My new camera.

Today I went and bought my new Camera. I am just trying it out so here is a photo of Amelia in her Christmas outfit and Tom with his new pump that arrived this morning. I am so happy to have this.

Yet another reason to home school.

VICTORIAN state primary school students will soon be able to take religious education classes which teach there is no evidence God exists.

The Humanist Society of Victoria has developed a curriculum for primary pupils that the state government accreditation body says it intends to approve, The Sunday Age newspaper reported.

Read the rest of the article here:

Students to be taught, there is no God

Happy New Year.

As 2008 comes to an end, I thought it would be good to look back over the year.

Home schooling has been good and I love doing it. I feel I am getting to know my children better and have a different relationship with them compared to before home schooling.

I have meet many good friends through blogging and really appreciate them all even though I haven't meet them in real life.

I have had a refuge here that I know at a click of a couple of buttons and posts I can have people praying around the world for me and my family needs. Thanks so much for all the people that prayed for my dad, Tom and all our family needs.

My dad is hanging onto life. It is hard to watch someone die of Alzheimer's disease but we are glad to have him here still.

Even though the pump company promised me we would have Tom's new pump by 5.00 pm last night, we are still waiting for it. I tried to ring them last night and find out why we didn't have it but they had left for the day. I am phoning them this morning first thing when they open.

One of the hardest parts of our year was the loss of baby Matthew. We were very excited to be expecting again and felt very blessed by God at the news. When he died, we were heartbroken. Still the prayers of everyone here helped us through and we are comforted with the knowledge that Matthew will never suffer and will always have complete happiness. Matthew was due on our wedding anniversary so we will remember him especially on these days and ask him to pray for us.

I am looking forward to 2009 and to getting to know other bloggers better. Thank you all for your friendship over 2008.

God bless
Therese

The Simple Womens Daybook.

Peggy is on holidays but I still wanted to post a Simple Women's daybook today.

FOR TODAY 30 December, 2008...

Outside my window...The sun has risen. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day.

I am thinking...about all I want to do today.

I am thankful for...the abundant vegetables coming from our garden.

From the learning rooms...we are enjoying the holidays but I am starting to plan next years curriculum.

From the kitchen...lots of cooking to do today. We have a huge pile of zucchinis and I am going to bake, Zucchini Quiche, Pineapple Zucchini Bread and Zucchini Slice

I am wearing...my pajamas still.

I am creating...Tom and Christopher are getting a lot of new summer clothes. I will be sewing a lot in the next few days. I am also hoping to get a dress made for me to wear to church.

I am going...shopping. I have been given a bit of Christmas money so will be spending that.

I am reading...Audrey.

I am hoping...Tom's pump will arrive early this morning.

I am hearing...Tom playing Mario Galaxy.

Around the house...The other children are sleeping in.

One of my favorite things...Tom's pump. I have learnt how much I appreciate it while he hasn't had one.

A few plans for the rest of the week: The cooking, sewing and not going out much.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

This is the fabric and pattern Brigette chose for a dress she wants. She has also cut out a bolero jacket to go over it. The dress she should be able to do but she will probably need help with the bolero.

Tagged.

I was actually tagged for this at Facebook and decided to post it here too.

I was tagged by Abbey

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

I won't tag 25 people but if you want to do this, let me know in the comment box and I will put in a link to you.

1. I am 42 years old.

2. I love sleeping in but always have a more organised day if I get up early.

3. I am trying to get to bed by 9.30 and up at 5.30 these days.

4. I love to drink Coke Zero.

5. My favourite main meal to cook is spaghetti.

6. About a month ago, my mil gave me a pack of Nescafe Hazelnut Latte's. I am totally hooked since.

7. My two favourite flavours are Irish Cream and Hazelnut.

8. I am realizing what a God send Tom's insulin pump is over the last couple of days. He is looking forward to getting a new one too. At least I know it is on the way and will be here tomorrow.

9. My favourite colour is red.

10. I prefer to wear dresses to skirts and jeans but don't own many dresses. I am going to make a couple of simple ones these holidays.

11. We are renovating our home and our next project is the children's bathroom and a family room.

12. I meet Steve at a 21st birthday party.

13. I am quite obsessive with running our budget. I don't like it one bit if I cannot balance our accounts perfectly. I have to find the transaction I have missed.

14. I am the treasurer for our local scouts group.

15. I have one brother and three sisters.

16. One of my sisters died when I was 11 months old.

17. I hate confrontation and will not confront people unless I have too.

18. I have been playing My Farm on facebook and think this is the best game they have there.

19. Steve and I will celebrate 18 years of marriage on January 26th.

20. The months of the years we have birthday celebrations in our immediate family are January, February, March, May and October.

21. I need to exercise more.

22. My hair is turning gray.

23. I hate being late for anything.

24. I want to go sky diving one day.

25. If we go out to eat, I will order seafood. I love to eat prawns most of all.

Tagging Amy from A word from the Herd

God is not pro Choice.

Recently I read a post where a nun was putting forward the idea that God is pro choice.

I was astounded that anyone would be able to believe anything like this.

Michael Voris has some pretty strong things to say to Sr. Arlene Welling and I support him 100% in everything he says.



This program is from RealCatholicTV.com

Edit to add, since posting this, I have come across This article saying that Sr. Arlene Welling is sorry for what she said. I hope this is true.

4th day of Christmas.

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas season.

Therese

My week.

The week leading up to Christmas was hectic. I stopped blogging on Saturday night because I knew I needed to devote more time to prayer and to getting everything finished.

I managed to get all our cooking done and the youngest 5 all had a new outfit sewn. I was going to take a photo of them all and put it up but my camera broke. I am going to buy a new one though so will take a photo of them all in their Christmas clothes hopefully.

On Monday afternoon, I left with the girls, Tom and Christopher to go to Adelaide. We had a good trip down and stayed with my girlfriend Di and her family. The next morning I packed them all up and took them to the hospital for Tom's appointment. We changed some settings on his pump and his sugars were really good until the pump malfunctioned on Thursday morning. More on that later though.

Steve arrived on Tuesday afternoon with the older two boys and we went visiting. We were able to catch up with Brigette's Godmother, Christopher's Godmother and Amelia's Godparents. Inbetween we went out for tea at Red Rooster. It was a fun afternoon and evening.

On Wednesday we slept in a bit and then after breakfast we took the children down to Glenelg for a visit to The Beach house. After two hours of fun sliding down the slides, going on the bumper boats and playing the arcade games we went to Charlie's in Brighton for lunch. Wednesday Evening we went and visited some old friends that we haven't seen since Daniel was a baby.

Thursday was Christmas day and the children woke early to open their presents. After breakfast they all went for a swim in the pool. It was while they were at the pool that Tom's pump malfunctioned. It started alarming and saying button error. I got on the phone straight away to Tom's endocrinologist and then to Medtronic. We tried a couple of different things to get the pump going again but were unable to get it working. Fortunately, I had some lantus insulin with us so we put Tom back onto multiple daily injections. (MDI) We are still waiting on Medtronic to get back in touch with us about the pump and what we can do about it. The rep from Australia won't be working until Monday so I am hoping we will have a new pump on Tuesday. I think when we get the new one or have this one fixed, I will really appreciate the fact that we have a pump and the great control we usually have with it.

We spent Christmas day with my family for lunch and then went to Steves cousins for tea. It was a long day but enjoyable.

Yesterday we left Adelaide and called in at Tom's Godparents on the way home. We haven't seen them for a few years so it was great to catch up over lunch. We got back to Port Augusta about 5.00pm.

I am looking forward now to the rest of our school holidays. I will start planning Tom and Amelia's curriculum for next year soon and get some more sewing done. Steve is painting the front window and door and will paint the roof during the holidays. We decided we still want the charcoal black roof and we are going to put some vents and spinners in to draw the heat out.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Therese

A birthday wish for Esther.

Today is Esther's birthday. Here is a birthday cake and song for you Esther. I really wish we could have cake together and celebrate your birthday.

What is your personality type?

A while ago, I Analyzed Aussie Coffee Shop and the Typealyzer put me down as a ESFP (Extrovert, sensing, feeling, perceiving)

Today I did another similar test and the quiz came up with ESFJ (extrovert, sensing, feeling, judging)

The two tests are close. The only difference is between the perceiving and judging. I wonder though. The typealyzer automatically analyzes me and came up with perceiving and where I had to answer questions to get the type it comes up with something different.

So what do you all think? Am I perceiving or judging or am I even somewhere in the middle and not one or the other?

Therese

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas night here and we have had a great day. We were able to spend time with both Steve's family and my family. It has been a long day but it was great to catch up with family.

I hope you all have a great Christmas day and may the Christ child bless you all abundantly.

If you could also please offer a small prayer for Tom. This morning his insulin pump broke. We are using injections for him until we can get a new pump. Please pray that the new pump will be here soon and that we can still manage him well on the daily injections.

Thanks
Therese

Taking a break.

This will be my last post until after Christmas. I have a lot to do before Christmas and need to spend more time in prayer. I am going to give up my online time and spend more of it with my family.

I hope you all have a great Christmas. May the joy of the Christ Child be with all of you.


Therese

Quick 7.

1.

Daniel was our first baby. When I first got pregnant his due date according to my cycle was the 20th of December. (today). When I had the scan the due date was moved to the 28th. It was very disappointing at the time but what can one do. He wasn't born until New Years Day. On Christmas day, I said to my husband, maybe a New Years baby would be nice. I regretted saying that for the rest of the week but it is nice to have a new years baby.

2.

We are in our second week of holidays and I love that they started two weeks before Christmas. Usually, it is only a week or so. I kept on thinking I was behind in my preparation because they were all home but I am realizing now that I am right on track.

3.

I have finished Amelia's and Brigette's Christmas outfits. Brigette's was a quick one. Madeline found a dress that she started for herself a couple of Christmases ago that was more than half done. I finished it off for Brigette in a couple of hours.

4.

Today I will finish off our Christmas cake. I have had the fruit soaking for a while now. It is the first time I have made a traditional Christmas cake so I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

5.

Because we have 7 children and they cannot afford to buy presents for every sibling, we do a Kris Kindel draw. They draw a name out of a hat and buy for that person. They keep it a secret from each other who they are buying for. They all get excited and want to buy straight away but in our house there are many snoopers. If we have the presents too early, they guess who has who and see the presents. Today and on Monday I will take them individually to get their Kris Kindel present.

6.

Tom's blood sugar levels seem to have finally settled down and I think we finally have the right basal rate of insulin worked out. I am seeing his endocrinologist next week so I am hoping things go well over the weekend.

7.

I have such a good husband. Every morning he brings me a cup of coffee in bed. It is great to wake up too.

Visit Jennifer for more quick 7.

Advise Parents may want to pass onto teenagers.

H/T to Karin

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school.

He talked about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

Since it is nearly Christmas.......

and Friday it is time for my favourite Christmas cake joke.

Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe


Ingredients

1 Cup water
8 oz mixed nuts
1 Cup brown sugar
1 Cup butter
1 tsp. Salt
2 Cup dried fruit
4 large Eggs
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tea spoon baking powder
1 bottle Whisky

Method

Sample the whisky to check quality.
Take a large bowl.
Re-sample the whisky to ensure it is of the highest quality.
Pour one cup and drink. Repeat.
Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy
bowl.
Add one tsp sugar and beat again.
Make sure the whisky is still okay. Cry another tup.
Turn on the mixerer.
Break two leggs and add to the bowl, chuck in the dried fruit.
Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry
it loose with a drewscriver.
Sample the whisky to check for tonsiscency.
Next sift two cups of salt, or something. Who cares?
Check the whisky.
Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.
Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something. Whatever you can find.
Grease the oven.
Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees.
Don't forget to beat off the turnerer.
Throw the bowl out of the window, check the whisky again and go to bed.

Don't forget to wake up with a major hangover the next morning and
search the house for the fruitcake you so painstakingly baked the night
before.

Date Night.

A quick post tonight. Steve and I are putting the children to bed and sitting down to watch The Good Shepherd.

Have a great Thursday.

A great day.

Today the weather was quite a bit warmer.

Steve and I started the day with Mass and then went Christmas shopping. It is rare for us to get to Mass without children and it was really nice to sit there in the quite before without a toddler whispering in our ears.

We completed most of our Christmas shopping with a hour and were back home by 10.30.

I spent most of the day cooking and sewing. I have started the Christmas cake (that I should have done a month ago) and I helped Amelia sew a pair of 3/4 pants for her to wear Christmas day. I will do her top tomorrow. Brigette's dress only needs the zip and Madeline is making her own dress. Once I have done Amelia's top, I will start the boys Christmas shirts. This is the best thing about holidays. I can get so much more done. When Christmas is over, I am going to sew a heap of summer clothes for Tom and Christopher. Everything they have seems too short or too raggedy.

We have hired Mario Galaxy from the video shop and the boys have been playing it a lot. I have had a couple of goes at it and I really like this game. Maybe we will buy it after Christmas.

I hope you all have/had a good Wednesday.

Therese

Wordless Wednesday.

Christopher at the pageant this year.

The Simple Womens Daybook.

Outside my window...It is dark. The days end has come all to quickly.

I am thinking...about all the preparations I need to do for Christmas.

I am thankful for...The school holidays and a chance to spend more time with the school children.

From the kitchen...I am preparing for Christmas so lots of goodies.

I am wearing...grey pants and a white T Shirt.

I am creating...Christmas dresses for the girls and Christmas shirts for the younger boys.

I am going...to see Tom's endocrinologist next week.

I am reading...Chicken Soup for a Mothers soul.

I am hoping...that we can work out the right insulin dose for Tom soon.

I am hearing...My children chatting in the kitchen.

Around the house...The teenagers are chatting. The little ones are hungry. Do they ever get full?

One of my favorite things...waking up early and sitting in the quiet morning.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Finish the girls dresses. Finish of the Christmas cooking. Getting ready for Tom's Endocrinologist appointment.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Christopher in his new shirt.

Don't forget to visit Peggy for more simple daybooks.

Straight No Chaser.

Just because it is soooooooooooooooo cool.



I think these guys are my new favourite band.

Here is The Lion Sleeps Tonight from them too.