This video needs to be shown to all your children, forwarded to family and friends. It is very powerful to hear the words of our prophets declare that The Book of Mormon is the key to saving our Constitution!

Continued from yesterday…

The second seminar by Jodie Palmer was about mission statements.  Because we recently wrote our own family charter (a new expanded incarnation of it), we are naturally interested in learning more about  how to actually use and implement it!  I LOVED this class!  I learned so much more about mission statements than I ever imagined!

• If you can’t articulate it, you really don’t know it.I have found this statement so true in our lives.  I have found that people don’t trust homeschooling parents who can’t articulate why and how they homeschool.  For years I knew the reasons inside my own head, but I had not written them down or articulated them.  So, naturally when people asked me and I floundered a little, it planted seeds of doubt!  Since that time I have found my voice about homeschool, and partly because I started blogging about it.  I want to be sure that I find my voice for every thing I do, so that I can instill confidence in others and in myself.

“It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.” ~W. Edwards Deming

• Family culture is what influences the relationships, accomplishment of goals and the creation of character.  This is another statement that I just loved!!  We all know this deep down, but sometimes its nice to see it in black and white!  We are trying to create a culture in our family that will allow our girls to excel at what ever they chose as educational goals (ultimately careers), in creating their own families and in their relationship with God.
• Creating a family Mission Statement creates a way for each family member to assess and measure their progress. Again, this is a point that I love.  One thing that our family has done for the past two years is “map out our lives.”  Jodie called this “creating a vision of the future.”  Once a year we have sat down with our girls and mapped out what they would like their lives to be like.  We talk about missions, college, marriage, etc.  Things that we can predict (like serving a mission at 21, unless they marry first) are the things we start with.  Then we map out what it would take to finish college before that time, what it will take to be prepared for college before that, etc.  Jodie added to that by asking us to have the children write “future” stories, 5 years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, etc.  She said to chose a tradition that you know your family will be participating in and have them envision and record how they see things at that time.  Encourage them to talk about what skills they have gained by that time, if they’ll be married, what career they will have, etc.  People with a vision of the future will make better choices in their present if they know it will change that vision!
• Family Mission Statements do not need to be complicated, they just need to be true.Do not go find a mission statement on the internet and then hand it to your kids and say, “this is our mission statement, follow it!”  That will not fly!  Mission Statements need to be owned.  Each person in the family needs to have a say (yes, even your  4 & 17 year olds!)  Our girls were present and participated in the entire process of developing our MS and we knew our girls owned it when they immediately started implementing the concepts.  (Star diving into Shakespeare and Xuxu volunteering to speak in church!)
• Don’t forget the binding power in tradition!  I did not really grow up with any traditions, and  I have actively tried to change that in our home.  I am working on an entire post about traditions, so I’ll leave it at that!

And last, but not least, How to USE a FAMILY MISSION STATEMENT:

• Use it to help the family set goals based on your core values
• Use it when making big decisions, “does this decision fit with our MS?”  (We just went through a decision making process which ultimately hinged on our MS values!)
• Use it to regain focus whenever the need arises
• Use it to help you remember your passion
• Use it to support effective discipline
• Use it as a teaching opportunity  (How many FHE lessons can you draw out of your MS?)
• RECITE it EVERY DAY!
• Share your vision often (with family and others!)

Questions to consider when developing a family mission statement:

1. What makes you happy?  What are those things in life that put a smile on your face and get you through your difficult days?
2. What makes us fulfilled?   What are those things in life that bring us the most satisfaction and leave us with the feeling of completeness?
3. What do we want for ourselves and for our family?  What are our hopes, dreams, aspirations not only for our family, but for ourselves as well?
4. What is most important to you about your family?
5. What are your collective goals?
6. When do you feel most connected to one another?
7. How would you like to relate to one another?
8. Describe your family’s strengths.
9. Describe your family in 5 years… 10 years… 15 years.
10. What do you value?  (For example, relationships, faith, independence, wealth, hard work, generosity.)

Questions from the FRANKLIN COVEY Family Mission Statement Creator

1. We are at our best when…
2. We are at our worst when…
3. What do we really love to do together?
4. As a family, what can we better do to help each other?
5. As a family, what can we contribute to others, or how can we help others outside our family?
6. Are there things we should be doing or changing as a family, even though we’ve dismissed such thoughts many times?  What are these things?
7. Imagine a party celebrating our family 20 years from now.  What do we want people to honestly say about our family?  People view our family as:
8. If our home could be filled with one emotion, what would it be?
9. What are the principles we want our family to operate on?  (Such as trust, honesty, kindness, service, etc.)
10. Let’s think of balance as a state of fulfillment and renewal in each of the four dimensions: physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional.  What are the most important things we can do in each of these areas that will have the greatest positive impact in our family and help us achieve a sense of balance?  Physical:    Spiritual:      Mental:     Social/Emotional:
11. Imagine its ten years in the future.  Envision where we want each member of our family to be.  What have we accomplished, how do we see ourselves?  Who will you be in 10 years?

Core Value Activity

Create a “value box” and gather all your core values over the course of some time (week to month).  When you’re ready to do your family brainstorm, get out all your core values.  Decrease them by two, then decrease by two again until you have one final core value.  Keep track of your final 4-6 subsequent core values.  Use Formula #1 to develop your mission statement using these core values.

Formulas:

#1  To (insert core value) by or through (insert three or four subsequent values).

example:  To encourage others to become like Christ through loving relationships, healthy lifestyles, and stimulating experiences.

#2  To ____________________.  (Do something)

In such a way that __________________. (Quality or actions)

so that _________________________. (Results or Benefits)

Fun ideas to teach/reinforce the family statement:

• Write a Family Standard
• Habits of the Home list  (How we treat each other, what we do/do not do!)
• Have the kids create art work about the mission statement
• Create a family cheer
• Family moto
• Choose a single word that stands for your family
• Create a family flag

Today I was very fortunate to catch two seminars at the local family festival that is going on.  I am posting the 1st half today and the 2nd half tomorrow.

The first seminar was by Nicholeen Peck who writes a blog called Teaching Self Government.     I have read bits and pieces of her blog before and was excited to hear her speak in person!  My main reason in wanting to attend was the correlation between self government and wanting my children to be independent learners.    Her principles apply to every family, regardless of the challenges they face.  Don’t let her description in the side bar scare you away!  These principles are necessary for healthy, happy, adjusted children too!

I’m going to put some of her thoughts in bullet points as I’m still working through these in my own mind.

• Successful children are able to determine the cause and effect of any given situation and possess the knowledge to make correct decisions. YOU have to teach them these skills.  They will not magically appear.  Children need you to model this behavior, and discuss the why/how of the decisions you made.
• Our goal is to raise our children to be adults who know their mission in life, who can’t wait to fight for it, who know how to create deep relationships with others and have their own  personal relationship with God. I love this and want to incorporate some of it into our family statement (okay, all of it!)   I see  the “who can’t wait to fight for it” in our “deeper, broader and faster” approach.  I do not want to hold my children back from their future in any way.
• One of my favorite things she talked about was family activities.  She talked about the importance of creating memories and that memories happen not when things are spur of the moment (though this is important in family culture too) but activities that are planned and anticipated.   I know a lot of parents don’t tell their children about an event planned in the future because they think that children can not handle the wait.  I have always done the opposite.  I love to tell my children of our plans so that I can watch them plan, dream and anticipate the event!  I felt very validated!
• Acceptance~~Home should be the safest place to make mistakes.  (No shame!)
• Trust
• Family Economy~~Consequences, Rights and Privileges.  Spend time with your kids figuring out what is a consequence, a right and a privilege.  For example, a place to live, clothes to wear and food to eat are rights.  T.V., video games, treats and time with friends are privileges.  Consequences should be natural, you make a mess, you clean it up, you break a family rule, you accept the consequence that has been pre-determined in family meetings.

So much of this fits with the way we run our family!  I’m looking forward to incorporating more of what I learned today into our family system!

Today I made a list of items we use as a family to learn Chinese for the other parents at the new Chinese school.  I couldn’t believe how long the list was and thought that maybe it would be better to document our purchases and internet finds somewhere permanent.  So, I am introducing my new blog!

Learn Chinese!

I hope that it will assist others find learning resources for the journey!  (And it is a journey!)

Last night the girls went with their Da to see Henry V.    They loved it, seemed to understand what was going on and once again spent time speaking with people from the production afterward.  This time it was one of the actors from The Comedy of Errors (Dromio) that approached Star.  He asked her how old she was and mentioned that he’d seen her in the audience the night before.  He told Star that he had a nine year old daughter and wanted to know if she would be interested in the performances.  Star was very enthusiastic about his daughter seeing all the plays!  She repeated what the Executive Director had told her last night, “the kids seem to understand it better than the adults!”

Tonight Da is taking the girls to see As You Like It.  (I am going to The Secret Garden with them next week.)  They were all up early this morning talking excitedly about the next show, rushing through chores and the school work that they have.   I love seeing their enthusiasm!

On the photo issue,  I’ve been asked by a couple of folks why I went private and then open again and why I’m posting photos without password protection.   There have been a couple of changes in the circumstance that prompted us to go private and we’ve changed the purpose and direction of this blog.   We are posting photos, but you’ll note that they are not closeups or straight on.   We are also no longer posting about our day to day, but focusing on the education aspects of our life.  It seems to have made a difference already!  Thank you for all your support over the years!

Tonight’s performance introduced us to The Comedy of Errors! We had a ball, laughed ourselves silly, and I am pretty sure there is a permanent smile stuck on my face!

After the show Star ran over to the Executive Director and introduced herself. I was surprised as she is usually pretty shy. She talked with him for quite a while, telling him how much she enjoyed the show and thanking him! He wanted to know what her favorite part was in this play, if it was the first time she had seen it and what other plays she knew about. She was able to give him a list of what she had seen and read and he was pretty impressed! I am learning as a Mom that I need to just hang back and let the kids carry on these conversations on their own. Most people are more interested in the kids than in the parents, and I am 100% cool with that!

Tomorrow:

It has only been a few weeks since we wrote our newest family charter! The results have been amazing!  In the past the girls were always wonderful about getting up and doing chores, completing their required music practice and participating with eagerness in any schooling I present them, but, after turning much of the work over to them, they have literally taken off!

Xuxu volunteered to give a talk in church,which she did today, based on our goal of providing opportunities to “speak in public.”  She did this in her class without so much as a hint from us.  We were surprised (and pleased) that she had taken the initiative to move on this!   She also volunteered to play the piano in Young Woman’s even though she only knew one song.  The girls were more than happy to sing that one song! They asked her to prepare a song for next week too!    (She has taken lessons for 6 weeks now!)  ;o)

Star has also jumped head long into her “passion.”  Star loves plays, musicals, etc. and since beginning down this new course, she has read every single Shakespeare Can Be Fun! book that we own, she has started writing her own story using Shakespearean language (she is actually really good) and told me that tomorrow she is going to start memorizing the Sonnets.  Just this evening we learned that there is a workshop for kids  at the local University that teaches acting.  Its a two week program and at the end they put on a play.  You would have thought it was Christmas morning when I told Star that I was signing her up!

There has never been a lack of enthusiasm about learning with these girls, but we are simple dumbfounded at the spark of energy this new path has ignited.  I still have to remind myself to hold back on the lesson planning, change my habits from the old “spoon feeding methods” to more of a guidance role.  They feel so empowered by this and I believe that the skills they are learning right now will benefit them for the rest of their lives!

Chinese Lessons

Tonight I met with our Chinese teacher and 3 other adoptive families to try and get a preschool going.    It turned out that we are going to hold two separate classes, one for older kids and the preschool.   The teacher is fantastic and I know that it will really help to have an actual person assisting us on this journey!  The teacher has to return to school full-time in the fall, but I hope that she will be making enough money from this little group that she’ll stick with it through the fall/winter!

I have also spoken to a few more people about our plan to rent an apartment in China next year.  I already have one family that wants an entire semester, another family that wants to reserve two weeks a.s.a.p. and another family that is figuring out what it would take to go for a month!  I don’t think we’ll have any lack of interested in the rental of this property!  The though part will be getting it all set up and running smoothly, I expect bumps, but will forge forward!

In The News

Read this article, it is excellent: A Long Weekend? How About a Whole Year?

Another hot topic has been Da’s return to school.  Yes, you heard right!  A BSCS, an MBA and now he’s after a certificate in TESOL.  He’s been accepted to BYU and will turn in his ecclesiastical endorsement and pay tuition tomorrow.  He’s already been to a week of classes and turned in two assignments!  I was amazed to see him do this as he has sworn in the past that he would never go back to school!  The advantages of a TESOL are #1. the ability to volunteer in his community as an English teacher, #2. increase knowledge of linguistics to facilitate communications with his foreign coworkers and #3.  the training necessary to serve an English teaching mission when we retire.  I also don’t think it hurts one bit to increase your skill base in this economy!

His first two assignments for school were so fascinating I decided to post them here.  He’ll be embarrassed, but that is what wives are for! Right?

Ethnography~~For this first assignment the students were told that they needed to invent their own language.  They also need to provide the details of the origin of the language, etc.  When he first wrote this, he used the USA and China as his examples, but changed the names of the countries and a few of the details when I pointed out that his prof might be a Liberal and that he might take offense.   The second version is a little less politically charged, and considering it is BYU, he’ll probably get by!

bofmtranslate~~This assignment was incredibly time consuming.  It took nearly the entire Saturday to hash it out.  Did you know that Brigham Young had someone write a pheonetic language to help all the immigrants read The Book of Mormon?  I did not know that.  Da’s task was to translate Deseret Alphabet into the “universal” pheonetic language and then into modern English.  I asked him why he couldn’t skip the process inbetween and it turns out there is a typo that the prof is looking for to make sure it was done correctly!  (Sneeky!)

As for me, I’m left with continuing to juggle all the activities we have, keep the house clean and the family fed.  I have some new personal goals I am working on and several of them include edcation, so when I get that sorted out I’ll post about it!

We heard My Declaration from the movie Inkheart at the theater in its initial release.   I knew I wanted a copy of it and so purchased the CD on the way home.  My girls love it, it speaks to our soul, and they know the words by heart!  Occasionally you’ll see us driving around  in the car, all singing our lungs out, and very often it will be this song!

I’m gonna be someone, I’m gonna give something,
I’m taking it on, I’m taking it on,
It’s gonna be my life, so I’m gonna live each day and each night,
Taking it on, I’m taking it on

’cause I can’t keep hiding, no I can’t keep hiding, and I can’t keep running away.

Tonight we purchased the movie for our collection. I was reminded how much I love this song and I decided to make another post about it! BTW, its a great movie. Rated PG and we recommend it to fam

I have always been too intimidated to start studying the Chinese characters, until yesterday.  We were invited to come over to Ling’s house again and I grabbed the kids character flash cards on the way out the door.  I figured Ling could show me at least the order of the strokes, and maybe we could number the first 50 or so.

When I arrived I was introduced to Bai Lu, Ling’s niece.  She is a student here in the U.S. and is originally from Wuhan.  She was extremely helpful and is talking about starting a Chinese pre-school.  I hope she does!

Ling, Bai Lu and I sat down at about 11:00 to study and didn’t stop for two hours.  By the end of our time together I was getting the stroke order right about 99% of the time and had stopped numbering the cards.  I think I know enough now to continue with my studies, with occasional help from Skritter.  Of course, Ling is excited to help me along and I’ll probably be calling her often for pronunciation help!

As of tonight, I’m totally hooked on writing the Chinese language!  I told Da that the characters are 1/2 puzzle and 1/2 dance.  What a fun fun language!

I found a great blog this evening.  I hope to read it from beginning to end, but so far we have only had time to skim it.   The author has some great posts, such as The Good Samaritan with Chinese Characteristics and Force-feeding your neighbours infested Mandarin oranges.  (That last post was especially helpful to me in understanding our Chinese  teacher’s need to put the food directly into my mouth!! ;o)

Tonight we had fun learning some new phrases ( qí mǎ zhǎo mǎ, literal translation: “ride a horse, seek a horse”,  meaning: working one job while looking for a better one) and listening to Chinese songs.  The author of the blog does all of us learners a great favor by posting the words in characters, pin ying and English!  My girls love learning with music and plan on memorizing this sweet song first of all!

我听见你的声音 / wǒ tīng jiàn nǐ de shēng yīn
I hear your voice

有种特别的感觉 / yǒu zhǒng tè bié de gǎn jué
Have a special kind of feeling

让我不断想 / ràng wǒ bù duàn xiǎng
Makes me constantly miss (you)

不敢再忘记你 / bù gǎn zài wàng jì nǐ
(I) don’t dare forget you again

我记得有一个人 / wǒ jì de yǒu yī gè rén
I remember there’s one person

永远留在我心中 / yǒng yuǎn liú zài wǒ xīn zhōng
(who) forever stays in my heart

哪怕只能够这样的想你 / nǎ pà zhǐ néng gòu zhè yang de xiǎng nǐ
Even still all (I’m) able to do is miss you like this

如果真的有一天 / rú guǒ zhēn de yǒu yī tiān
If really there’s a day

爱情理想会实现 / ài qíng lǐ xiǎng huì shí xiàn
(when) ideal romance is achieved

我会加倍努力好好对你 / Wǒ huì jiā bèi nǔ lì hǎo hǎo duì nǐ
I will doubly strive to be good to you

永远不改变 / yǒng yuǎn bù gǎi biàn
Forever not changing

不管路有多么远 / bù guǎn lù yǒu duō me yuǎn
No matter the road is however far

一定会让它实现 / yī dìng huì ràng tā shí xiàn
(I) will definitely make it happen

我会轻轻在你耳边 / wǒ huì qīng qīng zài nǐ ěr biān
I will softly beside your ear

对你说，对你说 / duì nǐ shuō, duì nǐ shuō
Say to you, say to you

Chorus:

我爱你，爱着你 / wǒ ài nǐ, ài zhe nǐ
I love you, loving you

就象老鼠爱大米 / jiù xiàng lǎo shǔ ài dà mǐ
Just like a mouse loves rice

不管有多少风雨 / bù guǎn yǒu duō shǎo fēng yǔ
No matter there is how much wind and rain

我都会依然陪着你 / wǒ dōu huì yī rán péi zhe nǐ
I will still as before be there with you

我想你，想着你 / wǒ xiǎng nǐ, xiǎng zhe nǐ
I miss you, missing you

不管有多么的苦 / bù guǎn yǒu duō me de kǔ
No matter it’s however bitter

只要能让你开心 / zhǐ yào néng ràng nǐ kāi xīn
So long as (I’m) able to make you feel happy

我什么都愿意 / wǒ shén me dōu yuàn yì
I’m willing to do anything

这样爱你 / zhè yang ài nǐ
This way love you

Up!  ;o)

I have had a couple of emails from people interested in the book and asking me what the actual plan is for high school and beyond.    Yes, we do have a plan, and you can get a taste of it on my friend Angela’s blog!  She has a daughter that is two years older than Xuxu, and she is following the same type of plan we are!  You can read about it here.

Three of the girls have music lessons: two piano, one violin and two viola lessons. We will continue with those, maybe adding a cello (Star) sometime next year.   It has also been suggested by our string teacher that the girls join the local youth orchestra, and we will do that in the Fall.

After discussing the family charter again with the girls yesterday, (I wanted their input on the items I was posting to the blog) Star suddenly lit up.  I think that for the first time she realized exactly what we meant when we said that we wanted the kids to “find their passion and go broader and deeper!”  She said to me, “does that mean I can try out for a play?”  Absolutely!  That is what we mean!  We are fortunate to live in an area that has several theater groups, and so I don’t think it will be difficult to find something for her to participate in!

Of course, I know that these are things that we probably would have participated in whether we were in public/private school or even using our old homeschool plan.  But, for now, it is what we are doing, so I’ll continue to post about it.    Honestly, the only thing we’ve backed off of is the intense study of U.S. History that we had planned and swim team.  We are still planning on reading the history books and using the material for writing projects, but it will not be the center of our focus.  As for swim team, our “swimmer” has had a change of heart and wants to concentrate on music.  (She has ambitiously taken on piano and violin, and she is learning the notes for viola so that she can help her little sister practice!)  This change came about earlier in the Spring, but we continued to swim until last week.  At that time, the public school let out and the team filled up with kids who are only summer swimmers.  This was beyond frustrating to both of my girls, and they made the decision to take the summer off.  I do not know at this point if we will go back in the Fall, or if we will continue our walking/running program each morning.  I will leave that up to them.

I apologize for making it sound like we have a big announcement…we really don’t.   We are not making an about-face either.   Still, we are officially changing the purpose of this blog from “family updates” to “how we are educating our family.”  We will start by publishing parts of our family charter.

This family charter is a culmination of years of talking, dreaming and planning.   As some suspected, we are not putting our children back in public school or into a private school, sorry folks…(and by that I mean my parents ;o).  We are however taking the advice of Maya Frost* and going deeper, broader, faster….and global.  We are actively creating our own future, not waiting any longer for employers or “chance” to provide us with the opportunities we desire for our family.  We are approaching our future with boldness.

The following are a few of the bullet points drawn from our family charter.  I may share additional information as I progress into this blog, but for now these items will suffice.

• A good portion of our day is dedicated to learning and understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In other words, we use a “Gospel Centered” educational model.  We  transcend the traditional educational  experience by teaching our children to rely on the truths they learn from the Gospel to enhance their studies in other areas.
• We  lead our children in physical work and goal setting.   Physical work provides a training ground for work ethic, internal motivation, and focus.  It teaches the children that our family relies on them, and that they have a responsibility as part of the family.  We teach our children to set challenging and realistic goals with step by step plans to reach those goals.  Many goals will be family/home centered as a teaching tool that will expand into their own lives and ambitions.
• We teach our children how to gather, organize and communicate information rather than fill them with facts.   We want them to learn to ask questions.   One of our main objectives is for our children to have the ability to write and speak well.  We will seek opportunities for all the children to practice these skills at home and in public.
• Our job is to elevate and encourage them while continuing to have high expectations.  After all, as their parents, we are best qualified to judge them based on our knowledge of their struggles and individual abilities.
• We are actively putting less emphasis on being good at everything (preparing for the standardized tests) and are allowing them to explore the activities and subjects that they are passionate about.  We want to encourage them to find their passion and go broader and deeper.  We feel strongly that this will provide them with a sense of achievement and fulfillment, something that is rarely provided by simply graduating on the regular 4×4 plan.  (Four years of high school and four years of college.)  This does not mean that we are unschooling!
• We want to encourage our children to take advantage of opportunities that will enhance their knowledge of their current course of study (or passion.)  This will include travel (of course), classes, internships and entrepreneurial adventures.
• We want our children to know and be enthusiastic about China.  We desire that they “not feel like tourists” in the country of their birth.  This means that they need to spend a significant part of their lives in China, speaking the language, eating the food, learning about the culture and building friendships.  Rather than spend our vacation dollars on sightseeing, we prefer to spend them living and learning amongst the people.
• We want our children to have a reasonable feel for other countries and societies by traveling as extensively as our budget will allow.  We want our children to have friends in foreign countries beyond pen-pals.  We want our children to have compassion for others, respect different cultures and to cultivate their curiosity and creativity while in an environment that pushes them beyond their comfort zone.
• We will continue to be selective about and seek intentional friendships.
• We will live as frugally as possible to provide these educational experiences.  Our goal is to provide this education while not incurring debt for ourselves or for our children.  We intend to complete their education without financial assistance from the government, i.e. student loans or grants.  We will encourage them to seek scholarships and work/study programs when appropriate.

We know that this is a different path than most feel comfortable taking, but it is a path that we have “stumbled upon” over the course of many years.  We know that this course is a perfect fit for our family and will make our children into the best individuals that they can be.

Plans in the works:

• Xuxu and Da have tickets to China in October.  They are serving at the Starfish Foster Home in Xi’an, China.
• Marmee, Xuxu and Star are heading to Washington D.C. in September to participate in a Social Studies activity.  Think Tea.
• We are planning on spending our next annual bonus (early 2010) on an apartment in China, furniture for the apartment and travel to China.  This will allow us to  spend three months of 2010 studying the Chinese language, music and culture.  We will then rent the apartment out to other like minded friends and family.  We hope that this is an experience that will be sought after by both the adoptive and homeschooling communities.

*Part of the decision to put all of this into writing is based on our recent reading of The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education.  This book encouraged us to put years of planning into action and it also gave us the courage to move forward with many ideas that we knew to be the truth, but were nervous about pursuing.  (Such as not having our children focus their education around the ACT/SAT.)   We want to encourage people to read this book with the understanding that as LDS parents, we do not believe that teens should be sent abroad alone.  Our intent is to make this a family adventure, and at the same time allow our children to “learn by doing” as we travel and grow together.