Change

So, I haven't posted very much in the past few years, but we're still here!  I keep up with the kids' reading lists on this blog, but that's about it.  Just to update any my readers (if you're still there), we are still in transition.  After 11 1/2 years of living in England, we moved back to the US.  Currently, we are living with my mother and waiting to move to another state.  I just finished another year of homeschooling and working on planning for the next.  My kids are going into 4th, 8th, and 11th!  I am really hoping that we'll be moved before school starts, but we'll see.

Change isn't always easy, and we've had some changes in the past few years with my dad's death and moving country.  The kids are adapting pretty well, but we're all anxious to have a home of our own in the region we believe God is sending us to.  Once we get settled, things will hopefully feel easier than they have been.  I'm praying for a homeschool room, and the kids are hoping for rooms of their own.  Though leaving England was hard, we are excited about new beginnings.  It's just this transition period that seems difficult, but we'll make it!

Speaking of change, I'm working on changing the look of my blog.  Photobucket's new policy pretty much ruined my blog header and other images.  I'm not going to pay $5.99 a month to fix it, so I'm starting over with the design.  I'd had the same design for nearly 8 years, so I guess it was due a change anyway.  I removed a lot of stuff, updated some things, and changed my background.  I don't have a fancy header anymore (I designed the old one myself, but it got removed), but I'm okay with that. Blogger has changed so much since I began in 2009, and there are a lot more options now.  So, please bear with me as I discover all the new things Blogger has to offer and as I create a look and design I'm happy with.

Once we're settled in a home of our own, I'm hoping to blog more.  I'm brimming with ideas; I just haven't had time to blog about them.  I'd like to update all my geography units, and I'd like to clean up my toddler posts (even though my last toddler is nearly 10 now).  I know there are loads of broken links, so I'd like to fix those.  I also want to focus in on children's literature with a series of blog posts; I am, after all, a hopeless book addict.  I haven't had time to count my children's books since moving, but I know I have well over a thousand!  That's what I have in mind for starters....but, it will all have to wait.  I hate waiting, but that's life!

Blessings!
Debbie

Paper Boats for Sale!

Yesterday, my eight-year-old daughter came downstairs to announce that she had boats for sale...only ten pence per boat. I thought it adorably cute, but I thought she was just pretending. Once I realized that she really intended to sell them and expected us to buy them, I didn't want her to be disappointed.

Unfortunately for her, the teacher in me came out instead of the mommy, and I thought to give her a lesson in economics. I told her if she wanted to sell something, then she needed to sell something that people wanted. Bad mommy. Instead of getting my point, she started crying. I felt really bad, but truthfully, I didn't want a paper boat. This week, I've been working hard to de-clutter the house of paper; the last thing I needed was a paper boat.

It did bring back memories of when I was probably just a year or two older than her, and our family was having a yard sale. I picked up several rocks and put them on a table with a price tag. I'm sure they were ordinary rocks, and I'm sure I thought they were beautiful, and surely customers would feel the same. No one bought any rocks until my sweet grandpa (Hedden) felt sorry for me. He bought one of my rocks, and I was so happy.

My husband promised to buy a boat from our daughter (good Daddy), but I soon forgot all about it. This morning, he was going to take her to Home Bargains with him, and she wanted money to spend. I heard her sweet, little voice ringing throughout the house again. "Boats for sale! Only ten pence a boat! Boats for sale!" That's when the mommy in me came out. I am now the proud new owner of TWO paper boats. The smaller one was two pence.

This incident really got me thinking. Someday, my daughter will understand all about economics, and then I will know she's not a little girl anymore. I will remember the days when she tried to sell paper boats to make a little money. I am not looking forward to her growing up. I want to hold onto this moment...when my baby girl is still little. She'll grow up too soon, and I will never forget this. Truly, twelve pence is not too much to pay to see a huge smile on your child's face. Despite the fact that I have been ruthlessly recycling baskets full of paper this week, I am going to keep my lovely paper boats for the rest of my life.

Incidentally, older brother bought three of her boats, and older sister plans to buy one, too. I have a happy little girl, and that makes me happy.

Random Thoughts on Blogging and Life and Death

Hi, it's me again, after a really long time. I didn't blog much last year, and I haven't done much this year other than keep the kids' reading logs going. At first I wasn't sure why I lost interest in blogging, but maybe I just needed a break. Up until a few years ago, most of my posts revolved around my then-tot. I wrote a lot of posts about Tot School and sensory tubs. Those days are past, as my youngest is currently halfway through first grade. I also enjoyed writing posts about my geography units, but writing them and putting in all the links was so time-consuming. I would really like to get back to my blogging. I have some geography units to post, but maybe I don't have to make them so detailed and long. I also love children's literature, so maybe I can write more about the books we're reading. I also have chosen (and am about to purchase) my son's 9th grade curriculum, so I'll probably post about that next.

Last September, we made a trip home to the USA. Our plans were to stay nearly 4 months, through the holidays. During that time, my dad was having some stomach issues. That was nothing new, as he's had various stomach ailments most of his life. Just before Christmas, however, he worsened. We finally got him to agree to see a doctor, which happened the day we landed back in England. Within a few days, we found out that he had aggressive cancer, and it had gone into his liver. My parents (and us) are firm believers in healing, so when we understood that treatments would not help him, we decided to go back to the US and help my parents fight through prayer. We stayed in England 2 1/2 weeks before going home to the US. Three weeks later, my dad went to be with Jesus. This has been the hardest thing I've ever been through, and I miss him so much. The loss and the hurt feel like they'll never go, but I want to say this. My dad lived 71 years, mostly in good health until the very end, and he lived for the Lord. He didn't really have any pain with his illness, and we are grateful for that. We know we will see him again someday, though the wait seems hard. This life is so short in comparison to eternity, and that gives me comfort. We don't understand why my dad had to go. After all, we prayed, quoted Scripture, worshiped and thanked God for His goodness... We fought the cancer with faith, yet he was not healed on this earth. We ask why, and we may never know, but I do know this: God is still good. He's still faithful, and He loves us. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, and He knows what we're going through. We were never promised an easy life, but He promised to be with us. We still believe in healing. We know people who have been healed physically here on earth. We still have much to be thankful for. My grandpa, my dad's dad, died of cancer when he was 61. I'm thankful my dad made it to 71. In all our sadness, God has shown Himself faithful. We will bounce back, as hard as it is.

Just one more note about my dad. He was a teacher. He taught high school science and math, college-level science, and he taught my sister and me much about science and about God. He retired from high school teaching in 2009, but he continued to teach college classes a few times a week until December. He loved science (particularly geology), he loved to teach, and he truly cared about his students and seeing them succeed. Last school year, he taught my son 7th grade earth science via the internet. Last September, we began our school year here in the US, and my dad taught my son's 8th grade biology until the second week of December. That's something my son will always remember. I just wish he could have taught the girls. When he passed away, I was overwhelmed by the huge number of comments we got on facebook from former students, both high school and college. He touched so many students' lives, and most of them said he was their favorite teacher, and they shared so many memories. It was my dad who gave me my love for learning and for teaching. What I do in our homeschool has a lot to do with his influence. I'm so proud of who he was, and I'll always value what he taught me, both academically and spiritually.

We will be returning to England in another month, and then maybe I will blog again. Those of you who pray, we'd appreciate prayers for our family. The kids are doing fine. They really miss their grandpa--he was a wonderful grandpa, and they have lots of great memories of him. I think getting back to England--to their normal routine, their church, and their friends--will help.

So, until my next post, this is where we're at. Thank you for reading.

Family Night

If your family has a special time set aside to do something together, or if you've thought of starting something like that in your family, feel free to read my family night posts on my other blog Like Buttons in a Jar. We've had only 3 family nights so far, but I'll be sharing each week what we've done. I'm always looking for new ideas, so I'd love to hear from you!

I haven't really introduced my new blog because I'm still working on the design and layout, and I only started it at the beginning of the year. It's pretty much just a more personal blog to write about things I like that aren't necessarily homeschool-related. I always intended Our Cup of Tea to keep a homeschool focus, but I found I wanted a place to write on other topics as well. It's all related...homeschool...family...personal life, but I like things to be organized. Therefore, one blog is for homeschool, and the other one is for other stuff. Simple.

Anyway, I'm really keen on finding ideas for unique activities families can do together at home, even short activities. I'd love to hear from you if you do something similar.

The Lovely Spoon

We have this spoon.  I don’t know where it came from…it just showed up in our silverware drawer.  It doesn’t match any of our other silverware.  Our silverware is plain…nothing special.  This spoon, however, is just a bit fancier.  In this photo, you can see the mystery spoon (the one on the left) next to one of our plain, normal spoons. 

This spoon has a curvy design on the handle, and it just looks a bit more posh than the others.  Anyway, since discovering this spoon in our drawer, my two older children (ages 8 and 5) have dubbed it, “the lovely spoon.”  They fight over it.  Seriously.  “No fair!  Moriah had the lovely spoon for lunch!!!  It’s my turn!”  “I had the lovely spoon first!”  “Ha ha, I’ve got the lovely spoon!”  I’ve even caught Isaac hiding the lovely spoon under all the other spoons when he’s unloading the dishwasher.  We’ve had to intervene several times, promising to wash the lovely spoon so the other child can have it for the next meal.  I could always hide the lovely spoon, or I could just give it to Gabriela, who doesn’t really care (actually she much prefers her Hello Kitty spoon).  But it’s so comical to see them fight over a spoon, that I just leave it alone to see who will end up with it.  Silly kids.

Homeschool Blog Hop: Family Pastimes

This week's homeschool blog hop theme at Our Worldwide Classroom is family pastimes. What things do you enjoy together as a family?

We do a lot of things together, but our favorite pastime as a family has to be going on outings, and it normally involves a picnic! If the weather is bad (as it often can be in England), we eat our picnic in the car.

Every Saturday we try to go somewhere as a family. Here in England, there are hundreds of places to go within a 2-hour drive (we don't always go 2 hours away--many times it's less than an hour away). We go to castles, museums, National Trust houses, gardens, nature walks, farm parks, playgrounds, mountain drives, cathedrals, and more! The UK is loaded with great places to visit, and we don't really have to spend money to go. We pay a reasonably-priced annual fee to be National Trust members, and it's so worth it. As members, we can visit any one of the hundreds of National Trust properties for free. During the winter when most National Trust places are closed, we look for free museums or other free or cheap attractions to visit. We really have no problem finding something to do!

Here are pictures of some of our outings from the past year. Enjoy!

Little Moreton Hall, Big Ben hay bale structure at Snugbury's, National Rail Museum, and Yorkminster Cathedral:


London Science Museum, Conwy Castle, Wheelock Farm:


Speke Hall, Fountains Abbey, Great Orme in North Wales:


Ruins of Roman fort, Lake District mountain drive, bluebell forest walk, playground at Croft Castle:


Picnic in Shropshire Hills, tennis at Biddulph Grange Garden, beach at Llandudno, and Bodnant Gardens:

Homeschool Hop #2 My Family

Kylie at Our Worldwide Classroom hosts the Homeschool Hop every week. You can read the details of the blog hop here. This week we are sharing about our families.

Here are a few pics of my husband Greg with the kids. The first is the most recent and was taken in Holland. The second is from last fall.


Greg and I have been married 10 years. We met at Bible school and married when we were in our late 20s. Greg is pretty passionate about missions and also about prayer and worship. He's also quite funny, and he's very outgoing (opposite of me). Like me, he enjoys museums, old houses, castles, gardens, picnics, and history. He loves the quiet peacefulness of the country, though where we actually live is not peaceful or quiet or country! He's a HUGE Nebraska Cornhusker football fan, having been born and raised in Nebraska and Iowa. He will actually stay up most of the night to listen to a Husker game online (since we're in England, some games don't start until 1 a.m. our time). He enjoys hiking (mountains in England and Wales), and he also enjoys running (he ran track in high school). He has a degree in English literature, though he's never had a career in that field. He's been to Mexico, Hong Kong, China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Netherlands, so he loves traveling too! He loves spending time with the kids--we do quite a lot as a family. Oh, and he really likes coloring and swinging on swings--he did that even before we had kids!

Isaac is 8 years old. He's a lot like his dad--very outgoing and friendly. He's also very easy-going (not really like either of us). He's been that way since birth! Isaac's favorite pastimes are drawing (pencil sketches, mostly of knights and castles and battle scenes), reading, and playing Wii. He also enjoys hot wheels, his castle and knights set, his army men and air craft carrier, his toy planes, and his toy sword. He loves the Narnia books and movies. He's very, very loving, gentle and sweet, and he adores his 2 little sisters. He's very patient with them (well, most of the time), and he's always willing to help them.

Moriah is my 5-year-old princess. She's a lot more like me. She can be quite shy until she gets to know a person, yet she can become immediate best friends with any little girl her age, even if they've just met. Moriah is pretty much a girly girl (which is not really like me at that age). She loves dresses and having her hair done up fancy. She's really into Disney princesses, but she also likes My Little Pony, Ponyville, Polly Pockets, and Littlest Pet Shop. She also loves playing Wii with Isaac, and she likes singing, dancing, and drawing. She's very sweet and cuddly, too!

Gabriela is my 2-year-old, my baby. I don't know who she's most like in personality (really, she's just her own little person), but she looks exactly like me at that age, except that she has reddish hair. She was actually born here in England. You can follow her Tot School on my blog--she loves getting to participate in school with the other two. She's very much into Dora the Explorer. She also likes dancing and bouncing (I call her Tigger). She likes to play with Moriah's little dolls, and she'll also play with Isaac's cars. She's quite petite for her age, but she's very healthy, active, and happy.

All 3 of my children were born c-section, and all 3 were born during my 30s. Oh, and all 3 have different color hair! : ) I feel very blessed to have such a loving husband and sweet children! Well, I guess that's it. I'll probably think of more later that I should have added!