June & July in Review

I actually began this post in June because I wanted to write about one of the books that I had read before I returned it to the library. Then I never got around to finishing this. So now I will combine June and July.

Books read.

Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran - The heartwarming memories of a 1930s kitchen maid. I saw this book in the library and thought it was interesting so I added it to my library bag. The first that impressed me was that she wrote this book when she was 96 year old. I loved her humour and love of life. She began as a scullery maid at 14. A scullery maid is basically the lowest maid, the one that scrubs the steps and kitchen, peels the vegetables, and washes the pots. She worked her way up to being a cook in her 20s. I love seeing the relationship change between Mrs Jones, the cook. She tells of her friendship with Flo who was the kitchen maid at the first place she worked. They became friends and at the time that she was writing the book they still kept in touch on the phone and with visits. Flo has also written a book and that is on my reserved list at the library. "The 10 years I spent in domestic service were some of the happiest times of my life and made me the woman I am today. Starting as a scullery mad and working up to cook instilled in me confidence, a good work ethic, self-esteem and pride in my work."

I also read two books on trafficking. That is my book about a current topic. It was interesting to read these two books. One was based in the US and the other was a girl from England. One might have found Christ and healing, while the other girl did not seem to have that hope.

Gilled - This was an interesting read. I borrowed it from the library. A friend had recommended it.

Miss Buncle's Book - I absolutely loved this book. It was funny and light reading. Now I am reading another Miss Buncle book.

In July I read

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Queuing for Beginners - this was a book on life in UK. It gave me bits of information. I still think Britty Britty Bang Bang was a favourite.

The Boys in the Boat - I borrowed this from the library. I enjoyed the references to Seattle and also the history. It was an excellent story of the hard work and all that was done to overcome the challenges and to go for the gold.

I still have a few books that I am working through a Commentary on Ephesians, Seabiscuit, a biography of George Muller.

In June we had some outings and in July our outing was an adventure as we had 1/4 tank of diesel and we got lost. We did finally find our destination.

It was a hot day and we were headed to Slippery Stones one of the wild swimming places.

We drove and drove partly because we got lost. Then we walked a bit. It was in a beautiful area. I think it would be a great place to go for a walk.

I love the blue sky.

One of the books that I recently read or skimmed through was called, 8 out of 10 Brits. It was just full of interesting stats.

77% of adults say that they walk for pleasure at least once a month (8 out of 10 Brits)

I have not worked on any unfinished projects. I have not started any new projects so it is okay at this time.


Beth

Brownies

One of the things that Miss K has been doing this past year is Brownies. She began it in November and is one of the highlights of her week.

Brownies has been a great activity for her. She group meets at the church and the leaders are from church.

Miss K decided that she wanted to work on the toymaker badge. I looked at the requirements and we began working on it. Since it was almost the end of the year we had to quickly work on this. Miss K made a teddy bear from a kit. Then we made a game.

I was tying to come up with another toy that she could make. One of the suggestions was puppets. As I looked in the craft cabinet I found the wooden clothespins and so we turned them into puppets and created the Three Little Pigs. Miss K drew the houses and each pig had some materials to show what kind of house he made.

Miss K needed to take the things she made to her Brownies and show her leader. She was excited to get her badge. Now we will begin working on badges. I wonder how many badges she can earn this next year.

Beth

Heart Surgery

The night before the heart catheterisation

It was 12 years ago today that Miss K had heart surgery. In many ways the heart surgery was much easier than the heart catheterisation for us emotionally and for Miss K physically. It was during the heart catheterisation that her heart stopped and as they told us "she had major bleeding." It was the night after that procedure that we were told she would not make it. Three days later she was going in for heart surgery.

I discovered an email we sent on 1 August, 2004.

Last Monday the surgeons at Xin Guang Hospital in Taipei successfully removed the stenosis from Miss K's aorta, which allowed her for the first time to have adequate blood flow to her legs. The blood pressure in her upper and lower body has now equalised and her feet no longer feel cold. We have a lot to give thanks for!

This surgery was considered to be high-risk because:1) her heart had stopped completely a few days earlier and had to be restarted, 2) she had been through a major surgery on her stomach only 10 days earlier, 3) in general, operations on the aorta in this age group have about a 15% mortality rate. Complications during surgery could have included stroke, heart attack or damage to the lymphatic system.

We are grateful to report that, thanks to your prayers, the surgery went smoothly and no complications occurred. This past week Miss K has made lots of progress -- she is beginning to breastfeed which is hark work for her and has moved out of the ICU, she is gaining weight and they are beginning to talk about discharging her.

on Friday, July 23 we were informed, in a brief phone call from the doctor's office of the cause of her heart and stomach deformities. Miss K has Down's Syndrome, which originates in a chromosome disorder and cannot be cured. We heard this news at about the same time that we learned of her need for heart surgery. After all this, we were in shock for about 2 days, but found strength in God. Still, it is a very severe trial. We are gradually adjusting to Miss K's condition now and thinking of how we can get the training we need to provide her with adequate care.

Thank you for your prayer for Miss K! God has already answered them in a wonderful way. Please continue to pray that she can recover and come home soon. She is nearly 3 weeks old and knows nothing of the world outside the hospital.

Now 12 years later I look back and remember some of those emotions. I remember sitting in plastic aqua chairs watching Chinese TV while she spent hours in surgery. I remember walking down the hall. I remember the doctor coming out and saying, "everything is okay".

As I look back on what we wrote and some of the emotions, I reflect on God's goodness. I am reminded that God is good when he healed Miss K and God is also good even when healing doesn't happen.

Beth

Heidleberg, Germany

Normally when we have a conference we have an afternoon of fun and exploring something local to where we are meeting. While we were in Germany we went to Heidelberg Castle and then had about an hour to walk about Heidelberg a bit.

Heidelberg Castle is somewhat of a ruin. There were parts that were just facade and some rooms and places to go through.

Our tour guide was a man from the 1600's. He had quite a bit of knowledge of that time and was also able to predict things that would happen in the future. He was the tutor of Frederick V.

Here is a facade that is remaining.

The view from there shows the town below.

It was a hot day. There were figures in each of the rows -- Greek mythical figures and Biblical figures.

We finished our tour and had some time to walk through the town. This is looking across the river.

We walked to the bridge. I enjoy the history. Often I learn more as I blog and share things that we have seen. This is the Old Bridge and the gate is part of the old city walls.

There is the castle from the river. You can see bits of the ruins.

I am glad that we were able to see a bit of Germany during the conference.

Beth

Germany

Last week our Europe ministry team had a conference in Germany. Once a year or so we gather as a field - people from UK, Netherlands, and Germany,  and it is normally either in England or Germany. This year it was in Germany. For the children and I it was the first time we have been to Germany. We had transited through Germany numerous times and during one of those transits got our passports stamped but this was our first visit.

We were staying at a Christian Conference Centre near Stuttgart. There was another group there but we only saw them at meal times.

Our time at the conference included some teaching time from Ephesians, some time getting reports and updates of what is happening, and some time in focus groups, groups focused on the same people groups.

This is a view from an abandoned church near the centre looking towards the town nearby. We walked down there one day but it was mainly houses.

This is a door and window at the conference centre. I looked like what I think a window should look like in Germany.

It was hot. Maybe not real hot, just in the 20C/70F range but for us that was hot.

I loved the sunset one evening.

Here is another view of the sunset. You can also see the fields. There were corn in some of the fields which we don't have growing here in England.

The children spent time with some teammates children. They have been together before so they knew each other. They had some Bible teaching time and also some fun time in the afternoons while we were in meetings. They went for a long walk, played mini-golf, created a video about our team, and just had fun.

One of my favourite things to do when I visit a place it go to the local supermarket. I just find it fascinating to see the things sold, the brands, comparing it to what I know. Like I said we walked to the town but there were just a few restaurants. On Friday afternoon someone was driving to the shopping area and had some room in their car so I could go along. I had €20.

The first place we went to was a toy/game store. I think the Germans come up with some of the best games. Settlers of Catan is German and Ravensberger is also German. I bought a game. I did have to look online to find the English instructions.

Then we went to the supermarket. We were going to go to Lidl but then we spied another store. I can go to Lidl here so I was up for the other store.

Look at the selection of Nutella.

For some reason seeing Uncle Ben's rice just made me chuckle. I was not expecting to see that there though we do have some Uncle Ben's here in England. We have korma sauce and a few other things.

Walker's biscuits - we can get those here but seeing them there just made me feel a bit at home.

Heinz Ketchup - That is a brand that is know around the world. Here there are some Heinz products that you would not find in the supermarket in the USA.

There were lots of pretzels. The Pennsylvania girl in me came out. I miss good pretzels. I will also add that Pretzel Chips are a favourite of mine and it has been almost two years since I have seen those.

You can't forget the chocolate. Look at the variety of Ritter chocolate. There were other areas of chocolate as well.

That is just a bit from Germany. I will share a bit about the one afternoon that we had to explore together.

Beth

Happy Birthday Miss K

Twelve years ago a baby girl was born in Taiwan. Twelve years ago we became parents. Twelve years ago began a journey that would bring laughter, smiles, joy along with tears at times, and lots of prayers.

Recently I found our newsletter from September 2004. I will share what we wrote.

On July 12 at 2:25 am, Miss K entered the world weighting 6 pounds, 1 ounce and measuring 19-1/4 inches long. The excitement of becoming parents was quickly replaced with emotions of concern. Kylie was moved the NICU because of neonatal apnea. The x-rays of her lungs showed that there was a blockage between her stomach and small intestine. A little bit more than 72 hours after Miss K was born she was having surgery. The hours of sitting and waiting were long and difficult for her parents. Following surgery, she had to remain in the hospital for a week to ensure that there was no leakage from her stomach. The next Wednesday we were beginning to get excited about her recovery and anticipated bringing her home that weekend. During our morning visit, however, we were told that doctors wanted to do a heart catheterization because of a heart murmur. The prospects of bringing her home that weekend began to grow dim.

On Thursday we spent most of the day waiting for the procedure to be performed. Late hat afternoon they did it and we learned that there was a heart imbalance, but, ever more serious, there was a constriction in her aorta. There had been some complication from the heart catheterisation and she had required a blood transfusion. Things did no look good that evening. One doctor told us "prepare to face the facts." Our prayer during her entire time in the NICU had been that she would be a light in that ward. But we went home hat evening not expecting Miss K to live through the night. Our co-workers, Ron and Elinda West, as well as our pastor, sat together in our living room and prayed, committing Miss K to God's care. Meanwhile in the USA Beth's parents were working frantically to try to get tickets to come and visit.

Miss K did make it through the night. On Friday morning we met with the heart surgeon. He gave us a thorough explanation of the surge that was scheduled for Monday morning.

On Friday afternoon we received a phone call which gave us the answer as to why Miss K had the medical problems that she did. Miss K has Down Syndrome. This news was a shock to us, and caused us to wrestle with difficult emotions as we worked through changing our expectations of all the things Miss K might do in life.

Beth's parents arrived on Saturday evening. It was a blessing to have them here, visiting with us and going to the hospital. They were here for the heart surgery. "Everything is okay," were the words of the heart surgeon as they brought Miss K back to the NICU for recovery.

On August 7 Miss K was finally discharged. The nurses and staff there were all sad to see her leave. We were looking forward to finally having her home!

We saw a number of demonstrations of God's faithfulness during this difficult time:

• We met a Christian nurse in the NICU. We visited her Christian cell group there at the hospital, since they were praying for Miss K.
• We had opportunities to share God's love. One of the nurses told Beth, "Miss K is lucky to have you as parents as most of them are given up during pregnancy." That is very true here. Most of the babies with Down Syndrome are aborted.
• After the heart surgery, we learned that, for child of Miss K's size, the mortality rate is 50 percent. Her survival was really an answer to prayer.
• Through a friend at church over hospital bill was reduced more than 90 percent.
• We are so thankful for the notes and prayer of so many people. God has been faithful in meeting our needs.

Now 12 years later Miss K has continued to show that she has determination. She keeps us laughing. She continues to learn and grow. She loves life and those around her. 

Happy 12th birthday, Miss K. Tomorrow you can begin counting down to your next birthday.


Beth

ArtAchieve - TOS Review

I enjoy being able to include art in our learning. That used to be something that we did in co-op but since we do not have a co-op at this time it is something that I have worked to be intentional about including in our schedule. I am not an artist and so it means that I need resources and things to help me with this. Recently we were able to review ArtAchieve Entire Level II.  We had fun learning and drawing together.

ArtAchieve is an online resources for teaching art. These lessons also include bits of cross cultural information. The author of ArtAchieve is John Hofland. This began when they homeschooled their children and a drawing course for beginning theatrical stage design students. Mr. Hofland has spent time in Eastern Europe studying, designing, and teaching workshops.


We received a year's subscription to Entire Level II. There are 14 lessons in the Entire Level II. Each lesson has a warm-up worksheet. This is a fun page that gives you the whole picture but in bits almost like a puzzle. This is an opportunity to practice the lines and curves. The lessons are then given in both a video or a Powerpoint version. The students can work along with the presentation and create their own masterpiece.

I like to have an art project once or twice a week. Normally I would give the children something to draw while I read history. That is one way to keep their hands busy. These lessons begin with a warm-up in getting your hands and fingers ready to draw. Then the suggestion is to put on some calm music and quietly draw. J is a talented artist while Miss K struggles at time. I was looking forward to seeing the masterpieces they would each create.

The first project that we did was the Czech Cat. This is a free lesson. Each lesson gives you the object that was the inspiration for the artwork.

In a way I don't like to do it but we often have to tell Miss K to just stop that she has enough colour on her picture.

One of the first projects that we did was the Swedish Dala Horse. I liked the bits of information about the Dala horse. I felt like we were learning bits of culture along with our art.

Even me who does not think I am not artistic was able to draw a Dala horse that looks like one.

One of the projects that the kids did was a Japanese goldfish. I have many memories of being in Asia and seeing all the goldfish in a pond.

This is the elephant from Ghana. We used supplies that we had around the house. Some of the projects it was suggested to do in paint or watercolour but we used markers for most of our projects. It was suggested to use a glossy paper. I tried with some that we had but it did not work with the markers.

I think the kids found it easy to follow the lessons and create some beautiful artwork. There were times that the drawing began in a place that I thought was interesting like with the eye.

We did a nutcracker. Miss K loves The Nutcracker ballet so she enjoyed drawing this one.

One of the things that I really liked about this program was the cross cultural aspects. It was fun this past week to see some nutcrackers in Germany and remember the artwork we created.

Overall we loved the program. It was something easy that the kids could do on their own. It had more than just drawing with some of the cross-cultural aspects.

It was good for the artist and also for the beginner. We enjoyed working on these projects the past few weeks. There are even a few more that I did not show.

Beth