Thoughts of a Homeschooling mum

Revision for Luke chapter 3

2010-03-09T10:31:00.001-08:00

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2009-12-22T06:01:00.001-08:00

2009-12-22T05:50:00.000-08:00

A social worker's view on the Badman Review

2009-07-08T06:16:00.001-07:00

http://www.radical.org.uk/barefoot/heducation.htm

Social Work and Home Education

Growing calls for greater regulation of home education need a social work
response. Social workers are being asked to exercise greater controls over
families who reject state education and keep home educated children under
closer surveillance. This move is authoritarian and inconsistent with social
work values and should be strongly resisted.

One of the proposals of the Badman Report and accepted by the government is
that local authorities should be given powers to prevent parents from
educating their children at home if a child’s 'safety' is in question. These
draconian powers are completely unnecessary and represent a step too far in
the direction of greater state intervention in family life. Children deemed
to be 'at risk' may be forced into school to allow them to be more easily
monitored. These changes would effectively put the local authority and home
educating parents in opposition to each other and create a great deal of
unnecessary stress for home educators. All this would be done for the sake
of improved child protection. In reality, the proposed new arrangements
would not result in better child protection and may actually cause more harm
than good.

A key question hinges on the meaning of the term 'at risk' and whether a
social worker should become involved. Social workers carry dual
responsibilities - for welfare and protection. In the welfare role the focus
is on the child's development in the broadest sense and in providing
appropriate services. Social work support is only provided with the
voluntary agreement of parents. In the child protection role the social
worker has powers and duties defined by the 1989 Children Act which includes
powers to investigate suspected abuse and neglect and, if necessary, powers
to remove the child if it is 'at risk of significant harm'. In this role
social workers can use their authority to adopt a firmer, more persuasive
style of working to reduce the risks and prevent the need for the child to
be taken into care.

If a social worker becomes involved with families where the child is home
educated it is inevitable that consideration will be given to whether the
child would do better in a state school. However, the social worker is not
an expert in education and should therefore take great care to avoid making
any 'educational' judgements. The social worker should bear in mind that
many children are failed by the state system and consider the emotional
impact on the parent-child relationship of enforced school attendance.

Recent legislation has scrapped the long-standing principle of
non-intervention with home educators and social workers are now required to
take a greater interest in the education and welfare of these children. In
addition, government guidelines are deliberately blurring the boundary
between child welfare and child protection. This has made the role of social
workers more complicated and caused some confusion about their legal powers.
On occasions, social workers inappropriately use child protection powers in
situations where there are 'safeguarding concerns' and questions are now
being raised about whether such powers are legally enforceable. Social
workers must ensure that their compulsory powers are only used in situations
where the child may be at risk of 'significant harm' - and relevant case law
shows that evidence of abuse or neglect must be substantiated.

Many problems have arisen in child protection work because the
'safeguarding' role has broadened the scope of the work but created enormous
confusion throughout the education system about what the term actually
means. There is a perception that families are sometimes treated unfairly
and professionals use 'safeguarding' to mean whatever they want it to mean.
It is not surprising that home educating parents are alarmed at the prospect
of social workers with greater powers visiting them.

The current system for protecting children from abuse and neglect is
well-established and there is no evidence that additional legal powers are
required. Although recent scandals have shown high-risk cases not being
picked up that is more due to the system being overloaded than anything
else. It is often the reluctance of local authorities to make use of their
existing legal powers in high risk cases that is the problem

Apart from the threat to civil liberties there are serious questions to be
asked about whether local authorities should be taking on additional
responsibilities at a time of financial cutbacks. There is a workforce
crisis in child protection social work and many frontline workers are
already struggling to cope with large caseloads. Extending the social work
role with home educators is definitely not a priority while high-risk cases
go undetected.

*Hilary Searing*

2009-07-07T02:39:00.001-07:00

You can read Ben's account of the Welsh 3,000 here.
http://baptistwithasmallb.blogspot.com/2009/07/15-peaks-challenge.html3. Crib Goch – 0530

"From Crib y Ddysgl we came to probably the most dangerous part of the walk. Even in dry and sunny weather Crib Goch is not particularly safe, but in wet and misty weather as on this morning it is very dangerous. On one occasion I found myself edging out onto a ledge to my left with a sheer drop below wondering why I was doing this."

This particular quote fills me with dread.

Welsh 3,000

2009-07-03T05:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.justgiving.com/benjaminlowery/
Ben and Daf are doing the Welsh 3,000 at the moment, they will be climbing a third of the height of Everest, if you would like to sponsor them just follow the link. They are raising money for Clwyd Special Riding centre. I am thankful to the Lord that the weather isn't as hot as it has been, although it is very wet.
They were dropped at the bottom of Snowdon last night, they will then climb all fifteen peaks, John sent me an e-mail to say they had completed the first leg of their journey at 7.30 this morning.

A Godly example of womanhood

2009-06-27T12:28:00.001-07:00

Jenny Sanford's Statement
South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford issued the following statement Wednesday after her husband's admission to an extramarital affair:
I would like to start by saying I love my husband and I believe I have put forth every effort possible to be the best wife I can be during our almost twenty years of marriage. As well, for the last fifteen years my husband has been fully engaged in public service to the citizens and taxpayers of this state and I have faithfully supported him in those efforts to the best of my ability. I have been and remain proud of his accomplishments and his service to this state.
I personally believe that the greatest legacy I will leave behind in this world is not the job I held on Wall Street, or the campaigns I managed for Mark, or the work I have done as First Lady or even the philanthropic activities in which I have been routinely engaged. Instead, the greatest legacy I will leave in this world is the character of the children I, or we, leave behind. It is for that reason that I deeply regret the recent actions of my husband Mark, and their potential damage to our children.
I believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity, dignity and importance of the institution of marriage. I believe that has been consistently reflected in my actions. When I found out about my husbands infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage. We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago.
This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage. During this short separation it was agreed that Mark would not contact us. I kept this separation quiet out of respect of his public office and reputation, and in hopes of keeping our children from just this type of public exposure. Because of this separation, I did not know where he was in the past week.
I believe enduring love is primarily a commitment and an act of will, and for a marriage to be successful, that commitment must be reciprocal. I believe Mark has earned a chance to resurrect our marriage.
Psalm 127 states that sons are a gift from the Lord and children a reward from Him. I will continue to pour my energy into raising our sons to be honorable young men. I remain willing to forgive Mark completely for his indiscretions and to welcome him back, in time, if he continues to work toward reconciliation with a true spirit of humility and repentance.
This is a very painful time for us and I would humbly request now that members of the media respect the privacy of my boys and me as we struggle together to continue on with our lives and as I seek the wisdom of Solomon, the strength and patience of Job and the grace of God in helping to heal my family.

Badman report

2009-06-25T02:06:00.000-07:00

I have been building myself up to post on this very important topic, the government review is published Mr Badman has spoken you can read the entire review here
http://ahed.pbworks.com/HomeEdReviewReportPlus#TheReport
The Government accepted and have started the consultation on the same day
http://www.info4local.gov.uk/documents/consultations/1252801
Here are some articles
The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/5508165/Parents-should-educate-children-as-they-wish.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/5508165/Parents-should-educate-children-as-they-wish.html

The Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article6493072.ece?Submitted=true

HSLDA
http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/200906161.asp

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=101371

Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/23/home-schooling-early-years-education

Latin

2009-05-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a fantastic site to help your children learn latin http://www.cambridgescp.com/
it is just a brilliant way to teach latin and classical civilisation. But even better than this WJEC are planning to accredit an exam on the Cambridge latin books. This will be exam only and so will be brilliant for home educators. You can read the spec here. http://www.wjec.co.uk/index.php?subject=167&level=15&imageField2.x=35&imageField2.y=12
So come on you budding classicists get learning.

Homeschooling article

2009-04-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a very nice article on homeschooling. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=94543

2009-03-28T01:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.ccfon.org/view.php?id=714

Older than my Parents: Donated Embryos Kept 55 Years

Article Published: 27th March 2009

Print

Science Fiction—Women will Give Birth to their Aunts or Uncles

The warnings we gave regarding the powers given to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (“HFEA”) through the issuing of regulations by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (“HFEA Act 2008”) are being realised. It is vital the public knows exactly what is going on here. The HFEA has been given extraordinary and frightening powers in relation to the embryo. The HFEA, the public authority charged with regulating matters concerning the embryo, is consulting on 4 sets of proposed regulations that would change the regime that governs IVF. Please respond to the Consultation. The more people that register concern the more pressure there will be on the HFEA to do the right thing. Use this bulletin to send your comments to: hferegulations@dh.gsi.gov.uk by 30th March 2009.

The first set of regulations deal with a person who has or is likely to develop significant and premature infertility (for example as a result of cancer treatment). These regulations propose to extend the storage of gametes (eggs or sperm) or embryos from the current limit of 10 years (as increased from 5 years for embryos by the 2008 Act) to up to a total of 55 years, for use in IVF treatment. Little account is taken of the safety of freezing for such extended periods. There are no rules preventing close relatives who would normally be forbidden to marry each other from donating gametes or embryos. This means that grandparents could donate embryos to their granddaughter for her IVF treatment if she becomes infertile. In this situation, the granddaughter would give birth to her mother’s brother or sister—her aunt or uncle.

Additionally, the previous rule banning the woman who is being treated from being able to access extended storage because she is a surrogate mother is removed. The changes are the result of a single case being highlighted in Parliament, in which a mother with a Turner Syndrome daughter wanted to extend storage of her eggs so that her daughter could use them. This would result in her daughter giving birth to a child who was both her half-brother or sister and her son or daughter.

The potential commercial exploitation of such rules is enormous. It could result in older parents trying to defeat nature. 62 year-old women could act as surrogate mothers for a man with no partner who is allocated embryos by a clinic. Theoretically there would be nothing to stop a 35 year-old soon-to-be-infertile man from having his sperm stored until he was 90, or alternatively, from storing his parents’ embryos and using them to have a child years later, after his (and the child’s) biological parents had died. That child would be both his own brother and his own son. Relying on the clinics to argue for the welfare of the resulting children and for age-appropriate use of IVF places an undue burden on the clinics and history shows that it isn’t a sufficient safeguard. Such permissive regulations, which can be passed without Parliamentary debate should not be allowed in a civilised society.

The regulations also allow for embryo storage for up to 55 years following embryo testing. The embryos tested are those that are at particular risk of suffering from a genetic abnormality, or whose tissue may be suitable for transplanting into an older sibling who suffers from a serious medical condition, “spare–part siblings”. There are no safeguards and the only condition is that the gamete and embryo providers have consented.

Clinics Favoured over Public Interest Groups in the Granting of Licences

The second and third sets of regulations establish appeal procedures to internal committees for those whose licence has been refused, revoked or varied. This favours licence applicants. Not only can they object to the refusal of their licence to two committees internally, but they also have a right to appeal to the High Court on a point of law. This compares very favourably with any public interest group, which has no right of internal appeal against any decision of the HFEA to grant a licence. Instead, as demonstrated by the Christian Legal Centre and Comment On Reproductive Ethics, who last year brought a challenge to the HFEA on its granting of licences to create animal-human hybrids, the only means of challenge is a high-risk and enormously costly Judicial Review procedure, which could wipe out any residual funds of any public interest group as they so often operate under real financial constraint.

The HFEA keeps a register that holds details of IVF patients, their partners, any offspring and all gamete and embryo donors. It represents one of, if not the most, comprehensive collections of data of this type in the world. The fourth set of regulations proposes to allow researchers to pay a fee to access this database to conduct research. This would allow disclosure, without consent, for records from 1st August 1991 to 30th September 2009. Whilst research into the effects of IVF on patients’ health is useful and the most sensitive data on the use of donor gametes would not be disclosed without consent, generally there is no attempt made to obtain consent, as this is considered to be a too costly an option. Additionally, the regulations allow for many of the HFEA’s functions, except authorisation decisions, to be contracted out with no further conditions for the contracting-out or agency arrangements.

Patient Data at Serious Risk

The fourth set of regulations will also allow researchers access to a patients’ non-IVF-related NHS records without their consent. This is presumably to allow researchers to look at data on offspring, but the consultation does not spell this out. The suggested safeguard is that the HFEA takes account of the views of the Patient Information Advisory Group. The only real safeguard appears to be Research Ethics Committee approval. The regulations need to state clearly that only information that does not identify the patient will be provided to third parties, but they do not.

Whilst there is a reassurance given that individuals can refuse to consent to disclosure for the purposes of these regulations, the regulations provide no information on how to do so, and no draft forms that patients can fill in.

The consultation allows people to send in their comments on the 4 proposed regulations. The closing date for the consultation is Monday, 30th March.

CCFON and CLC are in the process of producing a response to the consultation that we hope to make available shortly.

This is the link to the consultation:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_092465.

Update

2009-03-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

John has been home from hospital for a week now, it has been a difficult week, he has been very sick and has struggled to even keep water down. Today has thankfully been better, he has managed to keep a bit more down.
The folding chair collapsed on Alice today, she was caught with her head between the seat and the back, she has a nasty bruise on her head.
Ben phoned to say his car had broken down in Liverpool, he called out the AA and they fixed it. He went to visit his Nan today after college.
Naomi has joined the Tremeirchion choir again and will God willing be singing St.Matthews passion at Easter.
I have just brought Esther back from her violin lesson, it was a very difficult lesson she seemed to be tired and didn't seem to concentrate very much. I felt sorry for her teacher. I suppose it could be her eyes, she is waiting for her new glasses to arrive. She could only read the top four lines with the glasses she is wearing now.
Alex and Esther has written a book each and we have found a place where you can publish your own book reasonably cheaply. We are just in the process of proof reading their books and then we can have them published. You can publish your own book here http://www.lulu.com/uk/

Temptations

2009-02-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

As a family we seem to have gone through a lot over the last few weeks, Ben and Naomi had a car accident on the way home from Arbroath. During that night both John and I felt ourselves drawn out in prayer, we were engaged in a real battle. I gained no peace until I was able to acknowledge that even were they to be killed they would be no less safe than they are now. It was only stating this that gave me an overwhelming sense of peace. At the time we were not aware they had been in an accident but the Lord moved us to pray.
John had an operation yesterday, he went down for the operation at 8.30 am, I didn't hear how he was until 2pm and I couldn't see him until 3.30pm. Again I went through a spiritual battle, I was praying that the Lord would help, yet again I was given a very real sense of peace. Today when I spoke to John he said he has been vomiting all the time, he is on two drips and his oxygen levels have been low so he is on permanent oxygen. He said they have been doing all sorts of tests all day.
I don't know about you but I find having faith is a continual battle, I seem to veer from a real sense of Gods peace to my imagining the very worst has happened. One thing that kept happening today was that a little voice kept saying,"Maybe God wants to punish you." I just kept pushing it away, but suddenly I thought about it. If I ignored it I would probably start believing it in a few days. I stopped and though about this idea, how should I respond?
I thought,"If God should punish me it's no more than I deserve, furthermore the God I worship is not like that, he deals with us in love, all our chastenings are for our good. The thought left me from that moment on, I have felt stronger and better able to cope since that time on.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.

About me

2009-02-17T09:28:00.001-08:00

1. I attended a girls only school.
2. I am a brown belt in Ju-Jitsu.
3. I was born into a non-Christian family.
4. I became a Christian when I was aged sixteen.
5. I home educate my children.
6. My husband is my best friend.
7. Both my Grandfather’s fought in the first world war.
8. I changed schools five times.
9. I am a secret hypochondriac.
10. I was involved in a road accident where I came off the road, took out the whole set of metal railings and landed in some trees, people apparently refer to the wall that was built as “Sylvia’s wall”.
11. I hate abortion.
12. I want to change the world for the better, but am not sure exactly how.
13. I believe the Church is the body of Christ and I am one of its number.
14. I believe a believing child should be given communion.
15. I believe in the triune God.
16. I once lived in a Roman Catholic village and attended a Roman Catholic school.
17. I was dedicated at aged fifteen.
18. I used to go on Beach Mission.
19. When I first became a Christian some of the young people called me “holier than thou.”
20. I met my husband when I was eighteen.
21. My father died of prostrate cancer, he became a Christian three weeks before he died.
22. When I was a child I wanted to be a nurse like Florence Nightingale when I grew up.
23. I can’t remember two of my Grandparents, they died before I could remember them.
23. I had a lot more freedom as a child than my children have now.
25. I remember a time when every shop was closed on a Sunday.

Away from the family

2009-02-13T03:01:00.000-08:00

I am staying with friends at the moment, I am having a lovely time, lots of discussion especially around the subject of the church's response to disability. What is a Biblical response? Does the Church rely too much upon the state to intervene?

I have been spending some time each day working with Victoria, a beautiful little girl who has Down's Syndrome. She is a delight, I have really looked forward to the special time we have had together.

I went to a very interesting meeting last night, the discussion group was about Athanasius. He became Bishop of Alexandria in 328 AD. He was a real contender for the faith, he battled against the Arian heresy through a lot of his life. Arian taught the Christ had been created being, that he was equal in though and will, but not in substance. Athanasius fought hard because he could see that this was not just a theological theory, but put peoples salvation at stake. Only a fully divine christ can save us. Something I had never thought about before was the idea that Athanasius taught, because we are made in the image of God the incarnation is fitting and right, this is why God has made tha angels a little lower than us.

I am missing everybody at home, I hope you are all working well and being good for Daddy.

Violin

2009-02-10T05:03:00.000-08:00

I have just recently realised how hard the violin is to learn. Esther has been having violin lessons for a month now. I sit in with her and listen to the lesson, it is so much harder than a piano. It seems as though it takes so long to get anything like a tune out of it. Because the instrument is new it keeps going out of tune. You have to hold it in a certain way, you have to hold the bow in a certain way. When you try to play one string all the other strings get caught, your arms and shoulder ache while you try to build up your stamina. In fact I am amazed that anyone actually perseveres enough to become good at it. Mind you since Esther started learning the violin she seems to spend more time practicing the piano. Aparently she is making good progress and her teacher thinks she will make 1st grade in less than a year, so maybe it's just me who thinks it's hard.

Smurf

2009-02-03T07:43:00.001-08:00

Here is a link to the governments review on home education

2009-01-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

http://www.myopinion.org.uk/dcsf/homeeducation/index.cfm

A homeschooling family

2009-01-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

St.David's day.

Help from big brother.

The Zoo with big brother.

P.E is fun!

Dressed as the blue boy in Walker art gallery.

The girls, they always have a book in their hands.

Alex creating his own animations at Liverpool museum.

Save our bees

2009-01-24T14:10:00.001-08:00

The Save Our Bees Campaign
Document main content
Plant Bee friendly plants!
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." Albert Einstein

As part of the celebrations of National Science and Engineering Week 2009, we want you to help save our UK Bees by planting bee friendly plants across the country! This will make them healthier, helping them survive infection, changing weather patterns and more.
Billions of the UK's bees are dying from unknown causes and one in three bee colonies in the UK were lost last winter alone! Bees are vitally important for everyone. In all, they are responsible for pollinating one-third of all the foods we eat!

You can help our bees. Register your interest on this website and receive a FREE pack of seeds and a education pack of activities designed for KS1, KS2 and KS3 children.

2009-01-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by Suzie.

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag four people to do the same.

5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

This is a photo from Ben and Naomi's visit to Arbroath's young peoples weekend, it was taken last October (2008)

I have no one left to tag because everyone has been tagged.

Home education under threat in the UK

2009-01-21T03:41:00.000-08:00

Please pray for us in the, the governtment are continually looking at ways to restrict home education, they regularly link home education with abuse, child labour and forced marriages. See this link from yesterday's Times newspaper.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5549380.ece
You can read a more positive article in the telegraph here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/4299319/Are-home-schooled-children-more-vulnerable.html

For those who want to listen to it, the relevant bit of Jeremy Vine's show can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio2_aod.shtml?radio2/r2_vine_tue - go totime 1:10:00 in the player.
Here is a written transcript of the Jeremy Vine show.
http://sometimesitspeaceful.blogspot.com/2009/01/transcript-of-radio-2-jeremy-vine-show.html

If you want to write and complain you can do so here.
BBC complaints> http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complaints_stage1.shtml> > The Telegraph> mailto:dtletters%40telegraph.co.uk> > The Times> mailto:letters%40the-times.co.uk

Here is the latest government consultation.http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=consultationDetails&consultationId=1605&external=no&menu=1

The government have just announced that they will make sex education compulsary for children from the age of five, state education is not a safe place for our children. So please pray for us that our freedoms will be preserved. You can sign an online petition here http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Parentchoice/

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Conduct a 12 week public consultation regarding whether or not to make sex and relationship education a statutory requirement for children five years old and over, expressing regret that this did not take place before the decision was announced by Jim Knight on October 23rd.More details from petition creator
On 23rd October Jim Knight announced the Government’s decision to back the recommendations of ‘experts’ (the government appointed SRE Delivery Review Group) and make sex and relationship education a statutory requirement for children in England aged five and over. This hugely controversial decision was made without a general public consultation with parents and was as such wholly at variance with Gordon Brown’s commitment, on entering Number 10, to listen. It suggests that the Government does not trust parents and thinks it knows best. Not only have parents been excluded from the decision, but the effect of the decision to place SRE on the National Curriculum actually erodes the potential for input they currently enjoy with respect to the determination of the SRE curriculum in their child’s school. This petition calls on the Prime Minister to put the decision on hold until a full 12 week public consultation has been conducted on the question of whether or not sex education should be made a statutory, National Curriculum requirement for children aged five and over, so that parents – the primary stakeholders - can contribute to the debate.

2009-01-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

Got this from http://www.bigbluebanana.blogspot.com/ Suzie

Looking back at 2008
Here are the rules:1. Fill in your memories of 2008. Link my blog to yours.

Remembering 2008

A good book I read -
Against the Tide
You can but it from Evangelical Press.
Margaret, a young Covenanter, a stalwart for the faith, is eventually apprehended by the King’s forces. She refuses to recant and is executed by drowning while tied to a stake at low tide. Knowing she was only seventeen when she was martyred really spoke to me. It made me think about my own faith, would I be willing to make the sacrifices she made.

Great film/movie - Madagascar 2

A new place I visited - Stayed with the Van Den Broek's, had a wonderful time.

An inspiring verse or quote I read - Psalm 103

A discovery - That it is a lot less safe for women who are under 50 to have a mamogram, it can even cause breast cancer.
A new skill I acquired - I learnt how to use the London tube.
A lesson I learned - I learnt to lean on God a lot more, I learnt to look to God rather than man. I learnt to trust the Lord for my grown up children. Always take money with you when you are going to hospital, especially for the car parking.
A moment I will always remember - The last day of my Father in Laws life here on earth.

2009-01-08T05:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a beautiful peice of music by William Byrd, a composer who studied under Thomas Tallis and was a contemporary of Shakespeare. We learnt about him in our lessons this morning. I hope you like it too.

Here is a second piece.

Back to normal

2009-01-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged for a while, we have all been sick with this flu type viris. We are back to our home education this week,it's good to get back to normal. This morning we read Exodus Chapter 4 where God had told Moses he must lead the people out of Egypt, Moses protested that the people would not believe him. The Lord shows Moses some of the miracles he will perform, such as turning the rod into a serpant. Moses then says he can't go because he has trouble speaking. The Lord says Aaron will speak for Moses. We spent a fair bit of time discussing Moses' difficulty with speech. Alex who has autism was very much encouraged by verse 11, "And the Lord said unto him, "Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf ? or the seeing or the blind? have not I the Lord.v12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."
Alex said that if we had been choosing someone to lead the people and to stand up to Pharaoh we would have chosen a pefect man with no speech problem. But the Lord chose Moses, Alex felt encouraged that the Lord could use him even though he has difficulties with talking to people.I have been thinking about this portion of Scripture in terms of being a home educator, we don't have to be super intelligent, the Lord will teach us how to teach our children as we in faith walk in the way.
Alex also had to learn a poem today, I was very moved by by this peom, so I thought I would share it with you.
The Village Blacksmith

UNDER a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.

Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.

He goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter's voice,
Singing in the village choir,
And it makes his heart rejoice.

It sounds to him like her mother's voice,
Singing in Paradise!
He needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;
And with his hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.

Toiling,---rejoicing,---sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close;
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The memorial that John read at my Dad's funeral

2008-12-31T05:57:00.000-08:00

Luke 2:21-35 (Read Psalm 34)
Funeral of Thomas Hockey

Thomas Patrick Hockey was born on 19th October 1926. His was what we might call a very Victorian upbringing. His parents had had one set of children all of whom had died before they had gone on to have a second family of four children of whom Tom was the third. His mother was a very devout Roman Catholic, his father a bookmaker. He grew up in the Scotland Rd area of Liverpool near the docks, an area that was notorious even then. As a young teenager during the Blitz he helped pull the living and the dead from bombed out houses, before joining the Merchant Navy at age 15, having lied about his age, where he began as assistant to ship’s cook.

At the age of 39 he married Valerie McDonald and they had three children, Sylvia, Martin, and Shirley.

He grew up self reliant and tough. As a father he was not demonstrative – did not believe in showing emotions. However, he was very aware of family duty. He was a man of very decided opinions and once he had avowed an idea, then he was invariably right and every one else wrong. Sylvia remembers how he tried to teach her long division and could not grasp why she did not understand it, maybe it was because she was only 6 at the time. She also relates how he pushed Valerie out of the kitchen proclaiming, “This is how you cook,” based upon his extensive experience on board ship. He proceeded to make a curry which was inedible but enough to feed the Red Army and insisted that everyone ate it over the days and weeks to come.

Despite his RC upbringing, he grew up a decided atheist. He was not just agnostic, all his thinking and his reading gave him a scorn for all religion. However, despite that he was dutiful in his attendance at his daughter Sylvia’s baptism, and then at Ben and Naomi’s baptisms.

So he was a very masculine and undemonstrative man. To use the Scouse expression, he was ‘dead hard.’ I have been married to Sylvia for 17 years and in all that time I never really got to know him until the last three weeks of his life.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago, which had already spread to his bones. However, Tom was firmly of the opinion that he was not ill, and if he was then he would overcome it to live a long life. However, after the diagnosis he did change; he became softer and drew much closer particularly to Shirley and Sylvia. One particularly happy memory is of Christmas Day when I went over and brought Tom, Valerie and Shirley over to us for the day. He was jolly and showed a marked reluctance to leave. Previously after half an hour he would have been looking at his watch.

Four weeks ago on Sunday his spine collapsed. Even in the A&E Department at Aintree hospital he was firmly denying that he was a dying man, although he did acknowledge that the cancer would get him in the end. He still foresaw another 10 years ahead of him. While alone with him Sylvia talked to him and said that he did not need a priest or church to pray to God, he could pray anywhere at any time. Why did she say this? Because God was already at work even as he had been throughout Tom’s life, did he but know it. He was admitted to Clatterbridge Oncology Centre on the same Sunday.

There something remarkable happened. That God whose existence Tom had denied all of his life, broke in and met him. As he lay paralysed from the waist down on his hospital bed, his life was transformed. We went to visit him on the following Monday – 4 weeks ago now although it seems a lifetime ago. He was somewhat depressed at having to lie flat on his back, and said that if the treatment didn’t work (i.e. enabled him to sit up) he wouldn’t want to live another 10 years, to which Sylvia replied quietly that it would be more likely a number of weeks. She asked if he would like us to read with him; he replied yes; I read Psalm 34. He asked what the words poor and humble meant. I explained that being poor in spirit and humble is recognising that without God we are nothing, and that we derive everything from Him. We know that we are sinners lost and unable to help ourselves and are solely reliant upon the grace of God shown to us in His giving of His only Son to die on Calvary for us.

He asked if he could write a Psalm (Read)
I prayed with him at the conclusion of which he thanked me his face awash with tears.

I say again that this was a tough self reliant man who would never turn to religion as a crutch.

On the Tuesday we returned and brought Catherine Voss – Children’s New Testament because we thought it might be less of a strain on him. He wanted us to read on and on. We came to a passage in Luke 2, which deals with Simeon. You will be familiar with the passage where Joseph and Mary have brought the baby into the temple for purification and to bring their offering. There they meet Simeon, an old man who has been promised by God that he will not see death until he sees the Lord’s Messiah.

The Bible says Simeon on seeing the baby Jesus said ‘Now Lord lettest thou thy servant depart in peace…’ Voss translates that ‘Now Lord I’m ready to die…’ Tom lay back with a sigh and said ‘I like that; everyone should be able to say – now, Lord, I’m ready to die.’ Again, he was anxious that I should pray with him.

This went on day after day. We would arrive at the ward to find that he’d been reading the Voss and the New Testament and Psalm for himself. He said ‘The nurses think I’m turning into a religious nut,’ words he’d used to describe Sylvia after she was saved. He became increasingly confused, but the confusion often manifested itself in religious terms. He would write and it was clear that while the writing was largely nonsensical it manifested a preoccupation with the Lord.

On one occasion when we arrived he said ‘I love Sylvia; I love John,’ and then said how that all of these people were gathered (meaning the patients and staff) that I might preach to them, and if I didn’t he would. When we prayed with him he clasped Sylvia’s hand tightly.

It also manifested itself in a preoccupation with his childhood and with his mother.

Last Tuesday Sylvia was unable to visit. My own father was in Glan Clwyd having suffered a heart attack; after visiting him I went straight to Clatterbridge. There I read with Tom and prayed. I held him by the arm and he held onto my hand as I prayed, and he tried to join in. At the end he said Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

On Wednesday they removed all treatment but that necessary for his comfort. He became increasingly non-communicative. Valerie, Shirley and Sylvia spent most of the Thursday with him and Sylvia and I visited him on the Friday. He acknowledged us, but it was clear he wished to be left alone. We knew that we could do nothing and so prayed and committed him to the Lord.

At 7.45pm the nurse looked into his room to see if he was comfortable. She found him quietly repeating the Lord’s prayer, but in no sense distressed. She asked if he was OK and he opened one eye and said Yes.

At 8pm she returned to find that he had passed away.

It was my immense privilege and honour to be with him and minister to him over the last weeks. I grew to love him over these last days and I know of a certainty that he is now in a far better place. To quote from Pilgrim’s Progress that for him the trumpets have sounded on the other side.

I recall again the words of Simeon which he so liked – Now Lord I’m ready to die. He was ready to die because his spiritual eyes had been opened. While he was alive for those 77 years, he was dead, but as his physical life ebbed away, so he came to know real life.

Simeon was given a promise that he would see the Messiah, and that he would be kept alive. Mary and Joseph bring the baby the one who will be the Messiah / Saviour. Simeon’s prophetic eyes see Him laying down His life for His sheep.

Tom was kept alive while sailing on the convoys. A friend and he were talking during the war. His friend said that he didn’t think he would see the end of the war. Tom replied that he knew he himself would. His friend did not survive. Tom clearly did. Why? Because God in his infinite mercy determined that he could not die until he had seen God’s salvation.

Here is a blog entry from 2005 about Terri Schiavo

2008-12-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Living will
Terri Schiavo is being starved to death at this moment, if she has not already died. This woman's husband has gone to court to get permission for her feeding tube to be removed, her parents are opposed to this move and have tried to stop this. The courts have ruled that the parents have to endure the state certified murder of their daughter. Mr Schiavo is in fact in a relationship with another woman, and has in fact had two children with this woman. Mrs Schiavo has no voice, she is incapable of defending herself, she must be among the most vulnerable in society and should therefore be allowed the full protection of the law. This sadly is no longer the case, both in Europe, USA and Britain. We stand on a precipice, euthanasia is gaining credibility, there is talk dying with dignity. Our own government want to bring in a living will, where even expressing the desire to die verbally will be enough for the medical profession to starve a person to death. Even if family members disagree, the court will probably rule in favour of those who want to end the life of the person. Surely this is only the beginning, once starving to death is accepted as a matter of course, there will be cries for a change in the law to allow lethal injection, it will be argued that it's not kind to starve someone, why not end their suffering in a matter of minutes. How dangerous, as soon as it is deemed lawful to murder someone because of their lack of quality of life, no-one is safe. The Nazi's started with those with learning disabilities. How will a person who is old, infirm, needing a lot of care, their money is all going on nursing care, rather than to their children. It would be very easy for this person to choose euthanasia because they feel they are a burden. Already mothers are pressurised into aborting a baby who might have something wrong, the cost to society, the burden on themselves, no worthwhile life. Yet I know many parents who have a child with special needs, I know so many because I also have a child with special needs. They all love their children, I haven't met many who have wished they had aborted. The truth is it's easy to imagine how awful you life might be when you are not facing a situation, a person may look at the family who have a child with a disability and imagine how awful it must be for the parents, or the child themselves. The difference is the very special love you have for that child, it transcends all difficulties. Similarly a person may be told they have cancer, they may look into the future and say they would take a pill rather than live with a collapsed spine. My own father said the same thing, he always said he would rather kill himself than end up a cripple (his word not mine) , when my father's spine did collapse, he didn't want to die, the last few weeks of his life were precious to him and his family. He told me he loved me for the first time in his life, he found God in a very real and living way. Imagine if he had been killed as soon as his spine had collapsed, maybe he would have suffered less, but his life wasn't finished, those last few weeks were the most important of his life. Mrs Schiavo isn't terminally ill, she needs food and water to be kept alive, we would all die in such circumstances, the only difference between us and her is that we can get our own food. I have decided to write a living will, I intend to make it clear I would like to be given food and water in such circumstances. I wouldn't want my family to have to live with the guilt of seeing me starving to death

Terri Schiavo's story

2008-12-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

http://www.joniandfriendstv.org/
Does anyone remember the terrible story of Terri Schiavio who was starved to death by order of the US government. You can see a very moving documentary on the circumstances that surrounded her death. It makes me angry and sad at the same time.

2008-12-22T02:01:00.001-08:00

I haven't blogged for a few weeks, I have been busy with lots of things that I can't remember now. I am just about ready for Christmas, the tree is up and the presents bought. We are all under weather today Alice and Esther were very sick during the night, Alex has a nasty cough and I've got a cough too. I have just watched a wonderful video by Franklin Springs A Full House of Blessing:
" The Inspiring Story of the Nicklas Family Although Tom and Melanie Nicklas desired a large family, having two of their six children born with disabilities was not part of their dream—until the Lord made it a part of their vision to honor Him! Hosted by Joni Eareckson Tada, A Full House of Blessing provides a look at a home where love and acceptance are taken to a new level. The Nicklas home is a vibrant home, full of the wisdom and joy that only God can give.
called "Full House of Blessing"
This film is an inspiration, I would like to make every Christian sit down and watch this, this family have been blessed with two special needs children, yet their focus is on the blessings God has given them. One part of the film that particularly spoke to me was when the mother said to her husband. "I'll never be the same after this."
His response was to say, "God doesn't want you to be the same, let God do what he wants to in you."
You can buy the film here http://www.franklinsprings.com/films/fullhouse/ , it will be a blessing to anyone who watches it.

Measure your political compass

2008-12-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

Keeping Christmas

2008-12-05T02:50:00.001-08:00

Keeping Christmas
Henry Van Dyke
Romans 14: 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord.
It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.
But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness—are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for [pg 48] your kindly feelings, with the gate open—are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas. Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world—stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death—and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas. And if you keep it for a day, why not always? But you can never keep it alone. LBC Christmas Helper •Page 9 © Living Books Curriculum, all rights reserved. Visit our website: www.livingbookscurriculum.com

2008-12-05T02:40:00.000-08:00

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time.Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? G K Chesterton

A beautiful piece of music to make us think of the Incarnation.

2008-12-04T00:54:00.000-08:00

A very challenging e-book on marriage.

2008-12-03T07:08:00.000-08:00

http://homepage.mac.com/nelsnelson/.Public/Books/Biblical%20Marriage%20P1.pdf

2008-12-03T01:22:00.001-08:00

"Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein

2008-12-01T11:44:00.001-08:00

2008-11-29T03:49:00.000-08:00

2008-11-25T10:09:00.000-08:00

'Miracle' turnaround in Delaware euthanasia case
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 11/25/2008 7:00:00 AM
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The Alliance Defense Fund has reached a favorable settlement in a lawsuit that pitted a divorced father and mother against each another over whether their 24-year-old daughter should live.

Lauren Richardson sustained a severe brain injury in August 2006, according to an Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) press release. The doctors then declared she would be in a "persistent vegetative state." ADF attorney Matt Bowman tells OneNewsNow Lauren's mother was fighting to have Lauren's feeding tube and water discontinued, but she had a change of heart. "The miracle in Lauren Richardson's case is that both of her parents came to realize that life should be protected," he explains. "It's inherently valuable, and just because Lauren has a severe disability doesn't mean that her life is not valuable." Lauren's mother became a born-again Christian and visited her daughter at her hospital facility, which Bowman believes was quite eye-opening. "And then an amazing thing happened," he notes. "She told Lauren that Lauren would be cared for, and Lauren started crying, and they cried together and she realized that her daughter was really there and was really responding." Lauren was also responding to pain, music, family members' voices, touch, and assisted exercise. The parents have agreed to settle the case and share joint guardianship of Lauren.

More news on the persecution of German home schooling families

2008-11-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

German home schooling family seeks asylum in U.S.
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 11/25/2008 4:15:00 AM
var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';

A home school advocate is helping a German family who is seeking asylum in the United States.

Mike Donnelly is a staff attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and says home schoolers in Germany are under great persecution. He also notes many German families home school in secret, but if they get caught, they can face fines in the thousands of dollars, lose their personal property, get thrown in jail, or even have their children taken from them. One family, according to Donnelly, has suffered so much persecution that the HSLDA is now helping them seek asylum in the United States. The Romeike family was faced with thousands of dollars in fines and the potential loss of their five children if they did not comply with the demands of German social workers who wanted to put their children in government-run schools. "And so they were able to get here to the United States," he explains. "They relocated to East Tennessee where they have been warmly welcomed by home schoolers in that area, and they are just so happy to not have to be looking over their shoulders wondering when the social workers were going to come and try to take their children or when they were going to get another letter in the mail saying they were going to have to pay another couple thousand Euros or dollars to the German government for home schooling." Other German home school families have followed suit, and Donnelly says they have hired an immigration attorney as they seek political asylum. He is hopeful that asylum will be granted in these cases.

2008-11-24T05:21:00.000-08:00

Telling our children

2008-11-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

Joshua 4:21-23

21 And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?
22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:

We are to not only share God’s dealings with His people from the Bible, but we should share our own personal experiences of God with our children. I had begun writing my own personal experiences down for a book I am hoping to co-write with a friend; my daughter who was nineteen read it and looked moved. We had assumed she understood all that had happened because she had lived through it. But being a young child at the time she had not really been aware of all that had happened. She didn’t really know our history. We verbally shared with her how the Lord had moved really close to us the year before all our trials had begun. We shared how her Dad had felt called to the ministry, this felt presence of the Lord experience had seemed to us to be a preparation for the ministry. But it wasn’t, it was a preparation for suffering, particularly in my husband's health. My husband then recalled the times he had visited his Uncle in hospital and at home. My husband's uncle suffered a massive heart attack at fourty eight. This heart attack had left him with only 20% of his heart working. He also had work related asbestosis that had affected his breathing. My husband remembers his Uncle asking what use he was to anyone, he couldn’t work or even do anything in the Church. My husband had said God had given him the gift of suffering. This was a very easy thing for a young man who had reasonable health to state. Yet now as he himself suffers with diabetes, leg ulcers, arthritis in the spine and angina, he knows what it is to really have the ’gift’ of suffering. Our daughter was very moved as we shared these things with us, but more importantly we shared our very real living faith with her. She knows God is real because he is really at work in our lives. God told the children of Israel to raise stones so that they may continually tell their children what the Lord has done. We must I believe keep telling our children our recent history, they must see the power of God in our lives.
Having been challenged to do this with our children, I shared Alex's history with Alex and his three youngest sisters; Alex was diagnosed with classic autism when he was four. I shared with them how Alex had been very distressed, he used to be frightened to go into public buildings like shops or church. I told them how he used to scream and scratch his face, I shared with them how I felt so afraid, how I had worried that I wouldn't have been able to take care of him when he grew older. Alex was shocked to hear this, I told him how every day I had prayed that the Lord would help him, and give him peace. Alex couldn't beleve how bad his autism used to be, we talked about how the Lord had answered our prayers for Alex. Alex said he was glad God had put him in a Christian home, he said he had noticed that he was a lot calmer than a lot of the other people who have autism that he knows. This I think is something that is faith strengthening for our children, knowing how God has worked in a wonderful way in their lives.

2008-11-17T05:13:00.000-08:00

'The diligent rearing of children is the greatest service to the world, both in spiritual and temporal affairs, both for the present life and for posterity.'
Taken from the book Hugenot Garden which was written by Douglas M.Jones111

A twilight of a great civilisation

2008-11-17T04:59:00.000-08:00

This quote is taken from a book that written by the theologian Karl Henry, this book was written in 1988, this quote is one of the reasons why my husband and my self finally decided to homeschool our children in 1995.

'If evangelicals believe that the enduring corrective of modernity's badly-skewed ethical and epistemic compass is the self disclosed God and His moral agenda, they had better say so and live so in this crucial turning-time in America. Otherwise they may soon find themselves aliens in a once promised land. We may even now live in the half-genearation before hell breaks loose and, if its fury is contained, we will be remembered, if we are remembered at all, as those who used their hands and hearts and minds and very bodies to plug the dikes against impending doom.'

A memorial to my father in law who died- last June

2008-11-13T07:27:00.001-08:00

The memoriam was written by my husband and read at his funeral.
I’ve been asked to say a few words by way of a memorial to my father. My Dad was born on 17th January 1927 in Broomhill, a small village in Northumberland, the middle child of Christopher and Evelyn Lowery. He had an older brother, Ronnie and a younger sister, Bettie. They grew up in a loving and God fearing home, where the Lord was central. I well remember when I was a child hearing my Granny, my Dad’s mum, up at 6am singing hymns as though it were her last breath. This was the atmosphere, which pervaded their upbringing My Dad was saved by God’s grace at the age of 18. On a holiday in Meadowcroft, a Christian Guest House in Bowness on Windermere, he met a young lady from Liverpool, who four years later on 24th September 1949 he married, my Mum. For a time they lived in Broomhill, where with Ronnie, Johnny and Betty they were very active in the Lord’s service, before moving down to Liverpool in 1952.

They had two sons, first me in 1957, and then 7 years later Peter. When I was 3, they moved to Norris Green in Liverpool, where they lived for the next 26 years. Norris Green was, when it was built, the largest council housing estate in Europe with 13,000 houses. My dad was a country lad and never felt at home in the city, but he was the Church Secretary at Norris Green Mission (later Baptist) Church and this coloured all that he did and many of the decisions he took. He stayed in the same council house when others moved out of the area, despite never being really happy in the city, because he believed in the local church. The church must come first, because that had been entrusted to him. My parents benefited greatly from the ministry of their pastor, Rev C D Alexander, under whose ministry they first came to the Reformed faith. This was a more than adequate reward for my dad’s selfless decision to leave Northumberland and move into the city. They were among the prime movers in the setting up and operation of the Bible Exposition Fellowship, whereby the ministry of CDA was spread around the globe. My dad faithfully discharged his responsibilities in the church and the Bible Exposition Fellowship to the best of his abilities, through the good times as well as through distress and turmoil. Finally, due to circumstances outside of their control, with heavy hearts they left their spiritual home in Norris Green and were among the founder members of a new work in Fazakerley, Liverpool, Bethany Baptist Chapel. There they worshipped faithfully, under the ministry of their life long friend Bill Pemberton. However when he retired from the Coal Board, where he had worked as a land sale manager, my mum and dad took the decision to move to North Wales, which they did in 1988, moving here to Flint and joining the work here. Life had become pretty grim in Norris Green; my dad couldn’t take the dog out for a walk without being tormented by the local kids. In addition, Auntie Con had lost Uncle Bert and Uncle Ed had had a heart attack, and mum and dad felt that they were needed over in North Wales.

My dad loved the countryside and frequently, when we were in Liverpool, we would have family days out to explore, particularly North Wales. On holiday, we always went up to Scotland until I reached an age when I didn’t accompany them when they switched to Somerset. We had an aged caravanette and one of my memories of my dad’s exploits was him searching for a gas leak in the caravanette with a lighted match, which always seemed to me a very silly thing to do. Naturally, the collected gas blew up and singed my dad’s hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.

My dad was a creature of habit and liked to frequent the same haunts year after year. The Burrowhays caravan site near Porlock in Somerset became a particular favourite with large family gatherings; with on different occasions various members of the extended family clan taking the site over. Last year to celebrate their joint 80th birthdays Peter and I arranged for us all to return to Burrowhays, and despite the rain this will remain a treasured memory. This summarised my dad because he was at his happiest when with his family. He loved to return to his roots in Northumberland and see Uncle Johnny and Auntie Bette and the girls, as well as seeing Ronnie and Brenda and the family. Yes, he loved his family, and loved to be surrounded by them.

However, he loved his spiritual family as well and loved to be surrounded by the Lord’s people. I well remember when we lived in Norris Green. Our home was the focal point of church life with Mr Alexander an adopted family member. The house was always full of the Lord’s people – they had an open home – and an open table. My mum and dad would spend Saturday in preparation, baking for the Sabbath’s visitors. My dad discovered a real talent for baking. My mum recounts the story of when we lived in Kirkby. I was only a toddler, and my dad was baby sitting. He discovered a cookery book and made potato cakes, not just one or two, but tray after tray after tray. I think we kept Kirkby fed for a year on potato cakes. He liked nothing more than standing around the piano with Mr A hammering out the old hymns and us all singing to our hearts content. This continued so that even in his latter years he liked nothing better than for us all to get together as a family and sing hymns around the piano.

My dad was a man of simple faith, who rather than talking about his faith liked to live it out. He was quiet and unassuming, never one to push himself forward. He was often in the spotlight, but hated being the centre of attention. He was utterly devoted to my mum and to his family, all his efforts were centred on making our lives as peaceful and as happy as possible. He was a devoted grandfather. When Ben and Naomi were young he would come over to our house, (by this time we were also living in Flint) in the morning on the pretext of taking the dog out and call for his playmates, Ben and Gnomes, whom he would take down to the estuary for long walks, teaching them about nature, playing his favourite songs from the war years by Max Bygraves and Sankeys hymns by Burl Ives. His heart attacks in 2004 largely put an end to that. However, he remained devoted to all of his grandchildren, now including Alexander, Esther and Alice, and Thomas and Jacob. He left Peter and me a wonderful example of providing for his family in every way.

Everyone who knew him liked my dad; I never knew anyone who had a bad word to say about him. Since he had been ill doctors, nurses, pharmacy staff, as well as neighbours, all have said how much they liked him and respected him, indeed I would say it was almost impossible not to like him. I have said he was a quiet man, who hated pushing himself forward. However, on occasions he could be cheek personified. He would go up to complete strangers and start chatting to them leaving the rest of us cringing behind.

One of my fondest memories is of our family Christmas concert. When we first began homeschooling, we were conscious that mum and dad would miss out on school concerts. So we began a tradition of having our own Christmas concert each year, at which different family members would play music, or read poetry and we would all sing carols and read the scriptures. These became treasured memories and we have held them each year. Only this year because of my dad’s illness did we have to change it and the family came to Flint rather than my mum and dad coming to Holywell. I know he loved those times and treasured them.

Latterly he was tireless in his work for the Bible Exposition Fellowship. He would listen to taped sermons by Mr A and then type and transcribe them into the word processor. The Incarnation was probably what he would consider the thing he achieved of which he was most proud. Only 122 pages – transposed from audio to the printed page by painstaking labour at a typing speed of a word a minute if that. When it was finally printed and we had received the first copies, we took a copy into my dad at Glan Clwyd Hospital where he was after his first stroke. His pleasure and pride in the achievement was plain for all to see.

What did he teach me? He taught us a strong work ethic - to work no matter how one is feeling and not to complain of ill health. He taught me to love my wife and how to demonstrate it – my mum was always first after his Lord. They both gave us an example of a together marriage – they always acted together. They always went everywhere together. My dad was sacrificial in his giving to my mum and Peter and I. He tried to live out the scriptural command for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her. He gave us an example of selfless devotion. From 1960 to 1975, my mum’s mum, our Nan, lived with us; indeed, it was through her that we were able to move to the house in Norris Green. She was a big-hearted woman but in her latter years, following a series of strokes, became increasingly difficult to handle and disabled. My parents looked after her until she was admitted to hospital where she died. Both were selfless in their devotion to her.

He gave me an example of church responsibility, always looking at the bigger picture and putting personal concerns secondary to the cause of Christ. He was generous to a fault, always being there to help no matter what the need. He had such a soft heart that he only had to hear of someone suffering and he would be first there with his donation; and that applied to animals too. He was always doing something in our house. I could say he left me an example of DIY, he left the example but in my case not the ability to follow the example. Before he was ill, Sylvia would only need to say in passing we’ll have to get such and such done and he’d be there the next day, tools in hand, although latterly he did not have the strength to do those things he wanted to do.

He had another son; not a biological one, but another son nonetheless in all but legal documentation; Oleg Dolena, a young man from the Ukraine, who came into our lives courtesy of the Theological College in Bryntirion and who lived with mum and dad during his college breaks for 5 years. He was and remains part of the family and my very dear brother. Oleg always referred to my dad as Pops. He now resides in Sacramento, where his life is not easy. When I told him of my dad’s passing, he was silent, overwhelmed by grief.

My dad was very happy at the impending wedding of Peter and Lisa and would have loved to have been present. That was not to be for the Lord took him first, but I know that he was greatly heartened by your impending marriage.

I have said much about my dad and yet have not really captured the central point. That is when all is said and done he was a sinner saved by God’s marvellous grace. He was what God made him, nothing more and nothing less. My dad would have said a heartfelt Amen to that. Let God have all the glory. The Lord has chosen to take his servant to Himself. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. For him, the trumpet has sounded on the other side. He has entered into his saviour’s rest from all his labours. For him there is no more pain and suffering, no more tears. We weep for ourselves and for our loss, we do not weep for him. Would we have him returned to us? Surely not. I know that I will see my dad again, in glory. For ourselves,

Such pity as a father hath,
unto his children dear,
Like pity shews the Lord to such
As worship him in fear.
For he remembers we are dust,
And he our frame well knows,
Frail man, his days are like the grass,
As flower in field he grows: (Ps 103:13:15 Scottish Metrical)

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
(Ps 73:24-26)

My Dad’s last words to my mum were ‘I’ve committed us both to the Lord.’ How fitting!

Shark statistics

2008-11-11T02:58:00.000-08:00

Last year, worldwide 3 people died due to shark attacks; in comparison, 150 people died from coconut strikes, 200 people died due to elephants, and 2 million died from not washing their hands and contracting bacterial diseases. So it appears that swimming in the ocean is much safer than, well eating-at least with unwashed hands.

In memory of Mrs Doris Enid Thomas who passed away 3rd November 2008 aged 102 years

2008-11-10T06:48:00.000-08:00

I have just arrived home from the funeral of Mrs Thomas, a very dear saint who was faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ since her conversion in the 1950's. She was born in 1906, she lived through two world wars, the great depression and many other trials. She knew what it was to endure hardship. She heard the gospel during the 1950's and was from then on a faithful follower. Her son said she wanted to share God's love, she chose to do this through the gift of hospitality, she opened her home to many, her home was always full of people in those days, the young man or woman who had nowhere to stay, young people, a Bible study group. Even latterly she insisted that the carers who came to look after her had a cup of tea(made by Mrs Thomas) and a sit down before they started work.
I was very moved to think about Mrs Thomas, she wanted to show God's love to others, she chose to use her home for this purpose. Her children, who are quite old themselves still have this legacy, they remember her open home with fondness. The world is a poorer place without Mrs Thomas, we who follow on after her must step up to fill the gap, what a challenge!

Quote

2008-11-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

"Something of the black dog still hanging about me;but will I shake him off.I generally affect good spirits in company of my family, whether I am enjoying them or not. It is too severe to sadden the harmless mirth of others by suffering your own causeless melancholy to be seen; and this species of exertion is, like virtue, its own reward; for the good spirits, which are at first simulated, become at lengh real."
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

2008-11-08T03:18:00.000-08:00

I have been talking to friends about the way people respond to us when we are going through trials. I was struck by this article which has been written by Bel Mooney.I particularly likes the last comment , "It's not a case of pull yourself together, but I'd feel just as bad in your shoes, so how can I help?"

And finally ... Yes, you CAN live again
Recently I replied to a letter from Linda, whose husband was in a care home, suffering from Alzheimer's disease. She felt distressed, as well as guilty. She also did not know how to handle her husband's condition.
Her letter moved many of you to write letters and because I suggested she encourage her husband's new interest in the bird table, the RSPB kindly sent some gifts. Several readers recommended a book by Oliver James: Contented Dementia.
I bought it and can confirm that anyone who wants help in caring for the condition will find this excellent work a revelation.
The good news is that Linda feels much better. 'I have begun to implement all you suggested for my husband and feel as if a huge, crushing weight has been lifted from me. I skip about, laugh and everyone notices a change for the better.
'It was as if I needed permission from someone else to do things for myself. Everything that benefits me benefits my husband. So I listen to music and go on long walks. Mainly I have accepted that I will feel this grief until Bill dies, but that I don't have to die with him. I thank you from the bottom of my heart...'
If this page has a purpose beyond the individual problems, it's to reinforce the message that to be human is to be complicated and open to pain. And that the finest thing we can do is understand the pain of others.
Linda's children dismissed her grief at the steady, daily 'loss' of her beloved husband.
She needed a friend to say: 'Hey, it's all right. You're allowed to feel unhappy, but don't forget to look after yourself, too.' Now I know that the problems of others can sometimes seem insurmountable, but words of reassurance can work wonders.
It's not a case of 'Pull yourself together,' but 'I'd feel just as bad in your shoes, so how can I help?'
Bel answers readers' questions

Home-schoolers threaten our culture

2008-11-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

SONNY SCOTT:Home-schoolers threaten our cultural comfort 6/8/2008 9:39:01 AM Daily Journal You see them at the grocery, or in a discount store. It's a big family by today's standards - 'just like stair steps,' as the old folks say. Freshly scrubbed boys with neatly trimmed hair and girls with braids, in clean but unfashionable clothes follow mom through the store as she fills her no-frills shopping list. There's no begging for gimcracks, no fretting, and no threats from mom. The older watch the younger, freeing mom to go peacefully about her task. You are looking at some of the estimated 2 million children being home schooled in the U.S., and the number is growing. Their reputation for academic achievement has caused colleges to begin aggressively recruiting them. Savings to the taxpayers in instructional costs are conservatively estimated at $4 billion, and some place the figure as high as $9 billion. When you consider that these families pay taxes to support public schools, but demand nothing from them, it seems quite a deal for the public. Home schooling parents are usually better educated than the norm, and are more likely to attend worship services. Their motives are many and varied. Some fear contagion from the anti-clericalism, coarse speech, suggestive behavior and hedonistic values that characterize secular schools. Others are concerned for their children's safety. Some want their children to be challenged beyond the minimal competencies of the public schools. Concern for a theistic world view largely permeates the movement. Indications are that home schooling is working well for the kids, and the parents are pleased with their choice, but the practice is coming under increasing suspicion, and even official attack, as in California. Why do we hate (or at least distrust) these people so much? Methinks American middle-class people are uncomfortable around the home schooled for the same reason the alcoholic is uneasy around the teetotaler. Their very existence represents a rejection of our values, and an indictment of our lifestyles. Those families are willing to render unto Caesar the things that Caesar's be, but they draw the line at their children. Those of us who have put our trust in the secular state (and effectively surrendered our children to it) recognize this act of defiance as a rejection of our values, and we reject them in return. Just as the jealous Chaldeans schemed to bring the wrath of the king upon the Hebrew eunuchs, we are happy to sic the state's bureaucrats on these 'trouble makers.' Their implicit rejection of America's most venerated idol, Materialism, (a.k.a. 'Individualism') spurs us to heat the furnace and feed the lions. Young families must make the decision: Will junior go to day care and day school, or will mom stay home and raise him? The rationalizations begin. 'A family just can't make it on one income.' (Our parents did.) 'It just costs so much to raise a child nowadays.' (Yeah, if you buy brand-name clothing, pre-prepared food, join every club and activity, and spend half the cost of a house on the daughter's wedding, it does.) And so, the decision is made. We give up the bulk of our waking hours with our children, as well as the formation of their minds, philosophies, and attitudes, to strangers. We compensate by getting a boat to take them to the river, a van to carry them to Little League, a 2,800-square-foot house, an ATV, a zero-turn Cub Cadet, and a fund to finance a brand-name college education. And most significantly, we claim 'our right' to pursue a career for our own 'self-fulfillment.' Deep down, however, we know that our generation has eaten its seed corn. We lack the discipline and the vision to deny ourselves in the hope of something enduring and worthy for our posterity. We are tired from working extra jobs, and the looming depression threatens our 401k's. Credit cards are nearly maxed, and it costs a $100 to fuel the Suburban. Now the kid is raising hell again, demanding the latest Play Station as his price for doing his school work … and there goes that modest young woman in the home-made dress with her four bright-eyed, well-behaved home-schooled children in tow. Wouldn't you just love to wipe that serene look right off her smug face? Is it any wonder we hate her so? Sonny Scott a community columnist, lives on Sparta Road in Chickasaw County and his e-mail address is sonnyscott@yahoo.com. Appeared originally in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 6/8/2008, section 0 , page 0

Long time no post

2008-11-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

I have just finally sorted out my Google account, so maybe I will start blogging again.

Persecution of homeschooling families in Germany

2007-03-26T01:23:00.000-07:00

A family of five children have been threatened http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/122919.aspx read about it here.

Family traditions

2006-12-21T02:28:00.000-08:00

About ten years ago I read a wonderful book by Edith Schaeffer, which is entitled "What is a family?"
I lent the book to someone a long tome ago and so no longer have it, but it was one of the most inspiring books I have ever read, the biggest impression I got from this book is the need to create wonderful memories for the children growing up in the home. The need to keep a tradition going that will last a lifetime. This isn't just for soppy sentimental reason, it is to keep the family strong and to gel the family members together. She spoke about the effort she herself has put into these family traditions. Her traditions have been do successful that they have become an annual family reunion. I so wanted my children to have a happy childhood and to have the kind of memories that would last a lifetime, I always see childhood as the time in your life when you have few worries, I love home education because it provides the child with a longer childhood and with more time to play and learn. I so want my children to have happy memories of their childhood. This is for a number of reasons, the first is so they will be thankful to God for their home. They will be strong 'adult' people who have lived their childhood as children and so will not be one of these 'kidults' who just don't want to grow up. I want them to love family life, so they will make the same efforts when they become parents themselves. I like to feel that no matter what life throws at them they will always have memories of that period in their life when they were happy without burdens. This sounds very idealistic, even as children there are problems to face. Our own family is not without its trials. Our third son has autism, my husband is diabetic, has heart diseases and has bad arthritis and so can't walk far or stand for long. Out second daughter has just become very short sighted in a matter of months, she has also just developed asthmas and eczma. These difficulties make it even more important to create beautiful memories, without happy memories , the problems might dominate, my daughter may only remember being kept awake itching at night, becoming breathless when she runs, crying her heart out because Daddy was in hospital on bonfire night and everyone had asked about him at the meeting at church.These memories will again sustain the children as they go through adult life.
Why am I raising this at this point in time?
We had our tenth annual home Christmas concert last night. Our oldest children who ten years ago were only seven and eight delighted us with poems, songs and music. Some of their friends played some beautiful music for us. Our younger children recited poems, sang, danced and did juggling. We read through the Bible to show the coming of the Saviour, sang carols, with John and me reading poems. We finish this off with some very nice food. We have reached the point where it doesn't feel like Christmas without this family tradtition. But the amazing thing is that this is such a blessing to me, when keeping a home is hard, when I wonder if it is all worth it the memories keep me going. I also know whatever happens to my children, where ever they live, these blessed memories will live on sustaining me in future years when maybe the house is empty and they have all gone.
So this Christmas don't concentrate on how tired you are, instead create some special memories, take the time to count your blessings and thank the Lord for all you have.

e- petition on home education

2006-11-21T04:47:00.001-08:00

Sign an e-petition on home education http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/HErights/

State intervention yet again

2006-11-20T01:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks Carlotta for the link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=416232&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

Home education threat

2006-11-17T00:17:00.000-08:00

Here is an important sevelopment
This has been forwarded, with permission, from another list.Hi allThere is a threat of there being a change in the legislation regarding HomeEducation.Someone has posted an explanation of what is involved on one of the HEactivist mailing lists which also suggests what one can do now inpreparation of this.The post that follows is that explanation.******************************************************a) The Department for Education and Skills is the government dep't that is responsible for developing strategies in education. They see part of their remit as aiming to achieve excellence for all and their functions will accord with the Every Child Matters agenda. http://www.dfes.gov.uk/aboutus/b) Following last year's DfES consultation on draft local authority Home Education guidelines, (which many HEors felt did not adequately or fairly represent the views of a large portion of the HE community), the DfES intend to conduct another consultation on elective homeeducation, which they describe as being intended to be "a full one, conducted via the Department's consultation website."..where they hope to ensure that the documents are accessible to as many people as possible. http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/c) Put simply, it appears that the DfES is considering using the Every Child Matters Agenda to insist that HEors conform to standards as decided by the state. This will doubtless mean that they would like to impose a system of routine monitoring to assess progress. It would also, in all probability, mean that they would like to intervene in the matter of educational content, either explicitly through the imposition of a curriculum or through the method of punitive monitoring. Their complaints with the current system is that whilst schoolsare subject to close inspection, home educators appear to get away with it and that "whilst s437 of the Education Act 1996 provides a remedy for LAs which have concerns that there may be no suitable provision, this is unwieldy, time consuming and expensive and in some cases will be nugatory where home educators are making good provision but are resistant to LA enquiries."d) To keep Home Education as we know and love it, 1/ Write to Elaine Haste of the Elective Home Education Department (DfES) at info@dfes.gsi.gov.uk and ask to be included on a list of thosewho receive information about the consultation. This does NOT mean that you have taken part in the consultation and the DfEScannot honestly claim that you have. The reason why this last pointis important is that HEors who are experienced in the area ofgovernment consultations are rightfully cynical about the usesto which these exercises are put. On previous occasions, HEors have found that they may as well have been shoutingat the moon, since their views were not adequately or fairly represented in any conclusions or practice, though the DfES nonetheless was able to band it about that they had consulted us.So why bother signing up now if we don't plan to actually take partin the consultation? Signing up is important because the DfES needsto know just how many of us they are going to have to deal with. They need to realise just how many of us will resist changes in a serious way. If the ptb think that they currently have significant problems with the dealing with HEors under the present legislation, they need to realise just how many more problems they are going to have should they change the situation in the way they appear to intend. This will only happen if the numbers of us who look as if we are going to be resistant to change really stack up.If thousands of us dig in our heels, refuse automatic monitoring, refuseto use their curricula, and make it quite clear how much trouble we are going to give them, I think they will think twice about going down the route of increased monitoring and interference. The law may be awkward to enforce now, (and so it should be, imo, for otherwisewe would live in a police state) but it will be a sight more difficultfor them to enforce if they try to change it, for not only will they findthemselves issuing bundles of expensive SAOs, but they will also find out that many of our children have unusual educationalneeds for which they will rightfully have to cater.2/ Spread awareness. Send this mail (or improved version) anywhere you think helpful. Tell at least 4 other HEors what is going on and get them to sign up, as above. Get them to tell at least 4 others. Put this on Local HE Lists everywhere. Blog the story if you have an HE or any other kind of blog. Use this explanation there if you don't have the time to re-write it fully.3/ spread the positive word about home education (family values, healthy happy children etc ) possibly using the recent media stuff about "toxic childhood". This would be the "battle of hearts n minds"stuff. 5/ if you are a member of Education Otherwise you might want to communicate your feelings to the EO Government Policy Group about what you would ideally like EO to be doing about all this.governmentpolicy@education-otherwise.org http://uk.f267.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=governmentpolicy@education-otherwise.org . you could also speak to your Local Contact. 7/ if you are a member of any other home education support organisation ( or you know anyone who is ) please pass on general information aboutthe forthcoming DFES consultation. 8/ If you have any energy left, I would also write to your MP, whose seat will doubtless be a much more marginal than it has been for years. Tell her/him that you don't want your private family life invaded, that should the situation change and HEorsbe told what to do, you believe that changes will lead to a challenge in the law that holds that parents should be responsible for the education of their children and that you will encourage parents everywhere whose children are failed by the state system to sue the state for it's woeful failure....see http://tinyurl.com/ynbck5HEors managed to resist similar state encroachment in the US. They jammed the switchboards, looked as if they could be an expensive problem, and frightened candidates by threatening to use their vote in this consideration alone.We can do it here too.Do copy anywhere if useful.Best wishesMike F-WYour man in the hammock***************************http://www.home-education.org.uk/journal.htm mike@home-education.org.uk http://www.home-education.org.uk

Parents fined for not sending children to after school activities

2006-11-03T00:45:00.000-08:00

The whole article can be read here http://www.ippr.org.uk/pressreleases/?id=2388 , the conclusions they come to are unbelievable, why should all family's be affected because some young people misbehave? This suggestion is reminiscent of the Nazi youth movement.

Freedom Orphans: Raising Youth in a Changing World, will be published next month (Nov) and will recommend that every secondary school pupil (from 11-16 years old) should participate in at least two hours a week of structured and purposeful extracurricular activities like martial arts, drama clubs, sports, Scouts, and so on. This would take place through extended school hours of between 8am-6pm and would involve a legal extension of the school day. Parents who did not ensure their child attended two hours a week of activities could be fined, in the same way as parents are punished for their child's persistent truancy.

Food for thought concerning immunisation

2006-11-02T01:07:00.000-08:00

When Immunizations Become a Prolife Issue
The original article came from here -
http://www.geocities.com/titus2birthing/VacProLife.html
I can still remember the day I found out that there were vaccines that used aborted babies as part of the process. I really couldn't believe it! I thought there had to be some mistake. I was sure that the person who told me about it had gotten their facts confused. But no, they were right. And, the first vaccine to use aborted babies occurred back before abortion was legal in the United States. The baby wasn't aborted here, but the FDA allowed this vaccine to be licensed despite the illegal status of abortion.
To date, there are 5 vaccines that use aborted babies as part of the manufacturing process: Rubella, as found in the M-M-R®II, the M-R-Vax®II, the Meruvax®II, and the Biavax®II; Poliovax® inactivated vaccine for Polio; Varivax® Varicella Virus Vaccine Live, for Chicken Pox; Imovax® Rabies ID, Wistar Rabies Virus Strain PM-1503-3M Vaccine (and the rabies immune globulin); and the newly recommended Havrix® Inactivated for Hepatitis A. Some of this information is fairly easy to find and some of the information needs some history and medical information to detect.
Rubella
The Rubella Vaccine was the first vaccine to use aborted babies as a part of the process. Today this strain of Rubella Vaccine is present in 4 different combinations used in the United States. These include:
BiaVax®II - Rubella and Mumps Live Vaccine
M-M-R®II - Measles, Mumps and Rubella Live Vaccine
M-R-Vax®II - Measles and Rubella Live Vaccine
Meruvax®II - Rubella Live Vaccine
The information in the PDR sounds simple enough: "...sterile lyophilized preparation of the Wistar Institute RA 27/3 strain of live attenuated rubella virus, grown in human diploid cell (WI-38) culture..." Physician's Desk Reference (PDR), 50th Edition, Medical Economics,1996, p. 1613
You have to do some digging to find the history of this vaccine before the terms "RA 27/3" and "human diploid cell (WI-38)" tie in with aborted babies. Fortunately, the digging is not difficult and the original documentation was very forthcoming about the source and manner in which this vaccine was created.
Here are some excerpts from medical journals which provided specifics about the cell cultures for the Rubella vaccine:
Gamma Globulin Prophylaxis; Inactivated Rubella Virus; Production and Biological Control of Live Attenuated Rubella Virus Vaccines ; Amer J Dis Child Vol 118 Aug 1969
Dr. K McCarthy: It seems to me that there are two things that we worry about in regards to WI-38 cell substrate. First of all, presence of extraneous viral agents; secondly, the possibility of there being human genetic material passed over into the vaccine. I wonder if there is any information about the reasons for aborting that particular embryo that gave rise to WI-38; and if it was from a family, whether we have any information about siblings from the family and whether they are normal?
Dr.S Plotkin, Philadelphia: I should like to answer Dr. McCarthy's question. This fetus was chosen by Dr. Sven Gard, specifically for this purpose. Both parents are known, and unfortunately for the story, they are married to each other, still alive and well, and living in Stockholm, presumably. The abortion was done because they felt they had too many children. There were no familial diseases in the history of either parent, and no history of cancer specifically in the families; I believe this answers Dr. McCarthy's question.

Attenuation Of RA 27/3 Rubella Virus in WI-38 Human Diploid Cells; Amer J Dis Child vol 118 Aug 1969
Explant cultures were made of the dissected organs of a particular fetus aborted because of rubella, the 27th in our series of fetuses aborted during the 1964 epidemic. The third explant, which happened to be from kidney, was selected arbitrarily for further study.

Studies of Immunization With Living Rubella Virus ; Arch J Dis Child vol 110 Oct 1965
This fetus was from a 25 year old mother exposed to rubella 8 days after last menstrual period. 16 days later she developed rubella. The fetus was surgically aborted 17 days after maternal illness and dissected immediately. Explants from several organs were cultured and successful cell growth was achieved from lung, skin, and kidney. It was then grown on WI-38. This new vaccine was tested on orphans in Philadelphia.
Twenty-seven babies aborted because of rubella exposure before they could isolate the rubella virus in any tissue. And, a baby was aborted, not because of rubella in the mom, but because this couple felt they had too many children. Some would say that at least some good came out of it, but I would ask, "Wasn't this too high a price to pay? Couldn't tissue have been taken from a living person instead?"
Many have asked why manufacturers wanted fetal tissue. This article attempts to answer that question.
Production and Testing of Rubella Virus Vaccine prepared on WI-38 cell cultures; Amer J Dis Child vol 118 Aug 1969
Methods
Virus Production --Hoskins and Plotkin have shown that human diploid cell strains are readily susceptible to chronic infection without cytopathic effects by rubella virus. The infected cells resemble control cells morphologically, but the ability to multiply may be inhibited.
In other words, the cells gained from aborted children take the infection readily without causing damage to the virus. Another concern also addressed in the use of aborted babies is the ability to prevent other disease strains from contaminating the sample and the ability to avoid the cross-species jumping of diseases that occurs when animal tissues are used.
A final note before leaving Rubella: This vaccine was tested on orphans in Philadelphia. Therefore there were no living parents to object to the testing and raise concern over children being used as test subjects. This is one of many times in medical history when those who had no voice or who were not given the right to refuse were used to further the gains of the drug companies. More about this issue later.
Imovax® Rabies ID
The human rabies vaccine was produced by the same company that produced the Rubella vaccine, Wistar. The description in the PDR says "The virus is harvested from infected human diploid cells, MRC-5 strain..." You will notice the same description of "human diploid cells" from the Rubella vaccine.
Wistar Institute had discovered that human aborted children made good cell medium, so they decided to repeat the procedure for human rabies. There is no proof that the Rabies virus was introduced into the mother prior to the abortion, so we assume that her life was not in danger.
The Immune Globulin, the same serum we give to humans bitten by a suspected or confirmed rabid animal, was prepared by taking blood plasma from individuals who had been immunized with the Imovax® vaccine. Therefore, the immune globulin has been tainted with the same use of aborted children.
Poliovax®
Poliovax is an inactivated or killed version of the Polio vaccine. It contains three different types of polio virus: Type 1 (Mahoney), Type 2 (M.E.F.1), and Type 3 (Saukett) which have been grown in human diploid cell cultures MRC-5. Note, these are the same cell cultures obtained for the rabies vaccine.
Under the heading Clinical Pharmacology, this explanation follows as to why human aborted babies were used:
This inactivated poliovirus is produced using cells from a human diploid cell line, MRC-5 cells, grown on microcarriers in suspension culture such that infection results in a production of high titer poliovirus. The virus is concentrated and purified prior to inactivation, then quantitative potency measurements are made prior to formulation of the trivalent vaccine. In these respects this vaccine differs from the inactivated poliovirus of monkey kidney cell origin. Because this vaccine is more consistently immunogenic than that which was previously available, it is intended to replace the monkey kidney cell derived Poliovirus Vaccine Inactivated (formerly Poliomyelitis Vaccine).
Monkey kidney cells had been proven to carry SV-40, a form of AIDS present in monkeys. This same SV-40 is showing up in human cancer tumors found in children who's parents were vaccinated with the tainted vaccine. Concern that the SV-40 was also causing immune-deficiency problems in humans led to it's removal from the list of acceptable vaccines.
According to the manufacturers of Poliovax®, using human cells makes a more potent vaccine and therefore creates a higher immunologic response without the danger of cross-species transfer of diseases. Add that to the information provided with the Rubella vaccine that it was easier to infect the tissue without causing damage to the virus, and you have some compelling reasons why drug companies might consider aborted children to be good medium for vaccines.
Varivax®
The chicken pox vaccine is an interesting study in the use of aborted human babies. The following is the description of the vaccine found in the PDR:
Varivax® [Varicella Virus Vaccine Live (Oka/Merck)] is a preparation of the Oka/Merck strain of live, attenuated varicella virus. The virus was initially obtained from a child with natural varicella, then introduced into human embryonic lung cell cultures, adapted to and propagated in embryonic guinea pig cell cultures and finally propagated in human diploid cell cultures (WI-38). Further passage of the virus for varicella vaccine was performed at Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) in human diploid cell cultures (MRC-5) that were free of adventitious agents.
Please note how many children, live and aborted were used to make this vaccine! One live child with natural chicken pox, one aborted child's embryonic lung cells, and a second human aborted child from the same cell cultures used for the Rubella, WI-38, and then a third pass into the same aborted cell cultures used for the rabies and polio vaccines. If you count the embryonic guinea pig, that's 3 aborted human babies and at least one aborted guinea pig and one live child! What in the world is Merck thinking??!!
All this for a vaccine that was marketed as a way to save thousands of parents from having to take a week or so off work to stay home with their sick child. All this for a disease that is generally mild in children and far more debilitating in adults who often evidence symptoms as shingles. and, since the vaccine doesn't provide life-long immunity, one must either get boosters every 5 - 10 years or contract chicken pox or shingles later in life. What a wonderful trade-off!
Havrix®
Havrix is the Hepatitis A vaccine. The PDR description for this vaccine includes the following:
Harvix (Hepatitis A Vaccine, Inactivated) is a noninfectious Hepatitis A vaccine developed and manufactured by Smith-Kline Beecham Biologicals. The virus (strain HM175) is propagated on MRC-5 human diploid cells.
Note the use of MRC-5 cell cultures again as found in the chicken pox, rabies and polio vaccines.
The Bottom Line
Drug companies that make vaccines have discovered the tissue from aborted babies make good cell medium in which to grow viruses they want to use to make vaccines. They assume that the use of human aborted tissue causes fewer problems in the long run and higher immune titers. And, they believe that parents either don't know or don't care that they are doing it. I would agree that most parents don't know. I would not agree that most don't care!
There are a growing number of parents who are investigating vaccines and finding out about the use of aborted tissue. Many of these parents are opting to take religious and philosophical exemptions to prevent the administration of these vaccines to their children. This may not be the only reason they choose not to vaccinate, but for many, it is a contributing factor.
Religious and philosophical exemptions allow parents the right to selectively vaccinate their children. This may mean that they choose only to avoid vaccines using aborted children. The exemption laws don't require parents to explain their reasoning.
If You Thought The Other Was Bad...
I wish I could say that the only pro-life immunization issue was the use of aborted children. However, it isn't! Vaccination programs in some third world countries have been used to create a "population control vaccine" by using a Tetanus vaccine that has been "enhanced."
The following news article appeared several years ago and explains this vaccine strategy:
Unknowing Women Victims of Hidden Birthcontrol Vaccine
During the early 1990's the WHO (World Health Organization) has been overseeing massive vaccination campaigns against Tetanus in a number of countrie, including Mexico, Nicaragua, and the Philippines . In 1994 suspicion of these campaign protocols began. The vaccine protocols called for three injections in three months and five total within a year's time . These tetanus vaccines were given only to woman age 12-49; children and men were excluded. More alarm bells went off when many of the pregnant women who were given the tetanus vaccine began to experience bleeding and early miscarriages .
When several vials of this tetanus vaccine were analyzed by chemists, many of the vials contained Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG) which the body uses to maintain pregnancy. So what does this all mean? Well when hCG is injected into the body with a tetanus toxoid carrier (a tetanus toxoid is used because the human body does not attack it's own naturally occurring hormone hCG), the body will then begin to produce antibodies to hCG. So when a woman becomes pregnant and a sufficient amount of anti-hCG antibodies is built up in her system, she then becomes unable to maintain a pregnancy and she will miscarry
Here are a few journal articles on anti-fertility vaccines utilizing tetanus toxoids as a carrier (many written by WHO researchers):
(Contraception Feb. 1976, pp. 253-268) "Clinical profile and Toxicology Studies on Four Women Immunized with Pr-B-hCG-TT."
(The Lancet June 1988, pp.1295-1298) "Phase 1 Clinical Trials of a World Health Organization Birth Control Vaccine."
(Fertility and Sterility Oct. 1980, pp. 328-335) "Observations on the antigenicity and clinical effects of a candidate antipregnancy vaccine: B-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin linked to tetanus toxoid."
(Scandinavian Journal of Immunology Vol. 36, 1992, pgs. 123-126) "Anti-hCG Vaccines are in Clinical Trials."
Here are a few newspaper articles:
The Philippine Star, April 4, 1995 "3 DOH vaccines untested by BFAD,"
Ottawa Citizen, April 4, 1995 Ottawa got blood tainted by HIV."A communiqué from Tanzania tells about tetanus toxoid vaccinations, five in all, given only to women aged 15-45. Nigeria, too, may have been a victim to this hCG vaccine ( see also The Lancet June 4, 1988, p. 1273)
The following is a copy of one of the articles that appeared once the information became public:
Philippine Medical Association study indicates that women were injected with contaminated tetanus vaccine
FRONT ROYAL, VA Have women in the Philippines, and possibly elsewhere, surreptitiously been used as guinea pigs in an international anti-fertility campaign?
A new medical study in the Philippines suggests that may well be the case. A recent study conducted by the Philippine Medical Association on behalf of the Philippine Department of Health revealed that almost 20 percent of the tetanus vaccine sampled positive for the hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), according to Human Life International. Vaccines containing the hormone immunize women not only against tetanus but also against pregnancy by inducing the body's immune system to attack the hormone needed to bring an unborn child to term."
This study lends credence to what Human Life International (HLI) and some other groups have suspected all along," said Father Matthew Habiger, president of the international pro-life/family organization. "We first began to hear reports last year about tetanus vaccination campaigns in the developing world that targeted only women of child-bearing or pre-child bearing years, and that they required multiple injections. The vaccination program is sponsored by the World Health Organization, an agency with a 20-year history of researching anti-fertility vaccines," Fr. Habiger said. "We brought our suspicions to the world's attention. This new study greatly heightens our concerns."
The WHO and certain feminist organizations that claim to care about the health of women publicly attacked HLI after it called for an investigation of the widespread allegations about contaminated vaccine. "In light of the new Philippine study, it appears that these groups have squandered their credibility," Fr. Habiger said.
The Philippine Medical Association reported that nine of the 47 vaccine samples tested were found to contain hCG, and released a letter signed by the three Philippine physicians who actually tested the vaccines. The PMA president attested to the veracity of the letter and the testing process. All the vaccines sampled were taken from various health centers in Luzon and Mindanao. Almost all of them were labeled by one of two Canadian firms, Connaught or Intervax. All the samples were tested with an immunoassay-based method developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The Philippine Medical Association report closes the first stage of a two-part investigation of contaminated vaccines in the Philippines. The protocol for the second stage of the test testing the women vaccinated for antibodies to hCG has been submitted the Philippine Department of Health and is awaiting funding. In a letter to the Philippine Department of Health, HLI urged immediate approval of the second stage to uncover the full dimensions of this scandal.
The tetanus vaccine tested in the Philippines was imported as part of a program against neonatal tetanus sponsored by the WHO. Similar vaccination protocols have also been observed in WHO programs administered in Mexico and Nicaragua. Tests of the vaccine in Mexico yielded similar results but none of those tests was performed as part of an actual investigation into the contamination.
"We view the adulteration of tetanus vaccine with hCG to be a matter of grave concern," said Fr. Habiger. "It is absolutely essential that any country which has this program in place begin testing vaccines for contamination."
Noting that it is unlikely contaminated vaccine would still be in circulation after public concerns were raised last year, Fr. Habiger suggested that researchers attempt to focus on acquiring and testing unused vaccines distributed prior the public outcry over vaccine contamination. He said it is even more important that women who previously received the vaccine be tested for the telltale presence of hCG antibodies in their bloodstream and that the numbers of miscarriages experienced by vaccinated women be tabulated.
"We are not making any accusations at this stage," Fr. Habiger said. "But we strongly suspect something is seriously amiss. And public confidence in these kinds of vaccination campaigns has been critically eroded in several developing nations. Only an objective, scientifically valid study of this matter will lay public concerns to rest." Human Life International 4 Family Life, Front Royal, VA 22630 U.S.A.
Once drug companies decide it is okay to use aborted babies to make vaccines, it's not a large jump to try to produce a population control vaccine. Once they decide it's okay to test vaccines on unsuspecting Philadelphia orphans or refuse to treat syphilitic African American men so they could watch the progression of the disease, it's not a great jump to decide to test a population control vaccine on childbearing aged women in third world countries where they are unlikely to protest or sue.
In Conclusion

Chivalry isn't dead quite yet!!!

2006-10-21T04:39:00.000-07:00

I took the three youngest to Manchester yesterday to see the Alice in Wonderland ballet. On the way home we boarded the train at 4.23. It was really packed and it was hard to keep hold of Alex, Esther and Alice. I was thankful to have Donna and Naomi to help, we each looked after a child. I was with Alice the youngest, I was standing with Alice in the aisle, she is only little so would have felt a little intimidated. A very nice man offered me his seat so I could sit Alice on my knee. I was very thankful to hin for his very kind gesture. About two stops later Esther found us, she was standing next to us talking to Alice. Then the man who was sitting next to me gave up his seat so Esther could sit next to us. Alex also came over and another man moved to let Alex nearer to us. So there you have it a wonderful example of gentlemanly behaviour, it is so encouraging to think that this can and does still happen.

What if you had been homeschooled

2006-10-19T02:28:00.000-07:00

An interesting article with the above title http://www.homeeducator.com/FamilyTimes/articles/14-5article22.htm

Purposeful design website

2006-10-19T02:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.acsi.org/web2003/store/

F.T article on John Mackay

2006-10-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/aa7dcb90-5b20-11db-8f80-0000779e2340.html

European court rules against homeschoolers

2006-09-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Homeschoolers are not protected by the European court of human rights, this court has ruled that the German state is right to oppose home education, please read the article below. This ruling has serious implications for all of us in Europe.

Wednesday September 27, 2006
European Human Rights Court Rules State May Deny Parents Right to Home School Their Children
By Peter J. Smith
BRUSSELS, September 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The European Court of Human Rights gave another setback to German homeschoolers by affirming that the interests of the State trump the rights of parents to educate their children. Yesterday, the Court denied a request from the parents of Joshua and Rebekka Konrad to rule Germany’s ban on homeschooling violates their human rights as parents to educate their own children under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Fritz and Marianna Konrad filed the human rights complaint in November 2003 on behalf of their children arguing that Germany’s compulsory school attendance severely endangers their children’s religious upbringing, and promotes teaching inconsistent with their Christian faith, especially the State’s mandate of sexual education.
The Konrads had appealed under Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 of the Convention which states, “No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.”
However, the Court decided in favor of Germany, stating that “Parents may not refuse the right to education of a child on the basis of their convictions” and adding that the right to education in Article 2 “by its very nature calls for regulation by the State.”
Although the Court admitted that “it cannot be formally said that the applicant parents are seeking to impose their religious convictions against their children’s will,” the Court upheld the findings of German Administrative Courts that “the applicant children were unable to foresee the consequences of their parents decision for home education because of their young age.”
The Court also agreed with the finding of German Administrative courts that “Schools represented society, and it was in the children’s interest to become part of that society. The parents’ right to education did not go as far as to deprive their children of that experience.”
While the Court postured itself as defending the rights of the child and declared the State to know better than parents the best interests of their children, it also endorsed a “carefully reasoned” decision of the German courts indicating the State had an interest in subordinating value systems competing with the state’s secular values. The Court agreed with the finding of Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court which stressed “the general interest of society to avoid the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions and the importance of integrating minorities into society.”
According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, nearly 40 homeschooling families are embroiled in legal battles with the assertive German state. HSLA reports in its September 22 E-lert that these families are facing persecution for trying to educate their children in a Christian (parallel) society without exposing them to the State’s harmful secular values, especially sex education.
Authorities have dealt with resistance to Hitler’s ban on homeschooling imposed on Germany in 1938 in a manner more consistent with Nazi Germany as families face imprisonment, heavy fines, the state seizure of their children, or are forced to seek asylum for their convictions in neighboring countries.
LifeSiteNews readers who wish to respectfully protest the German Government’s actions are urged to contact them via their embassies. US:Wolfgang IschingerAmbassadorGerman Embassy4645 Reservoir Road NWWashington, DC, 20007-1998(202) 298-4000The embassy can be e-mailed from its website.

Something to listen to

2006-09-19T01:54:00.000-07:00

A very interesting Christian radio programme http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_list.php

Mother of twelve imprisoned in Germany

2006-09-15T01:32:00.000-07:00

This mother has benn imprishoned in Germany for homeschooling read about it here http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1330

2006-09-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

We have just started back at our school work after the long summer break. We have been studying the rise and fall of the Roman empire. We were reading about the amphitheatre yesterday, the cruel murder and torture of the Christians as an entertainment of the masses. We are reading a book called Martyrs of the catacombs, it is very moving and deeply challenging. The great might and power of Rome was used against innocent children, whose only crime was to love the God who had created them.
Yet inspite of all its power, mighty Rome fell at the hands of the 'barbarians'. One can't help but draw a parallel to our own society. We like Rome have lost our moral compass, Christianity is once again under attack see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/10/nchrist10.xml. If there is anything to be learnt from history it is that Christians must still stand for the truth, we must with God's grace stand firm, we must not deny his word. I love this verse
Revelation 12 V 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death.
Rome had so much, but its greed and then apathy led to it's downfall, it wanted to conquer more and more lands, eventually they couldn't control the border's because they were too big. In a similar way we in the west are facing the threat of terrorism, we see ourselves as far better equipped than the enemy. Yet our politicians are removing our freedoms, we as a people are constantly watched. All this is done in order to protect us from terrorism. But it appears as though the powers are used more on the ordinary citizens rather than upon real terrorists.
Just as mighty Rome saw itself as superior to the Goths,Visigoths, Vandals, Huns, Celts etc, our politicians see western values as the only way to provide freedom. But what freedom are they talking about? Freedom of conscience, I think not. What are western values? Without God as a measure, abortion, euthenasia and many other evils are promoted. Do they mean tolerance? I don't see tolerance when a person disagrees with the new agreed wisdom. Just as Rome saw taking regular baths and eating cooked food as a measure of how civilised they were, they were blinded to their own barbarity where mass entertainment was to see fellow humans ripped apart by lions. In the same way leaders of our society talk about their own values while babies are ripped apart in the womb, sick patients are starved to death and the elderly and disabled are regularly mistreated.
But Scripture teaches us that it is God who raises up Kings and Kingdoms, it is God who breaks down Kingdoms. We see evidence of fallen civilisations all around the world. The ancient pyramids, the Roman roads and ruins all around the world. We see evidence of the fall of our own civilisation, a breakdown in law and order, the prosecution of the innocent while the guilty go free. The massive increase in teenage pregnancy, the breakdown of the family, the rise in drug abuse, the growth of gambling. The poor state of education, with its emphasis on postmodern behavioural techniques. Yet our civilisation sees itself as untouchable, our nation and the west has set itself against the Lord and against his anointed. Mighty Nebuchadnezzar was made as a beast, he was brought low, only then did he see what he really was.
As believers we must as Abraham of old beg for mercy for this nation of ours. Remember in Genesis Ch 18 where he asked the Lord to spare Sodom if there are 50 righteous, he then asks for mercy for 40 he eventually asks the Lord to spare the city for the sake of 10 righteous. We know the sad truth was only Lot and his two daughters were spared in the destruction of Sodom.

I haven't posted for a while

2006-08-21T00:54:00.001-07:00

I must apologise to anyone who might read my blog, I haven't posted for a while. Although I haven't posted I haven't been idle in my thinking. I get more time to read in the summer holidays and I feel my thinking has been undergoing a change. the problem is that I haven't felt confident enough with my thinking to share it with the whole of the blogging world. You know when you are working through ideas and you are still working out your thoughts.
A lot has happened, ben my oldest passed his IB and has gained a place at Manchester to study Biblical Studies. If I'm really honest my prayers were all dirrected toward him not getting the grades, even on the day of his results I was praying that the Lord would conform Ben's will to his. I had the very strong sense that the Lord was telling me I needed to be willing to submit to the Lord's will on this. So it is with much fear, we support out son through this course. The good part of the course is that he will be able to learn Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.
Back to my thinking, I think there are three things that have come together to change my thinking. The first is a conference we attended on the five points of Calvinism. The teaching was majestic, it touched my soul in such a powerful way. I have always seen myself as a Calvinist, but I have never seen and understood how all the power and love of God is harnessed for his elect. The Sunday after the conference my husband was preaching in the church, he spoke on the holiness of God, he reminded us of the God with whom we have to deal, the same God of the Old Testament who is unutterably holy. It made me think of the way we treat God, he is not a tame lion. I also read a beautiful book about a girl who was deaf, dumb, had learning disabilities and was disabled. She was converted and her faith was amazing. The part of the book that struck me was the effort that was made to enable her to take part in the service. Which brings me onto the next thing I have been reading, The Virtual Church by Peter C. Glover. This book deals with the heresy and weakness in the Church. But the part that struck me most was the need for the Church to see itself as part of the worldwide body of Christ, not just now but through the ages. I was struck by the danger of a Church choosing what it believes outside of the historical Church. The Apostles' Creed, The Westminster Confession, if our beliefs step outside of historic Christianity we are on slippery ground. I suddenly saw how the Evangelical Church generally has got into such a mess, independency has meant a moving away from the Caterchism and men individually working out what they believe, this leads to division and error, it allows heresy to flouish. I also have to acknowledge how poor the teaching is within evangelical Churches. Most Christians are bored by doctrine. We need to get back to systematic teaching, with believers well taught and able to spot heresy.

I haven't posted for a while

2006-08-21T00:54:00.000-07:00

Homeschooling father

2006-08-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is a story about a Christian father who home educated his daughter in the forest for four years, she was mature, well and academically ahead for her age, the father had an old set of encyclopaedias and a well worn Bible. http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=67497

"Though our children live in the midst of a Christian world, they faint and perish in misery because they lack the Gospel in which we should be training and exercising them all the time. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Schools will become wide-open gates of hell if they do not diligently engrave the Holy Scriptures on young hearts. Every institution where men are not increasingly occupied with the word of God must become corrupt." -- Martin Luther, Appeal to the Ruling Classes (1520)

Are we different

2006-07-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

Ben has just come back from two weeks of UBM. He had a really blessed two weeks, and had many conversations with people. One man said he would find Christianity easier to believe if Christians were radically different. Ben shared with us how challenging he found this statement, I tried to argue that Ben had been very different from those at college and I was sure that the other students would say he was very different from them. He said it was easy to argue and state what is true, but had he really done it in love. I have been thinking about this for a few days, the verse, John 13:35, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. I f we are to have any impact on the world we must fulfill this scripture. We must show fourth the love of Christ in our lives.

Brave new schools

2006-07-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

This article is written from an American point of view, but it sounds so familiar.

Brave New Schools - Introduction

Before you begin
by Berit Kjos
Home Contents
Remember the frog that landed in a pan of water and stayed until it boiled? Had the pan been hot, the frog would have noticed and hopped out. But the water felt cool at first, and the frog sensed no danger. It simply relaxed and conformed to the gradual change. Subdued by the rising heat, it grew too sluggish to act. By the time the water boiled, the frog was dead.
I know that carefree feeling. When my oldest son entered the system over two decades ago, our local elementary school seemed safe and friendly. A fatherly principal welcomed him, and friendly teachers used the same old teaching techniques that taught me to read and multiply long ago: phonics, drills, memorization.... How could I suspect that these proven teaching methods would be replaced by classroom experiments using children as guinea pigs for social engineering? I had no way of knowing that truth, facts, logic and history would soon be replaced by an unrelenting emphasis on myths, feelings, imagination and politically correct stories. I saw no reason to believe that our values would soon be ridiculed, redefined, and subjected to unthinkable tests.
If someone had told me that globalist educators were determined to mold our children into a compliant workforce for a New World Order by year 2000, I wouldn't have believed them. If a friend had warned me that political leaders would use our schools to transform the world into a "global village" held together with the cords of pantheistic oneness and a computerized surveillance system, I might have laughed. How could our elected representatives agree to something so outlandish? That could never happen in America. This was the land of the free! After all, we have our Constitution. No one can take our rights--or our children--from us!
Ten years later my third son started school. By that time, I had read enough textbooks and talked with enough teachers and parents to know that our schools were changing. The more I researched, the more alarmed I became. The foundational goals of education had turned upside-down not only in my community, but across the country and around the world. Socialization--the "right" attitudes, beliefs, and behavior--had replaced academics as the main outcome of education. In spite of the nice-sounding promises, individualism was out; group thinking and universal values were in. The minds of children were being molded through the latest techniques in behavioral psychology.
If this monstrous system is put in place by AD 2001 as planned, all children will be monitored through a national computerized data transmission system designed to build a permanent, personal file on every child. No one will be safe from the watchful eyes and controlling arms of the new system -- not children taught at home or in private schools, not their parents, not anyone.
This transformation transcends political as well as national lines. The main body of President Clinton's massive education law, Goals 2000, was first drafted by Education Secretary Lamar Alexander during the Bush Administration and introduced to the public in 1991 as America 2000. The two, Goals 2000 and America 2000, are essentially the same "outcome-based" system. Today, many of its functions and proposals have been transferred into private, non-governmental groups or merged with the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services. This makes sense, since the strategies for molding the global workforce stress mental and emotional "health", not factual learning.
It is impossible to summarize the worldwide educational agenda in a few pages. You wouldn't believe me. That is why I wrote this book. But before you start reading it, let me give you some helpful suggestions:
First, preview the Chronology of Events in the back of the book. It will clarify the globalist agenda and show the steps that brought us to the dawning of an international education system.
Second, scan the Glossary. It defines and explains new words and concepts that are part of educational restructuring. These words will be highlighted when you first meet them in the chapters of the book. Their true meanings may surprise you.
Third, look for answers to the questions below. Those answers will help you respond wisely to people who, like the proverbial frog, have become so accustomed to the changes that they fail to see the danger signs. They may ask you--
What can be wrong with global oneness?
Don't we need international education?
Won't multicultural education build understanding and tolerance?
Why do Higher Order Thinking Skills do the opposite of what they promise?
Teaching environmental consciousness and political activism is essential to creating a better world, isn't it?
Why shouldn't the whole community be partners with parents in raising children for the 21st Century?
Fourth, don't blame the local teachers. They are caught up in a movement they can't stop. Because their intentions are usually good, they often feel confused or angry when confronted by parents who question their efforts. They simply don't understand how lessons that seem so good to them could seem so bad to others. As you read, look for practical tools to help them see the difference.
If you are a Christian teacher being pressured to cooperate with the new system, the facts in this book may discourage as well as encourage you. Know that when God puts His people in the heat of the battle, He also promises to meet all their needs.[1] Armed with truth, faith, and the essential facts, you will be ready for your local battle.
Fifth, be alert to the difference between well-meaning local educators and the educational establishment (national and international) who have planned the transformation. The latter call themselves "change agents" and are training an army of like-minded revolutionaries for our local schools.
"We need change agents in charge of those schools, not preservers of entrenched interests and encrusted practices,"[2] wrote Chester Finn, Director of the Educational Excellence Network, who helped former President Bush and Lamar Alexander promote America 2000.
These change agent are trained to twist the rules to win public support. As North Carolina school superintendent Dr. Jim Causby said in his 1994 speech at the Second Annual Model Schools Conference[3] in Atlanta,
"We have actually been given a course in how not to tell the truth. How many of you are administrators? You've had that course in public relations where you learn to put the best spin on things."[4]
To stay ahead of critics, leading educators keep changing the labels. Thus, what many know as OBE or Outcome-Based Education is also called Quality Learning, Total Quality School Restructuring, Performance- or Achievement-based Education.... It doesn't matter. Whatever the label, it refers primarily to the national/international system that demands specific "outcomes" from students and uses the psychological strategies of Mastery Learning to achieve the planned result. John R. Champlin, a leading change agent, summarized the deceptive plan in the Journal of Quality Education,
"While OBE has become a "tainted" term... many of the significant practices and concepts will continue under another label, one that will not take away even a particle of what a well-conceived, well-managed OBE program offers... We need to learn our lessons well -- for keeps this time."[5]
To sell OBE or to the public, change agents promote it as "local control" and "decentralization." They are not telling you the truth. As you will see in Chapter 7, what students must learn at the local level will be determined at the national level.
The chart below shows how educators "put the best spin" on their deceptive plans. Ponder the three sets of meanings. They expose the heart of the transformation.

traditional or assumed meaning
misleading or stated meaning

Real meaning behind
the misleading promises
World Class Standards
New standards needed for global challenges.
"High standards" needed for the 21st Century global economy
Low standards for literacy, comprehension and factual knowledge. "High standards" for the beliefs, attitudes, and group thinking needed to prepare human capital for the 21st Century.
Mastery Learning
(ML)
Students must master key subjects, i.e., learn the content.
Given enough time, all students can learn--and achieve the "same high level."
Psychological strategies for conditioning students to new beliefs, values, and ways of thinking. Failure to meet attitudinal, not factual, standards means drilling until students demonstrate the "right" responses.
Outcome-Based Education
(OBE)
Educating students according to planned results
A systemic plan to prepare all students to meet high standards.
The national delivery system for Mastery Learning. A multi-level process for setting educational standards at the national level and making sure local schools prepare students individually to meet affective standards.
Multcultural Education
Learning about other cultures
Learning to respect and understand all cultures and lifestyles
"Becoming" a multicultural person, open to the pluralistic beliefs and lifestyles of all except those who cling to Judeo-Christian values.
Local control
Elected school boards represent local parents.
Local schools choose and manage their own learning programs.
The lowest level of a new centralized bureaucracy. A selected panel of supportive citizens will make sure students learn what national standards and tests require.
Finally, don't forget that Our God still reigns. He has the world in His hands, and nothing can hinder His eternal purpose or timetable. When you trust and follow Him, you can be confident that "your Lord who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf."[6]

A short video

2006-07-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a video that might just be some of the reasons a person may choose to homeschool.
http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/wp-content/themes/179/aschool.html I haven't signed up so I don't know what the e-mails they want to send are like.

LEA Visit- Planning for next year

2006-07-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

A lady from the LEA came to look at our home-education yesterday. It went OK, she was positive and said that the important thing is the skills that the children are learning. She promised not to viait us for a while.

I have been planning the curriculum for next year, I have been using Susan Bauer's World History Volume 2, which covers the middle ages. It is very good but we have had to digress a bit to cover more British history. We are covering from the Romans coming to Britain to Henry Vlll, it has been hard work finding read aloud books and readers to fit with each period. It is nearly finished now, I have been buying second hand ladybird history books from e-bay. I don't know why they stopped making those books. We have also been using Our Island Story and some old Wide Range History Readers. We are also using historical stories such as Rosemary Sutcliffe's books and some such as Ink on his Fingers by Louise A Vernon and Leonardo da Vinci by Emily Hahn. I have returned to Bob Jones for the Science, it's very thorough and gives a good sound knowledge base. I would like to do Latin with the children, but am concerned that I will struggle with the grammar. Anyone any recommendation. It's such a responsibility teaching history, we can only really understand what is happening now if we fully understand what has happened in the past. I want to teach the children that history is His-Story, I want them to see He that sits in the heavens ruling over the works of men. I want them to see how in the fullness of time God sent Jesus into the world, and that he orders all our ways. I want them to see beyond what happened, for example the Spanish Armarda, God sent the storms to stop Spain from making Britain a Roman Catholic country. I want them to understand what our heritage and freedoms have cost in the past. How men and women have fought and died for our freedoms, only then will they understand what a tragedy it is for a government to tear up our freedom and heritage.
When we see how God has blessed our nation through time, it makes one fearful for its future, mighty Rome fell because it had no firm foundations, the people became used to bread and circuses. Are as a nation any different?

Article on Home-ed

2006-07-03T03:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-2240330,00.html

A woman of discretion

2006-06-27T05:21:00.000-07:00

I found this challengingl verse in my daughter's colouring book, "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion" (Proverbs 11:22)

Dictionary definition of discretion:-
The quality of being discreet : CIRCUMSPECTION; especially : cautious reserve in speech, ability to make responsible decisions, individual choice or judgment.

Other words that are linked to this word are wisdom, diplomacy, prudence, discearnment, confidentiality, modesty, knowing how to avoid embarrassment and tact. How do we as woman have discretion? We must ask of God, we must seek a closer walk with the Lord, weighing all our actions in the light of scripture. We must learn not to talk too much. this is a difficult one for me. We must learn to be submissive to our husbands, and to not push ourselves and our opinions forward. True wisdom comes from God, we must place our own wisdom before the altar of God, we must seek out true wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life. Walter Scott

My Auntie betty's funeral

2006-06-27T05:15:00.000-07:00

We attended my Auntie Betty's funeral today. It was a Roman Catholic service with great emphasis on prayers for the dead, I was surprised to see a plea to pray for the my dead Grandparents written on their headstone. I was struck by the helplessness of the Roman Catholic teaching of purgatory, there is really no peace when a person dies.
I was given many opportunities to witness to most of my family, both about my Dad's conversion and my own. My Dad was known in the family for his wayward ways, a number of them had only just found out about his death. They seemed very interested to hear about his conversion, they were also just as intruiged to hear how I became a Christian, with such a father. I was able to give my own testimony to a number. They were also very interested in homeschooling and again I was able to give our Christian reasons.
Of even greater blessing was the conversation John and I had with my mum and sister afterwards. We were able to talk for about two hours about all sorts of Christian things, heaven, hell, purgatory, election, evolution, how a person is saved. It was a most blessed time, we were open and honest and felt a real liberty.

Music and the Bible

2006-06-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

There are some very interesting thoughts on the place of music in our lives you can read it here http://robinphillips.blogspot.com/2006/05/music-and-bible.html

Babies who survive abortion

2006-06-22T23:35:00.000-07:00

Flollow this link to read about someone who survived an abortion http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1892696,00.html

Homeschoolers persecuted in Belguim

2006-06-22T00:37:00.000-07:00

Please follow this link to find more about this disturbing situation http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/educn/educn038.pdf

Church schools want to opt out of gay bias laws

2006-06-20T02:42:00.000-07:00

This was the title of an article in the mail on Saturday. It takes me days to read the paper's, I'm often a few days late. The article talks of Church schools demanding to be allowed to carry on teaching that the Bible forbids homosexuality. The Church of England has written to the government requesting exemptions from the proposed new laws banning discrimination against gay men and women.
The most intersting part of this article is the quotes from the other side.
Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat M.P. and member of the parlimentary human rights committee, said : 'Schools are not the place for religious moralising about sexual orientation.
'Religious organisations need to understand that they must save that for the pulpit not the classroom.'
Might it be good to suggest to him that the classroom is not the place for promoting all kinds of sexual behaviour.

Equality campaigners called for the government to resist all calls for special exemption.

Andrew Copson, from the British Secular Humanist Association, said ' Society increasingly recognises discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is wrong'

How amazing, a secular humainst using language such as 'wrong', isn't that a moral word? The secular humanists base their whole philosophy on there being no God, therefore there are no moral absolutes. What does he base the accusation of being 'wrong' on?
'Society increasingly recognises'
As a society we are now at the mercy of the majority. The majority feel everyone with blue eyes should die, that's O.K.
What is a majority? 51%? that's 51% of the adult population, children can't vote. Even then the majority are quoted, but not asked, a very tiny minority are forcing their philosophy on the rest of us. They are the intolerant ones, freedom of religion, sorry you can only keep the parts of the Bible that agrees with our philosophy, you can only practise your faith in your worship service and don't go teaching your children the truths of the Bible. We want to teach your children the ways of secular humanism, so they can grow up to worship at the great temple of secularism.

Not ashamed of our Lord

2006-06-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

A dear friend posted this to me thankyou Nicola

Ridiculed for your faith?Greg shares what to do about it.
June 1, 2006
I hadn’t done anything like this in decades.
“Over there,” he said, pointing to a bare patch of concrete adjacent to the heaviest flow of humanity. “Actually, you can pick any spot you want. Just let ‘em have it. Pretty soon you’ll have lots of people to argue with. Trust me.”
It was Bruin Walk, the epicenter of foot traffic at noon at UCLA. It was my job to create a traffic jam by talking. About Jesus. Real loud.
It took me back to the spring of 1975. My brother Mark was cloaked in a tattered robe, thorns crowning his brow and “blood” dripping down his face. Over his shoulder was a rough-hewn cross he dragged up the steep incline of Bruin walk. Behind him a Roman centurion goaded him on with a whip.
I was strategically positioned at the edge of the crowd with a few other Christians ready to “divide and conquer.” As people began to jeer and sling insults we’d turn and engage the hecklers in conversation. Crazy.
But I was older now, more “sophisticated.” I lecture, I don’t street preach. I’d planned to speak on relativism during a campus group’s “evangelism week.” But there was no podium, no lecture hall, no audience of beaming faces waiting to be blessed.
It slowly began to dawn on me that I was the heavy, brought in to break up the hardened ground so the other believers could plant seeds. Except that most of the local faithful didn’t show. So this was what Paul meant by “living sacrifice.”
No question, I was shaken. For one fleeting moment I thought, “How am I going to get out of this?” But the Lord had boxed me in.
The trick was how to start. What was I going to say? I looked around, waiting for a cue, as if by some divine touch the sea of students milling around would suddenly part, the mob would grow quiet, and all eyes would respectfully fasten upon me.
I realized there was no easy entry. Like taking a dip in an icy pond, there's no way to slip in comfortably. I’d just have to jump. And jump I did.
The number one rule in a situation like this is to start with gusto. When you’re scared spitless and feeling timid raise your voice; bang the podium; beat your chest. In other words…fake it.
If I showed the least bit of fear or intimidation there’d be a feeding frenzy, and I’d be the main course. I had to sound confident even if I wasn’t.
Here’s how I started. I pumped up my most impressive baritone and bellowed, “I don’t know where all you Christians are, but I’m fed up with you. Usually there’s a bunch of you hanging around these tables trying to shove your garbage down our throats, passing judgments, telling other people how to live. Why don’t you leave us alone? Why are you always trying to drum up new business?”
The crowd quieted down and started listening. I began citing the offenses of the “bigoted Christian Right.” I piled on criticisms layer by layer. As I did, I heard a couple of mock “amens” from the audience. They liked me attacking Christians.
I paused a moment before I continued. “That was my voice 22 years ago when I was a student like you on this campus. I thought all Christians were dumb or ugly—or both. I had all the standard objections, the same ones I just listed.” For the next 45 minutes I talked. First I told them how Jesus changed my life. Then I fielded their challenges.
I’d like to tell you about the revival that followed, but I can’t because none did. I was just another Christian telling the truth, a truth none was interested in that day. Not much had changed in 20 years. Except me.
Earlier, when I realized what I was up against that afternoon, I thought about the Apostle Paul. He’d done this kind of thing all the time against much greater opposition. I asked myself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” I wasn’t going to get beheaded. I wouldn’t be whipped, beaten, or stoned, as he did.
No, a worse possibility awaited me. I could stumble around looking like an idiot. I could feel like a dope. People might roll their eyes. Some might even ignore me. Here I was inviting ridicule. For what?
For this: I had the truth; they didn’t. I had the Lord; they were lost. I had nothing to be ashamed of; they had nothing. I was on a campus filled with desperate people believing desperate things. I had the truth that could rescue them, the truth of Jesus Christ crucified for their sins. And I was His ambassador. Looking foolish was a small price to pay to be faithful to that message.
Paul told the Philippians that if his life should be poured out as an offering for their faith, that was all right with him. His pride was expendable for the Gospel’s sake. His comfort was expendable. He was expendable.
Early on as a Christian I made a promise. I vowed I would never allow myself to be embarrassed to be associated with Jesus. I’m glad I crossed that bridge early, because I’ve had to make good on that promise many times since.
Why don’t you make that promise, too, right now? Don’t ever be ashamed to be a Christian. Remember, you have the truth. They don’t. You have the Lord. They’re lost. You have nothing to be ashamed of. They have nothing.
A lot of time has passed since those early days. But though I’ve grown older (and grayer), I’m just as passionate about the truth. And I am more convinced than ever about the importance and value of the vision God has given us at STR. That’s why I still “jump in” when God gives me the opportunity, even when I’m shaking in my boots.
.......
Guarding the truth, Gregory Koukl

_____________________________
©2001 Gregory Koukl. Reproduction permitted for non-commercial use only.For more information, contact Stand to Reason at 1438 East 33rd St., Signal Hill, CA 90755 (800) 2-REASON (562) 595-7333 http://www.str.org/

2006-06-13T01:04:00.000-07:00

I found this on another blog, I thought it was so good I wanted to share it on my blog. You can read the original post at http://fearlesslyfeminine.blogspot.com/
A letter from Christian Guys....
Girls, could we talk to you right out of our hearts for a few minutes? It is awkward for us to talk about something of this nature, in person, so we thought we would write our feelings.We are young men who have been saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. We desperately want to live for Christ and not follow the ways of the world. Since we have been baptized (immersed) in a "Holy" Spirit, we feel in our hearts that we should live "holy" lives. After all, our bodies are the temple, the sanctuary, the place where the "Holy" Spirit lives and makes His home.We know that guys and girls are affected differently, so since we desperately want to follow hard after God, could we kindly and respectfully ask you to help us with a few things?We realize that girls are primarily stimulated or turned on by "touch." Did you know that guys are turned on by "sight?" So when you are "aroused" (sexually awakened) by a guy's "touch," we are in the same way aroused by mere "sight." Let us explain. When we see girls who are dressed in a suggestive, revealing, provocative, teasing, tantalizing manner, our sexual desires are aroused. Our bodies are then affected. To be absolutely candid, let us give you some examples of what we are referring to. If you are wearing a blouse that barely meets the waist of your slacks and some of your skin showswhile you are moving around, or simply while you are walking, sitting, or kneeling, our minds are geared to wonder what more of your body would look like further up....This causes our bodies to respond biologically, and suddenl we are fighting a war in our minds and bodies. And that war of lust is continuing often long, even hours, after you are gone. We hate this, because our "righteous man" wants to think pure thoughts....When you wear low-cut tops which are in any degree revealing, or when you bend over, and they are revealing, this again causes us big problems in the flesh. Or if the back is out of your top, we automatically think that you do not have the undergarment on, and the Spirit and the flesh begin to fight again. Or when we see any glimpse of your undergarments, such as straps and the like, we have trouble. What we are trying to say is this: If it is not for sale, don't advertise it. We really feel that the still small voice of the Holy Spirit speaks to you and nudges you when it is too tight, too short, too low, or too revealing. Will you listen to that voice? For the Scripture says, "Quench not the Spirit." (1 Thess. 5:19)Girls, do you know what we would really like? We would like to come among our Christian sisters and not have to fight and struggle in the flesh. We do not need to have to wrestle in the flesh at church or at church activities. We men, whether young, old, single or married, are faced with this every day among girls of the "world." But we would like to have rest in our Spirit man when we come among Christian girls. After all, doesn't the Scripture tell us to "come out from among the world and be you separate, saith the Lord." (2 Cor. 6:17) It also tells us that "all that is in the world, the lust of the eye, and the lust of the flesh, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:15) We are the church, not the world.We know that people often use the verse, "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart," (1 Sam. 16:7) to condone anything they wish to wear. This is one of the most misused/used out-of-context verses in the Bible. Conversely, the fact is, if your heart is pure, your outward appearance will be modest....Girls can be fashionable and modest at the same time. To be honest, we respect you more when your appearance is modest, as the Scripture commands in 1 Timothy 2:9. We really do not want the kind of girl who dresses provocatively, for we know that if we marry her, she will still be that way in the presence of other men once we are married.We know that we have Christian responsibilites toward girls, too. We must be careful to portray ourselves properly. We must treat you like ladies. If we are really committed Christian guys, we will strive to treat you like Jesus would. After all, you are daughters of God.Thank you, dear Christian sisters, for hearing our hearts on this subject. Once we have conveyed the truth of the matter to you, you become responsible before God for what you do with the truth. We really are "our brother's keeper." (Genesis 4:9.) We know that there is a "cult of conformity" in our generation, but we as Christians "march to the beat of a different drummer." Please, girls, do not say, "I don't care," but help us in these last days to live as close to Jesus as we can. Thank you so much.Sincerely,Committed Christian Guys"
posted by Sarah Harris @ 4:41 PM
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Friday, December 02, 2005

I shall return....
At the moment I am reading this wonderful book. I shall write again soon.
posted by Sarah Harris @ 1:07 PM
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Sunday, November 06, 2005

Why Women Are Exposing Themselves (part 1) by Dennis Prager
I found this article several months ago and appreciated Dennis Prager's keen insights. His treatment of the subject goes to the heart of the motives that drive today's immodesty.You may have noticed that many young women wear less, and more sexually provocative, clothing in public than they did a generation, or even 10 years, ago.It is easier to notice, however, than to explain.But explaining it is crucial to understanding what has happened to men and women in the last 40 years and where male-female relations are headed. Women exposing their bodies in public is a big deal. Playing with the sex drive, the most powerful force in nature, is far more dangerous than playing with fire. Even if one welcomes this development -- and for the record, as a male I am turned on, while as a man I am turned off -- it begs for explanation.I will offer at least five reasons that may be less obvious but more important than the valid ones usually given -- peer pressure, women buy what stores sell and the sexual revolution.The first is "equality."By equality, I do not mean the belief that men and women are equal human beings, a belief that all decent people hold. Rather, I mean the feminist and politically correct definition of equality: sameness. Men and women have come to be regarded as the same, not simply as equals.Thanks to feminist doctrines that pervade education from kindergarten through graduate school, men and women increasingly believe that the sexes are largely identical. Therefore, the arenas wherein women can feel and demonstrate their feminine distinctiveness have narrowed appreciably.By showing more of their bodies, women can announce that they are women. There are other ways young women can publicly demonstrate their distinct female identity -- for example, by wearing feminine clothing and other feminine behavior, being a wife, being pregnant and being a mother.But those ways are increasingly ignored, deferred and discredited. Among egalitarians, being a wife is no different a role than that of husband, and motherhood is no longer regarded as distinctively female. Husbands and fathers are supposed to play identical roles, and because of the movement for gay equality, mothers have been declared unnecessary -- two fathers, most well educated people now contend, are every bit as good for a child as a mother and a father.So, for the young woman for whom marriage, pregnancy and motherhood are remote or even undesirable given the anti-traditional education she has received, her primary vehicle of proclaiming she is a woman is literally to expose the fact.A second, related, reason is the death of femininity.In the past, expressing one's femaleness was done through expressing femininity. In addition to the female roles of wife and mother, there were numerous ways of doing so. One was, of course, dress. But in the name of equality and comfort, distinctive female dress -- such as dresses and skirts -- has been largely abandoned. A young woman who wore a dress or even a skirt and blouse to a college, let alone high school, class would probably be considered stranger by her peers than one who wore a see-through top.Today, instead of women wearing feminine clothing, they either wear essentially male clothing (such as pants and pants suits) or flesh-baring sexually provocative clothing. Feminine attire -- i.e., clothing that is very female but not very revealing -- is rare.Femininity was also expressed by sexual reticence. Again, such a notion is laughable in much of contemporary society. The idea that a man made great efforts to be allowed sexual contact with a woman rendered women feminine in men's eyes. They are different from us -- they are feminine. Women who act as sexually available as a man -- through their behavior or their dress -- are not perceived as feminine, since they are perceived as being male-like.Likewise, the myriad ways in which men treated women as women -- such as opening doors for them -- all declared that women were feminine, i.e., different from masculine. That is why many feminists opposed men opening doors for women -- it reinforced notions of femininity, a value that feminism has sought to extinguish.So, femininity is largely a dead concept. Ask most young women -- or men -- what it means, and you will get either a blank stare or a hostile reaction.Thus, many women are now saying: "I am a woman. And I will declare it in one of the only ways left to me -- I will show you my female body."
posted by Sarah Harris @ 10:01 PM

Saturday, November 12, 2005
Why Women are Exposing themselves (part 2)In Part One, I offered two reasons for the increasing exposure of young women's bodies. One was the loss of female roles and identity, leading many young women to announce they are females in the only way left to them -- by showing their body. The other was the near-extinction of the concept of femininity, including the demise of feminine dress.The ending of sex-based roles, probably the major goal of feminism, has brought some blessings, but it has also harmed countless lives. Roles, to use the most venerated word in feminism, empower both sexes.As much as feminists may disdain the roles of mother or wife, those roles have bestowed power as well as meaning and satisfaction on the vast majority of women in history. When all is said and done, heading a home and being married to a good man are far more satisfying to most women than college teaching or corporate work. The ending of women's roles has left innumerable women more free to choose their life's course, but often less happy and, yes, less powerful. Roles empower (as well as constrain) people.Women derive power from feminine roles, and men derive power from masculine roles. At the core of feminism is an envy of male roles and power and a belief that women should have the same. But, as a recent New York Times Magazine cover story noted, women graduates from Ivy League universities are increasingly leaving the corporate world to raise families. Having the same power as men did not fulfill these women.Now, the third reason. With no feminine role to aspire to, many young women feel powerless. The one area of power left for them is sexual. The more a young woman has bought into feminist notions of equality (i.e., the sexes are essentially the same and there is no such thing as a woman's role), the more she is likely to flaunt her sexual power. It is the only power left to her. This helps explain why female students at Harvard -- among the highest achieving young women in the country -- have just launched a magazine featuring Harvard women posing nude.A fourth reason may be surprising -- sexual harassment laws.Women feel freer than ever to dress provocatively in part because men can say nothing about it. Omnipresent sexual harassment laws and "consciousness raising" seminars in businesses and schools have frightened men into not making any sexual comments to a woman.As a result, the normal check on a woman flaunting her body is gone. A woman can reveal her breasts or cross her short-skirted legs near a man, but he is forbidden to say so much as, "You have great legs." In fact, he can be fired or sued for saying nothing and merely "staring."One reason women dressed more modestly in the past was fear of men's verbal reactions. No more. There are vast checks on his sexuality, none on hers.We should either drop all sexual harassment laws (except those prohibiting threats -- "Sleep with me or you're fired") or apply them equally to women. If men create a sexually charged work environment when they talk sex, women do the same when they show sex. "Hostile work environment" -- a trial lawyer enrichment program created by feminist anger at men -- should be either dropped as a legal concept or applied equally to women's dress.A fifth reason is the most obvious -- a desire to attract men.Every woman knows that the quickest way to attract a man is to have him notice her. So it makes sense to assume that the more of her body she shows, the more men will be attracted to her. The problem with this approach is that unless all she wants is sex that night, provocative outfits are not usually in her best interest. Why not?This leads to the sixth and final reason: women's naivete. It is doubtful that women have ever been as naive about men as are large numbers of contemporary educated women. I believe that my grandmother who never went to school understood men better than the average female college graduate today.So, as a service to any woman who is confused by the difference between "cute" and provocative as regards women's clothing, this may help. What you often call cute or attractive, men see only as a sexual come-on. If you wish to dress for sex, you should be entirely free to do so. But if you want love and attention, you have to know the difference between dressing for sex and dressing to be cute and attractive. The more skin men see, the more they think sex, not love. And that includes guys your age, your male teachers, your clergyman, your mailman, and the old man next door.
posted by Sarah Harris @ 6:27 PM

Rebolutionaries

2006-06-12T00:46:00.000-07:00

Calling all teenager's, join the rebolution http://www.therebelution.com/. There are some thought provoking articles on this site.

Bank account

2006-05-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Ben tried to open a bank account today, he made the mistake of closing his building society account before he tried to open a new current account. He had a birth certificate, they can't accept a birth certificate if you are over eighteen. He had a provisional driving license with a photo, but no he would have to have a full driving license. The only things they would except were the driving license, a passport or a NUS card. Ben had none of them so no bank account. I pointed out that my husband had used the bank for thirty years, that apparently doesn't matter. Ben had a letter from our minister to say he was who he says he was, he had his UCAS form, his building society bank book, that didn't count because he had closed the account half an hour before. He now has a cheque from his building society account, but no bank account to put the cheque in. So he has to pay about eighty pounds for a passport he doesn't need, or pass his driving test. Perhaps it's just me, but I can't feel this has less to do with money laundering and more to do with a government that is obsessed with keeping track of us. Even without identity cards they want a body of the state to have an up to date photo of everyone. Without one you become a non-person who is unable to even open a bank account.

Poor in spirit

2006-05-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

What does the Lord mean in Matthew ch 5:3, where he says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the kingdom of heaven." We were discussing this verse in Y.P F. last night. People made different suggestions, humility, those who lose everything for the kingdom of heavens sake, becoming as a little child. John said all these things are part of it, but it is the constant acknowledgement of our sin and dependence upon God. Knowing that without God we are nothing, any gifts we do have come from God, we are to constantly acknowledge our need for God in our lives. This got me thinking, imagine if we all lived like this, we wouldn't take offence at others, we wouldn't push ourselves, we wouldn't compare ourselves with others. We wouldn't be jealous or angry, all these things come from an false view of our worth. We are of great value to our heavenly father, but without His grace and favour we are worthless sinners.

Exams over

2006-05-19T12:01:00.001-07:00

Ben had his last IB exam today, what a relief, I have spent the last few weeks driving back and forward to Llandrillo College. We just need to wait for the results now. You can see photo of Ben with his IB class here http://www.llandrillo.ac.uk/ib/default.htm . He is the only one without the IB leaving hoody.

Exams over

2006-05-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Annuls of the world

2006-05-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

I feel compelled to recommend this wonderful book, it is such an amazing history book, we have been reading a small amount every day, we have been plotting out the dates and times when Biblical figures were born, it really helps to bring the Bible to life. A lot of people poke fun at Bishop Usher, but this is a brilliant work. I got my copy from a Creation research meeting, you can find them here http://www.amen.org.uk/cr/index.htm

The Annals of the WorldJames Ussher
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Courtship

2006-05-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

If you would to debate this issue please follow this link http://lucyvdb.blogspot.com.

An interesting article on courtship

2006-05-11T01:13:00.000-07:00

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/largerhope/Courtship%20&%20Betrothal%20Essays/C%20&%20B.htm

Talk to two groups of student nursery nurses

2006-05-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

About a week ago I received a phone call from one of Naomi's tutor's. She wanted me to give a talk about home education to two groups of students. She asked me if the 5th May would be O.K. I said yes, not wanting to miss an opportunity to help educate people about home education. She asked me to talk about the law, what help we receive from the government, some of the reasons for choosing home education and a typical day, I agreed to do my best. The moment I put the phone down, it hit me. I began to feel very nervous inside. I wanted to give a good account of home education and yet I felt so frightened. I asked the Lord to help me in my preparation and to go before me as I went into the college.
As I began my preparation, I started making some slides for power point, my kind family had all sorts of suggestions, don't say this, have the print bigger, I would just say this here. You can't read from notes, you use the slides as a prompt, just speak it will all come to you. I began to feel overwhelmed, I was sure my mind would just go blank.
The following Sunday evening our Pastor gave a testimony about his going into the schools to take assembly, he shared how he always dreaded the thought of taking an assembly in the high school, he then went on to share about the way the Lord helped him and gave him just the right words to say. This was such an encouragement to me, I felt the Lord had shown me others get nervous and we all only do these things in the Lord's strength.
Friday 5th May dawned, it happened to be my birthday, but my mind wasn't on my birthday, all I could think about was the looming talk. I prayed and asked the Lord to help me to say all that he would want me to say, most of all I wanted to connect with the students, I wanted them to feel I was genuine, I wanted them to understand the reasons for home education and to at least feel it was a positive thing. I wanted to share our Christian reasons for choosing home education. Naomi took me into college, as we walked in I felt that the other students felt home education was funny, and that it was embarrassing for Naomi to have to walk in with her mum. Again I sent up a little prayer asking for wisdom, I felt sorry for Naomi at this point and I prayed that she wouldn't suffer after I had gone home.
There were a few missing from Naomi's class so we all moved around a smaller table. I felt very nervous as I started, my first slide had a picture of Alice reading a storybook, along with the words' When it comes to education, there's no place like home' . I introduced myself and said why I had been asked to come in, they all liked the photo of Alice, I think her looking so cute broke the ice. As I went through the law, the reasons, socialisation and then moved onto how children learn so much from the natural environment, the students began to join in and ask lots of questions, all in all it went very well.
The second group was a big surprise, it was a much larger group with a lot more mature students. I felt things went much better with this group, by the end they were asked if they would consider home education. Naomi's tutor said she wished she could have her time all over again so she could have a go at it. One student said she would like to do it would be afraid of living on one wage. A few others who are parents said they would like to do it but they don't feel clever enough. I felt priviledged to be able to tell them I am only a nursery nurse and they mustn't feel they can't home educate because of their lack of qualifications. I used to feel afraid of my lack of qualifications, I felt it was a way that people could argue I wasn't able to teach my own children at home, in the early years it was one of the arguments that people used against me. But on friday I saw it in a different light, I realized that I would be able to encourage others who feel that way now. I can also see that I haven't home educated in my own strength but in the Lord's strength, I find it ironic that one of Ben and Naomi's strongest subjects is maths, when that is my weakest subject. I can only think of the scripture, His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Socialisation

2006-04-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

I have had to prepare a talk on home education, as part of this talk I looked up the word socialisation in the dictionary here are some of the definitions
socialization, socialisation, acculturation, enculturation

the adoption of the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture; "the socialization of children to the norms of their culture"

socialization
group action - action taken by a group of people
2.
socialisation - the act of meeting for social purposes;
socialising, socializing, socialization
coming together, meeting - the social act of assembling for some common purpose; "his meeting with the salesmen was the high point of his day"
3.
socialisation - the adoption of the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture; "the socialization of children to the norms of their culture"
acculturation, enculturation, socialization
social control - control exerted (actively or passively) by group action
cultivation - socialization through training and education
bringing up, fosterage, fostering, nurture, rearing, upbringing, breeding, raising - raising someone to be an accepted member of the community; "they debated whether nature or nurture was more important"
I had always mistakenly seen socialisation as mixing with people, forming friendship, but socialisation is seen as much more, it is seen as training children to adopt the patterns of the surrounding culture. The purpose of socialisation is to enable children to adopt the norms of the culture, to feel they have a common purpose with the group. Where does this definition leave the Christian ? We want to please the Lord, we are called to be different from the group. If the group expect underage sex, drugs and drinking in order to be excepted as normal , where does that leave us. The next time a Christian asks about socialisation, I will give them the definition of socialisation and ask them if that is what they are really recommending for my children.

A world propagandists

2006-04-22T02:22:00.000-07:00

I have just read an article by Michael. W. Kelly. His basic contention was that modern western society is heavily reliant upon propaganda. Many of us think of propaganda as the kind of things that were put out by the Nazi's or the Soviet Union. We think of propaganda as something that brainwashes people into being happy with a totalitarian regime. Propaganda is not so obvious as we suppose and is far more subtle than any of us realize is the greatest force upon modern man, the aim is to create a society that sees itself as a unit, individuality is not welcome. Kelly shows how modern man feels alone and without direction. He no longer believes in God and so is left without a direction or moral code. Propaganda seeks to break the small bonds that control society, these would include Church, family and community which in the past provided a moral leadership. If these are broken down the individual is left looking for guidance and help from someone else. The group becomes the family and the state becomes the parent. With modern technology there is no need for masses to come together. Television is one way a whole population can be brought into one view, films, radio, newspaper's and magazines. But that is only the beginning, public schools, early childcare, afterschools clubs, surestart all enable the propagandising of the individual from a very early age. There is a new under fives curriculum that will expect four year olds to be capable of respecting all religions. My daughter is training as a nursery nurse she was talking about multi-culturalism, she said all childcare establishments are expected to teach all religions as valid alternatives, she wondered why a child has a 'human right ' to learn all religions, but not to only learn his or own religion. What about the right of the parents to not have their child introduced to other religions at an early age? We teach our children that there are other religions but we don't expect them to take part in other religions worship, that would go against the teaching of our own religion. All individually held faiths are under attack from this dogma, religion itself is by its very nature exclusive, but the state is trying to raise a whole generation that will not believe in anything. You can't say yes and no is the right answer, either one or the other is correct, if children under five are presented with this illogical way of thinking, they will grow up to be incapable of thinking anything except from the official line. This isn't just applied to the religion it applies to morality, re-writing of history, and generally being unable to think. Individuals can't live without a set of rules, they need to feel they are 'good' people, the new morality is fought for through the liberal agenda. Pressure groups that fight for'victims', they fight for the poor, the government must do more for the poor, disabled etc. Families are not encouraged to take on responsibility for their own sick or disabled. Nanny state must do that. I have a child with autism who we teach at home, but I am always amazed when I talk to parents who complain they get no respite. One lady I was talking to the other day has a son with autism, he attends a special school and is picked up at say eight in the morning and will be dropped back at say four thirty. He also stays overnight in the school two night a week. She was complaining that she had lost her weekend respite. I am not critercizing this lady, her son has some very demanding behaviours. But it illustrates perfectly the individuals increasing reliance upon the state. From my homeschooling position, isn't all day eight to four thirty respite? Apparently not, parents discount school as a break. We have people who come into our home and who take our son to horse riding and scouts and who go shopping with him. I certainly see this help as respite, even thought the hours are far less than school. We have to be aware of the way in which we ourselves can fall into this trap of looking to the state. I am very aware that the church has become reliant upon the state to do a lot of the things that would once have been expected from the church. A person in the church becomes incapacitated, the person is expected to look to the state for care rather than the church. I remember watching Francis Schaeffer's video's on 'Whatever happened to the human race?' In these video's he deals with euthanasia, infanticide, abortion etc. He was dealing with the abortion of disabled babies, he went through all the arguments and then he asked what could we as Christians do. Schaeffer had been in a church with a family who had a child who had Down Syndrome, he described how every week he went for a few hour and taught that child, he said it was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life.
I was telling an older Christian that my daughter didn't feel she could work as a nursery nurse when she finished her course. She feels she can't in all conscience put all these things in practice, she also feels the care hasn't been that good. The reaction from this lady was one of disappointment, she hoped my daughter would find a career she could follow. This lady herself had not followed a career and had stayed at home with her own children. We were wondering later why someone who had not done this herself expected something different from young women today. Naomi thinks it's because that older generation just followed what others did rather than on principle. I think there is truth in that, but I also think a lot of Christians have been affected by propaganda, they just see it as normal for a girl to have a career, and even to carry on working after they have children. They have changed their views, they don't even seem to have noticed. It's good for a girl to be occupied, but she doesn't need to feel she has to earn lots of money and have a successful job. If she is to marry then her husband will support her, if she is to remain single, she only needs to keep herself. I think some kind of feminine role is best for a woman, such as caring for children, those who are sick or disabled. Naomi is unsure of what the Lord would have her do, but she is sure of what he would not have her do, and that is not being part of the propaganda of a generation.

The Touch of the Master's Hand - Myra Brooks Welch

2006-04-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer

Thought it scarcely worth his while

To waste much time on the old violin,

But held it up with a smile.

"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,

"Who'll start the bidding for me?"

"A dollar, a dollar. Then two! Only two?

Two dollars, and who'll make it three?"

"Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;

Going for three..." But no,

From the room, far back, a grey-haired man

Came forward and picked up the bow;

Then wiping the dust from the old violin,

And tightening the loosened strings,

He played a melody pure and sweet,

As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,

With a voice that was quiet and low,

Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"

And he held it up with the bow. "

A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?

Two thousand! And who'll make it three?

Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice,

And going and gone," said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,

"We do not quite understand.

What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:

"The touch of the Master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,

And battered and scarred with sin,

Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd

Much like the old violin.

A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine,

A game -- and he travels on.

He is "going" once, and "going" twice,

He's "going" and almost "gone."

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd

Never can quite understand

The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought

By the touch of the Master's hand.

Confessions

2006-04-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make, I have a strong tendancy towards hyperchondria. I am someone who convinced my mum that I was experiencing double vision when in fact I was just letting my eyes go gossy. I remember her taking me to have all sorts of tests on my eyes, they had to put drops in my eyes and I found the experience very upsetting. They eventually told my mum there was nothing wrong with my eyes. She asked me what I meant and I showed her what happened when my eyes go double. She wasn't very pleased and since then she has never believed me when I say I'm not well. I have also convinced myself I have ovarian cancer, paget's disease and M.S. I am very good at self diagnosis, I just look on the internet and there are the symptoms, they all fit. Thankfully I very rarely tell my Doctor or family about these fears. There is a positve side to my interest, I am very knowledgable about all sorts of diseases, a friend only has to mention they have a certain condition and I just have to research it. I think my son Ben also has these tendencies, he says he could never become a Dr, because he would imagine he had every disease going. At least he is sensible enough to keep away from looking up symptoms.

Pseudo science

2005-05-26T00:45:00.000-07:00

I have just read about a family whose mother and children suffered with Asperger Syndrome, social services interpreted some of their odd responses as evidence of neglect and abuse. They used this flimsy evidence as a reason to place both children on the at-risk register. The saga continued, the mother was afraid to go to the Doctor with pain in her back, when she did eventually go the Doctor thought she maybe interpreted pain differently because she has Asperger Syndrome. She has just died of cancer. http://www.parents-protecting-children.org.uk/news_doc_lb001.asp You can read about her case at the bottom of this link. I am too upset to say any more.

old friend

2005-04-02T10:26:00.000-08:00

I met an old friend today, I was able to purchase it and bring it home. What am I talking about, you may well ask. The answer is 'the Cranks bible'. A cookery book I owned a number of years ago. This book is a vegetarian cookery book which has all sorts of recipes that are delicious with wholemeal flour, such as lemon drissle cake. Along with some delicious soup and maincourse meals. I can't wait to get aquainted again.

Living will

2005-03-31T05:08:00.000-08:00

Terri Schiavo is being starved to death at this moment, if she has not already died. This woman's husband has gone to court to get permission for her feeding tube to be removed, her parents are opposed to this move and have tried to stop this. The courts have ruled that the parents have to endure the state certified murder of their daughter. Mr Schiavo is in fact in a relationship with another woman, and has in fact had two children with this woman. Mrs Schiavo has no voice, she is incapable of defending herself, she must be among the most vulnerable in society and should therefore be allowed the full protection of the law. This sadly is no longer the case, both in Europe, USA and Britain. We stand on a precipice, euthanasia is gaining credibility, there is talk dying with dignity. Our own government want to bring in a living will, where even expressing the desire to die verbally will be enough for the medical profession to starve a person to death. Even if family members disagree, the court will probably rule in favour of those who want to end the life of the person. Surely this is only the beginning, once starving to death is accepted as a matter of course, there will be cries for a change in the law to allow lethal injection, it will be argued that it's not kind to starve someone, why not end their suffering in a matter of minutes. How dangerous, as soon as it is deemed lawful to murder someone because of their lack of quality of life, no-one is safe. The Nazi's started with those with learning disabilities. How will a person who is old, infirm, needing a lot of care, their money is all going on nursing care, rather than to their children. It would be very easy for this person to choose euthanasia because they feel they are a burden. Already mothers are pressurised into aborting a baby who might have something wrong, the cost to society, the burden on themselves, no worthwhile life. Yet I know many parents who have a child with special needs, I know so many because I also have a child with special needs. They all love their children, I haven't met many who have wished they had aborted. The truth is it's easy to imagine how awful you life might be when you are not facing a situation, a person may look at the family who have a child with a disability and imagine how awful it must be for the parents, or the child themselves. The difference is the very special love you have for that child, it transcends all difficulties. Similarly a person may be told they have cancer, they may look into the future and say they would take a pill rather than live with a collapsed spine. My own father said the same thing, he always said he would rather kill himself than end up a cripple (his word not mine) , when my father's spine did collapse, he didn't want to die, the last few weeks of his life were precious to him and his family. He told me he loved me for the first time in his life, he found God in a very real and living way. Imagine if he had been killed as soon as his spine had collapsed, maybe he would have suffered less, but his life wasn't finished, those last few weeks were the most important of his life. Mrs Schiavo isn't terminally ill, she needs food and water to be kept alive, we would all die in such circumstances, the only difference between us and her is that we can get our own food. I have decided to write a living will, I intend to make it clear I would like to be given food and water in such circumstances. I wouldn't want my family to have to live with the guilt of seeing me starving to death.

Ten commandments

2005-03-29T02:26:00.000-08:00

I was reading J.C.Ryle, I was struck by the weight of the commandments, if a man so much as looks at a woman, he has committed adultery in his heart, if you hate your brother, you have committed murder in your heart. J.C.Ryle spoke of God looking at our thoughts and motives as well as our actions. He said we are so weak because we have a low view of God's standard. If we look at our thought life we may rightly feel we have made no progress all. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh upon the heart.

Apologies

2005-03-25T08:21:00.000-08:00

I must apologise for a previous post where I said the family preferred courtship rather than marriage, I meant they preferred courtship rather than dating. Sorry for any who have visions of an indefinite courtship. Well, what have we done today? We got the children a trampoline for Christmas and have finally put it up for them, the springs were really hard, you had to balance the force of the springs, we had to count each space and work it out mathematically, well it's up now. We also had to dig holes in one part of the garden, because our garden is sloped. We should have lots of fun with it. My oldest son has been looking up the various ways in which M.P's have voted on moral issues, if you are interested in finding out how your M.P. has voted click here. We are going to visit Grandad now, he had a heart attack last Friday, thankfully he is home from hospital, but he is shaken up, this is his fourth heart attack.

computer trouble

2005-03-24T04:36:00.000-08:00

I don't know how much longer I'll be able to blog for. Our hard drive is dying, the screen is very dark and I can hardly see what I'm writing. I don't know why the screen is affected. The computer has been a bit off colour for the last few weeks. So if you don't hear from me for a while you'll know why. We'll probably get it fixed in a few weeks time, but all these things cost money. I must confess I will miss the internet far more than I missed the T.V., truth is I don't miss television at all. My husband and children miss teletext the most. We seem to wear computers out so quickly.