After all of the preparation, anticipation, nervousness and excitement for my first international presentation at the World Congress of Play Therapy in Marrakech, Morocco, I blinked my eyes and just like that, it was over. 

Joyce Mills and I returned from Marrakech one week ago tomorrow, and what an incredible experience it was!

The first part of our adventure began when we arrived at London, Heathrow and waited for 6 hours for our Royal Air Moroc flight which was meant to stop in Casablanca and then go directly on to Marrakech.  After being grounded for 2 hours in the Royal Air Moroc plane, we finally took off for Casablanca.  The 3 hour flight was very nice, however, rather than stay on the plane like we were originally told, we had to disembark in Casablanca; but not before waiting 1 & 1/2 more hours just to get off of the plane.  It was then that our real Moroccan adventure began! 

Although with Joyce’s little French we were able to say hello and thank you to many people in the airport, and meet a really nice Greek pilot who helped us get through the document and immigration line, we were still unable to get any relevant information regarding our flight to Marrakech.  We eventually learned that our flight had been cancelled with no explanation. 

So after hooking up and hitching a ride with an English tour group, we finally arrived in Marrakech 6 hours later and were safe in bed at 6am.  All in all it only took us 1 day & 1/2 to get to Marrakech from Phoenix, all the while keeping a playful adventurous attitude, knowing that nothing was as it seemed.

After sleeping through the entire first day of the conference, I awoke just in time for the Moroccan Gala.  The food and the people were wonderful! 

Joyce’s first presentation entitled, “Inspiring Children to Soar: Planting the Seeds and Reaping the Harvest,” was on Wednesday the 19th of May, and she was amazing!  My presentation followed on Thursday the 20th, (also my father’s birthday: )

I so enjoyed presenting how I have implemented the StoryPlay® model in the classroom and I loved how well it and I was received by an Internation audience. 

Joyce also presented the 4 day post conference and I was again able to experience for myself the impactful self-empowerment that occurs though story, metaphor, play, and the reconnection to my strengths and my Imaginal Discs. 

I am so deeply grateful to Joyce for all of her time, dedication and love, as well as for her trust in me to present her wonderfully creative and strength based model called StoryPlay®.

Before I go I want to give a quick note of thanks and gratitude to Monika Jephcott , the president of Play Therapy Internation (PTI), and her husband Jeff for organizing such an amazing Congress.  

I know they were disappointed that the participation count was much lower than it was meant to be due to an unexpected withdraw of support from UNICEF and Play Therapy Africa.  Both Monika and Jeff are dedicated to bringing treatment and healing to the children of the world by training professionals in Play Therapy world wide.  

They have recently spent much of their time and energy in Ethiopia following up on promises from UNICEF to provide “Child Friendly” schools and other programs only to recount thier visit with tears and heartbreak after witnessing the real goings on and happenings.  After listening to their horror stories I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to get the word out. 

Please if you are interested in learning more and taking action contact Monika, and she will discuss with you how to proceed.

Until next time!

Blessings and love,
Joy

ps. Please enjoy some of the photos from our trip!

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Tomorrow evening Joyce Mills and I leave for the the World Congress of Play Therapy Conference in Marrakech, Morocco.

I’ll be presenting my first International workshop entitled: StoryPlay® in the Classroom: A multicultural model for helping children overcome obstacles to learning and achieving their goals.  I’m really looking forward to this new and exciting experience, and hope that it is the first of many to come! 

And what a place for this first presentation!  Marrakech is such an ancient and exotic city, and although my loving partner will not be with me, I am excited to explore and wander around all the different souks, or markets, of Marrakech, drink tea, and be introduced to a new and very flavorful culture!

So, until I return, have a wonderful 10 days exploring whatever world or worlds you find yourself in!

Love and blessings,
Joy

I just returned from a wonderful weekend in Philadelphia where I
introduced my partner Jeff to my amazing family, and celebrated my grandparent’s, Sam and Ruth Wilf’s, 65th wedding anniversary.

The day before we flew out of Phoenix, Philadelphia had yet another huge snow storm that was being described as a snowicane.  Many flights were cancelled and I could hear the concern in Jeff’s voice regarding our early flight the next day, but I just had a feeling that everything would be ok and and that our flight would depart as scheduled.

So, it turned out that my feeling was right on, and although the capitan gave us a brief scare when he announced that we would be grounded for 2 hours before taking off, sending out an echo of groans from the passengers, we were airborn shortly after his announcement; all was well.

Our taxi drive to my grandparent’s house was quite beautiful as the city was covered in a blanket of snow.  I hadn’t seen snow for several years, as I live in Arizona, and was as giddy as a little girl.  Jeff and I had so much fun playing with my niece and nephew, throwing snowballs and making snowmen, and I was cozy warm and thrilled to death to be wearing for the first time; my winter coat, scarf, and most of all, my Ugg’s! : )

I made sure Jeff got the full tourist tour of Philadelphia.  We saw the Picasso exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, (running up the steps just like Rocky), went on a tour of Independence Hall, saw the Liberty Bell, and most importantly, ate a cheesesteak with wiz at Jim’s on South Street!

The anniversary party was beautiful!  Most of my cousin’s, aunts and uncles were there, and the room was filled with generations of adoration and love.  Toast after toast was made expressing admiration, love and gratitude.  My grandparent’s are really quite incredible and inspiring, and I felt and feel so grateful to have been born into such an amazing family.

I intend on writing further blogs about Ruth and Sam and their amazing saga.

Goodbye for now.

Love and blessing,
Joy

I just returned from a magical week in Kauai with my partner Jeff and am feeling revived, refreshed, inspired and serene; all of the perfect qualities necessary to begin 2010!

From our balcony at the Hanalei Colony Resort, on the north shore of Kauai, we had this magnificent view of the great mother ocean.

One day we drove to the west side of the island to see Waiamea Canyon, otherwise known as the “Little Grand Canyon.”  The drive was twisty and turny, and definitely worth it! It was absolutely breathtaking!!!

Several times on the beach we ran into our friend the Monk Seal taking a snooze and soaking up some sun. Monk Seal’s are high on the endangered species list and I felt honored to be in such close proximity to this awesome creature of the sea!

Then from Ke`e Beach to Hanakapia`ai Beach we hiked through some lush jungle-like scenes, and after our first mile we were rewarded with this stunning view of the Na Pali coastline. After crossing a slippery stream we came upon Hanakapiai Beach.  A sign along the way warned us not to swim in the ocean here as the rip currents are deadly and there were tally marks denoting the total number of drownings; we got the message! So instead of swimming, we had a nice picnic, made a couple of Cairns to mark our spot and headed back to the trail, of course stopping many times along the way to take photos like this this one of a beautiful orchid.

We had many other memorable and magical moments in Kauai, from snorkeling in our mostly private cove, to the playful Humpback whale that jumped out of the water to say hello, to the birdwatching at the Kilauea Lighthouse Wildlife Refuge, (we had a blast with the Booby’s! : )

This island has magical powers and is very seductive. I am so happy that I was able to experience it’s beauty with Jeff and I know that we will return!

Pictures speak louder than words sometimes and I’d much rather show you in this post, than tell you, about my recent trip to Mexico!

What I can tell you though, was that it was magical and that I hope to return very soon to Mexico to explore more of that amazing country!

Enjoy!
Love and Blessings,
Joy

Oh, and don’t forget to read about the Aztec legend of the two volcanos in Puebla, Popocatépetl (the smoking mountain) and Iztaccíhuatl (the sleeping woman), in my previous post!

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