Saying goodbye to the summer holidays and hello to school days

Sadly all good things must come to an end and for our family that was the summer holidays. (If you want to know what Chipman and I were up to then check this out) We decided that we would mark the occasion with a family day out to Legoland in Windsor. A great day was had by all, and I really do mean all, us adults had as much fun as the children! It is often hard to find things that both the children (with a 5 year age gap) want to do, but we were certainly onto a winner with Legoland. Beebie the youngest thought the miniature village was 'cool' and the eldest Chipman and his friend looked more closely at the detail that had gone into making each replica. The rides were great for height phobic Chipman and fearless Beebie with something that they all could enjoy. Our personal favourite was Atlantis Submarine voyage. We were there from when the park opened to when it shut and even the rain didn't dampen our spirits as we spun, whizzed, screamed and splashed our way around.

Beebie after our underwater adventure

Despite some dodgy driving Chipman got his drivers license!

The following Monday bought about the dreaded 'back to school'. I had been looking at lots of back to school celebrations that home educators use and struggled to find any that would suit our family with one going off to school and one staying at home to be educated. This year we started our own back to school tradition. The day started with homemade pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast.

'Can we have this every morning Mum?'

It takes a lot of concentration to eat pancakes

Whist they had finishing tucking into their yummy (their words not mine) pancakes it was time to open their 'Great Things About Me' envelopes. As I mentioned before in Art time with perfectionists both the children struggle with low self esteem so we started the new year off by bolstering them up. Inside each envelope was something that Mum, Dad, Grandma, Nana and Aunty thought they were good at. This ranged from good conversations to reading and maths. They loved reading them all and it is something we will be repeating next year. Before Beebie went off to school we took the usual back to school picture so we could remember the day they started school in 2013.

Back to school 2013

All in all we had a great time celebrating the end of the holidays with squeals of excitement and starting back at school with renewed enthusiasm and a great sense of worth. Did you celebrate the end of summer or start of the school year? I would love to hear what you go up to!

A new adventure along our way

I had always planned to go to Africa and when I first became a Christian I was all ready to sign up and serve the Lord on a different continent. However He had different plans as I found out that I was expecting Chipman and I had to cancel. My desire to go to Africa has never gone away though and it is truly special that I get to share this experience with Chipman, God's plans do not always match our ideas but they certainly are for the best. Jeremiah 29 v 11 says so  "For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I was devastated that I couldn't go when I wanted to, but now after 12 years of waiting I get to go on an amazing journey into the unknown with a very special young man. 

We are traveling with a charity called Mission Direct, and whilst we are in a town called Rukungiri we will be getting stuck into building site life. There is a mainstream primary school there already but nothing for disabled children, that is until Mission Direct started building an extension. Now the disabled children of Rukungiri have an amazing opportunity of their own to look forward too, an education. We will also be visiting other local projects and helping out, this is going to be the best 2 weeks ever!

I will be blogging more about our trip on a seperate blog and would love for you to come on over and visit it to find out more!

Would you be willing to support Chipman and I in prayer? This is a scary time for him as he steps out of his usual routine and into a different world, please pray he will adjust well and enjoy the new and exciting experiences. Please also pray for patience for me as I deal with Chipman's behaviour without the support of my husband. And lastly for my husband and daughter Beebie as they cope for 2 weeks at home without us.