answers

A new favorite website, found here, which has...well, answers. I just read a great article about dinosaurs, and how to explain them to the masses who believe in the "age of dinosaurs" millions of year ago.

I recommend it if you have questions and cannot figure a biblical worldview to explain them.

zoom

Flying full speed ahead in to the unrehearsed dance of homeschooling. Still going mostly good so far, as with anything there are good days and challenging days. I love being able to spend time with the kids on my days off work, or when I work at night during the week, time that they would otherwise be spending at school.

I haven't started the new job yet, and already I am feeling trepidation. I would love to be able to get some dates confirmed...just waiting for a phone call.

Vanessa has been sick for a week, and this morning as I got out of bed I felt the impending dread of stuffy sinuses and a sore throat. C'mon Vitamin C, do your thing.

why our justice system isn't perfect

All you need to do is read this story here (and the original story here), and you will see why just like everything else man does/creates, the justice system is not perfect.

There is no reason that this person should not face some sort of consequence for his actions.

Bah!

As per the last post, I know it's not twitter. I probably am not allowed to say tweet without acknowledging them, so I apologize now twitter. Maybe one day I will go ahead and launch myself in to the official world of tweeting, but for now, I have to rip it off.

Moving on, it's decided. I am going to be the store partner of Original Joe's Restaurant and Bar, in South Surrey, BC.

I know this is a bit of a far cry from paramedicine, but as I mentioned before

a) this is a good financial opportunity for us to start planning beyond next weeks paycheque
b) the paramedic strike has already postponed my school indefinitely, so I shall take advantage of the opportunity God has put before us, and run with it.

We are so blessed to have this opportunity come up and I am quite excited about for many reasons, which I am now too tired to get in to. I am a bit nervous too, but if God has this restaurant in His plans, then I have nothing to be worried about.

tweet?

Final negotiations on now...stay tuned.

organize anyone?

Still trying to figure out a set routine/schedule for our family. Half of the curriculum was obtained yesterday, with the other half on order and due in soon. A more structured school schedule is falling in to place, which I think will be great for the kids.

For me, I am trying to organize the weekly lesson plan for Awana Cubbies, which shouldn't be too difficult as they lay it all out for me in the handy "Jumper Celebrations" binder. The trouble is though, our group of pre-schoolers is mostly on the "pre" end of the spectrum as opposed to the "close to schoolers" end of the spectrum. The lesson plan last week seemed a bit over their heads, but I am trusting that God will work in the little one's hearts anyways and help them get the meaning of the lessons. I will also try to gear the language down a bit, so they don't get lost.

Then, there is the community group starting tonight, which I am excited for. Oh, did I mention that we are apprentice leaders? Which means that as the months go by, there will be extra work for us to take on, leading up to a possible group of our own in January. Again, I will be trusting God that he gives us what we need to be ready and great at this new posting.

And last, the possibility that our world will be flipped around a bit with a new job for me. I know! It's not for sure yet, and as I type I am anxiously awaiting the phone call from our possible generous financial backers. If they come through, I will be handing in my notice, and spending a good part of October in Alberta doing some training to take over my very own restaurant. See this post here for more details.

And the race continues...

almost one week?

One week almost finished. Sort of. Ok, half of it is done. The kids seem to be doing ok, there hasn't been much complaint about doing the actual school work. Most of what we have been doing is review, since we are still waiting for our curriculum to come in. And the math gets some complaining. Math will probably be the least desirable course to teach and learn around here. Alas, we will persevere.

Yesterday we got to go to the Pool for some "PE" time, which was a nice hour for me and Vanessa to hang out. Wednesday's are good and cheap "value" day, so it will probably become part of a regular routine for us.

Haven't found too much time to post any more pics of the vacation, or any stories for that matter, but I think of the trip often and quite fondly. Dreaming of a farmhouse one day...

brunch mania

Who knew that 3 busy brunch shifts in a row would leave me as tired as 3 closing shifts would have? What a new definition to a "long weekend" for me.

The good news around here is we have a digital piano now! It should be perfect to start teaching the kids how to play (and refresh my own skills). I was reviewing the huge pile of music and music lesson papers that were left over at my parents house from yesteryear when my brother and I took piano lessons. There were a couple books and songs that took me right back, songs that I didn't even remember that I remembered, and I could hear them clearly in my head repeating as they did when I practiced them endlessly.

I'm not looking forward to the daunting task of planning my Sunday night Awana program (Go Cubbies!), music lessons for the kids, not to mention the rest of their curriculum. Over my head right now? Maybe, but I know Someone who has a pretty good grip on me and isn't going to let go.

round 2?

So I don't usually double post (well, sometimes I don't even post at all!) but I just came across this little video, by Tim Hawkins, and it's "LOL" funny. (did I just use lol?) Listen to it with the sound on, and maybe a tissue or two handy.

Home what?!?

We are officially signed up at Regent Christian Online Academy. "isn't that where the kids used to go to school that costs you $500/month" you ask? Not quite. This is the same school, but notice the "online" part of the title. It means that we are doing school at home this year.

So far we are hearing lots of "why" type questions about our decision. People don't always get the answer of it being how God has planned for us to teach our families, probably because all of these people went to public school and are of the mindset that we can just teach our children about God at home, or at Sunday school. I don't know about everyone else that has this idea, but I know that in the last 3 years that the kids have been in the school system there is nowhere near the amount of time or effort spent teaching at home as there is time and effort spent at school.

Not such a big deal you say, what's wrong with school? Sure they learn some things at school, positive things that they need to know. There are so many negative things that they will learn though, that it doesn't make it worth it. Like Evolution as the only theory that is true. It is continually getting more dis-proven, but we teach it in school and do not allow for any other theories to be discussed.

There is the mandated curriculum that teaches homosexuality as perfectly normal and acceptable. Let me state right now that we do not believe, nor will we teach, that anyone in our family should hate or disrespect anyone who makes the life choice to be homosexual. With that being said, although our kids will know that some people make that life choice, they will also know that it goes against God's plan for us and is sin. Marriage is between a man and a woman, and sex doesn't come before marriage.

Moving on, we see that if wish to have influence on our children and what they learn as they grow, we will need to role model it and teach it to them. With our culture being inundated with Hollywood's idea of "pretty" and "cool", it is getting harder and harder to explain to kids why modesty is important. Even the idea of modesty that the media gives us is so far off base. Anyone seen the "bratz" dolls? How old are these figures supposed to be? tweens maybe? Have you seen how they dress these dolls? These are one of many mainstream icons that Hollywood and the media have given us that are hurting our children, and to send our kids to school to be subjected to other kids that are taken up in the culture is not fair to them. Hey kids, spend 8 hours with other kids your age, but you are not allow to dress like them or watch the same garbage on TV. But go and make friends, cause we need to "socialize" you.

No thank you. We are going to socialize our kids with other like minded people that share our world view. This way we can realistically expect them to hold our world view as they grow. And then, when they are more aptly trained and mature, they will be able to be the city on the hill that all will see and search for.

September First

It's the first day of September, and that means we have one week left to get our curriculum in order. That's right folks, we will be educating our children here, out of our home. Crazy right? We don't think so. I may post more on the how/why/what were we thinking sometime soon, but no time right now for that.

We spent the day helping my brother and his family move to their new home. Not that I needed it, but it reminds me that I do not enjoy moving. I also do not enjoy moving other people. But, since we have enlisted help from family and friends countless times (not really countless, 13 in the last 14 years) I do not complain and free myself up for as many helping moves as I can. I should have them all payed back by the time I am 83.

As I have mentioned, the good times we had visiting included having fun with all of the Messenger family. Noah was very helpful around the house, dutifully doing his jobs and wholehearted whooping me at Mencala. He was also great with the younger kids, looking out for them and playing games with them.

Off for dinner now, I think I may eat two of them.