A New Adventure

5:18:05 PM EDT Teachers have been on vacation for about 3 or 4 weeks now and yet I don't feel relaxed yet.  I wonder why? I haven't had to plan lessons, grade work, deal with 5th graders who have started with attitude and mouthiness (although who are wonderful to work with).  Mmmm - it may have something to do with the fact that we have just moved and I had to pack up and get everything ready, whilst doing a workshop on Assessment for our county. Then, once we moved in, I had to go back and finish off the old house, because we had a basement with lots of stuff that needed to be cleaned out.  I guess that's why I don't feel quite relaxed yet!  Thank you Bea for coming over and helping me to clean the old house!  You saved me quite a few hours and I don't know what I would have done without you!

It has been quite an adventure in itself.  Once we moved in, I asked my landlady where we would be getting our mail as the house did not have a mailbox.  She said that she would give us one that was attached to the mobile homepark next door. Unfortunately, by the time we had the mailbox, the mailman had sent all my mail back as there was "no receptacle". I have no idea where my mail is. I am hoping that it is in the pile of mail that is about to be forwarded to our new address.  They say it takes about 2 weeks, so this is about right. 

This week, I have been helping at church for our Vacation Bible School. I am hoping to take some pictures and post them on my journal because the downstairs of our church looks so wonderful. It is a carnival theme this year, and I think the little ones are going to be fascinated with the pictures and decorations. I am going to be helping next week but I'm not sure yet what I am doing. I told our director that she could put me wherever she needed me.  So I'll write about it next week.

In the meantime, I am going to post some pictures of our new house.  I have to run and take the kids to a youth function in about 30 minutes, so my day hasn't ended yet.  I will try to write more regularly, now that we are finally in the house. 


View from back porch



Front of house


An old wagon viewed from the front of the house.


A view from the front of the house up the driveway.

Marlowe's bird feeders and bird bath.


The boy's pond - full of frogs and turtles.

Another view of the pond.


A wonderful place for kids to play and relax.



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8:46:48 AM EDT I feel so guilty!  I was just reading Bea's journal when I realized that I have been so sporadic in my entries, not writing for absolute ages, and I didn't even have the courtesy of letting everyone know that I wasn't putting in regular entries. When thinking about it, though, I don't think I intended to not write, it just happened. I still go back and check entries of all my J-land friends, but when I get to thinking of putting in an entry myself, I just don't have the energy, or the time!  So bad!

Just to give you a quick rundown of what's happening in my life at the moment :

We are in the middle of packing. We have to move to a house that is in the kid's school district because my husband's contract with VIF ended and he is not allowed to teach for a year. So he will be volunteering time with some friends of ours to keep busy and may be out of time for a couple of days at a time. This means that the kids have to be able to get the school bus to school - hence the move. So, we are moving on Tuesday, but have been able to move things over slowly since Thursday last week, thank goodness. 

On top of that, my back started to give out yesterday, which was a bad time considering all that I still have to do. My son has been helping lift the heavy stuff, but I think it is all the bending that I have been doing. Trying to do it right, but my back was still not happy!!!

I also spent all of last week in a workshop helping to rewrite our county's Benchmark tests for next school year. It was an 8 - 5 workday, which was slap bang in the middle of packing!  Not a good time, but definitely a worthwhile workshop.  I learned a lot, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

Anyhow, that's how things are going.  Once we get settled in, I intend to spend more time on my journal and I promise to put in more entries!

I do miss my J-land friends - hopefully I can get myself together soon!


Corita Kent:

Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore, each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each, is to succeed.

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2:34:42 PM EDT It’s been a while, but soon we will be on break and I know that I will have so much more time to write and put in journal entries.

The last month I have seen my friend relocate to the UK – which thrills me and makes me sad all in one. It thrills me because the ocean she is across is a smaller one than before, and, God willing, we should be able to see each other in the not too distant future – it’s already been 3 years!  It makes me sad because another part of my life in SA has gone – a part that I shared in for 18 years!  Whenever we get to go back to visit, she won’t be there.  

I am so happy for her, though, because they can start a new life – a secure life for their boys. It’s hard leaving everything and everyone behind, but when God preplans it, it is always good.

We are coming up to the end of another school year – my first in 5th grade.  It has been a learning experience this year. I have learned that you can do so much more with 5th graders than you can with 2nd graders.  I have learned that special needs children are more demanding at this age. I have learned how to deal with world war II in my class between 2 special needs children who don’t have social skills.  I have learned that 5th graders want to be loved and accepted as much as 2nd graders do, but they are going through changes that they don’t yet understand.  I have learned that these changes cause attitude explosions, temper tantrums, pouting and mood swings that are definitely far removed from the 2nd graders I used to teach. The curriculum is great, the stress is not as much fun. EOG’s were scary but all except one of my students passed.

10 ½ days to go and then a good long break. I do know, however, that much of this break will be used planning for next year. Now that I’ve done it once, I want to refine what I’ve done and make it better for next year. There are going to be some challenges ahead – we’ve seen it in the current 4th graders so I want to make sure that I am planned for them.

For now, I am going to go and relax before the busy week ahead!



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7:52:52 AM EDT
Feeling Quiet
Hearing The Upside Down Show- Zane's program "It's all about options. Once one disappears, there are many others." -Dinesh Ranasinghe

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says God thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

It's funny how we automatically assume that we are in control of our lives and that even though we consult with God every now and then, we are the ones to finally decide what we're going to do and how things should work out in order for things to go well. Shouldn't I know by now that this is not true!  We've been through so much  in the last few years, and have relied on God so much, that I can't believe we've fallen into the trap of trying to do things on our own. You're supposed to learn by past mistakes - look back and see what you did wrong so that you can do right this time. I guess we fall into a comfort place where everything "looks" as though it is going the way God planned, so you assume, stop praying as vigorously, and simply "go with the flow". Not a good choice to make.  This is what happened :

My H-visa arrived, so we now have extra time in this country. We have time to apply for our greencards and make this our permanent home. We wanted to sell our house back home so that we could buy here. When we got an agent in, he said that the house was in a terrible shape - the renter had not looked after it at all.  So, my wonderful father-in-law stepped in and cleaned it up, painted, fixed, etc.  Before we had a chance to put it on the market, he phoned and said that we had an offer for the house - a cash buyer!  We were so excited. My father-in-law told us that he realized that there was a God who worked and who loved us (something we were more excited about than anything else). We had some forms to fill in and send back home.  We eagerly started home hunting here - knowing we had time to find exactly what we wanted (or what we felt God would want for us). We found something that we liked more than any of the others, and decided that we would continue looking until the time was right.

Then, my father-in-law phoned and said that the buyer had pulled out!  We felt as though we had been knocked over. It had seemed as though everything was going according to God's plans. But was it His plans, or had we simply started running ahead of Him (as we usually do).

Looking back, I think it's like a parent walking with His children. As they walk alongside each other, he shows them things alongside their path - things that make the journey interesting.  He doesn't point out the things ahead so that they can simply enjoy the "now" of the moment. Suddenly, like toddlers, the children pull ahead with their attention on something far ahead of them that their father hadn't planned for them at that particular moment. He knows there is something ahead that could be dangerous, so he simply pulls them back.  That which they wanted to put their hands on is gone - for now - until their father decides that the time is right for them to get it.

This is how we need to look at our situation. We HAVE to move by the summer. My DH's contract with the school system ends at the end of June so he will not be able to teach for a year (politics of the company that brought us over here). He will be spending time with some friends of ours that are out of town for 2 - 3 days at a time, so we have to live in the kids' school district in order for them to catch the school bus to school and back. My school is too far out in the country for me to be able to take them, take Zane to daycare and get to school on time. And no, I don't want to change schools.  So we have to move this summer because we are currently out of the school district.  We re now looking at renting - which we didn't want to do, but hey, His plans are greater than ours!  We have to simply trust and have faith that there is something wonderful ahead of us that we will be able to hold onto - in time. It's a hard lesson to learn, but we've always been blessed just because we waited and had faith in our wonderful Father who loves us.

Have a wonderful week

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
(Proverbs 3:5,6)

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8:44:07 PM EDT

Ok - so I managed to get an entry put in!  Fantastic! I've been using google docs which is a new program that I found and it's like using Word, but online. You can do pretty much everything that you can in a normal processing program. I do believe that you can even wrap text around the picture, which I am not going to try now because I don't have any.

Let me give you a quick run down as to what has happened in the last few months. I've managed to stick to my diet (believe it or not)  with the odd cheat here and there. I have lost 15 pounds so far. This past week, however, I went off it because I went with our 5th graders to Washington DC and there wasn't any chance to eat my diet food so I just relaxed and had a good time (felt I deserved it after being so good for 3 months!!). I will go back on early next week (after Easter!!!).  It's such a great diet because you honestly never feel hungry and the weight drops off fairly quickly (if you keep to it like you should).

Some GREAT news - GOD is SOOO good!  My H-visa was approved!  This was really a miraculous event because we applied after the cap was reached, yet God's hand was in it and it was still approved. So we don't have to go home at the end of June!  I will get my family onto the visa as soon as I can. Then we go for the Greencard, which I know will come through without any problems (there may be the odd problem here and there but nothing that can't be fixed, because I believe that God's hand will be in it again!!).

Other than that, I don't really have any other huge news. Oh, we have had our house back home fixed up and even though it isn't on the market yet, we recently heard that we may have a possible buyer for it (depending on whether or not he can sell his house). This is something that I believe will come through too - God's mighty hand is stronger than any of us and we can do nothing without Him.

Ok - I  am hoping that this entry will come through.




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8:12:01 PM EDT It's been a long while since I've entered something because for some reason, I have been unable to save my entries and upload them. I spend ages writing on Word (so that I don't lose it on AOL), put it into my entry block and then try to save. All my hard work disappears. So, I am just writing a short paragraph and am going to see if I can enter this. If so, I can do a longer entry. Hold thumbs!!!

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9:13:25 AM EST Weighed myself this morning and have lost another .4 which is not a whole lot, but I am now 8.9 pounds down.

Yesterday :

Breakfast - turkey, mushroom and mozarella cheese 2 egg omelet with a hot cup of tea.

Snack : 15 nuts (almonds and cashews)

Lunch : didn't have any as I had breakfast really late so I wasn't hungry (not good as you're supposed to eat 5 times a day).

Dinner : Roast pork loin, cauliflower with cheese sauce and mixed squash medley.

Dessert : Fat free/sugar free mocchachino pudding.

Not a bad day's eating.  Just had breakfast now and am still deciding on what to eat today.

I also have thought about the many diets I've been on before and the fact that I've always put the weight back on, but I've never lost a huge amount of weight - I always gave up before my goal. This way of eating is quite easy to maintain because I'm going to eventually incorporated everything I like. I can even have some chocolate (sparingly) if I like. It's just a matter of portion control. I need to stick to that. Also, if I go off and have a binge, it won't be difficult to get back on.

Enjoy your day today!


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11:10:07 AM EST
Feeling Hopeful

The tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.
Benjamin Mays

Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake.  ~Author Unknown

I think I just ate my willpower.  ~Author Unknown

I wake up every day with the realization that this is it, that there's only one shot at this life and I can either enjoy the ride and live it to its fullest and to my highest potential or I can stay the way I am.


We're well into the new year already. It's been interesting.  My hubby and I started on the South Beach Diet on the 1st January because we both felt that we needed to do something to make ourselves healthier.  We both felt motivated and ready to make a change, so here we are, on day 20, still sticking to the diet. If I get the chance, I am going to try to enter my progress in here - almost like a diet diary, so that I can keep track of where I'm going and where I've been. I'll keep track of what I'm eating so that I can look back and see what was a success and what was a failure.

For the first 2 weeks on this diet, everything is low fat, low carb. No starches at all!  This is hard for me because I LOVE my bread and cakes and cookies, but my bodydoesn't. I was also worried about being hungry throughout the day, as I am on every diet I've ever been on.

My breakfasts have consisted of omelets with mushrooms, mozarella cheese, tomatoes and bacon / ham / turkey. These have sustained me throughout the morning. I would eat 15 nuts as a snack (snack required) and by lunchtime, I wouldn't be very hungry at all. A simple green salad with tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, low fat cheese and grilled chicken with a low fat salad dressing would be more than enough. I would also have a sugar free jello as dessert. Mid afternoon would be a cheese stick and dinner would be chicken breasts, pork, and vegetables (no corn, carrots, potatoes, peas). Lots of zucchini, squash, beans.  Enough to fill me up.

After 2 weeks I managed to lose 7 pounds. I am now on phase 2 which allows me to slowly introduce some starches. Yesterday I had an egg on a wholewheat English muffin and half a grapefruit. I had some nuts as a snack, and a salad for lunch. Dinner was curried chicken with peas served on a very small portion of brown rice. Sugar/fat free chocolate pudding was for dessert.

To date, I have lost 8.5 pounds - in 20 days. Not too shabby. When I zip up my jacket, I no longer feel like a Tellytubby!  I can actually move inside it! I am having a cup of tea in the morning with sugar instead of sweetener which has probably slowed down the weight loss, but I don't mind because I don't like the sweetener taste in tea.

I will try to keep up a daily / weekly log - mainly for my own sake. I will also write down what I have eaten. I am excited. I have never felt this motivated towards a diet before. My first goal is to lose 20 pounds. Once I am there, I will set another.

Enjoy the ride with me!

"You have failed only when you quit trying. Until then, you're still in the act of progression. So, never quit trying and you'll never be a failure.---Tommy Kelley

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9:13:22 AM EST
Hearing Happy Feet DVD

Recipe for a Happy New Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous

    Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.

    Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing— don’t do it), prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution. Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.

I hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas and enjoyed spending time with their families - I did!  I was thoroughly spoiled on Christmas day and loved seeing my kids open their presents with joy and delight.

Now we gear up for New Year.  This is a nostalgic time of year for me because I can remember growing up and spending it with my parents. It was always a big time of year for us, and my mom would always make wonderful finger foods for us to eat. My dad is Dutch, so my mom adopted some recipes from my Ouma (my dad's mom) that were typically served in Holland that time of year. One of the things is called Ollebollen.  It is a bread-type dough (a little more sticky than normal bread dough) that has been filled with raisins and sultanas (although I prefer just the raisins) which is allowed to rise. Large spoonsful (spoonfuls?) are then taken and dropped carefully into hot oil.  The "balls" cook, getting a wonderful brown coating to them. Once they are done, they are served with icing sugar (powdered sugar). Yummy! Another dish she made was called bittebollen which is made from veal which is cooked until it falls apart and is shredded with a fork.  It is then  mixed with flour and its gravy until fairly stiff, covered with breadcrumbs and deep fried. It is served with mustard.  Another delight!
   

 I would like to make these for new year, but we're not sure what we're doing yet. We usually spend New Year at church with all our friends, playing games and just spending time together, but I'm not sure what we'll do this year. We're still contemplating whether we want to go out or just spend it quietly at home.

To Start A New Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous

    "A new year is unfolding—like a blossom with petals curled tightly concealing the beauty within.

    Lord, let this year be filled with the things that are truly good—with the comfort of warmth in our relationships, with the strength to help those who need our help and the humility and openness to accept help from others.

    As we make our resolutions for the year ahead, let us go forward with great hope that all things can be possible—with Your help and guidance."

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9:33:43 AM EST

To the American People: Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world."
~ Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), American president. Presidential message (December 25, 1927).

 

I cannot believe it’s been a month since I’ve written.  So sorry – but things have been hectic and I haven’t seemed to have the inspiration (or time) to write anything meaningful.  Life is so full of rushing around, doing this, doing that, washing, cleaning, planning, shopping, etc.  This is actually the perfect time to be settling down and taking a look at what’s important and meaningful.  It’s come at the perfect time – the time I needed to sit down, and realize how important family is and spending time with them.

 

This is a poignant time for me.  I love being here in the States celebrating Christmas in the cool weather (compared to temperatures in the upper 90’s in South Africa this time of year). I love looking at the houses that have been lit up to celebrate this time of year (it’s not something we did in South Africa, although I believe it is starting to become a new trend).  I love being able to buy my children the gifts they want (or rather what I think they want because their wish lists go through the roof!!!) – In South Africa, everything was so expensive that it was not easy to buy gifts.

 

It’s a time when I miss my parents terrible – all the Christmas traditions that we’ve built up throughout the years are no longer. I am building new traditions with my children, wishing that their grandparents could share in their excitement on Christmas morning.

 

Since we’ve been here, we haven’t done anything traditional as such, but have been “adopted” by the most wonderful family in our church who have stood by us throughout our time here and invite us over on Christmas night for family time. They are our new family here.  We all bring food and share gifts.  It’s wonderful.

 

So, I decided that I would start a new tradition with my family (well, actually continue one that I had with my family) and have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve (in South Africa, it’s so hot on Christmas Day that it’s not pleasant to be in the kitchen all day cooking – besides, who wants to be cooking all day on Christmas day?).

 

So, I have a leg of pork and a leg of lamb (yum, yum – for interest’s sake, how many of you have eaten lamb and what do you think of it? It’s something that we eat a lot in SA and I do miss it here – it’s usually quite expensive but I got a great deal on this leg). We’re going to cook pumpkin, roast potatoes and mixed vegetables (Marie, I’ll have to put a photo in my journal like you do, although I don’t know if mine will look as good as your pics do!!).

 

I will  start off today by making a big breakfast with bacon, eggs and biscuits.  This should last most of the day until late afternoon when the Christmas meal should be ready. Now in South Africa, when we have our Christmas meal, we would set the table with crackers and Christmas hats. I haven’t seen Christmas crackers here so it’s something that we miss.  This is what they look like :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the picture didn’t turn out, you can go to www.oldenglishcrackers.com and see what they look like.

 

On Christmas morning, the kids, of course, are awake early and we gather around the tree. My mom used to make a finger breakfast for us to eat whilst we were opening presents. We would have eggs (with the centers mashed with mayonnaise – can’t remember what they are called), mini meatballs, crackers (the edible ones), etc. I may do that for my kids – if they give me the chance tomorrow morning!

 

So, those are a few of my Christmas traditions and the reason why this time of year is so poignant for me.  I want to wish you all a blessed and wonderful Christmas.  I will post Christmas pictures sometime later this week.

 

God bless you all!

 

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.  ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

Great little One! whose all-embracing birth
Lifts Earth to Heaven, stoops Heaven to Earth.
~Richard Crashaw

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