This Week at Our House #49

I feel a little astounded that this year is coming to an end already. It has been such a hard year. I know I will never look back on it with delight, but we have learned and experienced a lot, including having several of our own little miracles to ease us through this difficult time.

We finished off one week of school in December and have one more to go before vacation. On the whole, the kids are doing well completing their work and keeping up on the household chores, but I can tell that we all need that break.

1. John has been keeping us thinking about Christmas and celebrating the holiday. He's been having us play music and sing and read stories and do extra service and baking and such. It's always nice when I am not in charge of making the holidays holiday-esque. 
2. Ugh, I reached the uncomfortable part of pregnancy. I have a month to go and I can feel it. My abdomen and back and legs are aching a lot more. I am thinking more about the baby and life with a newborn, and time has slowed down. On Wednesday, I kept thinking it had to be Friday. I am still managing the GD diet well. I have had no desert and no candy for months now. I think this is the longest I have been sugar-free, and I would never have done this during the holidays on purpose. There's a reason diets start after the new year.
3. Ruth is staying where she is at with the companion she has for the next transfer.
4. Kate got sick this week. We've had a little something that seems to cause a short term fever and mild nausea going through the home. Most people have been fine with it and better between 4 and 24 hours. Kate was not so lucky. She had all the symptoms magnified, plus severe headaches and dizziness and it lasted most of the week for her. 
5. Johnny has his own little office now, which happens to be my bedroom closet, but he gets more done now without all the littles around to bug him.
6. Adam exercises  daily. He'll go out and run, and lift weights often, but everyday he does 300 situps and 50 pushups. John was watching him exercise and said, "You know, I think me being fat has benefited you." Adam exercises because he likes to eat, and he is a lot stronger because of it.
7. Rachel is the last girl in the family, aged 8 and older, to still be reading the Book of Mormon for the challenge from the prophet. We warned her ahead of time, that she needed to be more steady and read more daily. She did not heed the warnings and is now trying to read 10 chapters a day. She did, however, make bread twice this week, and she has improved on her math.
8. Anya finished the Book of Mormon early in November and has almost gone through it a second time to get some things she may have missed reading it so quickly. 
9. Joseph has been having trouble sleeping at night. I am not sure if I should be mad or glad that he is preparing me for a newborn. But I rejoice the nights he sleeps all night without feeling afraid or just having a hard time falling to sleep.
10. Joshua likes to wrap and give gifts. But he wants to do a lot of easy to make things very fast, which doesn't turn out so well. Today I noticed that Kate was frustratingly trying to convince him to slow down and do a better more careful job on what he is making, so that those getting the gifts will actually enjoy them.
11. Arwen either did really well with her school work or terribly this week. She either did it fast and well or just sat for hours looking at a work sheet and doing nothing more. I think Arwen is most ready for a vacation.
12. Suzy pointed to the girl with naturally curly hair in a Charlie Brown's Christmas and said, "That is me." We all agree. Suzy really likes her naturally curly hair. But she would also like it to be longer, I think. Yesterday she was wearing her dress inside out and only just over her head, like a nun's cap. I asked her what it was and she said, "It's my long hair."
13. Sam was sick the first part of the week. He could not sleep at night and he laid around tired and uncomfortable, but awake during the day. We knew when he started to feel better because he started making lots of messes. He got into the pantry and dumped out dry beans everywhere; he took the clean silverware out of the drawer and dumped it all in a dirty laundry basket; he stole Kate's drawing board and pencil and broke the pencil and scribbled all over her drawings; he played with the plunger in the toilet; he played with the hose in the kitchen sink; he dumped out board games, and then finally we realized he needed a one on babysitter or to be in bed or to have a tv show on.
14. Gideon's head was down this week, but the amniotic fluid is still high and he could be still spin around. I have the next ultrasound on Monday, so we will see if he is head up or down or transverse. It is hard to tell with the extra fluid.

Pictures

Josh's male duck

Arwen's female duck

Stories from Ruth # 63

She did not send out a general email this past week. Here are a few clips from personal emails:

Sorry this is so late! It has been a wild day! We just had an impromptu lesson. Last transfer I had an impression that this ysa Jordanne had a friend we needed to teach. When I asked her if she had any friends she said all her friends were in the church. Well today we met up with her and she invited a friend who is not a member but is open and we went to the chapel to help set up for the Christmas party on Saturday and ended up having a lesson with him and showing him around the chapel. Now he is coming to church! Yes! 

We are now teaching the daughter of a member I met in Watford. He referred one of his friends to us and we taught her, and now we are teaching his daughter which I feel is one of the reasons I am here. His daughters love us and they are the sweetest! They even made us Christmas cards. The member is divorced and his ex wife is completely against christianity and the church, so that is the only problem because she tries to influence the girls. However we actually ended up walking into her with the girls a couple days ago which was good because then we got to talk to her and we are actually the first people at church to meet her which is really good. 

This Week at Our House # 48 A small Miracle

We had a small miracle this week. I had yet another ultrasound, and all the extra cerebral-spinal fluid on the baby's brain is gone. His measurements and all of his other organs look perfect and normal. We know that the Lord heard our prayers and healed our little son and we are very grateful for that.

Unlike past years with homeschool, I have not given my kids their usual holiday and half year vacation. We will still complete two more weeks of school before taking off two weeks for Christmas and New Years. Then we will take off another week or two after the baby is born. I am actually hoping to use less vacation time and finish up the school year earlier. We will see what we need after the baby comes.

1. John continues to work on his game and apply for jobs. At this point, I know that he will not be hired anywhere until after the new year. I also think that once he's completed this large and complicated game, that will assist him in proving that he is very capable and will help him to get a job.
2. Well I am 35 weeks pregnant as of today and the baby was breach as of last Monday. The amniotic fluid has increased, but not to the point of where the specialists are worried. From this point forward, I will have a great many appointments to keep track of the baby's movements. They're doing this because of my age. At my age, it is more common for the placenta to quit functioning well and the baby to die. I will see what their plans are and make decisions from there. 
3. Ruth seems to be doing well. She hears about transfers this week. But p-day is Monday, and she will not hear about transfers until the day after, so I will not know if she is moved just before Christmas until probably the next week. I look forward to hearing from her at Christmas.
4. Kate has been working hard on her illustrations and transcription. She works pretty much full time with that now. But she still helps with the shopping, cooking, and laundry on a regular basis.
5. Johnny also spent the majority of his time working on his programming, transcription, and learning of languages. He is progressing with Japanese very well as he can now recognize and read much. I also hear him translate things we say in English to Japanese. He teaches this to John and some of the other kids too.
6. Adam has been doing very well with his math. A year ago, while, I knew he was learning some hard concepts and progressing steadily, it was a lot harder for him. Now he seems to have a much greater intuition for it. I am thankful for the older text books we were able to buy. I know other parents whose kids struggle a lot with the nonsense common core math while my kids are advancing well and have a much greater understanding. Whenever anyone asks me about math curriculum, I tell them to buy text books from pre-1995. They are a lot harder and cover a lot more, yet they explain things well. In geometry right now, Adam is writing proof after proof after proof. He is required to know the why something works, not just how to solve a problem which in turn makes it a lot easier for him to solve the problems.
7. Rachel has been reading back in time in my blog. She really appreciates all the stories about her and her siblings from times past. Everyday, she reads the family funny family stories. 
8. Since we have no money for Christmas and the little that has been given to us needs to go to utilities (because heat, electricity, and running water and good gifts) I have started getting the kids to make some gifts with items that we already have. Anya has begun to transfer her favorite drawing onto a canvas and is painting it. She is doing a careful job. I think it will come out well.
9. I am allowing Joseph to use a canvas to paint a picture for a Christmas present too. I think it will be hard for him as he is fairly new at drawing. We will see how he does. He seems to have outgrown his inattention and hyperactivity, if we want to call it that, and can now sit and concentrate on things for hours. We are going to get him started on some simple computer programming as part of school. He certainly has the technical mind for it and now that he has the concentration, I think he will like it. 
10. Joshua is funny with school. When he is calm he does very well, but if he messes up at all and struggles with even one thing, it ruins the rest of the day for him. One thing, I am happy about, though is that he is starting to really remember his multiplication facts.
11. Arwen 's reading is starting to really take off. I think she will be in second grade chapter books before the end of the year. Arwen would like to paint with Anya, but I am only letting older kids who can clean their own messes paint. I need to find some things that she can do to make for gifts. 
12. Susan's favorite thing these days is collecting eggs from the shed that the chickens lay. Several times a day, Susan comes to me asking if she can check for eggs and she is always very excited when she finds them. One day this week, she came in with three and that made her very happy. 
13. Little Sam is getting into less, and really for his age, he is quite independent. The other day he asked for some hot cocoa and I said no because he had already had a sweet snack. I told him to get some water. He immediately brought a chair up to the kitchen sink, grabbed a cup from the dishes in the dish drain and got himself some water. 
14. Baby Gideon is currently breach, and we are hoping he will turn around. Because of the extra amniotic fluid he moves up and down and all around a lot more than my other babies did. When we push on my belly we can first feel fluid and then baby parts. To me it feels a little like pushing on an over full water bed with things inside.

Pictures

We made this vegetable house and candy trains for a fun family project

Sam loves tools and home repairs. He was frustrating Johnny trying to get the different items while Johnny repaired things in my bathroom.

Stories from Ruth #62

 

This week we had stake conference, the Dickens festival and service all on December 1st . And yes we went to all. The service was fun with the district and some members where we made shoe boxes with toiletries for the homeless, and let me tell you I have never seen so many homeless people in my life until I came to England We had an investigator meet us at the castle and then we went to stake conference, but on the walk there we saw the winter Dicken's parade and heard them caroling! Awesome! Everyone dresses up in victorian age clothes. They also do this in June time I think. We met this really sweet couple and the lady had sewn her own dress. I was impressed! Then we went to stake conference which was really good! The next morning was the second part of stake conference and Elder Soares who was in Chemlsford with me picked us up! It is so fun seeing people you know. The theme of stake conference was basically having a Christ centered home and on gospel learning in the home. It was really good and they had the two cutest little girls give talks! One was Kylie Bray and the other was her sister! I love them both, especially Kylie who is already planning on inviting all of her nonmember friends to church and to her baptism! She always comes up and talks to us. I think the kids loves us best in this ward.

As for teaching we taught Stephen who was surprised and excited to hear that our teachings about the

spirit world and the three kingdoms of glory is actually in the bible. He loved it!
I met this really sweet mother named Olivia and I gave her a card with our number but it was not until an hour later that I realized that I had given her my last area's number. Whoops! However, God is merciful and I saw her again today and got her number and we hopefully should be seeing her this coming week!

We also met a cool guy named Jackson who he had a really good conversation with but he did not agree to meet. He agreed to read some of the Book of Mormon and a few days later texted us and asked to meet with us this coming week!

I know that this church is true! God loves us an is mindful of us and wants us to progress, improve, and purify our lives.
I want to share this quote from Ezra Taft Benson in his talk "The Great Commandment - Love the Lord."

"The great test of life is obedience to God. “We will prove them herewith,” said the Lord, “to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abr. 3:25).
The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.
The great commandment of life is to love the Lord.
“Come unto Christ,” exhorts Moroni in his closing testimony, “… and love God with all your might, mind and strength” (Moro. 10:32)."

I know that God expects us to improve, become more righteous, and eventually become as perfect as he is. We are to seek his will which takes effort and act upon it. We will develop the strength and faith to do it as we put him first in our lives starting with the little things like sincere prayer and fervent scripture study. We are to be obedient to the commandments we have received and will receive to help us improve. I love this gospel and I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to go and do the work!

This Week at Our House #47

We are now into December. It has been a very hard year for our family in many ways. I am sure I will never look back and feel like it was such a happy time. Certainly, we have had our share of good times and joy in our family, but on the whole, the year has been full of trials and troubles. They have brought me to my knees many times and have taught me a great many things that I neglected to learn in the past. I have now come to a place before the Lord that I needed to get to, but would no go on my own. For that, I am grateful.

The week itself was a decent week. We held school and the kids, for the most part, happily did their work. They continue to learn and grow and improve. One thing I have loved about homeschooling is that it gives me the chance to see their growth up close and personal. We all enjoyed some beautiful cool and some beautiful warm days playing outside. The beginning of the week was cold, and I actually turned on the heat for one hour, the end of the week was warm and we turned the a/c back on for a short time. Such is North Carolina in December.  We've had a little more mold to clean up, but not much. I also had an insurance adjuster come by to assess the roof. After sending the boys up for a week to repair the roof, I realized that it would be much harder than replacing a few ripped shingles. The adjuster totaled the roof without going up. I think we made the right decision here, but our philosophy is to do all we can to help ourselves before petitioning for help.

1. Job-wise, John had one phone call and nothing else. He continues to work on game development. John also does a lot to make my life easier. He plays for and cares for the kids everyday. He reads to them, sings with them, plays soccer with them, and teaches them, and puts them to bed at night. This makes dealing with a high-risk pregnancy a lot easier.
2. I have had some weird things with my blood sugar. Lots of exercise and less food seems to shoot my blood sugar up way too high. I have to be careful not to do too much, and if I do, to eat more protein. I am feeling the baby move plenty, and enjoying that as I will not have that again in this life.
3. Ruth had 4 marriage proposals in one week, as well as several date requests. I think when she gets home, she will not have so many. There must be something glowy about missionaries. 
4. Kate continues to work hard on her many projects and bless our home with her strong spirit.
5. Johnny is very cautious to make sure I am not doing too much. He gets frustrated with me when I wash the dishes, and always tries to stop me.
6. Adam finally got his new glasses. He put them on and said, "Oh wow! I can see again."
7. Rachel is continuing to learn how to cook. She made us a perfect salmon dinner on Wednesday with no tears.
8. I have been surprised that adding and subtracting negative numbers has come very naturally to Anya. Maybe she is going to be another family mathematician. Until now, she has hated math.
9. Joseph finished reading the Beyonders Series and is now onto Fablehaven. He reads pretty fast and can be found with a book anytime he is not outside playing. He has always been a very good reader, but until now, he could not sit still long enough to enjoy a book.
10. Joshua likes the scriptures and goes to John every day to ask him to tell him a scripture story.
11. Arwen talked about and searched for our attack uno game for the whole of the week. When she found it, she convinced me to play a couple of games with her. After that, no one else would play with her, so she taught Susan how to play.
12. Kate sat down with Susan to tell her a scripture story before bed. Kate began telling her about Adam and Eve. Kate said that Adam was the first man on earth. Susan laughed and said that's silly. She knows Adam because Adam is her brother. Kate then asked Susan if she knew who Adam's wife was, and Susan said Rachel.
13. Everyday someone reported to me that Sam actually played with toys. And as it turns out, we had less Sam destruction.
14. I am 7 and a half months pregnant, so the time to meet baby Gideon is coming upon us. 

Pictures

Bearing the Shame of the World

During my reading of the Book of Mormon in obedience to President Nelson's request for the sisters of the Church, I took notes on the inspiration I had while reading, and even some thoughts that I had while thinking about the text later. After having studied Nephi's vision following the dream taught to him by his father, Lehi, I spent much time pondering what Nephi saw. I wanted to share a portion of my thoughts here that I sent in an email to Ruth.

I was thinking about Mary and her response to the angel Gabriel, "Behold, thy handmaiden". She knew that she would be shamed and treated as a sinner, while she was probably the most righteous woman who ever lived on the earth. She was called to do something that would make her look like a serious sinner, yet she did not hesitate. And suffered, I am sure she did. Even Joseph, at one point thought she had committed a grave sin. Still, she did only that which the Lord commanded. She bore the shame of the world to bring forth the son of God who would then bear the sins of the world. I think there is no neutral ground. If we are all in for the Lord, then we too will have to bear the shame of the world. Abraham had a similar experience. He was commanded to sacrifice his own son. He knew full well what a sin that was and he knew full well that it would appear that he was a sinner. But he bore the shame of it, to do exactly as the Lord commanded. The early saints of the restoration are another good example of bearing the shame of the world, especially when it came to polygamy. These were the most righteous men and women on the earth, yet many would murder them because of what they perceived to be a sin. Still, they obeyed the Lord and pressed forward with all faith and diligence. 

I am certain that in coming days, we will have a choice like Mary and Abraham and the early saints of the latter-day. Will we obey the Lord in all things even when it means appearing as sinners to the world? Or as the question was put to my mind, "Will you bear the shame of the world?"

Stories from Ruth #61

One Proposal, Two Proposals, Three Propsals, Four...

Yes. You read that right. I think I might even have more. The first picture is my reaction after we taught an eighty year old man who had the strange idea that because he thought I was pretty I would marry him. He even said he could try to compete with Jesus Christ. Oh heavens no! 

This week has been full of miracles and wild adventures. 

Right after the first photo an India man and his sister came up and asked if we could help them with something and now we are teaching him. Best of all he made curry just for us this morning! 

Stephen is doing really well! We invited him and his wife to read the Book of Mormon together every night. 

Tony from my last area also got baptized! It is so wonderful to see the people I have taught accept the gospel and enter into the waters of baptism. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have had to serve here in England. It is absolutely my favourite although at times it is so hard. 

I just want to share  a scripture from the Book of Mormon. 

Alma 32:16 "Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe."

I know that God really wants us to trust him. He has given us the way to judge and we know that every good things comes from God. God does not have to prove things to us before we should believe, but we are here to prove him and to show that we will be righteous and faithful.