Spiritual Education | All Done Monkey

Care Kits for the Homeless: Moms Gone Global {Random Acts of Kindness}

Random Acts of Kindness 2012 6 Responses »

May 142013

I am so pleased to announce the return of the popular series on Random Acts of Kindness. What started as a temporary series last fall is now a regular feature. Each month, a blogger shares the random acts of kindness they have committed with their little ones. You can visit the Random Acts of Kindness page to see previous installments of this series. You can also follow the Random Acts of Kindness Pinterest Board. I have been truly inspired by these wonderful posts!

Today we learn ways to show kindness to the homeless, from Jill of amazing Moms Gone Global. She sent me this post as she was packing for vacation: Talk about commitment! Thank you, Jill, for this great post!

I feel honored to be a part of the Random Acts of Kindness Challenge. Thank you Leanna for putting this series together and for giving me the opportunity to participate!

Teaching compassion is a cornerstone of raising good global citizens. When driving around our city, we witness many homeless individuals in need of compassion every day.

Therefore, the focus of our random act of kindness is to give hope and aid to these homeless individuals on the street by providing them with care kits.

It is very important for parents to model empathy and charity when it comes to the plight of the homeless. It’s easy to look the other way and ignore the people on the street who are holding up signs in a state of desperation, but kids must learn to see these individuals as human beings who deserve kindness, comfort and consideration.

Some argue that giving to the homeless enables them and perpetuates their predicament. I believe that being generous with the homeless is necessary and good for the community.

To help the homeless is a compassionate act which is a high virtue and demonstrates a concern for the welfare of others without judgment. This sets a good example for the community. Further, to help the homeless in their time of need is a model of good behavior that may inspire them. It may also provide them the hope that is required to lift themselves out of a bad situation. They may one day pass those acts of generosity onto others — as kindness can be contagious.

With these sentiments in mind, I thought it would be a great idea to put together care kits and personally deliver them to the some of the people we see standing on the streets each day hoping for handouts. Speaking to a homeless person while making eye contact with them is a great way to show them respect and let them know that you recognize their value as a person. This provides them a sense of dignity that they rarely experience.

The care kits we created consisted of a reusable shopping bag filled with healthy snacks and personal hygiene items including sanitizer, toothpaste, toothbrushes, moisturizer, tissue packs, wipes and deodorant.

In an effort to feed the recipients’ souls, we included a small handwritten heart-shaped note in each bag.

The men and women we have approached on the streets were all very polite and appeared genuinely thankful for the gifts. We have seen most of them before, but only through the car windows. To engage in a conversation with them made a big impression on my boys. They now understand that these folks are real human beings who need and deserve compassion and comfort like the rest of us.

There are many ways to be kind to people who are homeless and looking to rebuild their lives. Several programs exist in shelters that require interested volunteers. In most instances, all that is needed is a small amount of your time.

Each member of our family volunteers at our local shelter which provides many services to the homeless in our city. The boys donate their outgrown clothing, toys and books to the shelter on a regular basis. We work at the donation center during the holiday season, and I serve as a reading tutor for some amazing children at the shelter’s elementary school.

Another easy way to engage in a random act of kindness for the homeless is to carry fast-food gift cards with you and hand them out when you see a person in need. This is a great option for those who have any fears about the way a cash gift could be spent.

Links for more information about helping the homeless:

GiveBackpacks.org is an organization dedicated to supporting the homeless population in Austin. Visit the organization’s website for ideas on what items homeless are often in need of.

Homeless Shelter Directory to find a homeless shelter near you.

35 Ways to Help the Homeless

Moms Gone Global

Jill is the co-founder of Moms Gone Global, whose goal is to help parents foster cultural awareness within their children so that they may grow up with a meaningful understanding and appreciation of diversity. The website’s contributors write about their experiences as they endeavor to enrich their children’s global education by the exploration of foods, music, languages, customs and traditions of the world’s cultures.

You can see a full schedule of the posts in this series by visiting the main Random Acts of Kindness Challenge page. You can also follow the Random Acts of Kindness Pinterest Board.

Walking Through the Garden of Ridvan: A Look Back

Ridvan 2 Responses »

May 022013

It is hard to believe that as of sunset tonight (which has already happened in many places) Ridván will be over. I have had so much fun participating in the first ever Walking Through the Garden of Ridván series with Bahá’í Mom Blogs and getting ideas for how to celebrate this special holiday with my boys.

Here is a look back on all the fun things that the participating bloggers shared during this 12 day festival. For a full list of the posts, see our main page.

We set up a Ridván tent, learned about celebrations around the world, and sampled rose water cheesecake…

…used music to celebrate, made a felt story board, and shared hospitality…

…made crowns, used nightingale puppets and sensory play, and created a beautiful environment…

…tapped into the joy of the festival, celebrated with loved ones, and, finally, left the beautiful garden.

How did you celebrate Ridván this year?

Nightingales: Ridvan Craft and Sensory Play

education, Kid Fun, Ridvan 12 Responses »

Apr 282013

“Consider these nightingales. So great is their love for these roses, that sleepless from dusk till dawn, they warble their melodies and commune with burning passion with the object of their adoration. How then can those who claim to be afire with the rose-like beauty of the Beloved chose to sleep?”

- Bahá’u'lláh to His companions in the Ridván Garden, as related by Nabíl (quoted in God Passes By, p. 153).

“Hear those birds, Mommy?” It’s just before dawn, and Monkey has crawled into our bed. Just outside our window, the birds are singing their greeting to the sun as it begins its slow rise over the treetops.

We love listening to the birds in the morning, in that magical time suspended delicately between the dark of night and the brightness of the coming day. In those few moments, not yet burdened by the chores of the day but full of the promise of the new dawn, we lie in bed and listen.

For Bahá’ís, this time of year brings to mind one bird in particular: the nightingale. This bird, known for its plaintive melodies, was used frequently by Bahá’u'lláh as a metaphor for a person in love with God. The nightingale is a prominent figure in Persian poetry, in which it is characterized by its sweet melody, sung to its beloved, the rose. In a similar way, people in love with God will not rest but instead spend all their hours singing praises to their Beloved.

Here is a beautiful Bahá’í song that I grew up with that uses the nightingale metaphor to talk about Bahá’u'lláh. If you’d like to play it yourself, here is the sheet music.

To teach the little ones about these beautiful birds, last year at our community gathering we did a really fun nightingale craft from the Core Curriculum for Spiritual Education.

We set up a table with the materials, including stickers and markers to decorate the birds. I also found some colorful streamers to use for the tails. If you look closely, you will see one of our ladybug cupcakes on the table!

It was a simple craft, but at the end the kids had something really cute and fun to play with. Monkey still loves making the wings flap!

By the time this Ridván rolled around, however, Monkey really wasn’t very interested in crafts, so I tried a different approach. First, we listened to this recording of a nightingale’s song, which Monkey asked me to play several times. It really is beautiful!

Then we sat in our Ridván tent and did some sensory play. This was so much fun! It would also make a great activity for a group.

In case you were worried, the robots didn’t miss out on the fun! In fact, play was suspended for several minutes as Monkey carefully rolled them – one by one – in from the other room.

Beforehand I had gathered some materials related to the holiday, such as tea bags, rose petals, a flower from our yard, and a small rose made of tissue paper.

I covered the bowl with the beautiful blue scarf we are using as the “river” around our tent. I had Monkey reach his hand under the scarf and try to identify the objects in the bowl. It was hard! Especially considering that I hadn’t prepped him at all for the kinds of things that would be in the bowl.

I then had him close his eyes and smell the tea and the flowers. Afterwards, we examined the flower petals and noted the differences between the fresh petals and the dried ones. We then cut open the tea bag to play with the dried leaves. It wasn’t the first time Monkey had seen loose tea, but it was the first time I had let him play with it!

I think his favorite part, though, was our “taste test.” It is amazing how difficult it can be to guess a flavor when it is completely out of context! When I put some sugar on his tongue, for example, Monkey told me it tasted “spicy.” He was surprised to see what it was! Honey, though, he guessed instantly, probably because he frequently has it on its own.

Once Baby woke up from his nap, I let him play with some of the objects as well. As soon as I held out the first one, his eyes got huge, and he started cooing, so I know he was excited!

**Please note: Sensory play with infants should be strictly supervised for safety reasons.**

When doing sensory play with babies, be sure to use larger objects than you would with older children. In addition to the choking hazard, it is also more fun for them. Baby Monkey quickly became frustrated with small objects, as they were difficult for him to grab and hold onto. Of course, don’t give them anything with sharp edges or points, and be very careful that they don’t put anything in their mouths, which of course they will try to do!

But if you follow precautions and good common sense, sensory play with babies is extremely rewarding. Baby and I had so much fun, and it was a great way for him to connect to the holiday as well.

Have you done sensory play with your kids?

This post is part of the series Walking Through the Garden of Ridván with Bahá‘í Mom Blogs. For a full list of the posts in this series, visit our main page.

The Ridvan Garden: Felt Board

crafts, Ridvan 15 Responses »

Apr 252013

Welcome to the next stop in our series “Walking Through the Garden of Ridván.” So far we have set up a Ridván tent, looked at how families around the world celebrate the holiday, sampled a scrumptious rose water cheesecake, and celebrated with some joyous music. For a list of upcoming posts in this series, visit our main page.

There are very few storybooks about the Ridván Festival, particularly for young children, so I decided to create a felt board to use to tell the story to Monkey. I had a lot of fun making it, and felt boards are such a wonderful way to bring stories to life for little ones.

Monkey’s summary of the story: “One day, Bahá’u'lláh go garden, see friends there. Garden have lots roses.”

I first came across felt boards (often called “flannel boards”) in a busy bag swap with my mom’s group. One of the busy bags we got had a small flannel board and the felt shapes for several simple pictures, such as a snowman. Another contained basic shapes for children to invent their own pictures. Monkey adored making and re-making pictures with his felt shapes, so I thought this would be a great, hands-on way for him to engage with the story.

To make the felt board, I cut out a piece of cardboard from an old diaper box and laid a piece of flannel over one side. (I chose a light blue for the sky). I then folded the edges of the flannel around to the back of the cardboard and glued it on tight using craft glue. It was much simpler than I had expected!

Cutting out all the felt pieces took much longer, but these story boards can be as simple or as complicated as you want. I decided to do four basic scenes, all of which were fairly simple – except for all of those roses! We’ll see how long all those little pieces lasts

Here is our story:

The Crossing

Bahâ’u'llâh and His companions were forced to leave their homes. They had to travel a long, long way to get to their new home. Before they left on their trip, they stopped at a beautiful garden called the Ridvân Garden. To get there, they had to cross a river on a boat. (Okay, okay, I’m pretty sure Bahâ’u'llâh didn’t use a cute little sailboat like this, but there are only so many shapes I can cut out of felt!)

The Garden

When they crossed the river they arrived in a beautiful garden. It was full of roses. Bahâ’u'llâh named the garden “Ridván,” which means “paradise” because it was so beautiful.

Roses in the Tent

Bahâ’u'llâh and His friends put up tents to sleep in. Every morning they would sit on cushions in Bahâ’u'llâh’s tent to drink their tea. The gardeners knew Bahâ’u'llâh loved roses, so they would bring lots of roses to Him. There were so many that when the friends sat down on their cushions, they couldn’t see each other over the pile of roses!

Humanity as a Rose Garden

While He was staying in the garden, Bahâ’u'llâh told His friends something very important. (When I asked Monkey what this message was, he said it was “’bout robots.” Um…close! Okay, not really )

He said that we are all like the roses in the garden and God is like the sun. The sun helps the roses grow, just like God helps our souls to grow and be strong. Bahâ’u'llâh said that everyone – no matter where they were from or how different they looked – was part of the same rose garden and got light from the same sun.

Hope you enjoyed our story! Have you ever used a felt board with your kids?

This post has been shared at A Cat Like Curiosity’s Super Handmade Sunday and Bowdabra’s Craft Showcase.

This post is part of the series Walking Through the Garden of Ridván with Bahá‘í Mom Blogs. For a full list of the posts in this series, visit our main page.

A Festival for All Peoples: Ridvan Around the World

Ridvan 5 Responses »

Apr 222013

This post is part of the series Walking Through the Garden of Ridván.

“The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.”

- Bahá’u'lláh

Yesterday we were able to celebrate the beginning of the festival of Ridván with our local Bahá’í community. As described in this beautiful introductory post from Creative World of Varya, Ridván commemorates the time when Bahá’u'lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, made the bold claim that He was the Messenger of God for today, come to usher in an age of peace and prosperity for all people.

When Bahá’u'lláh made this announcement in 1863 in the beautiful Ridván Garden, He was not just speaking to His companions, or to the inhabitants of nearby Baghdad, or even to the people of Persia, His native land. He was announcing to all the peoples of the world that they were one human family, that true peace was not only possible but inevitable, and that equality and justice could be the guiding principles of a global civilization based on both spiritual and material development.

Today, there are followers of Bahá’u'lláh all over the world, and though they come from many different cultures, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds, they are all united in their love for Bahá’u'lláh and for His teachings of world unity and peace.

And so as Bahá’ís all over the world commemorate the start of the Ridván Festival, I thought it would be fun to get a flavor of how communities in different parts of the globe celebrate this festival.

Ridvan Around the World - Alldonemonkey.com

Our Ridvan tent from last year

For myself, growing up in different parts of the US (North Carolina and New Jersey), I have fond memories of putting on plays with other children or having picnics in the park. Here are some glimpses of how other families and communities celebrate this beautiful time:

Sarih: “Over the years we have done a variety of Ridván related activities with the kids, garden parties, treasure hunts, constructing Ridván prayer tents, picnics in rose gardens, stories, decorating with flowers etc.”

Honey of Honey’s Quilling (Malaysia): “Here we have the usual gathering with devotionals and an activity developed by the task force.”

Talieh (Northern Virginia/Alexandria): “I am planning something special for the children’s class I teach. Last year we built a tent in the middle of the room and marked the outline of an island around it. Inside the tent were some cushions, a bright table cloth on the floor serving as a carpet, and in the middle lots of roses and a picture of the Garden of Ridván in Haifa. The children said their prayers in a different part of the room and after a brief introduction to Ridván, were invited to cross the river and enter the garden. Once in the tent, the children listened to the story about Ridván, and then we drank very light tea together. It was simple, but hopefully special way to celebrate. I’d like to do something similar this year, with a few additions such as a song about Ridván and so on.

Jubilee (Austin, Texas): “We always have a big party on the first day with bouncy house, snow cones, music etc. outside of the Bahá’í center. The newly elected LSA [Local Spiritual Assembly] members serve BBQ. It is the kid’s favorite holiday, every time we have a holy day they ask if it is the ‘one with the bouncy house’.”

Felicia of Guilt to Great (New Mexico): “Our children have been learning about the garden of Ridván–one week they made flowers, the next boats, and the next nightingales. It is a tangible approach to grasping the different elements that made the garden special.”

Azarnoush of A toddler, his mum and their recipes (from Bolivia): “I remember once mum was in charge of the decorations for the celebration and she made a huge (seemed huge anyway) colorful tent made of long plastic strands over the garden at the Bahá’í Centre and then made lots and lots of paper flowers and put them on the grass everywhere. It was fantastic and super festive.”

Pamela of Gems of Oneness (currently in Ghana): “We have performed a skit every year, wherever we’ve lived, where the kids make some kind of tent with a candle inside representing the Light of Bahá’u'lláh. they have memorized the simple version of the story, each taking a part and reciting a quote as well to depict the story. they try to make the 4 rows with paper flowers lined up to the tent. they offer flowers to the inside of the tent, trying to pile them high enough to show how the people couldn’t see each other. they have served tea and taken a rose (sometimes real ones) from the inside of the tent to give to people in the audience. sometimes it’s very humble and shared only with a few people; other times it’s been performed in front of 100′s. each year the version of the story changes depending on circumstances and resources. we sing as many joyful songs about Bahá’u'lláh as possible, too!”

For more glimpses of how Ridván is celebrated around the world, visit this gallery from Enable Me to Grow or their Ridván Pinterest board.

How do you celebrate special days with your little ones?

Walking Through the Garden of Ridvan 2013

This post is part of the series Walking Through the Garden of Ridván. Each day during the Ridván festival (April 21 – May 2), a different blogger will share the story of the festival and a craft or activity to help bring it to life for little ones. For a full schedule, visit the series main page.

Where There Is Love: Post from Learning to Be the Light {Parenting and Faith}

Parenting and Faith 4 Responses »

Apr 222013

I am so excited to start a new series, called “Parenting and Faith.” Spiritual education is a keystone of how I am raising my sons, and I am always inspired to hear how other parents are working to raise their children along a spiritual path. So on the fourth Thursday of every month, we will be feature a post from a different blogger on “Parenting and Faith.”

We begin with this incredibly honest and thoughtful post from our friend Christi Madrid of Learning to Be the Light.

A Christmas Eve service excluded, my family and I haven’t been to church in a year. I don’t know if I’ve given up on church exactly, but I know that I wasn’t getting what I needed — and neither was Daniela, my 10 year old daughter.

Faith has always been the foundation of my life. Faith and dreadfully boring church services. From the time I was a small babe until I quit my Christian college, I went to church three times a week, at least. I know every Bible story by heart and can still recite most of the Proverbs. I learned the Golden Rule, but I also learned that God is angry and punishes unbelievers with an eternity in a fiery hell. When I compare that concept with the Christ I met in the New Testament, it just doesn’t add up. I can’t reconcile a loving, merciful, patient father-like God with this being that says “I give you one human lifetime to figure it out or I’ll throw you in the fire FOREVER” (Cue evil villain laugh). I tried to wrap my head around it and failed. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it. Stepping away from my childhood faith felt like a complete and utter rejection of my upbringing (which is probably a slight over reaction.) But as scary as that step was, raising Daniela to have that kind of faith was even scarier. I still don’t know what I believe about a lot of theology, but that’s okay. There is freedom in not knowing all the answers.

But what to teach Daniela? Thankfully, she is exposed to many different faiths in her family. Her dad and I practice a non judgmental, loving Christianity. (What does it say about Christianity when it’s own follower feels the need to preface it with “non judgmental” and “loving”?) Daniela’s mom is Catholic, and her stepdad is Muslim. She will grow up with a diversity of religion and knowledge that makes my heart sing. My desire isn’t that she be able to recite whole chapters of the Bible or even that she profess to be Christian like her Dad and I. My desire is that she grows up knowing that everywhere she sees good, she sees God. It’s not so much that God is love, but that love is God. I want her to recognize that God is bigger than churches and religions and cultures. God is even bigger than the names he is given: Jehova, Light, Jesus, Mother, Allah, Spirit, Guide — as long as it’s love, it’s God.

Teaching my daughter about faith looks a lot like hard work. It’s waking up at 6am on a Saturday to help feed breakfast to the homeless in our city. But even more importantly than that, it’s getting to know them not as homeless people who need breakfast, but as people with names and hearts and dreams and problems. People no different from us.

Teaching Daniela a faith that she can be proud of looks like loving people for who they are, not for what they believe. It’s attending a Hindu Holi festival instead of our religion’s Easter. It’s getting involved in a Pride Parade. It’s cuddling fussy babies in the church nursery. It’s whatever you do to give back to your community. Ultimately, It’s a love and respect for humanity that Jesus exemplified in the New Testament.

I don’t know what role church will play in Daniela’s childhood. I do know that she questions everything she hears and I’m enormously grateful for her inquisitive spirit. Not only does it keep me seeking truth, but it allows me glimpses into what her 10 year old mind is challenging and that gives Marco and me such pride! Kids should be taught it’s ok to respectfully question things.

And it’s okay not to have all the answers. Especially when it comes to God and religion. Room for “I don’t know” is important in teaching a child to develop a healthy respect for other ideas and opinions. I think the alternative, having a fixed answer for every question in life, leads to a closed mindedness that ultimately isolates; and there is little love in isolation. Whatever she believes, I know she’ll get there through lots of thought and prayer, but she’ll hold on to love. Because where there is love, there is God.

Christi Madrid is a Florida based blogger who grew up in Northern Michigan. Together, she and her husband strive to rear their daughter to be a globally-minded citizen; confident and empowered in her world identity. Christi blogs about step parenting and her personal passion of Learning to be the Light at ChristiMadrid.com. You can also catch her on Facebook and Twitter.

Welcome to Our Walk Through the Ridvan Garden!

Ridvan 2 Responses »

Apr 212013

Happy Ridván! I am pleased to announce the beginning of a series from some of the women behind Bahá’í Mom Blogs, designed to tell the story of this festival and introduce some ideas for celebrating it with our little ones.

We kick off this series with a post from Varya of Creative World of Varya, who introduces us to the Ridván festival.

A new blog will share a post each day. For a complete list, see the series main page and join us in Walking Through the Garden of Ridván!

Coming Soon: Walking Through the Garden of Ridvan

Ridvan No Responses »

Apr 082013

In just a few weeks, Bahá’ís will celebrate the festival of Ridván. This twelve day period (April 21 – May 2) is considered one of the holiest Bahá’í holidays.

This year, several members of Bahá’í Mom Blogs have come together to offer ideas for how we can introduce this beautiful festival to our children.

You can read more about this festival and our upcoming series (starting April 21) on the main page: Walking Through the Garden of Ridvan. Be sure to follow my Bahá’í Parenting Board on Pinterest as well!

Random Acts of Kindness Start at Home: Little Artists

Random Acts of Kindness 2012 4 Responses »

Apr 082013

I am so pleased to announce the return of the popular series on Random Acts of Kindness. What started as a temporary series last fall is now a regular feature. Each month, a blogger will share the random acts of kindness they have committed with their little ones. You can visit the Random Acts of Kindness page to see previous installments of this series. You can also follow the Random Acts of Kindness Pinterest Board. I have been truly inspired by these wonderful posts!

Today’s post comes to us from Varya of Little Artists. Varya participated in the series last fall as well, and I will always remember where I was when her Random Acts of Kindness post was published. Several days earlier I had scheduled her post, which was lucky, because that morning – at almost exactly the time Varya’s post was published – our baby was born! Hopefully today’s post will be a little less eventful for us

Random Acts of Kindness start at home: children learn from our examples and then surprise us with the most amazing randomness!

Since our second daughter was born, I could feel that our first one felt strongly about the shift of attention. Luckily, despite being a very spirited child, she is also very kind, caring and loving. So she never takes her frustrations out on her baby sister. Sometimes she was hesitant when I asked her to help with some chores if I was busy with the baby. And she would come and interfere when the baby was going to sleep (ask for things, insist on also sleeping with us, etc).

At some point I had to leave the baby and run off to the bathroom. My older daughter was in another room. After calling her a few times and getting no response, I gave up and ran off to the bathroom. The baby started crying almost immediately and then suddenly became quiet. I got so worried and hurried back just to the following: My older daughter was laying down next to her sister assuring her in a kind, soft voice that mommy will be back soon and then she started singing nursery rhymes for her.

(Note: this particular shot was taken much later, I didn’t have a camera at that time with me!)

I just stood there, outside the door, and adored this newfound connection between two sisters.

A few weeks later, we were on the bus with both girls and there was a young mom with a small baby sitting next to us. The baby started crying. So my older daughter said: “Aww, poor baby is crying!” and … just started singing some Chinese song quite loud and clapping her hands. Needless to say, the baby stopped crying and was starring at her. There were few people but they all started smiling. We had to get off so we weren’t sure what happened next.

This random act of kindness towards another baby made me think that in fact our children don’t just ignore what we ask them to do or what we do. They absorb and learn all the time.

What are the Random Acts of Kindness your children do? Share with me!

Little Artists

Varya is the mother of 2 beautiful girls, an ESL teacher, a Montessori teacher and a dance teacher. She enjoys music and singing and grew up on Classical music and fairy tales. One of her strong desires is for the younger generation to keep developing their talents and abilities not only through the means of technical progress (TV, computers and so on) but through the traditional art and crafts. The Little Artists blog is about creative development of children. Varya trained with Baby’s First Massage and Oh Baby! Fitness. She also draws upon the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, including the principle that the world is but one country. You can find Varya on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

You can see a full schedule of the posts in this series by visiting the main Random Acts of Kindness Challenge page.

This post has been shared at Natural Mothers Network’s Seasonal Celebration.

Knitting the Hearts Together: Kids’ Card Exchange (Naw Ruz)

crafts, multiculturalism, Naw Ruz, raising world citizens 6 Responses »

Apr 042013

How do you teach a child to be a world citizen? There is no simple answer, but for me a fundamental element has to be love. Instilling a deep love for others in your child will give context and meaning to the facts and traditions you teach and will become a prime motivator for doing good in the world.

With this in mind, this year I helped a group of mothers coordinated a card exchange on a global scale. I was inspired by a Valentine’s Day card exchange organized by Glittering Muffins. Monkey had so much fun with it, I decided we should do something similar for Bahá’í new year (Naw Rúz). I was hoping that it would be a way to make geography come to life, as we exchanged cards with children from other parts of the world. But on a deeper level it was about helping create bonds with other children. A friend put it best: It was about “knitting the hearts together.”

Organizing the card exchange was a real reminder of how much social media has made it so easy for people to connect worldwide. I put out a call on Facebook for those that wanted to participate, and within days I had a list of 63 children!

I tried to match each child with another of roughly the same age, preferably living in another country. Each child created a card plus a flower of some type. (For example, we made California poppies out of cardstock). The flowers symbolized the coming of spring that Naw Rúz celebrates, plus they illustrated the Bahá’í belief that we are all “flowers of one garden.” In addition, the child could include other items, such as a photo.

I was blown away by the geographic spread of the participants. Here are the countries represented:

USA, Canada, Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Iceland, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, China, Malaysia, Tonga, Australia

The ages of the children ranged from two months (Baby Monkey and a little girl in Delaware) to 14 years.

I really admire the enthusiasm and creativity of the families involved. The Monkeys received lovely cards, one from North Carolina and the one from Ireland. Both included beautiful family photos and notes from the children.

Here are some photos generously shared by other participating families:

From Katherin in Maryland (girls ages 3 and 5): “Here they are with their finished cards. We also added a family picture, some butterfly stickers and for the older girl, Nura added a star bookmark. They were the creators and I just helped along the way. Also, I showed them on google maps where the cards were going–one across the US and the other will go across the Atlantic Ocean to England. They were excited.”