Facelift continued

I have been searching for the right picture/ photo for my blog title. I couldn't find one.
So after discussing this with Dermot, we set off setting items up that made up the title and tried to find the best place for photo taking.
So with Dermots help we chose this one above.
It reflects my day, my life, my faith.
My Nanna gave me her tea cup and saucer sets, when I was setting up a flat, when I started my nurses' training. Little did I know that they would truly become precious to me. But I will leave that story.
My Mum added to the collection this year. Its Royal Alberts' 100 year celebration this year. It is very pretty and I was delighted to receive it as a gift.
We grow several varieties of Roses in our yard, and one of our favourites is the one in the blog photo called Princess de Monaco- beautiful perfume, strong lasting rose, and so pretty. So we have roses in our home many months of the year. Brid has started placing them in everyones bedrooms and in Dermots' office, bathrooms and living area, but always a rose next to Our Lady.
Our Lady was given to us by my Mum, when I said I would like to have a statue like ' my Nanna had'. That was a long time ago, many Rosaries and prayers ago.
Our children are situated around her with holy cards, oil and scapulars surrounding them all.
I think you can just see my blue Rosary beads which are my Nannas. She used to re-sight this whisper of a prayer, every night as she stroked my back to settle me to sleep, when I stayed there as a child. As I was not brought up with Rosary, it wasn't until I heard it said that I remembered the whispers of this prayer.
You see Our Lady has been drawing me close to Her and Her Son for many years. She has been protecting me and guiding me. That is why when Brid when suggesting names for my blog, all these things sat so well with me
So all these items remind me of my Nanna who was my Rock when it came to my faith formation.
My Nanna died before I married Dermot, but she is always in our lives. Everytime I pray the Rosary or say a Novena or move my beads I am immediately reminded of this beautiful woman I call my Nanna.
So there you have it.

Facelift

It is now time to change the background on this blog and we'd like to introduce to you our three young ladies.

We are ready

Completed Quilt.

. On the Machine, nearing completion.

Quilt in bits, it just looks like it is complete.

Now read the happenings

Our Grocery shopping is done, gifts purchased and wrapped. Brid's Christmas craft projects complete and wrapped, next batch of cooking done, Our hearts are so ready.

We will go to Confession tomorrow.

The last few weeks, I have been working on a special project of my own, for Kristie, as you can see from above. Many years ago I made Louise a quilt for her birthday, but never got around to making one for Kristie. Soooo......I made one for her for Christmas. She's a bit of 'greeny', and doesn't really like commercialism, so this is a good present for her.

We were all working together to finish it, because I ran out of time. Dermot was on the cutting station, and Brid was what we call in the Operating Theatres the "scout"- or runner.

Louise dropped in today, and she was on the ' I need a womens' view' station. She somehow liked that.

Now I can relax and enjoy some well deserved rest.

Carols in the Domain

Tonight we are exhausted but full of Joy.
Yesterday we decided at the 'last minute' to go to Carols in the Domain. Now anyone who knows me, knows I love Carols, and watch it every year. I also say every year, I would love to go, but this year we actually did go. It was sensational. We couldn't find a spot to sit down at first because it was packed, but we made the best of it. One of the organisers said it was the biggest crowd they had ever had.
Brid danced and sang and just got caught up in the atmosphere. So did we.
We decided to stay overnight, so this morning we went to Mass at St Marys' Cathedral @ 10.30am. And if anyone knows Dermot & I, yes that is about the right time for us to go to Mass- we are not early risers-(we have trained all our kids to get up late. Much to the surprise of many. )
Mass was a High Solemn Mass, and it was really beautiful. Of course next was the Cathedral Shop- we found the perfect Christmas Nativity decoration.
I left the rest of the day up to Dermot. What would we do??
So Centrepoint Tower it was. I browsed a shop or two, but he had a plan. He got us Skywalking tickets Wow!, on Centrepoint Tower, I was pretty excited, and so was Brid. Brid remembers the 1st Aussie series of 'The Biggest Looser' - and how they Skywalked around the tower. So we got suited up, and out onto the tallest Tower in Sydney- Awesome- I am not scared of heights at all, and this was so incredible, just to be doing this.
Brid had many questions for the guide, and when I load on the photos onto my computer, I will post photos. We were all attached to a rail, so we could jump up and down on the glass and it was strong enough to support us all.
Afterwards we walked to The Rocks, Firstly to the Irish shop and then, to our favourite watering hole- The Mercantile Hotel- or Molly Malones as we call it. It has the best Guinness, Dermot tells me.
There was Irish music playing, and as Brid learns Irish dancing, we said it would be OK for her to do a Reel and Slip Jig in front of the Musicians. She enjoyed herself, the musicians had a smile on there faces as well. Brid is a born entertainer.
Anyway, we had a wonderful weekend. Something we have wanted to do for many years.
It was too hard to organise when we had little ones.

Christmas Cooking

Christmas Cake.

White Christmas and Shortbread on the right.

Well we cooked lots of things this week including Shortbread, Christmas Cake- finally, and White Christmas.

Shortbread is a favourite of our family. It was made Monday and now we have just 2 pieces left-and everyone says- 'not I '. We shall just make more. You see I don't roll it, I put it straight into a foiled lined tin, score it, and straight in the Oven. It's very soft and light , and obviously moreish!!

The Christmas cake is something I have made since I was 17, even when we lived in the UK. I asked Mum to send the recipe over. I made 3 the year I was in the UK. My Dad and I love it, so its worth making. I divide the cake up on the day. Half for me, and half for my Mum & Dad.

White Christmas is one the kids like to make by themselves, and Brid is no exception. She added everything, but the Copha.

She made this one by herself, we will take it to Sydney Homeschool group tomorrow, for the Christmas party.

So guess what we will be doing on the weekend, making more of everything, except my cake. It gets cut Christmas Day. It needs to have regular 'drinks' of sherry for a few days.

So now Christmas Shopping is complete- Just a quilt to put together-, we can concentrate on the real important things. MORE Christmas Cooking, craft and sewing and and and ....... lots of fun.

ADVENT lapbook

Brid has been finished 'school' as such for a while now, took me a while to get these posted.
These are the insides to her Lapbook that we got from 'Oh Holy Night' Blog.

Brid put this all together herself with very little imput from me, which was kinda nice, but it means she is growing up and not needing my input with items like this.

This is her title page. She was very keen to do this lapbook, and it really kept her focused on her Bible and the mystery of The Holy Family.

HAIL HOLY QUEEN

I am a bit of a non-fiction, particularly Catholic writings, buff.

I enjoy exploring the Catholic faith, and in turn deepening my faith.

Lately I have been reading books authored by Kimberley & her husband Scott Hahn.

They are powerful books, and ones, I find very easy to read. When I started reading this particular one, I thought, 'will it be dry', but 'I can handle it if it is'. I kept reassuring myself, just in case I got disappointed, " it won't be like 'Rome Sweet Home' ", but it was an easy read for me.

My latest is 'Hail Holy Queen'- Scott Hahn.
It is brilliant.
I kept stopping Dermot from reading, his book, by saying-'Listen to this' and 'You won't believe what I just found'. Every night. It was inspiring.

I enjoyed Scott continually taking everything back to the bible and Doctrinal quotes from early Fathers of the Church. I like the fact he is a 'convert', and that he knows what others are thinking. It has given me confidence to answer the 'tricky' questions.

I enjoyed his thoughts on before he was a Catholic. I I love the richness he brings to the reader in his books.

I felt sorrow for him when he explained how he threw away his own Grandmothers beads when they were given to him after her death, and joy when he was able to explain the Assumption to his former Methodist teacher and wife, who grilled him for hours.

Soooo I have asked Dermot for another for Christmas and my birthday....., and I have placed in Dermots' to read book pile.
Have you read it? Did you like it? Did you think it inspired you?

My current read is The Genius of Womenhood- Karen Doyle- an Australian, who along with her husband Jonathon are founders and national directors for CHOICEZ Media- directed at youth.
Dermot ordered this before it was published.
I have been waiting for the right time to read it. Now is it.

TODAYS FEAST DAY

We had all intentions of attending A Feast day Mass today, But I have been unwell for a few days, and my desire became just a dream.
So unable to celebrate this feast of The Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin with Mass, as I had planned, we stayed put and prayed our Novena and The Rosary, read the Missal and began the journey of our day.


As the morning drew on I got more tired, so Brid joined me in bed to read her Advent readers- including this gem.
We are taking this one slowly, and savouring every story. We get something out of each one. Its broken up into countries.

We have another read aloud I picked up from a christian bookshop called ' One Wintry Night'- it is the story of the Bible and ties the Christmas message and Our Saviours birth within each small chapter. It is truly lovely.

To finish off our day, we wanted to watch 'The Nativity Story'. I enjoyed it, but we needed to
stop it several times for discussion points.
Also Brid was disturbed by several scenes. ie.,the soldiers violent portrayal was enough for her. Elizabeth giving birth was another talking point.
I watched this movie last year with Kristie, but this is the first time we watched it as a family.
I am pleased there were several things we needed to concentrate on, as distractions. In the Advent Lapbook guidelines, it asked for discussion on symbolism at several points of the movie. I love symbolism, so I was in my element with that. I thought it would be a good teaching tool, as we have been discussing symbols in Narnia and other popular books.
(I will post her Lapbook when it is complete.)

All in all, our day was rich in so many ways, the stories in the readers, mirrored the scripture readings, the Gospel reading, mirrored the Annunciation in the movie.

We learn so much by just being faithful to Our Lord and trusting in his desires for us. So today, I had no choice, than just be. Thank you Lord.

ST NICHOLAS

Happy St Nicholas feast day.

Crafty Brid

We have had a lot of well deserved craft fun this week. So again while Christmas carols playing, and Brid encouraging me to harmonise with her we started ...... this.....

Brid has been gathering craft ideas over the last few weeks. With ideas flowing back and forth between us, soooo in between readers, Advent lapbooking, we have been secretly ssshhh! been getting Brids' Christmas presents together.
She is painting plywood discs to put pictures on for each family member, wrapping them and putting them away in a secret hiding place.

The SEWING BUG-
I like 'doing' sewing from my head, let me rephrase, I rarely use patterns, which gets me into trouble when I am teaching an eager beaver, like Brid to sew. Yesterday, she made an apron, and we made it up as we went along. But it looks wonderful, and guess what Brid did 90% by herself, just me sitting next to her explaining how to move her fingers with the sewing machine.

Christmas Dress:
Brid picked out some material for her Christmas dress, so we will tackle that next week.

Skirt, first of many:-
SO along with my pattern and idea in my head- I made Brid a skirt, UUmm from another skirt, just lengthtened it. altered it along the way, and found a little frill for the hemline. Her Skirt is above- she wore it proudly to Mass today.
So here as you see are the photos as promised.

ADVENT

This is Brids' thing!

She has loved 'setting up' the Nativity Scene since she was a small toddler.

Today I woke to the sound of her 'rearranging' it again.

And it won't be the last time.

Today she made a hill, out of tinsel for the shepherd to 'watch there sheep'.

Christmas Carols are now on the CD player, and will stay until after Christmas now.

Now its Advent, Brid can now play all her new and old Christmas carols on the Piano.

times tables

It has been rather a busy time for me this last two weeks.
My darling man has been at home for two weeks now.
Even though he has been limited in movement, his time has not been wasted.
He has been helping with schooling.
I needed to put him to work as I was rather behind with all others household matters, especially that I needed to take his tasks over.
Sooo........Times tables is something that has definitely been an issue for Brid. She has gone from working them out to knowing them in two weeks.
I have put Dermot in charge of this area. He has accepted willingly. Yeah!
She will be scoring for Dermot on the dart board soon. He will love that.

It has left me a little time to prepare the resources we will use for Advent.

FRIDAY

On Fridays, we have always finished our school week with Mass. In the last few months we have discovered Latin Mass. I find it very peaceful and moving. When I first heard about it, my internal barriers came up. You see, I am charasmatic my nature. I enjoy singing and clapping and praising God in a very open way. I love praise music like Planetshakers, Third Day, Rebecca St James. etc...
I belief that God has been bringing me on a journey with him over the last few years. I began discovering Our Lord again some 12 years ago and since then he has led me on an amazing journey with him. Part of this is that its OK to just 'Be still' and adore him internally in the Mass- This is best achieved in a Latin Mass.
I then started thinking, how does this all fit together. Easy, just "Let me(Jesus) lead you". I suppose it is all about Trust. Trusting God has my journey mapped out, which I know in my head, but in reflection I can now see it. So on Fridays we go to either a Latin or an 'English' mass- a Brid calls it, depending on whether we go to Sydney, with friends or stay here in 'Our Town'. Either way its OK because each has its own individual beauty.
The days we stay in 'Our Town', we go and do something special together, and the days we go to Sydney we enjoy lots of other homeschoolers company.

Rememberance Day

Today we as a nation celebrate 90 years since the end of WWI. While we didn't brave the services at the memorial locations in our city, we did mark this day with reading about our great War Veterans, and there slogs. We did several activities and made poppies. We stood still for 2 minutes at 11am and discussed the role these men and women played in shaping our world.

My 2 great Uncles and 1 Aunt served in WWII. One in Japan, One in New Guinea, and one Darwin Base awaiting the troops. It is glorified by family, but there is nothing glorious about War. Just Remembering. Lest we Forget.

I remember how moving the ceremonies were at school, and how they touched my heart. I pray they touch each of us, so we can live in peace.

After writing this post, I watched an ABC-1 docum., on WWI and our soldiers involvement. Again I was touched by our troops courage and bravery. The way the diggers got in and got the job done, the way they fought for commemoration statues afterwards. The way they fought to remember there dead diggers. Brilliant show.

We need to keep honouring our war Veterans and show respect for what they did. I couldn't do it, and I'm sure it wasn't easy.

Modesty Matters

MODESTY does MATTER,
Today I was searching on the internet for further books on Modesty. I came across this article. I was a little shocked because I have been guilty of just giving up the fight and just taking my eldest daughter to Mass in what ever she chose. Just because I was sick of explaining what to wear. She was a young teen at the time and midriffs were in, with jeans, skirts almost to the pubic bone. She presented herself like this and I just said- 'Ok ready lets go'. There was talk in church and even though this was hard for me as a mother, it could have been an amazing lesson for my daughter. Next week she covered up a little more, and continued putting longer tops on until she was not getting any further looks.
Even though this Women in this article talks of the Mother being at fault, it comes a time when the child knows what is right from wrong and they need to own it.
My youngest wouldn't be scene in a church without being respectfully dressed. She has had the benefit of Homeschooling, and I have been able to train her and discuss these issues without secular views getting in the way. She is actually teaching her siblings- particularly her sisters' as her brother has left the family behind at the moment- please pray for him.
I called Brid my Angel from Heaven, from the moment she was conceived- that she truly is. She is very wise. I love you darling.
Modesty Matters

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Our Catholic Homeschool Gathering

In our area we are blessed to have several homeschool families.

Some months ago we set up a group to interact about Catholic stuff. I would periodically post as would some others, but I kept saying to Our Lord, if we are to use this email group, you will make it possible. Latin Mass started monthly and posting was at least to let everyone know what date Mass was on.

Tricia, my dear friend and I were talking one day and thought, we need to gather more often.

We posted this excitedly, on our group, and chose a date. That date was today.

We had 5 families attend, and we were blessed to be able to use the Convent across the road from our church. We were also very blessed that our Parish Priest was more than willing to say Mass as well as a teaching for our children afterward.

We brainstormed over a cuppa the varied things we could do, and of course between lightning bolts from our excited brains, watched the little ones.

We have quite an array of events and feasts to celebrate every month.

I pray that Our Lord will bless our little group, and we can continue the enthusiasm we had today.

Catholic Homeschool Camp

The Chapel down the path in the bush. The girls all wore white and many wore veils.



The Play- Cinderella

Last week we went to Fitzroy Falls for a Catholic Homeschool camp. I have taken all week to digest the camp. It was lovely to be among Catholic families sharing similar ideals. I really enjoyed the talks given by many parents and our spiritual director Fr Casanova.
He really spoke well on areas not covered usually- apparitions of Our Lady, Funerals, death, wills.
The children really got into the team work of the coloured teams they were placed into. Each team was marked on there performance for cleaning of dining area and kitchen areas. Brid enjoyed the kitchen the best, because she could push the trolley with all cleaned items on it.
I hardly saw Brid at all. She just played with a group of girls, who she just adored. They were very welcoming to her.
It was lovely to have Benediction and the Rosary in the Chapel everyday. It was a blessing to be part of a community for the week, and share in Our Lord's Supper.
It was a very cold drissly Camp. Very cold for me, but we soldiered on, even kneeling on concrete floors in the Chapel- we used books, and bags under our knees.
One afternoon the fog just descended to the ground before our eyes. Eary and Beautiful all at the same time. The fire kept us warm as toast, and did my porridge in the morning.
The book stall was amazing. I couldn't contain myself. I just shopped. I could have been in a clothes shop for the excitement I felt. I had to be discipled. I could hear Dermot say- its OK, its for School.
Each day the children had lessons- religion, and another according to there age group, and as the camp progressed, the children put on debating for us in the evening, Ballroom dancing, The concert- Cinderella, and the littlies put on a song or two- just beautiful. Don't know which was better.
Anyway Brid beamed all week and I was at times thinking 'what shall I do'. This camp really got us all think about keeping together with other Catholics in our own area. More on that..........

Marriage

Recently Dermot & I went on a Marriage enrichment weekend. As we are part of the Celebrate Love community within the Catholic Church, we were excited to see what we could bring into our marriage from this weekend.
The Weekend was run by Family Life today at resort that was an old Convent, attached was a Catholic nursing home and a Church. All on the same grounds. We were excited. We prayed for openness to receive what ever gifts God was wanting for our marriage.
We willingly participated and enjoyed much of the content.
Since this weekend, we have really been able to minister to each other and celebrate in our differences. This weekend was truly a God-given gift for us.

Holidays nearly over.......

Well its nearly time to return to the books and general day to day stuff. We have had a great holiday, very tiring.
We have had so many great days. Caught up with so many friends.
Yesterday a friend and I took our children on an adventure to Sydney's Rocks area. It was fun pointing out historical sights and looking at different convict quarry work. Explaining in simple terms to kids about the area and showing them the arrows on the bricks.
We found a great park under the harbour bridge and when we walked back to have lunch, we were dished up a treat of watching a personal trainer take his clients through there routines. It kept us all occupied.
We finished our day with a visit to St Patricks' near the Rocks. It was perfect timing because there was exposition. So we took the children to the front of the church and they all kneeled reverently for a short while. Long great day, and a wonderful way to finish it off.
Brid was printmaking today. We made 3 different printings. We had the pleasure of being taught by a homeschooler Mum, who owns her own studio. We printed the creations with a 200 year old printpress.
Another great day.
But it wasn't finished yet. Dermot had packed a picnic for us, and was waiting for us to return so we could go to the foreshore.
In the afternoon when we returned home we were welcomed by several Crimson Rosellas pecking at our bird feeder and playing in our weeping bottlebrush tree. It was certainly a God moment. Just a private show for us. Brid got up real close to the birds before they got spooked.
Amazing!!!!
In all of this we have had our parish Statue of Our Lady, so we could pray the Rosary in front of her. It has been a very blessed time
Thank you Lord for this Beautiful day and a truly wonderful break.

Precious Moments

Yesterday Louise and I made a date to spend some time together, doing her favourite thing- shopping. It didn't matter what we were doing really, it was our time together.
I needed to get some house type items, so Louise helped me make my decisions, and then we had lunch- breakfast for some!, and chatted. that was priceless.
Louise had been trying to get me to a particular shop to get her Mum some eyeshadows that suited me. She is a typical 20 year old, loves make-up and dressing up to go out- where!! just out with friends. Anyway I had my 'colours' chosen and she placed her stamp of approval on each colour. It was fun.
We both came to the same conclusion at the same time -we needed to leave, we were shopped out- only after 3 hours.
At the same time Dermot took Brid to the movies. They also had some priceless moments together. Brid loves one on one time with us both, and now with our change in living situation she can.

St Therese of Lisieux

This is our cake and table setings
Brid dressed up as St Therese last year for a saints party.

Today is a special feast day. St Therese is Brid's and My Mums' confirmation saint. So we wanted to celebrate this day. Brid wanted to do something special, so we baked a cake and set a table for a feast dinner. Brid chose her fav. meal- spaghetti bolognese, and a cake made with vanilla icing and roses. We set the table with roses and Brids' St Therese doll. Fun night was had. Great cake.

Spring Clean

Today is the first day of our holidays. I had a list of jobs to be done. I wanted to get the curtains and windows washed.
Well i never expected it all to get done on the same day. Dermot took an easy day with work, and we got in and took down, washed curtains, cleaned windows inside and out, and rehung curtains. I am completely exhausted but so delighted that My main job is complete. We can now relax and enjoy the holidays. And a busy one at that.

Huntington house

Once a year sometime, we are asked as a family to join with some other families and spend the weekend at the beach at Terrigal, at a huge 13 bedroomed house, owned by the Christian Brothers'. We love it, whether it is raining, freezing, hot or blowing a gale, its just the fun of being there and enjoying each others company.
This year we took Brid & Kristie with us. It was a great weekend. We swam in the unpatrolled beach, had coffee down the street, shared our meal on the Saturday evening together. We go to Mass at The Lady Star of the Sea together at 10am. We crawl out of bed with just enough time to get organised for Mass.
We always have a BBq for Lunch and as it was so hot for Spring, we had swims as well. We usually leave at the last minute because it is so relaxing, and as we have shared our lives with this group for 11years now, we have a general catch up.
Some weekends we say the rosary sometimes not, but we always have great conversation especially about the happenings in our churches- especially this year with WYD just been and gone.
Well it was another great one and especially as we got to spend time with Kristie and Brid together. Precious times.

Mass today

It has always been a tradition since we started homeschooling to attend Mass on a Friday to end our school week. Today just as I received the Eucharist, I was reminded that when we receive Jesus we become the tabenacle. It just blew me away, and made my pray so much alive.
I then shared this with our 10 yr old, and continued talking about purity of heart and not defiling our bodies as Jesus lives in us. It really stirred up some thought and conversation in the car on the way home.
We then began talking about fasting and why I do not eat anything from Breakfast until Mass at 1205hrs. I would like to fast more, but this is a start. It was a great opportunity to talk about our Crosses and praying for others. Brid came back with 'it gives us a hunger for Jesus'. Such power in our messages to each other today.
I could not have taught it better if i had tried. It was definitely a God moment. Praise you Lord.

The month of the Rosary

Next month is the month of the Rosary. I love this month. We are getting ready by decorating our home. Something wonderful happened today, our parish secretary rang and asked us to have the Lady of the Rosary statue next week. We were going to ask anyway, so of course we jumped at this opportunity.

It is such a blessing to have her come to our home and stay the week. we make a special place of Honour for her.

I love the fact that when we pray the Rosary we reflect on the life of her son. It is so scriptural.

We have a statue of the Miraculous Mary, but to have this statue who travels through our parish is special. All the prays of the parish. I could go on.

An Update: We will receive Our Lady next week now.

history

I have been stressing. I don't know why, maybe the mess up in the middle of the year. I have not completed the History work I wanted to for the year. My expectations Only. Brid is going great guns.
So I now have a plan and I feel under control again- what did I just say, that word control. I need to let go and let God. He has it all in hand, not me.

My Blog

Well hello everyone. i thought I had really stuffed up. I accidently changed my template. well i lost my design. i have been dreading trying to fix it. Guess what, I fixed it easily. Praise God for Helping me tonight, and keeping me away from it over the last few days.
Its close to End of Term, we are busy arranging friends and things to do. I love school holidays.

Fathers' Day And Our Anniversary

ANNIVERSARY

The week before homeschool camp, Dermot and I celebrated our 21st Anniversary. Brid wanted to make it special so she organized her grandma to come and help her cook dinner for us. She wanted to make a 3 course meal. It was a very Beautiful gift she wanted to give us. We decided, lets dress up and really make it special. so there we were all dressed up in our Dining room being served by our daughter and helped by my Mum. A Blessed evening.

FATHERS DAY

As we were heading up to Camp that afternoon, I thought we would have brunch. So we gathered the family together and we had a huge meal. All in honour of Dads. It was a wondeful few hours.

Our Rosellas

Again After cleaning up our bird seed we find these beautiful creatures pecking at the bird seed on the ground very close to our back door. They appear not to disturbed by our presence.

Family Time

After our camp Brid and I drove up to the Gold Coast for some family bonding. mainly Dermot, Brid and me, but our eldest Louise surprised us by coming along as well.
We made plans to go to Dreamworld. that was the best day. Louise and Brid went on every ride they could together including the Tower of Terror- well they were both speechless when they got of it- but excited they had gone on it.
We arrived at Dreamworld just in time to view the Tigers and hear more about them. That was excellent. We seemed to be drawn to them all day, and at the end of the day we again were able to pat the baby tigers born at the park.
Our day was topped of by a visit to the Hard Rock Cafe'- a favourtie haunt of ours on our gold coast trips.
the whole trip was just so blessed. As we were coming up to our accomodation, we saw a Catholic Church- and the mass times, so we were organised there. It was odd to celebrate Mass in the normal manner, after attending Latin Mass daily- just seemed less reverent- I can't put my finger on it.
Sunday night rained, but it didn't stop us playing putt putt golf- we had umbrellas.
Anyway our little holiday came to an end and we are now back at home refreshed and more relaxed than we have been in ages.
Dermot & I decided that today Brid would just help me do chores and cleaning up and putting away after our trip. We worked outside sweeping leaves and cleaning seed up.
Brid continued to work on her blog. She is learning a lot about it and putting her thoughts down.
God Bless to all

Homeschool Camp

Last week Brid and I travelled to Lennox Head to attend a Catholic homeschool camp. It was great to be there amongst wonderful women of faith. It was also great to see familiar faces- sharing the experience with some of our hunter valley homeschool families.
Brid made some great friends, and we just relaxed and chatted.
Latin Mass was very serene and reverent. We had a beautiful Franciscian Franternity Priest as our spiritual director. It was a God incident that it was the same priest we see each month at our own Latin Masses here in our own Cathedral.
I learnt so much more about the richness of the Catholic Faith and again it makes me pleased that I am who I am.
I think the most important thing is that I learnt that we all homeschool the same but different. We all have the same goal
I liked that I could impart little snippots of wisdom onto more experienced mums, and in turn gain from them.
Brilliant we will return.

A Little Princess

This term we have read A Little Princess. She loved it very much. We surprised Brid by watching the dvd this morning for school. Brid's eldest sister has a set of Shirley Temple movies.
I remember watching them when I was a little girl. Bringing back memories.

Family Presentation Evening

Last Night Brid organised a gathering of our family to listen to her present some aspects of her schooling this term.
It was a lovely night. Beforehand Brid helped set the table, placed an arrangement of flowers on the table and she practiced her speech.
We began cooking our baked Chicken Dinner, and I decided that I did have time enough for making an Apple Pie.
The scene was set for her. Her presentation was well received. the Olympic games were highlighted as well as a story she had written, and poem she enjoyed learning and a piece if music she liked. when she relaxed with her graandparents, she quickly started explaining more as she ate her icecream afterwards.
good work Brid- We are proud of your efforts.

Old Blog

I am currently in the process of changing blog pages.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JESUSitrustyou/

bear with me as this occurs.
Have a wondeful and blessed day on this glorious day God has provided for us,
Leanne

Our Books

Today is the Feast day of St Augustine I however find St Monica is a Saint I can identify with. She is after all the Saint of Mothers.
Pray for us, St Monica. Pray for us St Augustine.

OUR BOOKS: I thought I would just put up on my blog the type of work we cover apart from lapbooks.
we use Seton & Mater Amabilis, as well as a several read alouds. These are our books at the moment