Our Far North Coast Holiday

Well the children are still talking about our recent trip, and everyday there is some mention of going back. It's taken a couple of weeks, but I'm now back into the Sydney swing of things. I was actually depressed when I came home, because I missed the country. I sensed a real dreariness to Sydney which I can't remember feeling before. The best thing about coming home was seeing Tony again - I did miss him. It's the longest we have been apart in 17 years!

This is the road in to my cousin's property



This is my cousin's beautiful homestead where we stayed.



I loved the solitude and the quietness of the country - broken only by the neighing horses, bleating sheep, squealing pigs, lowing cows and chook chook sounds. I could happily live my dream there... it's such a shame there are no work openings for Tony. Oh, and the evening bird noises and croaking frogs - I so much enjoyed sitting on the verandah around dusk, though the bugs were rather pesky! At dawn and early morning kangaroos would be grazing not far away.

My cousin's have just under 80 acres, and their own dam, which provided a lot of fun for Sarah and Daniel. We didn't take our dogs there, but my cousins dogs were well behaved and lapped up all the stick throwing attention they were given! The dam was also used to swim in. That was the first thing Sarah & Daniel did once we arrived. I think they were swimming within 20 minutes of us getting out of the car!




So what else did we do? Sarah's favourite thing was riding the horses




and Daniel's favourite thing was riding the quad bike



I think my favourite thing was all the relaxed reading I got to do whilst sitting on the verandah. I very much enjoyed Jane Eyre, New Moon, some gardening books, and a library novel of which I forget the name - though it was a great story of a young woman's marriage and journey through the Australian bush during the early settler days. And I looked forward very much to talking on the phone with Tony every night!

We also went to the beach, which we had to ourselves most of the time!



Such bliss, I wish we were there now!

Holiday Fun

Two delightful children, Nivea & Benjamin, spent a couple of days with us during the recent school holidays - and a lot of fun was had by all.

Some of the time the four of them (that's including Sarah & Daniel) jumped and played games on the trampoline; some of the time they played Nintendo Wii Sports; some of the time the boys played their dirt-games; some of the time they all took turns on the tyre swing





Some scones were made by the girls, and devoured by all!






Lovely children, lovely days. Hmmm, now I'm thinking it's time to make some more scones!

Botanical Gardens Excursion

Enjoyed a lovely day in the Sydney Botanical Gardens on the last day of term with the homeschool group. Such a restful, beautiful, interesting place! I think there were about 25 children in our group, and they learnt about composting and worm farms by one of the employees there. Then they got to harvest some mustard plants, do a bit of weeding, and plant some beans. Just before the 2 and 1/2 hour tour finished, they planted a watermelon seed in a cup to bring home.

I think we might start a worm farm once I get our vegie patch up and growing.

After the educational tour we all had a picnic lunch and play together, then went our separate ways. Sarah, Daniel and I continued on a wonderful walk through the gardens, and alongside the harbour right around to Mrs Macquarie's chair...then back again.

Got a little lost, lol - but it was all good!






And this spider thought to try hitching a ride in our backpack. Freaked me out a bit when I went to get our lunch out, but it jumped away with a bit of prodding. Yes - it JUMPED. Some sort of jumping spider apparently!

Shield and weapon

Daniel has quite a collection of sticks and spears in his 'base camp' and I guess the next step was to fashion a shield to protect himself - should he be so fortunate as to have somebody to play friendly war games with.

Recently he made a shield; impressing me with the way he so confidently unlocked Tony's tool cupboard, readied the drill, and actually drilled holes for the leather arm bands, which were later screwed on! I was hovering around to make sure he didn't drill a hole in his foot or hand, but he is clearly quite capable with this tool. Must have had lessons from his Dad when I wasn't looking, lol!

Then it was time for some painting of the actual shield, as well as on his chosen image. A dragon, of course. I should have known.

Here tis



Notice the weapon he is holding? (click on the picture to enlarge and see it better) Such a nasty thorned plant of some description, which he found in a park. Picture now my eyes popping out of my head as he extolled the sharpness and greatness of this particular weapon. Bulging. Especially when he asked could I grow this plant so he can have a steady supply. Uh, that would be NO!


I was a little relieved that dirtballs were the weapons of choice when Daniel and Benjamin had a wargame recently. Much softer and less dangerous! The pile of dirt we dug out for the water-tank installation a month or two ago (and which was going to keep my chooks happy in dirt heaven) has become a favourite play area. I did have to confine this game to the dirt pile, and stop them from throwing dirt rock balls all over the backyard: Yes, they did have to pick up the dirt globs from all over the lawn! I suppose the dirt is still going to be in the same general area once they finish the game, so the chooks when I finally get them, should be happy. In the meantime, 1 giant dirtpile plus assorted bits of timber and bricks = 2 boys happy as can be!

Karate Fun Day

Each school holidays, the gym where the kids train in Karate organises a fun training day. It's a combined event where the Karate kids and the Thai Boxing kids join together - to train in each discipline, have some games, and enter a sparring competition.

I never got around to blogging about the one held during the winter school holidays; should have ... because excitingly, Sarah and Daniel BOTH came home as winners. Sarah won the Sparring competition, and Daniel won the ...(oops, I'll have to ask him the name of the comp where 2 players are on their knees facing eachother and have to be the first one to grab a white cotton glove tucked into the back waistband) They won fantastic prizes which included a kick shield, gloves, focus mits, handwraps and a skipping rope! So useful for our practice at home. I was so proud of them! Naturally I took photos





AND.... on Wednesday, Sarah and Daniel both enjoyed the latest Fun Training day for these current school holidays....and AGAIN came home as winners! WOW, am I proud of my children! This time Daniel won the Sparring competition (and he is pleased as punch!) while Sarah won the Dodgeball competition. Trophy's this time - how exciting!

Material World

This is the name of a 255 page, full colour, quarto sized book I recently bought. It's an extraordinary 'portrait of humanity' which vividly portrays how various families live all over the world. The differences are astounding.

The question is asked: Can all 6 billion of us have all the things we want?

To make this book, during 1994, 16 photographers travelled to 30 nations around the world and lived with a 'statistically average' family for a week:

QUOTE: ... in an attempt to capture, through photos and statistics, the common humanity of the peoples of the earth, and the great differences in material goods and circumstances that make rich and poor societies."

The book contains full colour photographs of each family surrounded by all their possessions in the front of their home. For some families, this amounted to a few jars and jugs, while for other families, there was an "explosion of electrical gadgetry".

I was actually stuck in the introduction for quite a time, pondering the questions asked, and not able to turn the page. In some ways it is a rather heavy book to digest. The inequality between nations is unjust. For some people to starve from malnutrition whilst others throw away food with barely a thought, is heartbreaking. The rich western world can afford to spoil even their animals (think doggy cafe's, doggy beauty parlours, toys and heated beds for our animals etc etc) yet in poorer places, any animal is not simply a material possession, but absolutely vital for the family's food survival. The goat or cow is for milk, the chickens are for eggs...and if the animal cannot continue in its role, it must be eaten so food is not wasted on keeping it alive.

One double paged spread in the book is called 'Toilets of the World' and has photographs of various, um, toilets! At a glance you are shown the vast difference between say, the marble and gold model in Kuwait - to the concreted hole in the ground in Mali - to the snow covered outhouse in Uzbekistan. Very telling.


Micah 6:8
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly,
to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.

My Pianist

Sarah has been learning piano for a little over 6 years, and I do so enjoy listening to her play! I'm especially pleased that not only does she play & practice what is required by her piano teacher... but she also teaches herself new music. Lately it has been Bella's Lullaby from the movie soundtrack Twilight.





It's a real pleasure to hear you play, Sarah. May you always

make melody in your heart towards the Lord
(Ephesians 5:19b)

Orange Dawn in Sydney

Woke this morning to quite an eerie sight - Sydney is blanketed by an orange sky! Still bleary-eyed, I grabbed the camera and went outside to capture the strange dawn.







Unfortunately, my photos aren't doing justice to the true colour of the sky and air. Think very orange. These photos were taken at 6.30am; Tony said it was a darker red at 5.30am. I woke up the kids earlier than usual so they could also see, and they jumped up quite quickly when I said they should come outside and see the orange sky. After first seeing it through her skylight, Sarah thought it was some kind of eclipse, and Daniel could only say, wow! Outside cars are all covered with dirty dust, and will definitely need a wash.

The phenomenon is being caused by a good old-fashioned dust storm, and I can smell it, too. Unseasonably warm temperatures and gale force winds have been the contributing factor, resulting in the Bureau of Meteorology issuing a severe weather warning for damaging winds in Sydney with a gale warning issued for Sydney closed waters.

So no, it's not Armaggedon ... nor are the Martians landing, which were apparently some Twitter comments, lol. Other news.com.au comments have been: It's Mad Max from Beyond Thunderdome .. it's radioactive dust from Maralinga...greenhouse gasses have turned orange... lol lol lol! Although a news report I read said that Broken Hill did go "darker than night" at 3.30pm yesterday afternoon - now that does sound rather Biblical! As does another news commentor who said "Earthquakes in Victoria. Orange blanket haze in Sydney. Fires in Queensland. Just waiting for the Four Horsemen now"

Oh my!


AFTERNOON NEWS UPDATE: The red dust covering Sydney was swept up and carried east by gale-force winds from further inland, where years of drought have left the earth dry.

Sydneysiders with allergies and respiratory problems are being told to stay inside.
The NSW Department of Education said it would ask school principals to keep students indoors today, cancel any planned physical education activities and to keep a special eye on students with asthma or other respiratory conditions.

Bureau of Meteorology NSW regional director Barry Hanstrum said:
An event like this is extremely rare, It's one of the worst, if not the worst.


I wish Tony had stayed home :(

NEXT MORNING UPDATE:
Tony came home smiling, as per usual, and seem unconcerned about being outdoors in the dust all day! He had a job to do and a dust storm was simply another weather condition that he worked through. I have to credit his diligence!

More details have emerged re this dust storm, which is tragic for the drought-stricken farmers out west, who have now lost all their topsoil.

News reports are that we endured the biggest dust storm for 70 years, which measured seven times that of a "severe" dust storm. About five million tonnes of soil swept across southeast Queensland and NSW. Griffith University dust expert (didn't know there were 'dust experts) Craig Strong said a combination of strong winds and dry conditions caused the 800km long storm front.

The red dust broke records for air pollution, with air particle concentration levels reaching 15,400 micrograms per cubic metre of air at one location. A normal day would see up to 20 micrograms and a bushfire might generate 500 micrograms.

CSIRO scientist Ross Mitchell said a monitoring station at Birdsville measured dust in inverse mega metres, with a 1000 reading constituting a severe storm. "When the front came through about 2pm local time, we got a reading of 7200 which is seven times greater than what is already a pretty significant dust event."

That's a lot of dust! Now to the cleaning...

Nellie Kelly

If I say Nellie Kelly what do you think of?

I'm guessing most of us would say 'Passionfruit', me included. That is until I saw a variety of strawberry seedling in the nursery recently called Nellie Kelly. Of course I had to buy it, and it has just put on its first flower.

Surprisingly, it was a lovely pink colour! When I first glanced its way I thought some pretty flower had blown in and fallen on top of the plant... because all the strawberry flowers I've known have been smaller, white coloured ones. Upon investigating I found it was indeed a flower (which precedes the fruit) of this lovely Nellie Kelly strawberry! The tag accompanying the plant gave no hint of this, picturing only ripe, lush strawberries - so it was quite a delightful discovery for me.

click on the picture for a larger view



Such a pretty flower! I can hardly wait to taste the fruit.

Proverbs 31:31 give her the fruit of her hands

Black Ships Before Troy

This semester we are learning about Ancient Greece in our homeschool, and we've just finished Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff as a read aloud.


What an enthralling retelling of Homer's The Iliad! Beginning with the golden apple and ending with the fall of Troy, we read this 125 page book over 3 sittings.

Book blurb -

Using the most up-to-date research on Troy and ancient Greece, Rosemary Sutcliff brings Homer's epic poem The Iliad singing to life with the skill of a master storyteller, drawing on Greek mythology to set the scene and on The Aeneid to complete the story after the burial of Hector.

I enjoyed Rosemary's expressive writing so much, that I've made a note to obtain two of her other books (perhaps more) One is Eagle of the Ninth for when we study Ancient Rome next year. Following that, in the 2nd semester of 2010 for our Middle Ages studies, I will purchase Tristan and Isolde

The death of Rosemary Sutcliff in 1992 is a sad loss to the world, indeed.

The actual book we read from was a Library borrowing, but I've since bought a lovely hardcover version to add to our personal library at home; we will definitely read it again in the future. The illustrations by Alan Lee appealed to all of us, though Tony especially liked them.

Sarah thought most of the story was 'quite violent' which was off-putting for her. Daniel agreed it was violent, and remarked, "but that is war, Sarah".

On the weekend after we completed the reading, we watched the dvd TROY, starring Brad Pitt as Achilles and Eric Bana as Hector (who in my opinion played the better role). Oh yes, I did fast forward the opening scenes that showed Brad almost entirely naked in bed with a woman (inappropriate for children in my opinion) so keep that in mind if you play it as a family movie. Tony and I had seen Troy before, but I wouldn't have shared it with Sarah & Daniel, apart from our ancient Greece studies. The movie did not enter into much of the mythology surrounding The Iliad and neither did it present the Trojan war as apparently lasting 10 years... but for showing the scope, sadness and futility of the war, seeing visual of what the city looked like, seeing the massive fleet of ships that sailed upon Troy, and seeing the main characters Paris, Achilles, Hector, Helen of Sparta (who should have stayed in Sparta), King Menelaus and Agamemnon come alive, the movie was a treat!

My friend Peta also loaned us a chapter by chapter comprehension guide that goes with this book, and which can be brought from Veritas Press, should you be interested.
http://www.veritaspress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=000725

What's next? I will tell you another day. Till then, God bless you!

Fun at the Park

Enjoyed a fabulous day recently celebrating Tiarna's 1st birthday. She is the sweet, gorgeous child belonging to one of Tony's nephews. Daniel's best mate Benjamin got to come along, as he was having a sleepover with us that weekend; those two boys get on so very well together - and enjoy a lot of the same things. For example: Bakugans, running around, building base camps and collecting weapons, playing soccer and ...



Riding bikes.


Through muddy water? Even better!

Reading John Taylor Gatto Again

Do you know I'd never even heard of John Taylor Gatto, let alone read any of his books or other articles before 2006? Not until I began researching and discovering the world of Home Education did he appear on my radar. I read one of his books, "Dumbing Us Down" and I was also an interested attendee when he came to Australia as the keynote speaker for a weekend Homeschooling Conference Tony & I went to in 2007.

John Taylor Gatto was a teacher in the US public system for over 25 years. The acceptance speech he gave whilst being awarded the New York State Teacher of the Year in 1990, entitled "Why Schools Don’t Educate" is worthy of your reading. You can find it here:
http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/john_gatto.html

Here is a little snippet:-

here is the calculus of time the children I teach must deal with:
Out of the 168 hours in each week, my children sleep 56. That leaves them 112 hours a week out of which to fashion a self. My children watch 55 hours of television a week according to recent reports. That leaves them 57 hours a week in which to grow up. My children attend school 30 hours a week, use about 6 hours getting ready, going and coming home, and spend an average of 7 hours a week in homework - a total of 45 hours. During that time, they are under constant surveillance, have no private time or private space, and are disciplined if they try to assert individuality in the use of time or space. That leaves 12 hours a week out of which to create a unique consciousness. Of course, my kids eat, and that takes some time - not much, because they've lost the tradition of family dining, but if we allot 3 hours a week to evening meals, we arrive at a net amount of private time for each child of 9 hours.
It's not enough. It's not enough, is it?

and a little more:-

I want to tell you what the effect is on children of taking all their time from them - time they need to grow up - and forcing them to spend it on abstractions. You need to hear this, because no reform that doesn't attack these specific pathologies will be anything more than a facade.

1. The children I teach are indifferent to the adult world. This defies the experience of thousands of years. A close study of what big people were up to was always the most exciting occupation of youth, but nobody wants to grow up these days and who can blame them? Toys are us.

2. The children I teach have almost no curiosity and what they do have is transitory; they cannot concentrate for very long, even on things they choose to do. Can you see a connection between the bells ringing again and again to change classes and this phenomenon of evanescent attention?

3. The children I teach have a poor sense of the future, of how tomorrow is inextricably linked to today. As I said before, they have a continuous present, the exact moment they are at is the boundary of their consciousness.

4. The children I teach are ahistorical, they have no sense of how past has predestined their own present, limiting their choices, shaping their values and lives.

5. The children I teach are cruel to each other, they lack compassion for misfortune, they laugh at weakness, and they have contempt for people whose need for help shows too plainly.


The time factor is a crucial one, in my opinion. We all need time to rest, to think, to play, to dream, to unwind, to imagine, to plan, to pray, to do those things which relax us and energise us. Especially children, I believe.

Anyway, I'm going a bit off topic, but the reason I'm posting about John Taylor Gatto tonight, is that today I came across one of his quotes, and I thought to share it with you.


"Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die."

John Taylor Gatto

If you would like to read more of his views, have a look at http:// http://www.preservenet.com/theory/Gatto.html

Thought provoking for sure.

Spring Song of Sydney

by Dorothea Mackellar (1885-1968)

Spring has come back to this Sydney of ours;
All the deep gardens brim over with flowers;
All the steep gardens climb down to the harbour
Frothing with blossoms on trellis and arbour.

Clematis, jasmine, wisteria, rose,
Who can keep tale for the pageant that goes,
Scented and hued like the suite of a bride,
Toward the delphinium-blue of the tide?

Hark to the magpie, and in the hush,
Now the sun's riding high listen, a thrush!
Soon, soon the locust will silence their song,
Spring is swift-footed, but Summer broods long.

Surely This Is Not My Kind of Work? Part 2

Welcome back. I know you've been wondering just how much, or what kind of digging I did next, haven't you? After the concrete slab area had been cleared of dirt, I set to digging downwards into the earth (on the other side of the slab) to find the stormwater pipe, which the water-tank overflow must be connected to. Tony's Dad was so sure of it's location, but as things turned out, his memory obviously played tricks on him!

I started digging where I was told, but could not find the pipe. Tony suggested moving along in a line, and he seemed confident that I would soon find it. However, after digging about 10 fox-type holes in a nice line - and still not finding this 'blasted waterpipe' (which is what I was now calling it), I started bemoaning the fact that the water-tank had to even be connected to the stormwater in the first place! I doubted we would have the amount of rain that would make an overflow pipe necessary - because I planned on using most of the water on the vegie garden, and would be grateful for enough rainwater to do just that. We do live in a dry country, after all. Please can't we just forget all this digging and I'll make sure the tank never gets over full? Please? Well, I'm sure you know the answer to that question.

One of the fox-holes


Then it was suggested I try digging in a spot to the left of the first foxhole, because perhaps the pipe was a little more that way. Sure ... no worries. I'm hot. I'm dusty. I'm frustrated. By now I'm regretting the addition of the water-tank full stop. But .... I also know if I gave up now it would be weeks before Tony could resume the job. So after a few great gulps of water, I set to digging again. At the very least it was good exercise. My 2 supervisors (Tony and his Dad) were standing nearby, full of helpful suggestions on just how to hold the spade, what part of the hole I should dig away at, etc etc. Hmmm. Bite your tongue, Debbie! I'll not make anymore comments here - after all, Tony will have a read I'm sure (hello darling husband!)

Dig dig dig. Clang. Oh my goodness, what's that? Concrete. What? Outside the slab area? Moving along a little and I recommence digging. Dig dig dig. Clang! More concrete! For what purpose we wondered? Oh... perhaps it was an old path that Grandad put down. Oh great. I could go on a whole lot about what happened next, but suffice to say it was an old concrete path.

The 1st plan of attack was that I move to the side some more and dig a new hole .. still searching for the elusive stormwater pipe which I was starting to think could be anywhere in our big old yard! I'd now started to mentally link the stormwater pipe with the holy grail...though I was prudent to not mention that piece of silliness! Digging in a new spot just led to more concrete. By now Tony's Dad was surmising that the stormwater must be UNDERNEATH the concrete path, so the 2nd plan was that I use a sledgehammer to smash away the concrete path - thereby discovering the stormwater pipe. Yes, you read correctly. A SLEDGEHAMMER! I've not ever used one before, and at this point Tony wanted me to leave the job till his rib was healed enough so he could takeover. But I was on a mission! I wanted to find that pipe - TODAY! So ... pass the sledgehammer please.

And here I'll just let the photos do the talking. This is the hard work I did






As you can see, there was no sign of the pipe underneath the path. I'd even scraped away underneath a part of the path that I'd not smashed. During this I had a few moments of thinking, "I'm nearly there, soon I'm a gonna hit this blasted pipe", but unfortunately, this didn't work either. No sign of the pipe. I even got experience in using another tool that was supposed to help. A bar - which is a long, heavy piece of steel that I was instructed to lift up, then 'just let drop'. Kinda had to do this sideways by the way, because you recall I was trying to clear dirt underneath the path, don't you?

Tony's Dad (bless his heart) was scratching his head in bewilderment. Tony said the stormwater was in this 'general area'. I was madly frustrated and praying; "please Lord, help us find this elusive pipe".

The next plan of attack was to hammer a piece of steel bar into the ground ANYWHERE Tony and his Dad THOUGHT the pipe could be. If the stormwater pipe was in that spot, I would hit it with the bar and not have to resort to digging holes here and there. So I did this where I was directed, with still no luck. Then I watched as Tony and his Dad wandered over the backyard, pointing to spots and trying to follow the paths from places where they knew definitely that a pipe lay. We were all certain of the location of the sewer pipes, because they need to be regularly cleaned of tree roots ... but the stormwater was another story.

So I was leaning against the clothesline, following all their fingerpointing, and then noticed a depression kind of channel in the lawn. I pointed it out and they said, "it could be there" ... so I just grabbed this bar and hammered it into the ground. PRAISE THE GOOD LORD, I hit something fairly soon - and would you believe....it was the stormwater pipe! I tell ya, this is exactly how it happened! Amazing! I believe the Lord made me acutely observant here; and He directed and lead my eyes to the exact spot. Oh, I was so grateful!

Unfortunately, the stormwater pipe was a good 2 metres away from where they said it was, and I then had to dig a trench back towards the watertank so they could be connected. Can you believe it? More digging! At least it was straightforward, and not very deep. I learnt how to first spade up rectangles of grass that could be replaced after the pipes were laid; and how to dig a trench spade depth and spade wide. Oh yeh, what fun. Hopefully it will be the only time I have to do this.

So here's some photos of MY trench








So, all the hard work is now done, and I'm almost delirous - or is that exhausted? Lol. Tony said he is able to lay the pipe and then once that is done, I will push the dirt back in and wedge the grass blocks back on top. My only question is "when", meaning, can you do it tomorrow please pretty please? Now honestly, how can he deny me anything since I've sweated and given all (to the point of tears once) doing this hard mens work? - and done a very fine job indeed, I might add!

Next post I'll show you the water tank in situ. Till then, God bless you :)

Surely This Is not My Kind of Work? Part 1

Dear Lord, please stop me from moaning and groaning too much throughout this next post!!

My poor body has been so very tired and sore almost everyday for the past 2-3 weeks! Too much kickboxing you ask? No, though that would have been preferable to what has caused these aches and fatigue.

It all started with the generosity of Tony's Dad, who bought us another water tank for the garden. I wanted it sited way up the backyard (behind my outdoor laundry) for ease of watering my newly planned vegie beds. The tank will eventually hold 2500 litres of water, taking advantage of approximately 80m2 of the laundry and our pergola/awning roofs. Since I have already begun praying for the Lord to send rain to fill it as soon as it's connected ... and because delivery of the tank was last Friday ... and because, well just getting things done NOW is how I like my world to run...naturally I wanted some action!

Unfortunately (and through no fault of mine, just in case you wonder) Tony cracked a rib whilst boxing a week or so before the delivery of the water tank was due. Right about the time he should have been digging out the spot. Underneath all the grass is a concrete slab that years ago used to be the incinerator area. Remember when we used to burn our rubbish in the backyard? Anyway, Tony had filled the area with dirt from our renovations because we never thought that one day a concrete slab in that area could be useful. Due to his injury, Tony was unable to dig...so who did the job fall to? Moi, that's who! Marking out the area was rather exciting, starting to dig was not!

The following is the place where the water tank will stand. Marked out, with a few pitiful spadefulls of dirt besides. Unfortunately, the job seemed beyond me. The ground was so hard and I hardly knew where to begin.





Thankfully, Tony's strong nephew came to help, and he is such a good worker! Richard reckons he moved out 3 tonnes of dirt, and I wheelbarrowed about 1 tonne of that further up the backyard to get rid of it. Hopefully the chooks (when we get them) will be in dirt heaven - I read they like scratching around in dirt...and now they have plenty, lol! Wait - who wheelbarrowed about a tonee of dirt? Moi, that's who!

Next is a photo of that beautiful concrete slab - minus the dirt. How good it was to finally see!




What do you think of that? So far you may be wondering why I'm so sore if that's all I did, but let me tell ya - there's a whole lot more to come. Nephew Richard went home, Tony is incapacitated, his Dad is too elderly, the kids are too young (though Daniel helped where he could) ... who is left to complete the job?

Moi, that's who!


Stay tuned for part 2, and till then - I'll be relaxing a little!

This Week

In Our Home
Most things are pretty organised at the moment, so this week I'll only need to do the regular cleaning as well as:
* Prepare the fortnightly menu
* Change the carbon in the fishtank
* Tidy the linen cupboard

In Our Garden
Lots to do here, and the warm weather has me itching to begin! New plants to put in this week include my favourite wattle Acacia Baileyana Purpurea; 4 English Lavenders; 4 French Lavenders; a Sasanqua Camellia; and most exciting of all - a Nectarine tree! Yum, can't wait to eat those! Last weekend I dug over an extension to an existing bed where the cherry trees are. Using the pickaxe and spade was hard work, but has given a satisfying result. It's still a bit early to put in most of the summer vegies, and it's quite likely August winds and a cooler snap will chase the current warm & sunny days away, but this week I'll be planting seeds in the propogator so they will be ready to plant out in another month or little more when the ground will be much warmer. We will be getting our 3rd water tank soon (thanks to Tony's dad) and I plan to site the new vegie beds nearby. I hope it all happens soon so that I can plant my seedlings there. I've already started praying that rain will come to fill the tank as soon as it is in position!

In Our Homeschool
We schooled through the recent school holidays so that we can take time off when Tony has some holiday's at the end of this month. This week we'll be continuing with
* Maths
* Spelling
* Copywork (1 question & answer per day from the Westminster Confession in their best handwriting)
* Computer Skills (Sarah - Microsoft Excel. Daniel - Microsoft Word)
* History (Ancient Greece this semester)
* Music (Sarah - piano and Daniel - electric guitar. Daily practice 5 days per week, plus their weekly lesson outside the home.
* Sport (Sarah Karate; Daniel Karate and Soccer)


We Are Reading
Tony Bible: 2 Samuel
Debbie Bible: Psalms
Bible Read Aloud to children: the Gospels

Tony: latest Creation magazine plus some booklets loaned him from an acquaintance who is connected with the Philadelphia Church of God. Tony is also researching on the internet their core doctrinal statements, so that intelligent conversation can be conducted between them both in the future.

Sarah: Saddle Up Thoroughbred Horse Stories by Christine Pullein-Thompson

Daniel: Jack Russell Dog Detective by Darrel & Sally Odgers

Debbie: The Measure Of All Things by Ken Alder. I've been reading this for a couple of months, which is a long time on one book for me - but it's been interspersed with all the gardening and chook raising books I've been devouring lately. The Measure of All Things is quite a fascinating account of 2 French scientists (Delambre & Mecharin) and their expedition in the late 1790's to measure the shape of the world and thereby establish the metre, which was to be one ten millionth the distance from pole to equator. They hoped that this measurement would be used instead of the arbitrary systems decided upon by monarchs. Apparently,18th century France had a staggering 250,000 different units of weights and measures!
Quote:

For seven years Delambre and Mechain travelled the meridian to extract the single number from the curved surface of our planet. They began their journey in opposite directions, and then, when they had reached the extremities of their arc, measured their way back towards one another through a country quickened with revolution. Their misson took them to the tops of cathedral spires, to the summits of doomed volcanoes, and very nearly to the guillotine. It was an operation of exquisite presicion for such violent times. At every turn they encountered suspicion and obstruction. How do you measure the earth while the world is turning beneath your feet? How do you establish a new order when the countryside is in chaos? How do you set standards when everything is up for grabs? Or is there, in fact, no better time to do so?

After 7 years, they met in the fortress town of Carcassonne, and from there went and presented their data to an international commission meeting in Paris, their moment of triumph. Napolean Bonaparte actually said of it, "Conquests will come and go, but this work will endure."
In the course of the author's research, he discovered that there is also a story of intrigue and deception - a story of scientific error and "the agonising choices it forced upon men and women of integrity." It turns out that despite Mechain's extreme caution and exactitude, he committted an error in the early years of the expedition and upon realising his mistake, covered it up. Afterwards, so tormented by his secret knowledge, he died in an attempt to correct himself. Only after his death did his collegue Delambre choose between loyalty to his friend and his science.

Here is what I find quite astounding: according to today's satellite surveys, the metre calculated by Delambre and Mechain falls roughly 0.2 millimetres short! "It may not seem like much, but it is enough to matter in high precision science" The author says that, "this then is a tale of error and its meaning: how people strive for utopian perfection - in their works and in their lives - and how they come to terms with the inevitable shortcomings." As mentioned, I'm finding it quite fascinating and do recommend it as an interesting book about the beginnings of the metric system.


I'm Pondering:
* Downsizing my wardrobe. It's bulging at the seams and somedays I still think I have nothing to wear, which is quite ridiculous! Do I really need this many clothes that I don't even wear? I'm attracted to the idea of owning a dozen outfits at the most. Modest and serviceable ones. To go ahead with this would be a ruthless purge that I really need to be sure about, as it would be most UN-frugal to replace them in future.

*My spiritual/ministry goals for the second half of this year. This is a follow on from the DVD series our church family is watching by Reggie McNeal called "This Present Future; Six Tough Questions for the Church"

All in all it's another busy week! Some hard work which should prove productive, some exercise, some good nutrition, walking with the Lord, some intellectual pursuits ... and a birthday thrown in. Yes, Lacey (eldest daughter) will turn 29 years old this week. HAPPPY BIRTHDAY LACEY !!! xxooxx Here is a recent photo of the very beautiful Lacey as bridesmaid at a recent wedding, with her Dad.

Returning

Hello friends!

It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been taking a break from blogging, forums and a lot of computer related activities for a little while, for a number of reasons.

1. Sports have been taking up a lot of our time here. I like to do 3 Muay Thai classes a week when I can; Tony has started a boxing class; Sarah does 3 Karate classes a week; Daniel does two Karate classes, as well as 2 nights of soccer training in prep for the Saturday games. Since this winter has been rather wet, the soccer draw has been totally messed up because of ground closures due to rain, with catch-up games being re-scheduled on Sunday's. For example, we have a game this Saturday and a game (plus team photos) on Sunday. Soccer eating into our Sundays is quite a peeve, because Sunday's are church days for our family, so we find ourselves in a tricky situation because our commitment to God and our commitment to the team have conflicted a lot this season. I am considering not enrolling Daniel for Soccer next year because of this very reason, though I know he will not be at all happy about that - he loves to play. I think sports are a very important part of the children's development, but we signed up for Saturday sports - not Sunday sport. Our first thought is always to say 'no' to any of the Sunday games. Ordinarily it's easy to say that the choice is simple and God must come first, because we don't think the commandment to "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" is an optional choice ... but it puts us in a bad situation with team relationships, which are also very important to us.

2. Another reason for my computer hiatus was that I spent a couple of weeks making major changes at home and changed around 4 rooms to make our home more workable. It seems a little ridiculous that all these changes were initiated by the purchase of the Wii for Daniels birthday. You need a lot of room to swing your body around .. as you do whilst playing Wii! Oh my goodness, it’s been such a job. I also had to paint in 2 rooms which was so not on my list…

3. Another big reason for my absence was that I did make a conscious decision to spend less time on the computer a couple of months ago ago. As it turned out it was a good plan because while I did feel swamped a short while back, I achieved a lot. It was becoming quite a habit for me to while away too much time on the computer when I should have been doing other things, so disciplining myself in this area has been quite beneficial, as much as I missed some good online friends. Some days I don't even turn on the computer. Or we will have it on for an hour or so in the morning for Sarah to do her online maths and then I'll check emails ..then I’ll turn it off. I'm pondering getting up an hour earlier in the mornings so that can be my computer time to read blogs I like, but perhaps winter is not the best time to start this, as it's so cold! I am currently compiling a list of my favourite blogs and forums and categorising them. I do have to limit myself in the time I allow for computer related pasttimes, so I thought that instead of getting caught up on the internet through the day and/or late into the night - that one day I could read the craft sites, another day I will read the gardening sites, another day the cooking sites, another day the simple living sites, and another day the christian sites. Do you think that sounds like a good plan? I have read a couple of articles and blog posts about this very subject lately, so it seems I am not alone in assessing the time we ladies spend on the computer. One good read is here

http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/2009/06/distracted-christian-mothers.html


4. In addition to the above reasons, there are all my usual responsibilities and tasks... running the home; responsibilities at church; taking parents and in-laws to medical appointments; all the paperwork associated with the end of financial year as I'm bookkeeper for Tony's business; taking the children to their music lessons; and of course the homeschooling, visiting and entertaining we like to do … etc etc etc

5. And finally, I had some vision problems which made reading difficult, particularly when combined with computer glare. New glasses have fixed that, but I was also referred to an eye specialist and had an uneasy week between appointments to discover what a growth on my retina was. I testify yet again to God's mercy, grace, and lovingkindness towards me . As always, His presence and His Word is a reassuring comfort and strength, though naturally I had my moments of sobbing into Tony's shoulder. However, I was indeed blessed that most of the time His peace (which truly surpasses understanding) was upon me. I thank and praise Him that the problem is nothing to worry about. While I was frightened that I was either going to go blind and not be able to see my children grow, or my future grandchildren, or that it was a cancerous tumour and I was going to die... it turns out I have a “CHIRPE” acronym for Congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium, along with 5% of population. It is like a freckle on my retina, a ‘typical’ one that does not becomes malignant. Whew!

So there you have the main reasons why I have not been blogging lately. I am still assessing my priorities and deciding what is right for me timewise to spend on the computer...but I do hope to be able to blog more regularly. I have a lot of plans for our home, and much to share! Lets see what eventuates, lol.

Happy Mothers Day

Hello friends,
I'm a couple of days late to say "HAPPY MOTHERS DAY" to all the Mums, but I do hope your day was wonderful and blessed - as was mine!

I received a gorgeous bunch of flowers that Jodie had arranged to be delivered from the florist. I did take a photo but haven't uploaded it to the computer yet, so once I've done that I will post it to share with you. It still looks so glorious on our dining table.


I received such warm cuddles from Sarah and Daniel, along with my favourite lollies (snakes and jelly babes) a handmade card .. and Wii Fit! Yes, I really did want it, though I'm sure it will be well used by them too, lol. We actually played for almost 4 hours on Sunday afternoon and it was a lot of fun!

I was blessed in many ways this Mothers Day. As well as the expressions of love and thanks from my chldren, our Sunday morning church service was a particularly special time of worship, fellowship and teaching. I wont say too much of the subject because I am pondering a new post, but for me it was about fulfilling and being obedient to God's call on my life and about how He wants us to be servants. Afterwards, all the Dads and children served the Mums a delicious morning tea/brunch.

I received another blessing from reading Sandy's Mother's Day post over at Falling Like Rain, which you can read at:

http://sandy-fallinglikerain.blogspot.com/2009/05/hitting-mark.html

Enjoy your day! I'll be back soon to update you on other happenings.

Happy 9th Birthday Daniel

Our family celebrated 9 years of Daniel's life recently. We praised God, the Giver of Life for another of His precious gifts! As always on a birthday, one is struck by how fast time really does fly! My last born babe. My son. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We celebrated as a family on the actual day, then on the weekend he had a party and invited 5 friends from Karate and 4 from soccer. Sarah also got to invite a friend, so all up we had 12 live wire children running around the backyard!

It was a great day. One of the party games, Capture the Flag, was an outstanding success. Each player chose an armband from a lucky dip, which separated everyone into 2 teams. Matching team flags were hoisted at opposite ends of the backyard, and each team had to protect their own flag - as well as try to capture the other team's flag. If you went into 'enemy territory' and got tipped before you grabbed the flag, you had to spend time 'in jail' (which was on the trampoline) until one of your teammates tagged you to set you free. Trying to capture the flag, not getting tipped, protecting your own flag, and rescuing any teammates in jail amounted to lots of energy being used, and lots of incredible fun!

I initially thought they would play for half an hour or so, but the 1st game lasted a good hour, then they all decided to mix up the teams and play again! I think there was 3 games played and even afterwards I had a couple of children come to me and ask, "Can we play Capture the Flag again?" Dodgeball with 2 balls was also played, and while it was enjoyed, it was nowhere near as favoured.

Party food was a heap of junk - lollies, chips, chocolate crackles; and I served mini hotdogs for something a bit more substantial. I regularly carried around a huge platter of fruit of which some was eaten, with watermelon being the most popular. Drinks went down at a good rate, which was natural considering all the running around that was happening. Oh, and mini quiches which were bought by one of the mum's - thanks D, they were delicious!

Children also played on the trampoline, climbed the treehouse (and trashed Sarah's flowers, oops!) and generally just ran around playing.



The cake was the worse one I have made. Honestly! Well, OK, it tasted great, but it didn't LOOK like the giant cupcake it was meant to be. I was decorating it at midnight on the night before the party and really wanted to throw it in the bin and buy a more pleasing one in the morning. As I carried it out to the party I was hearing, "What is it?" and saw and lots of quizzical expressions, LOL. Eventually we settled that it was an alien spaceship....not the plan, but hey - it doesn't really matter I kept repeating mentally!

Anyway, Daniel relished the whole day. He got some fantastic presents and enjoyed having his friends over to celebrate his birthday. His party lasted from 1-4pm, then I was having adult guests (and a few more children) over for a dinner BBQ at 5pm. The gap between was a hectic time, and if I plan it this way again, I'll just ask everyone if they want to hang around for lots more fun!

Pascal's Wager

You may have noticed in weather reports that atmospheric pressure is measured in kilopascals. The 'pascal' is a unit of pressure, and was named after Blaise Pascal following his experiments measuring air pressure with a barometer.

The pascal (Pa) or kilopascal (kPa) as a unit of pressure measurement, is widely used throughout the world and largely replaces the pounds per square inch (psi) unit (except in some countries which still use the Imperial measurement system)

Blaise Pascal was a 17th century French scientist, mathematician (think of Pascal's triangle), physicist and religious philospher.


In what is termed, Pascal’s Wager, Pascal proposed that there are one of two truths in the universe, and one of two ways to live in relation to those truths.

The Truths: Either God exists, or God doesn’t exist.

The ways to live: You can live as if God exists, or you can live as if God doesn’t exist.


Combining these we have the following conclusions:

1. If God doesn’t exist, and you live as though He doesn’t exist, you have no losses.

2. If God doesn’t exist, and you live as though He does, you have no losses but gain the advantages of a better life.

3. If God does exist, and you live as though He doesn’t, you lose big time.

4. If God does exist, and you live as though He does, you have no losses and gain everything.

I am firmly with option # 4 . What about yourself? Have you ever seriously considered this type of question? If so, are you aware that living as though God exists involves far more than just acknowledging that He does exist - the Bible says in James 2:19 that "even the demons believe and tremble". Living as though God exists must also involve a recognition of the need for God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and a following of His ways.

If you have not ever considered these vital questions, I really pray that you would give it some serious thought, if only to be sure in your own mind of where you will spend eternity. I pray that the Lord God Almighty will reveal Himself to you, andd that you will know Him, honour Him...and rejoice in Him! He is a GOOD GOD and He LOVES YOU!!!

Museum Excursion

QUOTE : "Our views on morality, justice, purpose, self-worth, humanity, obligation, and destination are all closely tied to our views on human origins."

http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/creation-vs-evolution.htm

The reason I'm posting about worldviews is because we have been talking about the 2 biggies - Creation and Evolution - a lot over the past 2 weeks. We began our History lessons with a review of Creation to Noah's Flood. It was just a short overview, because we have covered these events as part of our Bible studies a number of times over the years. I personally think the Big Bang and Evolution THEORIES are fairy tales for adults, and I can't accept that the whole argument is set-up as a choice between science and faith. I think it takes a whole lot more faith to believe that the complexities and intricacies, the absolute marvels of the universe, this world, the animals and mankind itself just happened by itself and of its own accord! First of all, that the universe formed from an explosion seems stupid to me - don't explosions destroy, and not create? Then afterwards, that life evolved from some micro-organism that began in the sea and over time mutated into various other life forms, some of which crawled out of the ocean and continued to mutate and adapt to life on earth over millions of years, also seems seems ludicrous. Why aren't animals still evolving if that is the case? No fossil evidence can be found of transitional or inbetween forms of animals, and no missing links can be found between monkeys and humans - because dear friends, God created each kind of animal, and He created man in His own image! As I said, it takes a lot more faith to believe in evolution, than to believe the truth that a loving Creator God spoke everything into existence.

I wholeheartedly believe that God created the world, and everything in it - according to the book of Genesis in the Bible, and this is what I teach my children...but I also teach them the opposing viewpoints so that they can know both sides of the debate. I think it's important to have a well-rounded education, and to provide them with the knowledge to define, understand and defend their own beliefs.

So as part of her studies the week before last, Sarah had to research and write a report about Charles Darwin, and Natural Selection, which actually proved quite timely, because soon afterwards there were a few news articles about him, as it would have been his 200th birthday if he were still alive.

For the next few days after that we were all intrigued by the Great Ice Age, and read quite a bit about that; while this past week our focus has been on Dinosaurs. Daniel notebooked a couple of pages with info gathered out of books borrowed from the Library, then he chose 8 Dinosaurs and classified them into groups, drew and labelled his pictures with their scientific names, and wrote out short bullet-points of info.

(Note: there are plenty of great books about Dinosaurs at the Library - but every single one was written from an Evolutionary point of view. I'm glad we have Dinosaur books written from a Creationist point of view - which is that Dinosaurs were created on the 5th and 6th days when air, sea and land animals were made!)

Sarah, (not being as interested in Dinosaurs as Daniel) wrote a report about Fossil Fuels, then spent time on her Literature studies. I didn't think it was necessary for her to dig in as much as Daniel, given her lack of interest...which I can understand!



Anyway, our week long study of Dinosaurs culminated in an excursion to the Australian Museum in Sydney yesterday. We had a really nice day! Our primary purpose was to see the Dinosaur exhibition, but we enjoyed almost 5 hours wandering around and viewing other collections.

By definition, SCIENCE says an idea isn't really true unless you can see it, measure it, and analyse it. Besides the conflict of faiths, that is another reason why I don't agree with the Australian Museum's Statement of Faith as quoted from their website: The Australian Museum supports the teaching of evolution as the scientifically tested and verifiable theory for the origin and development of all species on Earth. In doing so, the Australian Museum's position is that creationism or intelligent design should not be taught as part of the science curriculum. ....however, I do think they have built terrific collections and displays, and the Museum is well worth a visit!

I particularly liked the Bird and the Insect displays. Daniel liked the Dinosaurs, the Skeleton section, and the Spiders collection; and Sarah liked the Butterflys and especially the whole exhibition of photographs entered into the
Wild Life Photographer of the Year Award.
Wow, awesome photos! Sarah also took a lot of photos herself, because she wants to draw them in her sketch book later.

A couple more photos





So it was a really nice day as I said, and we only left the Museum because we were hungry! We wandered across the road into the beautiful and well manicured Hyde Park, where we ate lunch in the glorious sunshine. The children both said they wished for a backyard like that (oh yes please!)
Have you walked down the Avenue of Figs? those trees are just stupendous - and would be great for climbing and treehouses, Daniel said!

Photo of children looking at the Archibold Fountain


This has turned into a rather long post, and I was sitting here considering splitting it into 2 separate entries - Worldviews and the Museum excursion, but I think I'll just leave it as is for now. Have to go live my life away from the computer! One more thing, if you want some good reading you will find lots here -

http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers

and Wiki gives a good overview of how worldviews shape our thinking here
http://creationwiki.org/Worldview