One of the many reasons we decided to go cruising with our kids was to give them a large perspective of this world. They've grown up in this tiny hometown with the usual suburban life---which don't get me wrong, we LOVE our hometown, and our friends are very dear to us-- it's just that our kids were starting to pay too much attention to material things and take a lot of things for granted. I think we all were, in a sense. You wake up, go to work/school, come home or go to different activities...there wasn't a whole lot of opportunities for enjoying quiet family time, as we were pretty busy! It was time to slow down, show our kids that there is so much more to this world, and sort of shake things up a bit.
We are starting off right away with the first leg of this journey. While in the Caribbean, we have volunteered to work with Hands Across the Sea, a literacy promotion program. The goal: get new books in the hands of kids and promote the love of reading. Our family will be helping to build libraries, deliver books, read with children, as well as a provide little teaching, as needed.
It is such a great program and one that is close to my heart. I absolutely LOVE reading, in fact, our entire family would be considered bookworms. Back home, the bookshelves were overflowing (and don't even ask about my classroom library)! In order to make room for new books, we would place others in the small little neighborhood libraries around town. It was a nice way to give books a new home in our own community. Sometimes, movies would show up in those little libraries and we'd enjoy a free movie night. It would go right back into the library the following day along with a couple of our contributions. What a great concept as it certainly promoted the reuse and recycling of books!
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| This little free library is right around the corner from our home. |
We are all about giving back while on this journey and this opportunity will enable us and our children to do just that, while experiencing and working with different cultures along the way.
Here is their website, for more information (or if you would also like to get involved): http://www.handsacrossthesea.net
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