Sorry for the lack of update. Things have been crazy around here and also, the status of things kept changing today a little too fast to update you on. 
We have happy to have Dh home again. However we are still very concerned about him. They did no xrays, tests, scans, or anything else really. Yet they were 'certain' that there was no damage to be concerned about!  I did, after much coaxing, convince the nurse to book an appointment with the consultant. That means that at least he won't have to go on a waiting list for months to see the orthapedic consultant, but rather will stay on his books.
He was supposed to be in till tomorrow. Then he was going to come home but not possibly till this evening. Then we went to see him at 2pm and when we were leaving at 3 they suddenly came in with his discharge papers and meds!  So we suddenly had to pack quick and get him to the car so I could get to the school to pick up Jack and Jill from school who are here overnight tonight and tomorrow night.
He is still on four pain meds and sleeping pills. When he is on them he gets very dopey and can't remember things happening. He has times like tonight where he got up for a couple of hours and was pottering about the house, because it is more comfortable than sitting still alot. Then he lays down and is almost un-rousable.
Thank you for all the prayer support, emails, comments and general love and encouragement from everyone! You have all been such a blessing these past few days!
Please continue to pray as we seek to find the right treatment to keep Dh's back healthy from here on out. We are looking into Chiropractors and Ostiopaths as well as herbal suppliments for health of his nerves and muscles. We need a real wisdom to know the right way to proceed. He will also be under the consultant and the Physio department as well, so we need to work in conjunction with them.
Most of all we pray that God will touch his back and bring a swift healing. He is itching to return to work! I'm having to hide the keys to his car and 'threaten' him if he tries to go to work tomorrow as he has said! He can barely stand straight and he wants to go into work. If he did, he would probably forget where he was ten minutes later with the tablets he is on! LOL! I need patience and wisdom to know how and when to let him mobilise without doing himself a damage.
Thanks again for being such good friends!  |
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Jun. 30, 2008 Please keep praying.
It was a looooong night! The ambulance came at 10pm and it took two doses of morphine and an hour of gas and air to get him onto his feet! This is a man who has never taken anything stronger than ibuprofen in his life!
They finally got him to the ambulance and I followed in the car at 11pm. A couple who are married students from the college where Dh works live three doors down from us, so I was banging on their door as the ambulance pulled up. They very kindly came and stayed with the boys till I got home.
He was in ALOT of pain last night. They checked him over and decided that it was not nuerological (sp?) so there was no disk damage or anything of that sort. They gave him some stong oral painkillers and a suppository one too and said they check on his pain in half hour and get him ready to go home. They said he would need to take them for 7 days and if at the end of that it was still painful he should see the GP!
Well they gave him the meds and then came back to find that he couldn't walk at all and could not move without severe pain! The Dr's comment to me was that with the drugs they had just given him he shouldn't be able to feel ANYTHING!! So she called for the orthopedics team.
They did the same assessments and said again that there was no evidence of nerve problems but that due to his high pain levels they would have to admit him to hospital and run some tests today.
It was 4 o'clock this morning when he was settled on the ward! Praise the Lord - he was given a side room!! (private side rooms are EXTREMELY rare with the NHS) At this point he was being given more morphine to control the pain.
I got him set up with a prepaid phone card for the phone by his bed and got the phone number for the ward with visiting hours and headed home. I got to bed at a little after 5am this morning! (it is really freaky that when I left the hospital just after 4am it was already daylight and a beautiful sunrise! That is what comes of living so far north in the world the week of the longest day of the year!)
I just spoke to him on the phone. The Dr still hasn't made it around to his bed yet, so he has no more to tell. He did however just manage to walk the short distance to the toilet so that is progress!  Mind you the fact that he can do it with all the drugs in him isn't all that much help, since he can't come home on those same drugs.
Speaking of drugs, he is really funny when he is on them!  He was 'off with the fairies' most of the night. Watching him on the gas and air was a giggle. He would take three puffs and fall asleep! Then a minute or two later he would come to, be in pain, take some more puffs and do it all again. I don't remember that stuff working that well with me in labour!
It was both amusing and scary to see my very proper englishman of a husband so out of it! He was talking silly which is so out of character it was funny, but then seeing that he was in so much pain and the very fact he needed those drugs was scary. This is a man who never even has the novicaine injection when having his teeth drilled! His pain threshold is THAT high! And here he was in absolute AGONY.
Thank you for the prayers last night and this morning for the many kind and supportive comments and emails. I have a friend coming around in a few minutes to take the boys on a nature walk with her kiddos so that I can catch an hours nap since I'm running on 2 1/2 hours of sleep at the moment.
We are praising the Lord that the back didn't give out while he was away last week, for students helping with the boys last night, for the side room, and for the wonderful nursing staff who were so kind and caring last night/this morning.
I'll try to update you all as and when there is any news and I have a chance. |
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Jun. 29, 2008 Urgent prayer please.
For anyone who is reading this tonight PLEASE PRAY for us right now! Dh 'pulled' his back yesterday and it has been sore all night and all day today. He has done this many times before and a good rest puts it right.
He laid down for a nap this afternoon and when he woke up he was in agony!!! He attempted to get up off the bed despite the horrific pain and he simply crumpled up in a heap on the floor!
It has taken us half an hour to manuvour him flat on his back on the floor so that the pain would ease a bit. I have now phoned the medical service and am waiting for them to arrange an ambulance. We believe he has slipped a disk in his back.
I need to sort the children so that I can go with him. He is just worried about his appointments at work tomorrow! The boys and I gathered around him on the floor, anointed his head with oil and prayed for him. Please join us in praying that his back will go back in - and SOON!!! I hate to see him in such agony! |
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Jun. 29, 2008 Sunday Sing along!
I have enjoyed the music of Victor Borge for years since I was a child. My Grandfather bought a set of videos done by him and we all got the tissues out! Yes....tissues. Because we would laugh so hard we had tears steaming down our faces!!
I just saw this video online at a friends blog and just thought I'd share a funny song this time. So enjoy this silly 'grammar lesson'! Have a fun week!
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Jun. 29, 2008 Drumroll please!!
The Rosetta Stone contest is now over!  If you meant to enter and never got back around to it, I'm sorry, it is now too late! 
For all of you who did enter, we are now ready to announce the winner!
First we put all those cute (pink) little slips of paper into the bowl. We had 20 people with valid entries. Eight of them posted about it elsewhere to gain a second entry to the contest, so that made 28 entries in all. (unfortunately we had a couple of Anonymous entries who never left a name, contact details, or sent me an email so we had to leave them out! )
Dh did the honours while I tried to figure out how to hold the bowl above his head and take a picture at the same time.  Not bad huh?
And the winner is...............
Here is the winning comment.
Jun. 21, 2008 - I love to win
 Posted by linguamusic (78.149.149.186) |
Hi, What a great idea! Congratulation on hosting it.
I'm mom to three: Butty(7), Lalage(4), Lovy(1). The children are bilingual(russian/english). The girls and their Dad used the Russian version and loved it. We're doing the French version at the moment and learning Spanish with our teacher. We'd love to win a new version of Spanish.
Thank you.
ingrid_dm@yahoo.com |
Congratulations to Linguamusic!!! I'll be emailing you tonight to get your details to pass on to the Rossetta Stone people!
Of course you all need to remember that if you left an email address or some way of being contacted by Rossetta Stone you will be receiving a special offer direct from them, so watch your inbox!
Thank you to all who took part in my first blog contest, and an extra big THANK YOU to all who helped to broadcast the contest too! I hope you all had fun playing along and reading about what language courses people are doing out there. And here I thought most people only taught French, Spanish or German!  Of course I think I might go and get myself a copy of the British English course! LOL!
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Jun. 23, 2008 One more for the list!
Today I've added one more bizarre thing to my list of accomplishments. I can rewire a car ignition! (I think technically I just hot wired a car?!?! Something I NEVER thought I would say!) LOL!
Let me go back and explain. First of all it was OUR car so don't worry, I haven't started a life of crime!  Secondly the problem was that my Dh's little run around car came to us with a DIY immobiliser on it. You know, one of those little kits you can buy and install yourself.
Well, on Friday night we were going out to help Dh relax before the big day of Graduation (which he organises and runs each year - big job!) and were driving down the motorway. Four times during our journey the car 'immobilised' itself while we were going at great speed! This is not a recommended thing!
Each time Dh had to pull on the shoulder of the motorway and fiddle with the immobiliser key to get the car to start again. Then finally on Saturday morning it wouldn't go AT ALL. We rang the garage and found out that we would have to wait for Monday morning to take it in. The catch was that Dh was leaving at 2pm on Monday for the airport for a weeks trip to Slovenia!
Our mechanic did suggest that we might be able to find the wires and sort it out ourselves depending on how and where it had been connected, and explained what we would have to do to me. So Sunday afternoon found us under the steering column of Dh's car taking it to pieces! Dh is a wonderful man, but he isn't very 'handy' with repairing things. When I explained the mechanic's instructions he said that if I understood what that meant than maybe I should try and do it.
Well, we found the said wires (they were connected to the ignition) and stripped off the covering to find that someone had soldered (sp?) the immobiliser wires to the main ones! So at that point I felt out of my depth and shut the car up! We just figured we would have to have it towed to the garage on Monday morning and hope it was done in time!
This morning I rang our mechanic first thing to arrange the tow. He asked how we got on and when I told him he said that we were almost there and didn't need him! (HA! that's what he thinks!) He proceeded to tell me that we could simply cut the wires below the soldering on the immobiliser wires and connect those two ends, cover them with electrical tape and we would be done. Oh! Is that all??
So out we go again. This time I was armed with scissors, screwdrive and pocketknife! I checked the wires three times to make sure I was using the right ones and that the colours matched. Then I cut the wires, stripped them with the knife, and twisted them together, then covered the join with tape. Then I did the whole thing again on the second set of wires.
I sat up with nervous butterflys in my tummy and turned the ignition..............and it started!!!! Whoo- Hoo!!! Was I cheering!! It had worked! Dh looked like his jaw was going to hit the floor! I don't think he could quite believe that his little wife had just rewired his car! Hehehe!
We came back into the house and I phoned the mechanic to thank him for the help. When he found out that I had done the wiring he couldn't stop laughing! He thought I was just giving my Dh the instructions. He found it highly amusing!
So Dh text me a little while ago to say that I am amazing and that they had just arrived at the airport! Thank you Lord! I guess that all those years of hanging around my Dad and brothers and pestering them with questions paid off, huh? And that homeschool outing a couple months ago where the kids had to build an electrical circuit and then interrupt it to add and remove a switch were handy too! Because of that outing I knew what the mechanic was talking about when he was telling me we had to reconnect the current!
The morale of the story? Watch out home school Mom (or Mum)! Pay attention to those lessons you are giving and taking the kids to. You never know when you are going to be the one who needs to have learned the information!!! LOL! At least I passed this test, we'll have to see about next time. |
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| I know that many of you are praying for Nancy. They finally have the diagnosis and it is stage IV lung cancer and a small lesion to the frontal lobe of her brain. You can read the full update here. Please pray as they start treatment and walk this path the Lord has laid before them. I'm feeling VERY far away right now! But at least know the Lord is near to her and I can pray. |
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Jun. 19, 2008 1930's marital scale quiz!
Oh my word! What a hoot!! I just found the funniest quiz over at Marshie's blog! Of course her score of 111 blew me out of the water, but I'm sure it is because she wipes her milk bottle tops and never cooks in her PJ's! LOL! Let me know if you give it a try. This is cute and funny.
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Jun. 19, 2008 Contest time!
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Drum roll please………………….It’s contest time!!!! Hurray! Has the suspense been killing you? LOL!  This is a great one too. Rosetta Stone has contacted me about giving away one of their language programs to celebrate the launch of their new Version 3 programs in the UK! (My sincere apologies to all my readers from the states and the rest of the world, this one is for my European readers only!)
So, the question is…….is there anyone out there who’d be interested in winning a one year, level one language course in one of 14 languages??? (They actually do programs in 31 languages, but only 14 are available yet in version 3)
Here is a bit more about the program in case you aren’t familiar with it.
‘In case you've not heard, Rosetta Stone has just launched the first 14 languages of its new Homeschool foreign language curriculum in the UK. The new curriculum is available in three levels for each of the 14 languages released. This is not just the same Rosetta Stone program redone, it's an all new curriculum. Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3 includes a headset with microphone, and students must participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Of course Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports. Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers, and it doesn't look like that's going to change any time soon.’
You can also check out the Rosetta Stone website at http://www.rosettastone.co.uk/home_education/ to read all about the program and to see the full list of languages available. To mention a few though, you can get a course in Irish, or if you are interested in a course in English you can choose if you want ‘American’ or ‘British’ English! LOL! Maybe I should get the course in British English! Also the traditional languages studied in schools like French, German and Spanish.
This course usually costs £145, but to the winner of my contest a level one course in the language of their choice will be absolutely *FREE*! (And you all know how much I love that word!)
So, what do you have to do to have a chance of winning the fabulously amazing prize? First of all you have to leave me a comment on this post(www.homeschoolblogger.com/deedeeuk/549007/), and just to make it more fun tell me what languages you have studied or can speak (or not as the case may be!) Be sure to include your blog address where you can be reached or if you don’t have a blog, an email address so I can notify you if you are the winner! AND if you enter and leave an email address and you don’t win you will receive a special offer from Rosetta Stone! How cool is that? So everyone who enters and leaves an email addy wins!! Whoo Hoo!!
You can double your chances of winning the full program and get two entries to the contest if you leave me a comment AND copy all of the highlighted (green) information and post it to your own blog, then post a link back to my blog at (www.homeschoolblogger.com/deedeeuk/549007/) to show where you blogged about it and to complete your entry.The contest will close at midnight on the 28th of June. The winner will be chosen at random (out of a hat!) on Sunday the 29th. Hurry up and enter everyone and be sure to spread the word!
I'm just editing this post to explain a little better as there has been a little confusion. First of all I'm sorry for the misspelled web address which is now fixed! Secondly, you don't have to click on that link to my blog to enter the contest if you are reading this on my blog - you are already there! Just leave a comment here on this post. The links are written out for the people who copy my blog post over to their blogs and get a second entry. For those people they need to include my blog address so people can come over and find it.
Also can I just remind people that they need to leave me an email address (if you don't have a blog) so that we have a way of contacting you if you are the winner and so that you can receive your 'special offer' from Rosetta Stone if you don't win. If you really don't want your address posted in your comment you can leave a comment, then copy that same comment into an email to me so that I know which emails go with which comments. You can find my email address through the 'email me' link in the righthand sidebar. Thanks everyone!
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Jun. 18, 2008 Good Question!
Arby in Kansas asked a very valid question, 'What is the LEA?' LOL! I guess I kinda forgot that over half of my readers are not in the UK! Ooops! Sorry guys!
So, who is the LEA? LEA stands for 'Local Education Authority' and there is one for each county of the UK, kind of like one for each 'state' if you like. LEA is in charge of the provision of education in the schools in that county. They award the grants for University education for those from their county too, so they are involved in a child's education from the time they are 3 till they finish education at 21 or when ever they stop before that.
In the UK the law states that if your child has never been to school you have no need to tell ANYONE that you plan to home ed them. If you are removing a child from a school than you have to tell the LEA that you are doing that (or actually the school has to inform them that you have removed them for home ed).
The law is such that we don't have to allow them access to our home, if we move we don't then have to notify them any further, and we don't have to agree to an 'inspection' as it were. MANY people in the UK embrace the total freedom awarded by the law and tell the LEA to 'Get lost' when they contact them. Many refuse them entry to the home or to see the children, opting instead to send a sample of work to 'satisfy' they need to confirm that 'full time education' is indeed taking place.
As in everything there are some LEA's and some inspectors doing this job who are not 'all for' home education. There are some who can be rather hostile to home edders (or so I've been told). But I'm afraid that the whole of LEA's have been tarred with the same brush! And they aren't all as bad as is made out at times. THEY AREN'T THE ENEMY!!
We chose as a family to 'report' ourselves to the LEA because we had some family members who made it very clear to us that if we ever did this mad thing, they would report us! So we kind of took the wind out of their sails so to speak. We also found that when we contacted the LEA, we were inviting them into our home as a guest and they certainly acted accordingly! They were polite, thoughtful, complimentary, curteous and it was a delightful experience.
Two weeks later we recieved a GLOWING report of how they assessed our provision. We have found this VERY usefull in quieting our critics. We simply allow them to read what the LEA has to say about what a brilliant job we are doing and they stop fretting that we can't possibly provide an adequit education for the boys. (or at least they stop going on at us about it!)
My personal opinion is that most (though certainly not all) of the people who I have met that don't want the LEA's involvement also don't want to use any curriculum, books, schedule, plan of work, record keeping, or anything else that even vaguely resembles education taking place. I'm not surprised since they would have nothing satisfactory to show them!
We have a freedom, but we also have an obligation to provide a full time education for our children adaquit to their age and abilities. As long as we are meeting this obligation in some way, we should have no reason to fear the LEA's. If they try to bully us when we are doing what is required we can simply remind them of the law and ask them to leave now. But I have yet to need to do this.
I will also clarify that I don't use the National Curriculum of the UK either. I use an ecclectic mix of American and English resources and we never finish a course when we plan to! We always go running down rabbit trails and stopping to look at things along the way. So I'm not saying this as a parent who provides school that looks even remotely like the British schools either - and yet they are very pleased with our provision!
I truly believe that those of us who are Christians and who are actually educating our children should be known to the LEA voluntarily. If we did we could start to show them the good side of home education and change many opinions of those who are 'inspecting' home ed provision. After all, if 90% of the homes they have to visit are doing a substandard job, they are bound to decided that that is the what most are doing. If they on the other hand visited the majority of families who were doing a brilliant job, then they might begin to assume that they substandard ones where in the minority instead.
We also wouldn't have to live lives in fear of being 'reported' or 'becoming known' to the LEA. We as a family can hold up our heads when we go out during the day and happily tell people we home educate. If people choose to 'report' us to the authorities they will be told to mind their own business! LOL!
So in answer to the original question, yes, the LEA does inspect home educating families but only those 'reported' or who volunteer to be known to them. (long winded answer as usual! Hehehehe!) |
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Jun. 17, 2008 Currclick sale on!
Sorry guys. This started yesterday, but I'm a bit late putting up the notice. Things keep getting away from me at the moment!
This sale is good for two weeks though so plenty of time to grab a bargain! Here is the scoop.
You are invited to 2 weeks of summer fun and savings at CurrClick's Back to the Beach Sale! From June 16th through June 30th, you'll find a huge selection of discounted summertime titles to choose from. Discounts up to 75% OFF! From beaches to The Beatles to biomes, from novel studies to dream diaries, you'll get unbeatable discounts on books and audio, sure to entertain and educate all through the summer - whether you're at the beach or in your own back yard!
As always could I ask you to consider using my affiliate links to go and make your purchases at Currclick please? It costs no more for you, and I will get a percentage of your sales to use in purchasing my own families curriculum. You can click on either the banner at the top of the page or the square box in the right sidebar. Thank you kindly!!  |
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Jun. 16, 2008 Update on Nancy.
Just a quickie to say thank you to all of you who wrote that you'd be praying for my friend Nancy. I've spoken to her a few days ago and she has an appointment with the Cancer Center in Houston on Tuesday the 17th (tomorrow).
She has also started some suppliments to help with fighting the cancer. The family is being very positive and full of faith in God that He has a plan for them and that He will bring them through this time to His glory! Please join with them in prayer for Nancy's healing.
You can also find out more and keep up with them here at her new Caring Bridge website. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nancymorton I will try to only post on here about any major prayer requests so that it doesn't take over the blog, but I'll send anyone interested over to the caring bridge site if there is any major information. You can sign up to receive email notification when the journal is updated if you like.
The biggest prayer request at this time is the fact that they have no health insurance! They need to pay $25,000 tomorrow when they go. They have had that miraculously supplied, but they don't know what else will be needed and when. This family have lived by faith for several years as missionaries and live a very frugal lifestyle, trusting God to meet their needs day by day. Max works hard, and Nancy was just qualifying as a real estate agent to help suppliment their income. This is a family who I have watched give out to others when they didn't know how God would meet their needs for the next day! They are a generous, giving and loving family and we are now praying that God will open the floodgates of Heaven and meet their needs at this difficult time. Please pray with us!
I thought I'd add this picture from their website incase you are like me and find it helpfull to put a face to a name. This was take just a couple of months ago.
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Hurray!! We did it! The LEA visit was this morning and it was FAB! We always make a big deal of 'Miss Paula's visit. It is a major annual event in our home. The boys were racing me to the door to welcome her in! LOL! I don't think that dear lady has ever heard our doorbell. As soon as she pulls up they all race to the door to be the first to say hi!
For us it is a bit like our 'schools' parent's evening for the year. We get a chance to put together all we have done this year into displays and show off all the great work the boys have put in. We decorate the room with projects and pictures they have made. We have experiments out to show. We have a slide show presentation of our outings, projects, and get togethers with other homeschoolers.
The boys each got to show off their reading skills to Miss Paula too! This was the first full year with Monkey being 'officially' home educated and he got to read one of his HOP readers to her - very proudly I might add! He got every word right - well done Monkey!! McGee chose a passage from his favourite book which is Heidi. He read the bit where Heidi meets Clara. He did stumble over just one or two words, but she was really impressed with his comprehension and inflection as he read! He read it with such feeling!! Whoo Hoo! Not bad for a child who just twelve months ago was a really relunctant reader, huh?
She also commented on my more relaxed feeling in our homeschool. On one hand I'm much more organised and next year will be a bit more structured than in the past. On the other hand I'm far less worried about homeschooling. I have been tied in knots because McGee wasn't reading at 7 and Monkey didn't know all his letters at 5. Now I have had my theories proved right! By backing off of my relunctant reader and not 'forcing' the issue he is now devouring books left, right and center! My working in several different ways with my Kinetic learning Monkey meant he not only got the letters but is sailing through phonics work now and reading starting readers!
I always believed and defended the 'later is better than early' approach. However, deep down I had those moments of wondering if I was 'blowing it' and they were going to end up as illiterate teenagers! LOL! Now that it has proven to work, I'm much more relaxed about following my maternal instincts and God's leading. I can do what works best for my boys, no matter if it looks different to what is done in schools and by other home educators!
We also talked alot about the national home ed scene. It is nice to get a 'professionals' take on some of the things that are going on. We had to laugh - alot! I wish I could clone her and that every home ed family in the country could have a 'Miss Paula home ed inspector'. She in turn said she wished that she could have more parents like me who actually 'do' school in an engaging fashion, and are pro-LEA involvment. There are so many who still see the LEA as the 'enemy'!
Anyway, that is done for another year and the boys did us proud! They answered all her interested questions about their work and projects. They remembered all the things they had done this year. They were excited and enthusiastic. She laughed about how 'unsocialised' these poor homeschoolers were! They were happily talking about Beavers, Cubs, mission trips, foster kids, church clubs, and homeschool get togethers! They were happy about 'orally reporting' their activities to an adult.
We prayed this morning as a family that the time would go well and that it would be a testimony too! Boy did God answer prayer. (He has a neat habit of that doesn't He?)
She even talked about spreading the word about Math U See amongst home educators! Also about listing the UK blog on the resource sheet they give out to home schooling families! So this was a truely great morning all around. Daddy has a tradition of going out to dinner to celebrate after our LEA visit. So I'm excited too because I don't have to cook tonight!
Thanks for all the prayers and support! |
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Jun. 12, 2008 I could have danced all night........
Or maybe I will! I've got so many wonderful picture of last weekend to post. We had a trip to legoland windsor and had a FAB time! I took about a million pictures (give or take) and cant' wait to share them, but there has been no time this week.
For starters, tonight I have a ball to go to with my Dh! Every year there is a leavers ball for the college graduates and I have made it with him a couple of times, but other years I've been in the states for family weddings or last year we had Superfudge arrive the day before and felt there was no way we could leave him with a sitter 24 hours after he had arrived in our home. So last year the tickets went to waste as we couldn't find anyone who could use them!
This year however, we have a homeschooling friend who is having my boys over for the evening. (You're a star Steen!) and my gown is hanging up all ready to go. I tried it on earlier this week to see which gown fit the best. I could get into all three that I own, but two of them were too tight to be comfortable.
And yes, I do own three ball gowns! One I paid £10 for in a charity shop and it is actually a simple cream wedding dress. One cost me $12 and I got it at a house clearance sale in the states. Both of those were brand new and had the tags still on at the time! I wore the wedding dress to the ball several years ago, and the green one was worn to Mr and Mrs Teach's wedding. The third one was a gift from my Mom. It was a huge splurge for this lovely silver grey taffeta gown - a whole $3!!! Doesn't my Mom spoil me rotten? Actually she does! It doesn't matter the price, it is a beautiful gown and was a delightful treat at the time and a downright bargain as it was new too!
The silver one is the one for tonight, with a gold sheer over jacket decorated with a few sequins so the theme is silver and gold tonight! I can't wait to spend the whole night having dinner and dancing with my love! We always have such a great time!
The other crazy thing this week is that before leaving for the ball, I have to have all our year's homeschool things ready because tomorrow morning at 9:30 we have our annual home education inspection. It was kind of bad timing, but since things are so unpredictable around here we figured if we rescheduled for another time, it could be worse!
So please pray for us tomorrow morning. The boys are all excited about the visit as they love it when 'Miss Paula' comes! I've got things sorted out pretty much, but still need to make some of the presentations, print some photos, tidy the schoolroom (that looks like a bomb went off in it right now!), finish updating the record books, and help the boys bake the cookies they want to make for her! No problem! LOL! We always enjoy Miss Paula's visits, and this year I really feel like I have things for the coming year really pinned down, know what works for us and have a full curriculum in place for the first time. It is just nervous excitement with me right now! I just like to have it all nicely displayed and organised.
Oh! And the phone just rang to have Dh tell me that he got the time wrong for the ball tonight and it starts at 6pm not at 7pm!! I think I unerved him more by not shouting down the phone!  I just laughed!! Well, it was either that or cry I think! Now my day just got alot crazier and shortened by an hour! Yikes! Better get off here and get my hair washed. See ya! |
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Jun. 11, 2008 Sunday Sing along!
I know that Wednesday is a little late to post Sunday sing along, but I was reminded of this song and found a great video of it on Youtube and wanted to share it. It's called 'The touch of the Master's hand'. (Please ignore the 80's hairstyles - the song is beautiful and this is a great video presentation of the story!)
My Mom plays the violin and as a child I loved to here her play and practice! (still do really) I tried to play for several years, but we discovered that I'm tone deaf and that makes it a bit tricky! I never progressed at all with it, but I was sorry to give up as I love violin music and I really appreciate the beautiful music made by a Master's hand on it.
This song made me think today of all the precious children God is bringing through our door these days. They too are like battered and scarred violins. They have the potential to make beautiful music, if only they could know the touch of the Master's hand! We have seen the total transformation on Superfudge last year, and were starting to see that change beginning in Pumpkin.
It just reminded me how important it is for us as Christians to open our homes to these little ones and to pray for and over their lives while they are with us! At the end of the day we can't do anything in our own stregnth, but as vessels for the Master we can be used to bring His love and healing into their battered and scarred lives! And like that violin, they can one day be something so beautiful that people watching will forget completely that they were ever those battered and scarred children they had once known!
Praise God that He has done this in every one of our lives! Praise God that He is willing to 'polish' us up and 'tune us up' and work with us to make beautiful music in our lives! God is sooo good!
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What a hopeless blogger I am! I get named featured blogger of the week and promptly dissapear from blogland for 10 days! Sorry everyone!
We have had alot of stuff going on around here. For starters Pumpkin left us last night. Please just pray that he settles in quickly to his new foster home. In a nutshell, SS agreed with us. However a judge would say it was simply a personality clash with the carer, soooo......we had to send him to the home where his brother is being cared for. They have an even more experienced carer now. Then when it all breaks down in a couple of months time (again) they will be able to convince a judge that the boys need to placed seperately to thrive. So we had to send a one year old back into a traumatic situation to prove to the judge that it would be traumatic to him!?!?!? Crazy system, huh?
Please pray for us as we deal with loosing him. We have all shed a few tears. The boys are especially missing him! (and me too!)
We also had two phone calls for childminding and have a little two year old girl who has started with us a couple of afternoons a week while her Mum is at a part time job. She is an absolute delight and such a cutie! We all practically ate her up on Monday!
I also have an 18 month old boys starting on the first of July for two days a week. And of course we will wait and see what SS brings us next!
We were away on the weekend with another MUS event. We took the stall to a Home Education conference in Bath and spent the weekend with Dh's family in Bristol. It was nice to get together again, and we had a good time at the conference, but we are really tired from the whole thing.
For one thing we took Pumpkin with us this time instead of putting him in respite, so there was alot more packing and organizing, and keeping him from mischief then there usually is when we go down. We also had to leave earlier so we could see the family on Friday night since we were working late on Saturday and driving home on Sunday.
Also, we had been told on Thursday afternoon that Pumpkin was going to be moved on Tuesday. We left for Bristol at lunchtime on Friday and only got back late evening on Sunday, so we only had Monday and Tuesday to get all his stuff cleaned, organised and packed! So it has been a whirlwind to say the least.
Then I got up this morning and checked the email to find one from someone we know in the states telling me that a DEAR FRIEND of mine called Nancy was diagnosed with Lung Cancer on Monday!   I've run the gamut of emotions this morning!
She is a homeschool Mom of four wonderful boys! Her family lived here in the UK for a few years as they served as missionaries near our home. We became good friends during that time and went through alot of things together. We even lost two of our babies the same week. It was very sad since we were due to have had them born the same week!
Her youngest is the same age as my McGee and they are the best of friends! They don't know exactly what kind of cancer it is yet, or how far advanced it is. They are throwing themselves before the throne of grace at the moment and have asked us to do the same. Actually her words were 'to beat on Heaven's door' for her. She has a peace that God is going to bring her through this for HIS glory!
Please pray for this dear friend of mine! She is a very special lady who is always opening her arms, her heart and her home to others. May God grant her many years more to exersise these gifts! I have cried, screamed, shouted, prayed and cried some more so far today. I rang her and was a really lousy friend because I bawled all over the place! Nice way to cheer someone up, huh?
I've also been getting her in touch with Katie over at TeamBettendorf to see if the Abrotose products that helped little Jillian could help Nancy. It is just so hard to feel so far away and unable to DO anything to help! I KNOW that I can pray. And I KNOW that that is a BIG thing, but my hands kinda want to do something too, you know what I mean?
Anyway, just wanted to catch up on what was happening around here. At least the big thing that is. Please be praying. I'll be back soon. |
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May. 26, 2008 Featured Blogger of the week!!!
Now this really is an honor! Or should that be honour? One of the problems of living between two cultures. Hehehe!
I wanted to thank Tia for this wonderful honor. I can't believe I've been awarded this. Blogger of the week always seems like someone who is witty, a talented writer and an amazing homeschool Mom. Personally I don't feel I fit any of those catagories in an amazing way, but I really enjoy blogging. And as for the funny stories that Tia flagged up - they are only funny because of my amazing boys!
Thank you to those who have already stopped by with congratulatory (sp?) wishes and for all the new friends who have introduced themselves in the past couple of days. Sorry I haven't been around, but things have been a bit busy and we were having some family time this weekend. Somehow it seemed nuts to tell my family they would have to do without me for a while so that I could come and blog about doing wonderful things with my family! LOL!
I really should be on my way to bed, but thought I'd sacrifice an extra 20 minutes of sleep to come and say hi and acknowledge this wonderful gift. Tia wrote saying that 'if I was interested in putting up the blogger of the week button I should write to her for it'. IF??????? I will wear it with pride!!
I love HSB! I love all my friends here at HSB and around the blogsphere. I'm truely honored to be named Featured Blogger of the week. And I'm soooo glad I actually blogged something worth reading the day before too! LOL! |
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May. 25, 2008 Sunday Sing along!
I wanted to dedicate this Sunday Singalong to the memory of Maria Chapman. I had never heard Steven Curtis Chapman's song 'Cinderella' till last night. Then I cried rivers!!
This dear Dad had no idea that 'All too soon, the clock will strike midnight and she'll be gone' was going to come this soon. He was thinking of how quickly the time comes when she would be grown up, but now she has been taken from him this past week and is dancing in the halls of heaven.
We all need this reminder to make every moment count! We don't know how long our children have been loned to us for. We need to make the most of every minute we have with them. I so often am 'just too busy' and this last couple of days, I seem to have found just a little more time in my day, time for another hug, another story, another tickle, another memory in the making.
Let's remember this family in our prayers, and also remember to make every moment count with our kids! The time will go sooo fast even if God grants us the time till they grow up big and tall, it will still seem sooo fast. Make it count today!
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May. 22, 2008 What a tragedy!
I've just read this incredibly sad news! Please be praying for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family at this time. It is terrible to loose a child!! This dear family do so much to help children all over the world to have a new start in a new family. May God be a comfort to them all at this time!
I'm editing this to add another link to a news article about the accident. According to this news, she was struck by one of her older brothers driving a car in the driveway of their home. I can't even imagine how that poor boy must feel today!! May God wrap His loving arms around that dear young man in a special way. May the whole family experience a healing touch from God, and a tidal wave of His love today and in the difficult days to come! |
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I've been tagged by Franbles about heroes! She has said very truely that those who are named as 'heroes' today often haven't done anything more impressive than kicking a ball, or singing in tune (sometimes even out of tune! )
So who is my hero? Hhhhmmmmm......... I suppose I really have a few, but the one who I come back to over and over is Susanna Wesley. She was the mother of John and Charles Wesley. We all know about them and how they turned this country towards God during their time, and then had an effect on alot of the world! But do we remember the mother who trained them and raised them and prayed for them every day of their lives?
This dear woman raised many children. She buried more than she raised, through miscarriage, stillbirth and early infant death. She was often in the role of a single parent as her minister husband was often away working or in debtors prison. She had to try to live on a small budget as they had a large family on a small income.
Practical things aside, this dear woman of God prayed for her children, she installed God's word into them. She had 8 children but she made time for each child to have some individual time with her every week! She knew that her time with God was the most important part of her day and that she couldn't affect her children for God if she didn't spend time with Him herself. How did she find time alone with God in that busy house? She threw her apron over her head to pray! The children were trained that when Momma's apron was over her head you don't interrupt her as she is talking to God. I have a friend who suggested one day that maybe we all need to make some big aprons and use them again! LOL!
She also homeschooled them in a time when many children, girls in particular weren't even educated. She felt they needed to be able to read God's word for themselves and made sure they all had enough education to do that at least!
I feel she is a really hero to me as a Mother, homeschooler, and someone who has suffered the loss of more children than I have in my arms. Her faith in God was amazing, even what all around her was falling to bits! May I raise sons like hers who can go out into the world and reach many with the Love of God!
I will pass this tag on now to.................Tamara(Training Hearts), Stacey(Life with Gigi), and My Mom - Auntie R(Grandma's Turn). |
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