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We got some more pictures of the baby. Only a few weeks to go and I will be the sister of the most handsome boy in the universe! For the time being, I'm very happy to announce you the birth of Adhémar. My aunt gave birth to a healthy little boy, and I will probably go over to visit him in two weeks, after my exams. It will be fun to have two baby boys in the family.

The picture is of the still unborn baby my mother is carrying. I don't have a picture of Adhémar yet.

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Where does responsibility end? I've been reflecting upon this. I want to surrender everything to God, but there seem to be limits to surrendering. For instance, you can surrender your health to God, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't brush your teeth anymore.

The reason I have been thinking about this lately is because I got a comment from a friend about homeschooling. He was talking about how he hated school when he was younger. So we had a conversation that went a bit like this:

I: I hated school too, I would have loved being homeschooled, but I wouldn't listen to my mom when we sat down to do school, so it didn't work out.

F(riend): You can't just homeschool.

I: Oh, but you can, the law says you should study, not that you should go to school.

F: Doesn't really matter, it's not a christian thing to do anyway.

I (frowning): What do you mean, not christian? I think that God wants us to teach our children his way, instead of the 'as long as you don't do something really bad you'll get into heaven' stuff they teach at school. And I think it's really good for family life and learning to life together.

F: I'm pretty sure God doesn't want us to take them out of school.

I: I don't understand why not.

F: God asks us to surrender everything to Him, so you should just send your kids to school, and He'll take care of them.

I (not quite certain what to think of it): So, if you know someone is a pedophile, you wouldn't mind and leave your child there? Surrendering it to God?

F: Yeah, that's what a real christian would do.

I: Oh, well ... I think I'll get something to drink.

I tried to avoid him the rest of the evening. I just don't know what to think about it. I know he must be wrong, but then, where does responsibility end and where does surrendering begin? Could you please post some thoughts about this, as I really don't know what to think about this. I want to surrender unlimited to God, but it just feels like there must be some boundaries.

Awaiting your comments, I'll study some more. I know God can give me full marks if I ask Him, but I think I should just take my responsibilities and learn.

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The weather finally cooled down, and the whole city smells fresh. I love the smell of rain falling on asfalt. It gives me the feeling everything just started all over again, and I feel so alive.

My exam today was ok. I thought I would do better, but I don't think I failed. I took a day off, and basicly slept a large part of the afternoon. After dinner I went to church and had a nice talk with the reverend. He's Nigerian and came to Belgium to study for three years, so he has exams too. It was fun talking to him.

In the evening, Sanne and I decided to get a dvd and watched 'Keeping Mom' with Rowan Atkinson. It was quite funny, but really predictable.

Julie, thanks for letting me know the pictures are still visible. I read your post on smoking. It made me think. In Belgium they -finally!- made a law about smoking in restaurants: you can't. Guess what: everytime we go out eating someone is smoking. And it's not only that they are smoking, but the restaurants provide ashtrays! I mean, it's illegal to smoke in restaurants, but the owners put ashtrays on the table!

We're just a weird country. It's legal to use soft drugs. You can even grow your own cannabis plant. This law was made by the same gouvernement that spends loads of money in smoke prevention, and claim they find it very important that children have a good lifestyle and get healthy food.

Oh, I would want to believe them, but they make it hard, don't they? They allow the parents of those children to smoke pot, as long as the actual smoking doesn't happen when the kid is in the same room. Can you believe that?! A parent can be totally high while caring for their kids, and that wouldn't be any problem. As long as the children get their five portions of fruit and vegetables.

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I stayed up really late yesterday changing the look of my blog. I like the way it looks now, but consider changing the picture at the top when I get some new photo's. This one is almost a year old.

Because I went to bed really late, I got up around half past ten instead of eight. That's not that bad, I still had more than enough time to study. But I don't like studying on sunday. So I enjoyed a nice brunch (it was just a late breakfast actually), called my dad and stepdad to congratulate them with fathersday and decided to check my email. I decided to check this blog too, and those of my friends. Four hours later, I was hitting the 'random blog' button every five seconds, with some nice music on the background (I just love K-Love!). I realised I should really start studying instead of wasting my time. So I studied until six. That was only two hours! I should get some selfdiscipline.

I went to church at half past six. I live at a peda when I'm in Leuven. Usually I'm in Leuven during the week, and go home for the weekends. But as I have to study for the exams, I'm staying here for a few weeks. A peda is what you would call a college. I don't get my classes here, but I have my own room, and get breakfast and dinner. It's owned by the university I attend. I love it here, and what is really great: it has it's own chapel with four services a week, all in English. I attend the Anglican church here, and it really helps me to get through the week. I'll post some pictures:

This is how it looks like from the courtyard.

This is the hall, leading from my room to the chapel.

The chapel.

As you can see, it's a fantastic place! It's really quiet here, and I have a huge room. It's actually three rooms: a study, a bedroom and a good-for-nothing room. It's perfect for me, as I have ADHD and have a lot of trouble to stay focused on my books. Having a separate bedroom makes it much easier to see my study as a place for studying only, which makes it easier to concentrate, but also to relax.

As I was saying, I went to church this evening. There were only ten of us, as there was a confirmation ceremony in Brussels which many of the members attended. However, we're not a big church. Usually, there are approximatly twenty people who attend. In comparison to last year, this is a lot, because we used to be with five.

After church I went out to eat. During the weekend the peda doesn't serve meals, and as we don't have a kitchen, we don't have much choice. Peter, a friend of mine, who lives in the same corridor as me, and also studies history, came with me. We went to our favourite Italian restaurant. The owners are actually Turkish, but they serve the best pizzas in town. Afterwards, I went to Breeze. This is a christian youth organisation, who focuses on prayer. On sundayevening however, they open a 'café'. It's really fun hanging around with all christian friends, having a drink. I met some people I hadn't seen in a while and I had a great time.

So, now I'm on here again. Writing this post which was meant to be short. I hope I'll get some more visitors over tonight. I love to see that site meter recording!

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Hello everyone, welcome to my blog!

I just love reading the blogs around here, so I decided to start my own. There's only one tiny problem. I don't homeschool. I haven't been homeschooled either. So what am I doing here? Am I planning on homeschooling my children? Nope, I don't have children. I don't even have a husband/boyfriend/whatever. There is no reason for me to be here. I should be studying for the upcoming exams, not wasting my time on the computer. But that's exactly what I'm doing. Maybe it would be nice to those of you who are still reading to finally tell you what I'm doing here. Well, I'm addicted! "To what? The internet?", you might ask. Nope, I didn't mean that, though that might be true too. I'm addicted to the idea that one day I might be able to homeschool my family!