Do Elephants Mourn?

Apparently they do. I just read in the news today that the baby elephant at the zoo here in Calgary has died. We had a great time at the zoo this summer watching and learning about this little guy.

The article said that, "The four adult elephants, including Malti's mother, Maharani, had the chance to gather around the elephant calf to say a final goodbye." I find it really interesting that the elephants would do that.

Perhaps mourning really is universal.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is the time of year when I have to take a deep breath and quit being the sugar police and just enjoy! Takes a little work...but I'm getting the hang of it.

Last night we had a Trick of Trunk activity at the church. I love Trick or Trunk. It's short and simple and the kids just love it so much! We made a fishing pond! I had a big sign that said 'fish for candy' and the kids had to use a fishing rod to get the treats. Sometimes they got a toy (good way to get rid of McDonald's toys from the bottom of the toy box!) and sometimes they got a candy. I wasn't too sure people would like it (after all, who needs more McDonald's toys in their house?!) but it was a big hit! The kids liked it, and I had a good time seeing them all have so much fun.

This is Peirce getting ready to dive into his bag of treats! He's a kitty this year....which is pretty appropriate since he spends most of his playing time pretending he's a cat anyway.



After Trick or Trunk we went over to the school to see how things were going at the family dance. Looked like they had lots of people there and like everyone was having a great time!

As soon as we got home the organizing began. My kids spend a lot of time organizing and trading and making deals on so much of this for so much of that. There was no way I could talk them out of taking care of business and getting to bed on time!




Today they dressed up for school. Peirce is a kitty still and Jill is dressed up as Dumbledore. I thought it was pretty cute watching them in their costumes with their backpacks on...so I had to take a picture.

Here's Jill as Dumbledore!

Parvanna's Journey and Mud City (By Deborah Ellis)

Well, I read The Breadwinner and learned that there were two more books with the same characters by Deborah Ellis. I went to the library and got Parvanna's Journey and read it that day...then went to the library the next day and got Mud City and read that one that day.

I was so inspired by these books that I changed plans for my book club and am getting everyone to read The Breadwinner for this month. I hope they'll read these two books too.

All the books in this series are written in a way that makes you continue on and have to read more....lots of Cliffhangers. The Breadwinner ends off with Parvanna and her Father planning to leave to go find her mother and siblings. When Parvanna's Journey starts off they're buying her father and she's now alone....again. I couldn't believe it! The things this girl goes through are just amazing. It really gave me a new perspective on what it must be like to be an orphan in a war-torn country. She ends up collecting a few other orphan friends along the way. The story of their journey is amazing and kept me reading.

Mud City is more the story of Parvanna's friend, Shauzia. Shauzia is like most young girls - she has a lot of dreams and goals, only she's stopped along the way by the simple and sad facts of war. The story starts out in a refugee camp where the conditions are less than deplorable. She eventually decides to venture out on her own and look after herself. This doesn't go so well and she actually ends up in prison. She is then taken in by an American family who lives in Afghanistan in amazing comfort and wealth in parison to the people around them. However, it doesn't last too long, sadly enough.

These stories made my heart ache for the children that suffer in war. Something really must be done....but what can someone like me do?

One thing is I'm going to read these books with my kids!