A kind Naw-Ruz greeting

Friday the 20th was Naw-Ruz.

Naw-Ruz means "New Year". So for the Baha'is and for the Muslims as well it is a time of celebration. For us it means the end of the Fast and a time for new beginnings. And- its the first day of spring so its time for the end of winter and the start to all that is warm and beautiful. Its just an all around happy time for us.

We put up a Naw-Ruz greeting on our big sign our front just to put a smile on the random stranger who might be flying by and have a clue what that was. I guess it worked because in the morning our household was just pluggin along as usual when we get a 'ding dong' at the door. On our porch was a man holding a basket of apples and the note shown above. This gentleman was a professor from Hobart and William Smith colleges.

Living here and being Baha'i has never been the easiest of choices. We are often misunderstood and even regularly attacked by people with different beliefs. So to have a complete stranger pop in and give us a gift and wish us happiness was SUCH a lovely thing. It made our day! and is certain to be remembered for years!

Video of my TR weekend

This link will take you to a short video of the Tony Robbins event I just went to in NJ.

http://www.tonyrobbins.com/beforeafter/upwny09.aspx?ec=136875

I hope you check it out!

Life after Tony Robbins

Well I am back from Tony Robbins and back into the swing of family life. I'd like to say that I am taking all of my newly empowered energy and rockin my families world but- not so much. Instead, I have been sick. We have gotton out for a few walks though. Yesterday, the girlies and I went out to Willard again and walked down by the lake.
I am seriously grateful for spring! :) Yeah spring!!!As we left for our walk we say little tulips and daffodils popping up :) Yeah spring!!! (again)
We had a decent walk. Maya grumbled that her hands were vibrating off from using her scooter and its always a crap shoot when you drag teens out like this....but all in all it was a nice time :)

Yeah spring!

Holy Sh** I walked on fire!!!

Here I am on the first day of the UPW- Tony Robbins- event!

Thought I should record what a crazy person looks like as I was preparing to walk on fire...for real!The 4 day event started at 1pm (on the first day) and went till about 11pm. Towards the end of the this day 2900 people walked across 22 beds (2'x12') of hot coals. You can go to UTube for videos of the fire walk. The coals range in temp from 1200-2000 degrees. I have to say, I wasnt scared at all untill I saw those coals!!! Yikes! I was totally freaked out. I thought for sure I couldnt do it. I really paniced.
Finally, I took a deep breath, got into 'state' as we had been taught and took that first step. I felt my right foot touch the coals then I didnt see, hear or feel anything untill I felt ice water on my bare feet. (Above is a shot of my foot with 'hot spots' after the fire walk...then there is a shot of some of the people hobbling up from the parking garage after the walk)

After the walk, I cried....scarry stuff man! But its unexplainably empowering too. Now I can prowdly proclaim that I am a fire walker :)

We arrive in NJ for Tony Robbins!

On the weekend of the 8th Heather came out to my house and collected my butt. She brought me back to Rhode Island to hang with her for a few days. On Wed morning we took off to New Jersey for our long awaited for Tony Robbins UPW (Unleash the Power Within) conference.

When we got to the hotel I was psyched! We were on the 12th floor with a nice view. Heather was fried.

A walk in Willard

Yesterday was such a nice sunny, warm day so the girls and I went out walking

instead of doing school work. Figure we had better take advantage of the weather as we are bound to get another gigantic dump of snow before spring comes.
We went to Willard for an easy- basically flat- walk.

Elanee was a bit of an Emo-Kid. She wasn't feeling her best due to the Fast and was a little on the moody side. I had hoped the sun and movement would perk her up....not so much.
Regardless... Vayda, Maya Rae and I had fun.
Maya is ALWAYS up for a good hike.

Vayda is ALWAYS ready to play with the camera :)

Great pic of her- huh!?!

I really enjoyed the walk. I think we did about 3-ish + miles. Good start for the season.

Time for the Fast

The Nortons are Fasting.

Well, specifically, Carrie, Jody, Elanee and Ben are fasting.

Here's the deal with the Baha'i Fast.

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The annual Nineteen-Day Fast: a time of spiritual purification

From March 2-20, Baha'is worldwide observe the annual 19-day Fast by refraining from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset. As in many world religions, the Fast is a time for reflecting on one's spiritual progress and making an effort to detach from material desires.

Baha'is age 15 and older rise before dawn to eat breakfast and pray. In the evening they enjoy a customary meal. The Faith exempts the following groups from fasting, as it could be harmful to their health: those younger than 15 and older than 70, the ill or infirm, women who are pregnant, nursing or menstruating, travelers and those engaged in heavy physical labor.

Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith, wrote that the Fast is "essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character."

"Praised be Thou, O my God, that Thou hast ordained Naw Ruz as a festival unto those who have observed the fast for love of Thee and abstained from all that is abhorrent unto Thee."

- Baha'u'llah

Ayyam-i-Ha party in Ithaca

On Sunday morning our family joined the Baha'is of Ithaca for a community Ayyam-i-Ha party.

Our family was in charge of decorations (helium balloons), party favors, face painting, and the children's gift exchange. We brought lentil soup and fresh bread to pass.

We visited while the children's did crafts.
Then we all gathered together for prayers, songs and devotions.
After devotions we visited some more while we enjoyed a nice pot luck lunch.
It was a lovely celebration with lots of Baha'is, seekers and friends.

If you want to see all the pictures from this event see my other blog......

http://mylocalbahais.blogspot.com

Saturday with Heather

On Saturday Heather and I ditched the munchkins and headed out to spend some time together. We went all my favorite little Amish shops and bought this and that. Mostly groceries in my case. Then we went to Geneva to hit Mother Earth grocery (no poppin in to the tattoo parlor this time though). After that we walked up the way and stopped into a little coffee shop where Heather got her favorite...Chi Tea Latte and I got mine...a Mocha Freeze. We chilled and chatted then before getting back to the car we explored a little Antique shop. Nice time.

Wegmans with Heather

After the blasting Ayyam-i-Ha party Heather and I wanted more fun. We would have loved to go dancing or something like that. BUT- being that we are OLD (and don't think we fit in well with the 20 something bar crowd-ick) and neither of us drinks- the options for places to hang out are pretty limited in Geneva.
So- we did what we used to do when we were too young to hang with the 20 something crowd and didn't drink...... We went to Wegmans in the middle of the night...dur!
Of course these days we went with cloth bags in hand and hung out in the organic isle. lol
Wild and Crazy man!

After Wegmans we did our other favorite pass time from the olden days...we drove around Hobart and hooted at the hot guys.

OK- this is a little odd because these "hot" guys are younger than my step sons.......eeewwwww....yuck.......something very creepy about this behavior

~so we kept this to a minimum. Regardless of the icky factor- we had so much fun reliving 'good ol days' :)

Dancing Ayyam-i-Ha away!

After eating and chatting, we cleaned up the toys Nicholas and Kali were playing with and created a dance floor out of our family room.
We popped in a CD of 80's dance tunes and went to it. I got the little kids rockin then guilted Vayda to join us. (to entice the teens)
Harry played the DJ :)
The little kids had a blast. Nicholas thought this was THE BEST!
Even Kali got into the groove.
After the younger bunch had their fill and the grown ups moved to neighboring rooms to talk over the blasting music, the teens just ROCKED THE HOUSE!

Jody and I were concerned for the floor- and book cases- as the place was literally bouncing....but it seems the house held together just fine! Totally Awesome stuff!!!

After all the fun. Everyone headed home except 6 or so teen girls who stayed for "Tim Burton" night. They snacked and watched movies. Heather and I stayed up chatting and saw the girls go up to crash on Elanee's floor around 2 am. (Heather and I finally turned in at 5 am)

GREAT PARTY!!!

I guess the Norton's know how to rock Ayyam-i-Ha :)

Ayyam-i-Ha Party success!

On Friday evening we held an Ayyam-i-Ha party pot luck dinner.

Here I am preparing some food ahead of time. I made things I already had on hand...

a couple of pot roasts, potatoes with garlic and basil, fresh bread and asparagus. Vayda made and decorated a chocolate cake.

Heather and her children came all the way from Rhode Island for the party. Heather is teaching her kids about each of the major religions at home and thought the Ayyam-i-Ha weekend would be a great way to teach them about the Baha'i Faith. (I will tell ya right now...those kids had a blast!..lol)

We had a great turn out....including our neighbor Tina and friends Terry,Phil and Bobbi.

Shampsi and Kali came from Ithaca (Baha'i friends) and Shelley and Aaron (my daughter in law & step son) came from Syracuse.
Elanee and Vayda had several friends come....
Including Mollie, Emily, Valery, Abby, Victoria...
Ravyn, David & Daniel.
Maya Rae and Carrie Sue (named after me....brag) were psyched to have time together!
I was THRILLED that my brother, Greg, and nephew, Nick, came too ;)
Everyone brought great food and we ate, hung out and chatted.