access, how can we understand and support access to health care in our communities and globally. Globally the situation is even more desperate as access to the simplest care is out of reach for many.

Health Care Discussion Starters:

Help your family go deeper:

• The cost of health care is staggering… who can you help with this burden? Do you know families you can support?
• Discuss specific illnesses with children. Help them understand what might go into care, what special equipment you might need, how often you might have to visit the doctor.
• Talk about parts of world where you might have to walk miles and miles to get to a health clinic. If you are bringing a sick family member what challenges might that bring?
• Talk about needing glasses, but having no way to acquire them.
• In disasters how important is health care? What things change in moments of crisis?
• What might be different about doctors offices around the world?
• The disease of malaria can be prevented by a simple bed net, yet many do not have access to that. What other sicknesses might be prevented by something simple (clean water, sanitation, clinics.)
• Do you have a free health clinic in your area? Is there anyway you can support their efforts?
• How can your family take care of its own health?
• How do you think health care where you live compares to other places around the world?
• How can you support efforts to help people have access to health care?
• Do you think this might be an important cause for communities to think about?
• If you know someone going through an illness or has a chronic illness how could you support their family? How could you support a classmate?
• Talk about root causes of heath care disparities: race, local resources, location in the world, poverty, immigrant or refugee, women in parts of the world.

Kids Books about Health Care:

I Lost my Tooth in Africa by: Penda Diakite

Mimi’s Village By: Katie Smith Milway

Nest By: Esther Ehrlich

The Lemonade Club By: Patricia Polacco

The Fault in our Stars By: John Greene

The Heaven Shop By: Deborah Ellis

16 Ways to take Action: 

• My Plate Kids’ Place is a great website to visit. Talk about how you might donate healthy choices to your local food bank.
• Set up a pop can tab collection to support Ronald McDonald House.
• A list of donations commonly needed by Ronald McDonald Houses. (contact your local house to check for specific needs.)
• WIC: Early Entry into Dental Care provides a simple yet powerful solution to the problem of preventing dental disease in low income children. Contact your local WIC office to see how you can be involved.
• Operation Smile Resources (provides free surgeries to repair cleft lips, palates and other facial deformities in children.)
• Learn about Child ViSion groundbreaking adjustable glasses.
• Send a malaria fighting bed net through Nothing but Nets.
• If you are on a sports team consider a Sports for Net Event.
• Browse photos from Nothing but Nets to see their work around the world.
• Provide immunizations for children in the developing world through Shot@Life. 
• Ways to get involved in Alex’s Lemonade Stand (fighting childhood cancer)
• Make a chemo care kit from Pennies of Time.
• Shop St. Jude’s gift shop to support their research work.
• Use UNICEF lesson plans for health.
• Watch a video about Embrace Warmers that save the lives of newborn babies globally.
• At Smile Squared you buy a toothbrush and one is given to a child in need.

A Health Care Twitter list to follow.

Follow our About Proximity #TalkJustice Pinterest Board.

#TalkJustice Summer Serve Play Groups! Come over to our Facebook Event Page to learn more. Invite friends! We will be exploring topics and making a difference in community, using a series of books donated to us from CitizenKid. Hosted by About Proximity (that’s me) and my Mom, a public school family advocate for two decades.

What are your thoughts? 

 

 

#TalkJustice: Creation Care

Kids #TalkJustice Creation Care

Recycling, using energy efficient light bulbs, saving endangered species. Kids are pretty good at protecting the environment. How can our families dig deeper, see the big picture of caring for God’s creation, and strengthen our impact? It is important for our kids to know our consumption habits effect the world around us. The environment is a facet of our lives that really connects us globally to the rest of the world. We have a responsibility to care for what God created.

Creation Care Discussion Starters:

Help your family go deeper: 

• Could you add a new habit each month this year?
• What about the drought in California? How could we be proactive even if we don’t live there?
• If we don’t care for the environment now, how might that effect our future?
• Could your habits effect someone in China?
• How can we reuse things?
• What things do we buy local? Is there anything we could add?
• Do our efforts make a difference? How could we share what we do to help others contribute too?
• Does our church have any green habits? Could we begin any?
• Does our school have any green habits? Could we begin any?
• Are there any local projects we could get involved in?
• Do we support our local farmer’s market?
• Are there any global projects that protect the environment we can be involved in?

Kids Books about Creation Care:

The Curious Garden, Compost Stew, Curious George Plants a Tree, Michael Recycle, The Magic School Bus Climate Challenge, Fancy Nancy Earth Day is Everyday, Biscuits Earth Day Celebration, and Gabby and Grandma Go Green.  

 

 

 

19 Ways to take Action: 

• Give $10 and 100 trees are planted by Eden Reforestation Project.
• Consider using Preserve Products (100% recycled).
• Watch, read, explore the Story of Stuff. 
• Try a Terracycle Do-It-Yourself Project
• Got a teen? Hook them up with Teens Turning Green.
• Watch the 350 Movement: 90 Seconds No Words. 
• Work through 10 Green Tips from TIME for kids.
• Learn together with the student game page for the environmental protection agency.
• Watch the PBS series Meet the Greens.
• Work through the Energy Star Kids interactive website to see how you can lower your energy consumption.
• Play Recycle City to learn new ways your community can recycle.
• Complete the Climate Change Expedition online.
• Create your own climate BINGO cards here. 
• Recyclebank has so many resources to look at together. (Plus you can earn points to redeem.)
• Have a movie night with any of these environmentally themed kids’ films.
• Try out an up-cycled craft for the Queen of upcycling Leslie at Pink Stripey Socks!
• Take a trip to your local farmer’s market this summer!
• Learn about Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement.
• 50 Ways to help the environment.

 

A creation care twitter list to follow.

Follow our About Proximity #TalkJustice Pinterest Board.

#TalkJustice Summer Serve Play Groups! Come over to our Facebook Event Page to learn more. Invite friends! We will be exploring topics and making a difference in community, using a series of books donated to us from CitizenKid. Hosted by About Proximity (that’s me) and my Mom, a public school family advocate for two decades.

What is your family’s best green tip? We’d love to hear about it! 

 

 

 

#Talk Justice: Human Trafficking

Kids #TalkJustice Human Trafficking

The topic of human trafficking can be a difficult one to breach with children. You definitely want to be sensitive to age and personalities. This topic is actually where this series originated. My friend and writer Amy Sullivan had an experience when this topic was brought up in a classroom. Not everyone was as open to their students knowing about the realities around them.

Amy and I were talking about how we believe we do no favors to our children if they do not understand injustice. In opening up dialogue we develop empathy, compassion, and the ability to make a difference.

Increasing their awareness also makes them safer. A sad truth is that child labor and sex trafficking don’t just happen across the ocean. It is happening in our own communities. Take a look at this United States map from Polaris Project showing locations where human trafficking has been reported. According to Exodus Road 3 out of 4 victims are trafficked on-line.

Start small and work your way to all the truths we encounter as your children’s age progresses. You can begin teaching young kids about the history of slavery, human rights and child labor.

Human Trafficking Discussion Starters:

Help your family go deeper: 

• What are some root causes of human trafficking?
• poverty- parents needing to pay off debts, not being able to afford to care for children
• gender inequality where women are not as valued
• racial discrimination, caste system where some lives are not as important as others
• government or political corruption where the laws do not protect
• undocumented immigration status
• demand for cheap goods and labor
• Where is there more vulnerability? 
• drug and alcohol addiction
• homelessness, runaways, abuse
• women and girls
• those affected by poverty
• How do our choices of what we buy affect the demand for child labor?
• What organizations could we support that focus on human trafficking?
• What do we need to do as a family to be safe on the internet?

 Ways to Take Action! 

• Read We Are All Born Free by: Amnesty International
• Read Henry’s Freedom Box by: Henry Levin
• Watch End Slavery in Ghana’s Puppet Show through International Justice Mission
• For young kids the movie Prince of Egypt shows what slavery looks like.
• For older children Girl Rising and Half the Sky Documentaries talk about human trafficking and slavery in sensitive ways.
• Pray with your family chose a prayer guide.
• A comprehensive reading list for older kids and parents from IJM
• Take the Slavery Footprint quiz together that looks at your consumption and how it relates to child labor.
• Participate in Loose Change to Loosen the Chains a student-led campaign for elementary- college students through IJM.
• Do you have a someone who loves to shop? You can introduce this topic that way by looking through shops that support rescued girl and women by providing jobs. StopTrafficking Fashion, Delicate Fortress Creations, Thistle Farms, Night Light International.
• An overview of human slavery by Love 146 appropriate for older children. Read first then determine if your child is ready.
• Work through this website of Sue Scheff parent advocate and internet safety expert. This is where many children become vulnerable to human trafficking.
• Watch this great video of the book We Are All Born Free.

For parents the National Trafficking Hotline: 1.888.3737.888

A human trafficking Twitter List to follow

Follow our About Proximity #TalkJustice Pinterest Board.

#TalkJustice Summer Serve Play Groups! Come over to our Facebook Event Page to learn more. Invite friends! We will be exploring topics and making a difference in community, using a series of books donated to us from CitizenKid. Hosted by About Proximity (that’s me) and my Mom, a public school family advocate for two decades.

 

#TalkJustice Immigration

Kids #TalkJustice Immigration

In the United States immigration is a polarizing issue. My family has lived very close to it through Kris’ work with the Office of Social Justice. No matter where your opinion lies, understanding and looking at the big picture of global immigration is eye-opening.

Start by talking through your own ancestors journey to the United States, Canada or wherever you call home. Most likely, there is a story there. The story probably mirrors the story of immigrants today seeking a better life for their families.

Talk about Jesus’ clear call to welcome the stranger in our midst. You will be pretty amazed at kids ability to grasp this one. I see it everyday play out in our school with a large immigrant population. When Kris brings home pictures from the border or teaching aides, our kids stare at them with surprise. They ask with wonder, “there is really a wall like that?”

That is why we talk justice, to assure them that their childlike hearts are pretty perfect the way they are.

Immigration Discussion Starters:

Help your family go deeper: 

• Talk about root causes of immigration-
• looking for jobs to provide for their families
• to be re-united with family
• fleeing violence, gangs, war
• religious or ethnic persecution
• Does America use immigrant labor? Do we use low-skilled workers to do jobs not many others choose to do?
• What might happen to our food sources if their was no farm labor?
• How do you feel about a wall separating two nations?
• Some families wait 15-20 years for a green card to see their families. What do you think of this time period?
• What if you found out as a teenager that you were not a legal citizen, but had lived in the United States most of your life?
• Some families live in constant fear of separation- how might this effect your family?
• Would you hope others might change laws that this is not a reality anymore?
• How can you welcome immigrants in your community?
• How can you honor culture and traditions that are not your own?
• How can you reach out to students in your school that are new immigrants?

Kids Books about Immigration: 

Harvesting Hope by: Kathleen Krull

Brothers in Hope by: Mary Williams

One Green Apple by: Eve Bunting

Waiting for Papa’ by: Renee Colato Lainez

The Colour of Home by: Mary Hoffman

The Name Jar by: Yangsook Choi

Inside Out and Back Again by: Thannha Lai

Migrant by: Maxine Trattier

From North to South by: Rene Colato Lainez

My Diary From Here to There by: Amada Irma Perez

Goodbye 382 Shin Dang Dong by: Frances Park

 

14 Ways to Take Action! 

• Explore stories of kids who recently emigrated to the United States from Scholastic
• Take a virtual field trip of Ellis Island
• Use immigration lesson plans from PBS teachers
• Play the immigration game at tenement.org
• Use dozens of lesson plans from tenement.org
• Watch the Great American Melting Pot from Schoolhouse Rock
• Use this lesson plan about The American Dream
• Interactive lesson On the Fence about the US and Mexico Border
• Look through the photos of NPR On the Road: Borderland
• Watch Papers the documentary film about undocumented youth for older kids
• Read through 40 days of Scripture “I Was a Stranger” Challenge
• Read two poetic views of immigration
• Send a card to detained Moms and their children in the Angel to Angel Project
• Watch refugee and asylum seeking children tell their stories

An immigration Twitter List to follow

Follow our About Proximity #TalkJustice Pinterest Board.

#TalkJustice Summer Serve Play Groups! Come over to our Facebook Event Page to learn more. Invite friends! We will be exploring topics and making a difference in community, using a series of books donated to us from CitizenKid. Hosted by About Proximity (that’s me) and my Mom, a public school family advocate for two decades.

What is your families immigrant story? How has someone from another culture deepened your life? What does welcoming the stranger mean to you?  

#TalkJustice Disabilities

Kids #TalkJustice Disabilities 

With all our #TalkJustice topics exposure and education goes such a long way in our kids growth in empathy, awareness and action. Talking about disabilities helps kids with familiarity, comfort level and response to those they encounter.

Expose your kids to different kinds of disabilities. The following are good examples to begin with…

Physical: Asthma, Blindness, Cerebral Palsy, Deafness, Diabetes, Down’s Syndrome, Epilepsy, Facial Disfigurement, Hearing Impairments, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Tourette’s Syndrome,

Cognitive: ADHD, Aspergers, Autism, Cognitive Impairments, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Learning Disabilities, Speech Impediments,

Emotional: Depression, Anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Eating Disorders, Self-Harming

Remind your kids that we all face challenging obstacles in our lives. Encourage kids to understand that those with disabilities are not so different than themselves. Kids with disabilities typically do not want to be treated differently. It is usually all right to start a friendly conversation. Most kids don’t mind answering questions from peers about why they have leg braces or hearing aides. If classmates are experiencing difficulties with more unseen disabilities challenge your kids to remember that not every disability is visible.

The beautiful line from the new Cinderella movie was HAVE COURAGE. BE KIND

Wonder challenged us to #ChooseKind. I’ve spend a lot of time in my grown-up life working as a special education paraprofessional. Kids have really big hearts. Sometimes their acts of kindness to their classmates floors me. They are good at disabilities. We just have to make sure they fully understand how important choosing kind is.

Kids with disabilities may be at risk for bullying or feeling alone. Help your kids to learn how to always #ChooseKid, as so beautifully express to us in the book Wonder. Invite kids with disabilities to parties, playdates and outings. Kids are amazingly resilient, they don’t want to be seen as not capable. Challenge your kids to see the whole person. The disability is just a small part of who they are, it does not define them. 

Disability Discussion Starters:

Help your family go deeper: 

• Do we all learn the same? Are some subjects harder for others?
• What is everyone called you the ‘brown haired girl’ is that the only thing that defines you? Do labels describe a whole person?
• Many people who have disabilities have grown up to be famous artists, writers, athletes and really anything you could dream of.
• Do you think kids with disabilities might develop some amazing strengths? Courage? Perseverance? Compassion for others?
• What would be easier or harder about having a visible disability vs. a hidden disability?
• Do you think all societies treat people with disabilities equally?
• How could your family support someone with a disability?
• When you encounter someone with a disability could place yourself in their shoes? How might your reaction change?

 

Kids Books about Disabilities:

• Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
• Eliza Bing is Not a Big Fat Quitter by Carmella Van Vleet
• Frida by Jonah Winter
• It’s Ok to be Different by Todd Parr
• Thank you Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
• Views from our Shoes 
• Sibling Slam Book 
• Wonder by RJ Palacio

 

18 Ways to Take Action!  

• Use this disability checklist for your church. It will open up conversation.
• Print off a braille alphabet card, add glue to practice the feeling of reading this way.
• Dig deep with the virtual Disability Awareness Museum 
• Download this resource about talking about disabilities
• Watch How Katie Got a Voice 
• Watch Listen Up about how disabilities effect children globally and their access to schooling.
• Soul Surfer is a wonderful movie to explore perseverance despite challenge
• Sweet disability clips from our favorite early education resource Sesame Street
• Watch short clips of adaptive sports
• See if you have a therapeutic horse riding location near you could contribute to or visit
• #ChooseKind Wonder Resources
• Listen to Someone Else’s Shoes a musical journey to empathy
• Volunteer with your family through your local Special Olympics Chapter
• When you schedule playdates remember classmates with disabilities.
• Read my friend Lisa’s beautiful article Perfectly Human: One Beautiful Life
• Ask about Peer-to-Peer Support Groups in your school
• Childcare can be difficult for families with a child with special needs consider offering respite care so parents can go out or do a special activity with a sibling
• Watch Don’t Feed the Worry Bug 

A Disability Twitter List to Follow

Follow our About Proximity #TalkJustice Pinterest Board.

#TalkJustice Summer Serve Play Groups! Come over to our Facebook Event Page to learn more. Invite friends! We will be exploring topics and making a difference in community, using a series of books donated to us from CitizenKid. Hosted by About Proximity (that’s me) and my Mom, a public school family advocate for two decades.

What have kids taught you about disabilities?