Weight Watch

Slow but sure.
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Check out this blog ( www.janne.cc/blog/ )& go into 'The Incredible Shrinking Woman' section to view photos of her before & after. An inspiration to me.

Mommy, Teach Me

With schools starting back next week, I've been trying to prepare myself for back to 'homeschool'. I've read some good books over the years but it always helps to freshen ones mind with new material. While browsing I came across 2 sites which I liked - www.mommyteachme.net & www.mommylife.net . I ordered both 'Mommy, Teach Me' & 'Mommy, Teach Me to Read' from www.Amazon.co.uk . I'm reading both at the same time (as one does) & they've been an inspiration for me. They're the type of book I wish I'd read years ago (as with most home education books) as if I'd known there was such a thing as home ed when I had my 1st 2 children I would never have sent them to preschool or school. There are still folk out there in N. Ireland who don't know that they can teach their children at home & can do so with very little difficulty. There is nothing mystical about being a teacher & regardless of what teachers think it's not only teachers who can teach. Check out the above sites if you get a chance & take time to read the 'My Story' section in the latter one.

'THE RIGHT PATH IS THE ONE THAT WHISPERS EVEN WHEN THE REST OF THE WORLD IS SHOUTING ABOUT ANOTHER'
Barbara Curtis (Author of above books)

Hedgehog

The boys found a hedgehog in Polepatrick (our local cemetry - sounds morbid but it's actually a really nice place for a walk - not too many graves yet) so we took it home in a box ( which is what the British Hedgehog Association recommends if you find one during daylight) & are feeding it dog food. It seemed lethargic at first but seems to be coming round & is eating lots - probably thinks it has found a 4 star hotel. Will post a photo of it later.
EDIT: fed & watered it for 3 nights - it has disappeared much to the disappointment of the children & we didn't manage to capture it on camera.

Camping

It would take an eternal optimist to purchase a tent in this country but that's exactly what I've done. Why? Because I can't afford the luxury of a motorhome. I can dream but it just aint gonna happen in the foreseeable future, so tenting is the next best thing. Maybe it'll make us feel more at one with nature. I'm itching to get touring around Ireland so since it's been raining for the last 4 months I've predicted that it just CAN'T continue into Sept & Oct. So we're starting off our school year on the 1st Sept with a geography tour. Now, don't be thinking that I'm putting off doing Maths & English - this is going to be an educational tour - I don't want anyone to get the impression that this is going to be a holiday!!
Our tent, which is hopefully enroute is here http://www.belltent.co.uk/4_meter_deluxe_version.htm

'Ocean' Deep Inside the Earth

Scientists analysing more than 600,000 seismograms of earthquakes travelling through the earth have found evidence of a 'vast water reservoir' beneath eastern Asia. At least the volume of the Artic Ocean, it is the first time a body of water so large has been found deep in the mantle. The Bible says that at the beginning of Noah's Flood 'the springs of the great deep burst forth', indicating that the floodwaters came partly from deep underground. Perhaps this newly discovered 'ocean' is all that remains, although the structure of the inside of the earth is still a mystery.
www.livescience.com 28th Feb 2007 Article taken from Creation Magazine vol29 No3 http://www.creationontheweb.com/

My Favourite House

No I haven't lost my marbles just yet. It is in a state of disrepair but it's situated in one of the most beautiful & rugged locations in Donegal. In the winter it would be completely desolate (actually in the summer it could be desolate too) & it's not up for sale but every summer I drive around Atlantic drive & look to see if anyone has done anything with it. It's obviously over 100 years old & how anyone lived there in those days is hard to imagine. Even now it's quite isolated but when transport & roads were inadequate it just makes me wonder how stark life must have been. Must try to find out more about it's history next time we're there.

There are just hundreds of miles of sea between it & America.

Tannaghmore Gardens - Lurgan

One of our favourite places in the Lurgan direction. It has a farm, play park & an innovative garden. We visited recently & had to talk Paul out of kidnapping a cat - a rather fat & friendly cat. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.

IS IT NOTHING TO YOU

One day during the 1930's, a man named John Griffin who controlled a railway drawbridge over the Mississippi river, took his son to work with him. After putting the massive bridge up, Griffin was eating lunch when suddenly he heard the whistle of the Memphis Express roaring towards the crossing. Leaping from the observation deck he ran to throw the control switch. Glancing down, his heart stopped! His son had fallen into the gears, trapping his leg in the cogs.

Desperately he tried to devise a rescue plan. But there was no time. His son was down there but there were 400 passengers on the train! Griffin knew what he had to do. Burying his face in his arm, he pushed the master switch just in time to lower the bridge into place as the train thundered across.

Then, raising his head he looked into the passing windows with tear-filled eyes. There were businessmen casually reading the newspaper, ladies sipping coffee and children eating ice cream. Nobody even looked at the control room, or glanced down at the great gearbox. In agony Griffin cried out, 'I sacrificed my son for you people. Don't you care?' But as the train rushed by nobody heard the anguished father's words.

As we consider the cross where God sacrificed His Son for each of us, He's asking, ' Is It Nothing To You, All You Who Pass By?' (Lamentations 1 v12) Our question then becomes: 'What then shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ? (Matthew 27 v22)

Excerpt from The Word For Today - free issues are available for the UK & Ireland www.ucb.co.uk

Book Sale - Opposite Antrim Forum

Yesterday I had a dental appointment which takes me further afield than I would like to go so I usually double up & pay a visit to some favourite haunts. We made our way to Antrim Forum, fed the swans & couldn't help noticing a rather large banner displaying a 'BOOK SALE'. For anyone who knows me well enough this is one temptation that I always succomb to. Davey was driving & assured me that there was no way I was buying any more books. I told him that I hadn't known anything about it & that providence must have brought me to it, to which he replied that providence had brought him with me to keep me away from it. I then reminded him of the fact that he could have married a girl who collects handbags, shoes or jewelry etc & that he was indeed lucky to have one whose vice was to buy books - after all, I've saved him a fortune over the years! Being Davey & not one to often win an argument he gave me his mobile phone with a warning to set the alarm to 10 mins & he dutifully took the kids to the play park across the road. (actually a really good one for future reference). I managed to be quite restrained & only spent £6.75 - I haven't told him that we've run out of book case space & that I presently am harbouring books in boxes awaiting the courage to ask him to build another. Well, afterall - I home educate & the kids need books. Long forgotten is my resolution to only borrow books from the library. I wonder can you get a patch for this disease like you do for smoking?

Heaven

When I get to Heaven, I shall see three wonders there - the 1st wonder will be to see many people there whom I did not expect to see; the 2nd wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see; and the 3rd and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there.

John Newton

Weight Watch

Have decided to only update on the last Thursday of every month mainly because my weight loss is soooo slow. Promise I'm trying really hard & I'm sure with all the extra exercise (2 mile daily walk & 30 minutes swim x 3 each week) plus levothyroxine, my metabolic rate just HAS TO increase in the near future.

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Oh To Be Young Again

We went to Enniskillen the other day & our friends, who have a boat, took the kids out on the lake & let them jet ski on a blow up.
I of 'little faith', clung unto the sides & counted the minutes until we were back on dry land. The children were fearless & had a complete ball.