I can't figure out where is the best place to answer this! It would actually make a good post for Bonny Glen proper, but since Carol asked here, I'll post it here and maybe link to it from there.
Carol asked for more info on the art show I mentioned on Valentine's Day. This was a fundraiser for Culture of Life Family Services, a nonprofit, pro-life medical organization providing crisis pregnancy services, natural family planning instruction, counseling, and medical care in the San Diego area. Several families in our homeschooling community have been working to raise funds for this wonderful organization. The Lickona family—you may have heard of the father, Matthew, author of Swimming With Scapulars
All of the children in the group were invited to submit works of art for the show. These were supposed to be dropped off ahead of time, but certain perpetually late types such as, um, my family and pretty much no one else, didn't make the submission deadline and just brought artwork on the night of the show. (The gallery's curator graciously overlooked our tardiness.)
Each painting or drawing was mounted on card stock and affixed to a wall of the Lickonas' family room with putty. Sculptures were artfully displayed on the pool table, and one young origami enthusiast (my Jane) was gratified to see her lovely green swans hanging gracefully from the light fixture over the pool table. It was a stunning exhibit, truly. The young artists had prepared index cards with the title of the work of art and a brief explanation of what inspired it, such as:
Title: Yo-Yo Boy
Artist: F. Lickona, age 9
Medium: Paper, colored pencils, posterboard
Intent: I wanted to show everyone Yo-Yo Boy.
I imagine Michelangelo could relate.
Participating families made donations to COLFS at the door. All works of art were available for purchase for $1—a complete steal. Next to the satisfaction of helping a worthy cause, the best part about the event was going home with several beautiful works of art (including Yo-Yo Boy—how could we resist?) created by the children we have come to know and love since moving here.
On the wall above this computer there now hangs a large yellow rocket ship blasting off in blue outer space, with a happy green astronaut floating alongside: the creation of young K. Z., age four. His artist's note explained that the ship is on autopilot, which is why the astronaut is free to make his spacewalk. This crayon masterpiece makes me happy every time I look at it. A week after we bought it and hung it on our wall, I learned from K.'s sweet mother that when he was in utero, sonograms indicated that part of his brain was missing and he was unlikely to live long, even if he survived birth. Doctors urged the young mother to undergo further testing, counseling "termination" for what they were certain was a life-threatening birth defect. K.'s mother held firm, insisting that no matter what the outcome, she was going to have that baby. Turns out the doctors' interpretation of the ultrasound was wrong, and young K.'s brain? Totally normal. (Not that any kind of confirmed abnormality would have changed his parents' decision; that's the whole point. Sometimes you aren't given a healthy baby, and you discover there is abundant joy in the nurturing of an "abnormal" child.) Later, the doctors told K.'s mother that based upon this experience, they were no longer advising termination in such cases. K.'s mother didn't just save her own baby's life, she saved other babies as well.
I love my yellow rocket drawing all the more now.
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