Stories from Ruth #24

This week was crazy as usual! Sister Bastien and I woke up Sunday morning to a man screaming and Friday morning seeing five policemen run after a man, both occured right outside our door. England is sketchy, but I love it. 

We taught Mary last pday and she has started to read the Book of Mormon which is exciting! 

Sister Bastien and I went finding in the windy, freezing, rain this week and had a miracle, we met this really chill guy who was interested to learn more and is now reading the Book of Mormon! We gave him one last week and he has already started to read it which is great! On the way home I got splashed by a car driving by and got mud all over me for valentines day! I just laughed and was grateful I was not wearing white. 

 

Friday we decided to go tracting around where the Baron's used to live. We knocked on this door and a little boy wearing his dad's suit coat and a little girl wearing her mom's coat, answered the door. The two of them in unison then said, "Hello we are Mr and Mrs Petell!" Sister Batien and I were giggling. First we asked if their parents were home and they said that they were the parents. We then introduced ourselves and told them why we were here. The dad popped his head around the side and the little boy asked "Are you interested?" The dad responded, "I don't know dad, I am just your son." They were not interested, but it was funny. Then we knocked on Francesca's door, who is a friend to the Baron's, and she invited us in and we are going to be seeing and teaching her family. Yeah!

We went to Hemel and climbed or lunged up hillroad two different days.
On Sunday we went tracting and met this Romanian guy who did not know much English. He then called his brother and asked him to translate and then his brother just drove down instead. We asked his brother why he drove down and he said he heard "I heard two girls and I'm coming!" Needless to say we had a gold laugh!

Well quote and scripture of the week is: "Then, the more one’s will is thus “swallowed up,” the more his afflictions, rather than necessarily being removed, will be “swallowed up in the joy of Christ” (Alma 31:38)." Neal A Maxwell "Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father"

And "Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus" by Ezra Taft Benson "Not to be valiant in one’s testimony is a tragedy of eternal consequence. These are members who know this latter-day work is true, but who fail to endure to the end. Some may even hold temple recommends, but do not magnify their callings in the Church. Without valor, they do not take an affirmative stand for the kingdom of God. Some seek the praise, adulation, and honors of men; others attempt to conceal their sins; and a few criticize those who preside over them."

This Week at Our House #7 My Nightmare Returns

We have been pretty blessed in recent years as we have not really had to deal with the stomach flu. I have read posts on Facebook galore of friends whose whole family was sick with the full on stomach flu and thanked my lucky stars that it was not me. We'd have an occasional kid get sick, but it never was hard or it just didn't pass through the whole family. Our lucky streak ended this week. We had a horrible stomach flu and it did pass through the whole family fast. The last time we had anything like this was in 2009.

I think Sam must have been the person who spread the flu so thoroughly because he got very clingy, lethargic, and grumpy on Monday. We were wondering if he had an ear infection or something. But then on Tuesday, Sam would not eat anything and didn't even want to nurse much. Then Josh got sick in the car just as I had left for the grocery store. I turned around, brought Josh home, cleaned out the car and went grocery shopping.

I got home to the news that Sam had an explosive diaper, Josh was fine, and all the laundry was being done. All seemed reasonably well.
 

Wednesday was Valentine's Day and Kate woke up early to bake for a tea party we had planned to do for our story club. The kids sat at the bar and ate jam cookies for breakfast and we did school. All seemed to be well.

Later in the day, I noticed that I was not feeling well, and thought I may have caught what Josh and probably Sam had. I decided not to make our fancy dinner that we had planned for Valentine's Day and I am so glad that I did. The day was normal. I never get sick to my stomach, I just feel uncomfortable, so except for the nice dinner, we stuck to our daily plans and routines.

We sent the kids to bed a little earlier than usual to spend time alone for Valentine's Day. At midnight Kate came into our room and said that Arwen had puked all over. Arwen shares a room with Kate, Rachel, and Anya so all the girls were up feeling somewhat traumatized by the scene. John and I cleaned it up and decided to put Arwen  in the living room for the night. Kate said that she was sure that she was sick too and wanted to be in the living room. I opened the window in the girl's bedroom to air it out when it seemed clear that Anya and Rachel were not ready to go back to sleep. I told them they could just stay up a while. I am so glad I did. All four girls were sick over and over throughout the whole night and into the next day.

Which brings us to Thursday. John and Johnny begin to feel sick but had symptoms like Sam and myself, so nothing compared to the girls, but still unpleasant.

Thursday night Kate felt better, but Rachel, Anya, and Arwen were still having a lot of stomach pains and they now had fevers, so Kate went to bed in her bed, but Rachel, Anya, and Arwen stayed camped out in their sick beds for another night. John and I thought we might be able to get a little more sleep. I had only gotten 2 hours in the past 24 at that point. But fate had other plans. Two other kids chose to repeat the scene of the previous night. Susan and Adam were up and sick all night and into the next morning, each with fevers on Friday and really feeling too sick to move. By midday, Joseph who was holding out longer than anyone else fell prey. Saturday and Sunday became rest and re-hydration days.And again, I will say that I hope this never happens again!

Besides all the yuck, here are a few things about the kids:

1. Ruth had a missionary meeting on Monday, her normal p-day, so we worried for 24 hours until we heard from her on Tuesday.
2. Kate spent 4 hours making an adorable and delicious tea party. Since that time, Arwen, Susan, and Joshua have all asked to have a tea party on their birthdays.
3. Johnny had a cough, except when he was playing video games. John says he has the same thing.
4. Adam hung out with Kate and did things for her while she was very sick, so Kate hung out with Adam and did things to make him feel better while he was sick. 
5. Rachel had her hair up in a high ponytail while she was sick and John kept telling her how pretty she looked. Rachel and Kate determined that their dad must think girls look pretty when they are weak.
6. Anya hung outside with Sam and I the whole day she was re-hydrating. I really enjoyed her company. She just walked around with us carrying her cup of water that she was sipping with a spoon.
7. Joseph never holds still. He bounced around the whole time he was sick.
8. A few hours before Josh got sick he matter of factly told me that he was too sick to do any more school work. I didn't really believe him. He did complete his school work, and then came with me to go grocery shopping. Next time, I will believe him.
9. On Susan's second day of recovery and Arwen's third, we gave them some baby dolls to play with on Susan's sick bed. They seemed very happy about that. When I looked over at them, I noticed that they were having their little babies say prayers. 
10. While John was bending down to kiss me, Arwen climbed up his back and got onto his shoulders. Susan started yelling, "No, that is my shoulder ride! Mom, Arwen is taking my shoulder ride."
11. When Kate was sick and lying on the couch, Sam came up to her and gave her a very gentle, sweet hug.

Pictures

Stories from Ruth #23

This week, I do not remember what happened. We had some lessons with Phablo which is always fun! We taught him word of wisdom and he just put his head on the table and said he was going to heaven! He does not drink, smoke, do drugs, and he does not like coffee or tea. Sweet! 

Jane accepted to be baptized in March which is exciting! She is a referral we have been teaching. On Sunday we taught her about how we can enter into the celestial and that we need to be baptized, and that baptism is one of the first covenants or promises that we make with God to follow him. She agreed and is excited! Sister Bastien and I were so happy! Other than that we have mostly had a crazy but good week. Oh we went to Sister Scotts house and had a really good lesson with Nicole and Sister Scott where Sister Bastien and I learned a lot, and then Nicole came out teaching with us which was a lot of fun!

I felt like we needed to go finding in a certain area, so we did. We tracted a bit, until this creepy guy started staring at us and smiling from across the street, so we kind of ran away. Then we talked to this woman named Mary. I had given away my Book of Mormon and Sister Bastien did not have one so we promised to give her one when we saw her. The very next day we got a text from her saying that she had been given a Book of Mormon from a guy (an elder) in a town she was visiting, and was excited to go over it with us. Yeah!

This Week at Our House #6 Art Explosion

The last two weeks, we have been going to a ward that is closest to us. They brought our records over since everyone agrees that our address should be there anyway. Once our records were transferred, I looked at the ward boundaries and the other half of our street would go there. This is not Utah, so the boundary was pretty random since we are the first members of the church ever to live in this area. We got some seed catalogs, one very nice one for flowers, and knowing that we would not be able to use them anytime soon, so I thought I would give Josh and Arwen a break from word flash cards and show them how to make a cut and glue collage. Before, I knew it, everyone was doing it, including Rachel who previously denied interest when I asked her if she wanted the project, and Kate who is grown up. I was surprised at how enjoyable cutting and gluing can be.

1. John may be able to pick up some online math tutoring soon. He took an exam for it this week. There are a few other possibilities that seem to be coming up, so hopefully we will have some income soon.
2. Life's irony: the day after I put up my homeschool post about how much I love doing it was a very hard day. Many of the kids would not do their work and I was nagging and on edge for hours. Isn't that life. But we will just carry on as usual. It really is a matter of what happens over time and not just a few very difficult days.
3. Ruth gave me three Neal A. Maxwell talks to study this week. I've only remembered that now, but I love that she does that.
4. Kate made a really cute collage. She cut out the pictures in shapes of plants to make a scene. It was really well done. Though, I must confess that I was surprised to see my 18 yr old joining in with the kindergarten project.
5. Johnny went to the stake dance and got to see some of his friends. One did not make it, but Johnny was happy to have people to talk to and hang out with again. Kate came as a chaperone if we needed one, since we did not go with a ward. At one point Johnny was walking up to Kate and the girl beside her excitedly said, "I think that boy is going to ask you to dance." That was pretty funny. 
6. John has been trying to get Adam to apply himself and do things well. He has always been one to slop things together and call it good. I've noticed recently that Adam is playing the piano better and spending a lot of time trying to draw well. I know he is trying to take his father's advice.
7. Rachel has become quite the little reader. She is reading about three books a week and enjoying them. Right now she has taken my example and is reading Anne of Green Gables. I love it when my daughters start to read the books that I love.
8. Anya  spent a lot of time careful time making her collage and she ended with a very pretty picture. 
9. Joseph played so hard, he got a huge egg bruise on his shin simply from tripping into the couch. I have never seem anything like it. Oh my goodness!!! I keep forgetting to write this down, but it is the funniest thing. The furnace in this house is open without the metal casing most have. It's not too big of a deal because it is inside a wall. However, you can get a glimpse at it where the filter goes. That's in the laundry room. Joseph came to me one day and said, "Mom, there is something weird in our house. I am not sure if it is a time machine, a spaceship or a nuclear bomb." Right away, I knew he meant the furnace and that he had been peeping behind the filter.
10. I wrote a poem about Joshua's responses when asked to clean up his mess last week. This week, I had several kids at different times tell me that I was right. Joshua does just what I wrote. The funny thing was, when I read the poem, Joshua immediately said, "Yup, I agree with that!"
11. Adam had an IBC rootbeer. He gave Arwen a sip. Arwen looked at the bottle and said, "Are you going to put more of those in the woods?" Arwen asked Kate if all worlds have tornadoes. Kate said only the bad ones. Arwen said, so this a bad world. Kate said, yes, sometimes because it is fallen. Arwen said, oh like when the sky goes black.
12. Suzy loves to watch tv. Some days she will ask to watch tv at least 15 times. When we got home from church on Sunday, I declared that I needed a nap. Suzy said, "Not that. I need tv."
13. Sam likes John's c-pap mask. This week he has been unplugging the hose from the machine and using it like a telephone.

Pictures

Stories from Ruth #22

This week we again did a lot of finding and have explored almost all of Watford and Bushey. We even explored Hemel. It was crazy but fun to walk hours every day getting to know the people and the area. Tuesday we had district meeting and had a finding blitz in Aylesbury where the district leader is. As soon as we got back to Watford we ran into this girl who we had met before. She is 18 and wants to learn and come to church. She is the sweetest and when we asked if we could meet her she immediately pulled out her phone stating bluntly that we would need her contact and continued to give us the information. We had her check out lds.org and she texted us saying that she wanted to meet the missionaries. Whoops. Haha! Friday we had a lot of miracles. We met four people who wanted to meet with us in one day which seems to be rare in Watford and then that night we had to get to the Bushey Hospital and so we took the train and were going to catch a bus. As soon as we got on the bus to pay the man told us that we couldn't pay cash and that we had to have an oyster card...       

We got off dejected and were planning to walk when this man walked up to us and asked where we were going. Sister Bastien told him the we were headed to the hospital. He told us that that was the bus we had needed to take and asked why we had gotten off. Again Sister Bastien explained that the driver said we needed to buy an oyster card. The guy told us to come with him and he would show us where to buy them. He didn't just show us where to buy them, but he actually bought them for us. Not only that but he directed us where to go, what buses to take, and how to get back home. We were in shock, but very grateful. Sister Bastien and I talked to the man more and he said that he had investigated the church forty years ago when he first came to England from Africa. He was not interested, but we were still very grateful.

We met with Phablo a couple times at the beginning of the week. He doesn't like that we told him that we say his baptism in the church of Nazareth was not done by the proper authority, but who would. For scriptures we shared Acts 19 with him and then several scriptures from the Book of Mormon. It was a good lesson, but still rough. We told him to read and pray about it, and he will continue to do so and continue to meet with us. He is so funny though! Every time we meet with him we all end up laughing!

So now you know that the missions have been combined which means the London Mission receives some of the South Mission and some of the Birmingham or Manchester receive some of our mission, so I could end up in any of those missions, but we will see in July.

Homeschool Thoughts

This is taken from an email I sent to my sister in law who is thinking about homeschooling.


Homeschooling is the best thing we have ever done for our family. It has changed all of us for good. My children get along better, they love and serve each other more. They respect John and I more. Our home, while messier and busier has a measure of peace I did not know existed. The main thing I have noticed different is that the scriptures have opened up to us and we have received a greater portion of the Holy Ghost. That alone was worth the change, but I had no idea that would accompanying it. I have talked to one other member of the Church who said her family had the same change when they took up homeschooling seriously. My only regret is that I did not learn this sooner.

As far as curriculum goes, I would suggest starting with what you know and feel comfortable with. For us that meant buying text books and workbooks and starting out like it was pretty much public school at home. We didn't have enough money to buy some of the neat fancy curriculum choices that are out there, so I started out by buying the scholastic workbooks for the younger kids and using our old college text books for the older kids. Eventually I bought text books that they use in public schools.

As I have felt comfortable doing so, I have switched things around making our homeschool look less and less like public school. Right now I am actually having all of our good readers spend 1 hour a day reading and acting out Shakespeare, 2 hours studying and then being tested on a topic I provide for them, 1 hour on math, 1 hour on foreign language and listening to me read a fun book for a half hour.

For the kids who are not good readers, we spend about 3 hours on reading and reading skills with a little math thrown in and that is about all.

For that 2 hour study time, I rotate topics. I was having them divide that time between reading, grammar, writing, science, and history, just like the public schools. But, after two years, I felt like they really weren't learning anything. I realized that they needed to learn how to learn. So instead of having them do a little bit of time on each topic each day, I began having them focus on one topic for two hours a day until they have it down and I know they understand it. I am happier with how things are going now. I feel like they are finally learning and thinking. It's hard for them, but they are even surprised at how well they remember things.

Right now I am having them memorize the scriptures in JSH about the First Vision. I am hoping that this will not only help them develop their memory and learning skills, but imprint this story on their hearts. Before, the scripture memorizing, they were learning about chemical bonds and chemical compounds. This morning, we watched a video about electricity and they understood about the exchange and rearrangement of electrons. Next, I will have them study world war 2 until I am satisfied that they have a sound understanding of that, and then continue to rotate through the topics.

Additionally, they are supposed to write one essay or story each week on their own time for our story club, and I bribe them with junk food for every chapter book they read. I am satisfied with how things are going with our homeschool, but will continue to look for ways to improve it.

This Week at Our House #5 It's February!

This past week is just a blur. We are very worried about getting our bills paid, but went on through everything as usual. On Mondays, I always wonder how we are going to manage. Things pile up on Sundays and no one wants to get back into school, but we always do it. This past Monday actually ended up being easier than Tuesday. No one wanted to work on Tuesday.

   

1. John continues to apply for jobs, as well as working on some of his own software projects.
2. I spent my days as usual, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and teaching my kids. I continue to remove sod in preparation for a big garden. I now have bell peppers and potato sprouts planted in the house. I will plant potatoes outside in two more weeks. They are cold weather plants and reasonably frost resistant, but not very heat resistant, so you have to plant them early and late out here. The early spring start date is Feb 15th. 
3. I love hearing from Ruth every Monday. On a rare occasion, I can catch her when she sends the email and send her an immediate reply.
4. Kate is just waiting. She is waiting for John to get a job, so that we can afford the car insurance for her to get her drivers license and she is waiting for her half birthday, so she can start her mission papers. During that waiting time, she is teaching the kids Shakespeare, doing advanced math with John and Johnny, studying the scriptures and Church history several hours a day. She also bakes a lot which we appreciate.
5. For the first time ever, Johnny is excited for the Stake dance because he will get to see his friends in our old ward. 
6. Adam came to me looking at a cook book. He showed me a banana bread recipe and said, "mom, what does this mean Llllegg, ohhhh, 1 egg! That makes more sense." And then we all laughed.
7. Since I started making them study more during the school day, I have left reading for their own time. But I told them that they could get candy or snack cakes for every chapter books. Rachel read 4 books this week.
8. Anya passed off her science and is doing well on her next project which is to memorize Joseph Smith's First Vision. 
9. Joseph is the fartherest along in memorizing out of Adam, Rachel, and Anya. He does not sit well, but he has a quick mind.
10. Joshua always has a project going and it is always messy. He builds legos while drawing the instructions, so for that he has out legos, crayons, and papers. He has a large roll of paper that he draws very large whales and other fish. Then he cuts them all out and sometimes cuts them into puzzles. That makes lots of bits of paper everywhere along with crayons and scissors. But while he is messy, Josh never needs entertaining and he is never at a loss for something to do.
11. Arwen is like Josh. She always has something she is doing, whether it is coloring, looking through a large stack of books, or dumping out all of her toys to make a big world. She always has a big mess too, but is always busy in her little imaginary world. 
12. I think I can officially say that Susan is potty trained. I took her out of diapers at night and she has not pooped her pants since. I am not sure how that is related but it was a day and night scenario. 
13. I forgot to bring Sam's pacifier to church today, which made for a very difficult three hours. He didn't cry, but he gabbed loudly and shouted a lot. He also kept getting into things. Every time I put him down he either found a trashcan or an electrical socket to play with. 

Pictures

This is a lego spaceship Johnny made for the small spaceship lego competition

Our 2nd 1000 piece puzzle of the year