I think we don't get these much here in Taiwan. But glad we are having one cause it will be much easier to sleep tonight!! At our unwed mom's home there is no a/c yet.....ew.....can we say HOT!!
It has been a while since I have written, alot has gone on:
Homeschool Wise: well, I have not been home at night since 4/27 because of doing night shift at the unwed mom's home (we have 3 infants there and one mom). So I get home late afternoon and well, you can imagine I am not in the mood to do anything. So we have to figure something out...............ds1 has been doing some stuff, but we are probably til beginning of August now for school....ew!! I have to figure out how to use the used BJU books I was given for 5th grade and up.............like I have time
Ministry Wise: we are busy......working on six cases and trying to register our work....................speaking of a baby is crying more later...
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I guess I'll try to do a week wrap up idea that others have been doing:
On the Homefront:
My kids are awesome, though at times I just get too busy to see that. I really need to spend some more time telling them that. We do have the regular struggles with bickering and all that stuff, still working on that. But my kids are awesome. They have really put up with alot opening our home to caring for babies to be adopted.
On the School Front:
The past few weeks ds1 has taken out his books and done work without being told. Though I am seeing a pattern, he picks certain subjects (reading in both languages, spelling and math) and then kinda realizes I get distracted with babies and well, things don't always work out to keep going. IF we attempt to do anything else that requires my instruction (aka...sitting and listening to me explain something), he is not the happy camper. DS2 even realized he has been reading faster. He is in RS 2nd grade math and though we skip around, he is doing well. He is NOT fond of his Chinese lessons and prefers to fuss for 30min before being distracted.........he does EVERYTHING BUT his work!!! DS3 is about through all the RS PreK books.....not sure what to do with him next year as he in kindergarten. Then there is the "what do I buy for school next year and how can I save money" thing.......... I hate this part of the year. DH says, just wait til school starts........ YEAH.. RIGHT..WHATEVER!! So I will be looking through some stuff to figure things out.
On the unwed mother's home/children's home front:
We have another baby!! We are currently working on 6 cases (or is it 7?)....So, we had to bring baby home, so we have another one in my house!! But Monday a coworker and I are halfway moving into our unwed mother's home (we do have more babies than mothers.....no mothers!) to take care of all babies under one roof. Hmmmm....this should be interesting!! Hopefully we can have two babies in the arms of their forever family by mid-May, and another one halfway there!! My boys will be doing school at the home with babies around.....they will learn to live and concentrate with distractions though!!
That's my past week in review..............can't wait to see what this week holds!
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we got more accomplished than previously, though I have to admit, we have been lagging greatly on English, history and science. Basically he has been doing what he can independently and that is it........so does that make me a bad teacher? we did have a guest to take care of this past week, a very important one, so that did put a wrench in things. And the math test is being taken on Sat after art class.
Well, I should probably make a schedule up and really work on it. Though, I don't know what to do with ds3. He will be 5yr old in kindergarten. Up to this point it has been kinda, whatever, type of stuff. He has basically gone through the RS preschool workbooks......ok, not like I sit down with him and do them.........um......alot he does on his own. He is not a kid to color, though today I notice him coloring, without asking me the words and he knew which colors to use........ He can write his name..........I just don't know where to start with kids like this. RS does not do much in kindergarten, ok, nothing really.....so I wonder if we just took first grade and made it two years? I know my first grader does well with 2nd grade math in RS program................sigh......isn't it SUPPOSED to get easier with each kid?
Well, not much else is going on otherwise. I am still working on my master's. I am reading a book "Helping Angry Believers" and I am really enjoying. It is making me aware of many things, one being.......anger is an "inherited" problem I guess you could say. How do you view anger? How does your spouse view anger? How do you release your anger? Guess what........your kids will keep the cycle going........scary isn't it? Makes ya kinda sit back and wonder........are they learing how to handle anger and the feelings of anger correctly?
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as ds1 and ds2 are about done with piano class...........ds3 fell asleep waiting for his brothers to find him during hide and seek....the only problem is.........they weren't playing!!LOL!! when we realized it was too quiet, guess where we found him???? under his brother's bed........and he has been asleep there all afternoon (well at least for over 1.5hrs)
my ds1 and ds3 might need glasses. We took ds1 in cause I figured out something wasn't right and he admitted things were fuzzy...........so we took them all in. Dr was not impressed at all with ds3's sight. DH feels they didn't evaluate correctly (of course he was the one saying "are you sure? look harder...try again!).....the whole time ds2 would stand there and tell his older brother "that is easy....I can see it just fine!".......brothers!!!!
AND they all went to the dentist as well this week.........all have cavities and ds2 had a baby tooth pulled that just wasn't coming out and his adult teeth were growing in BEHIND his baby tooth.........he was quite sad the dr wouldn't give it to him for the tooth fairy..........so dh made an appointment for the whole family to have teeth checked and cleaned. This dr is a great dr and specialty is for children. BEST YET!! since Taiwan has national insurance, it only costs $3US per person!!LOL!!YEAH!!
School front.........something very fishy is going on............ds1 has been doing his work ON.HIS.OWN!!!! kinda scary......I mean he would fight me tooth and nail before and now suddenly BOOM! he is getting his own books out and doing things on his own? not sure what he is buttering us up for, but I like the calm in the storm right now........
Well, off to pick up my boys!!!have a great day
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we have just been busy, didn't seem like much to report on the homeschool front, so didn't:-)
Last week we took the achievement tests, both boys. Ds1 is at the age where he can do alot on his own. Ds2 is well.........I know we need to work on listening comprehension....I hadn't finished reading the paragraph and he was answering questions!!! he was like, well, you said we don't get points so it's ok mom..............my we have alot to teach that boy!!
We haven't been very faithful in a schedule or routine. I feel so bad on that part, at times wonder if I am not hurting them instead of helping them. I really really need to set a block of school time aside. It is hard with 2 other infants in the house, but by the end of May they both should be gone with their forever families and we can see that we all survived!LOL!!
On the bilingual front: ds1 rather learn English only (though he doesn't speak it to me.......go figure!!), but I have heard a few phrases that he has picked up from either reading or somewhere!! ds2 is at the age where he is learning in leaps and bounds, so he has been reading things that I know I have not taught him.
We will probably do some schooling during the summer, though ds1 is at that age where he fully realizes that his friends aren't in school and therefore, neither should he be doing school. Sitting around doing nothing would be much more fun...LOL!!! maybe we'll give him some project to do this summer, I don't know..........
Anyway, that is it on us. Once our babies are gone (the ones for adoption) HOPEFULLY I can do a tad more on here.
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JUST in case anyone was wondering:-p
I can't believe I let 5 or 6 weeks slip away without catching everyone up on what was going on.We have been busy. Let's see:
On the School Front: we are plugging away. Ds2 is about done with his RS reader which is good, and we just finished the first book in God is Good Series. He doesn't like math cause "mom, I already know this" and doesn't feel it is necessary to do practice. Ds1, well, he wasn't thrilled that he after getting a bad grade on his math test he had to do ALL of the review problems. I think we solved the "just put an answer down" attitude. Reading is going fine, it's that English grammar. I tell ya, half the problem is me. I do not like grammar, I really gotta get myself in gear. We discussed fish the other day for science, but we are going to plant a garden and the boys planted flowers for me....that's science right?
On the Family Front: ds1 has just about outgrown every piece of clothing he owns, especially the pants....he is now officially at his daddy's nose (of course, daddy isn't the tallest guy in the world!! Asian blood!!), ds1 has become a great basketball player as well......ds2 is growing in leaps and bounds and ds3, well......he has started UVA treatments for his skin.....he had allergy tests (blood tests) done to determine what his allergies are (he looks like a walking scab!) dustmites and household dust were class 4......corn, milk, wheat and soy were class 1.........so we are readjusting some stuff now I guess, but he has gotten tall!!! Miss Anna Joy is 8months old, teething at the moment.....4 teeth mind you.....and now enjoys her freedom brought to her by cruising.........yup...she can pull herself up at the couch and make her way around the couch and most of the room really......she has basically skipped baby food and wants the real stuff!!!
On the ministry front: dh is in China again.....he left yesterday and will be gone for a week, he will be teaching doctrinal classes to church leaders.........we opened our unwed mother's home this week, it was a farily quiet opening though as we are not gov't registered which currently gives us alot more freedom.......Valentine's day a mom called me two hours after giving birth as she doesn't want her premie baby girl, baby girl is being moved out of PICU today and into the nursery!!! we have some other contacts as well........God is doing work in Taitung.....our two infants at our house waiting for the final decree for adoption, are still waiting..........the poor families in the USA are nesting and long overdue!!!
I guess that's all for now. I wanted to stop by and say hi and visit our friends here at HSB............hope I can attempt to keep up more.....attempt being the key word
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I can't believe it has been that long since updating this blog. WOW!!!
We have been busy with babies. As you know, we have had 2 unwed moms want to give up the baby for adoption. So we have them at our house since we have no one to watch them. We do have a young lady here to help though. We are praying that end of February, one will go to his forever home and the other end of March.
We have been doing school, though in bits and pieces. It is difficult to get my boys to sit down and stay focused when the babies seem to take turns at needing something. Our Anna Joy is 6 months old and nursing, so I can't really hand her off to someone else!!!LOL!!
The best thing that has worked for my oldest is list. I am a listmaker, though not necessary do what is on it:-).....But for my 10yr old, he takes pleasure in crossing off the list. So, next week I will have to make myself really do that. I did it for two weeks and that went well, at least got stuff accomplished. Didn't this week and well, we feel out of the loop. So back to the list we go. Of course, now our 6yr old, who does like 3 things, wants a list.........
On the nonschool front: someone gave the boys a hamster.......ds1 calls her Buttercup and ds2 calls her Amy....LOL!!! NOW we might have to go and get another one. Anna is teething I think. She is really enjoying chewing on anything she can grab. Unfortunately, the other day she grabbed a bowl of hot soup. That was not a good afternoon. Poor thing cried for 2 hours before finally nursing to sleep, but that was cause I held up her hand and wouldn't let her move it. We have ointment on it and keep it wrapped up. There are a number of humungous blisters on it too. But, you know...........after her nap the day it happened..........she woke up clapping her hands!!?!?!?! go figure
Oh, our van got rearended by a young man driving a motorcycle. DH was sitting at the red light when BOOM, the 19yr old just ran into him. The guy, and his 20yr old passenger, were drunk at 9:30am!!! Thankfully, the police officer who came to the scene is a Christian. Now we are just waiting on the agreement to fix the van................which we won't have til probably February. Chinese New Year is the last week of January, and EVERYTHING closes for a week then............
Well, that is us in a nutshell.............I'll try to do better, promise!!!
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We are all alive and doing well. We have been through the first winter colds and sniffles here at our house, right down to Anna. Thankfully the newborns in our care didn't get sick though. That was a worry.
Let's see:
Anna is currently rolling around the house in her walker. She has become quite proficient at it:-)....she knows what she wants and will go after it. Currently, it is the trash can/bag in the kitchen!!LOL!
Noah is our growing 4yr old. He is going through a growth spurt right now, eating alot and sleeping alot, even complained of his leg feeling achy. This child never fails to amaze me. When his 6yr old brother, of 14yr old foster brother have scared themselves and won't go upstairs in the dark, Noah jumps up with the manly walk and strut "I'll go and protect you." The other day, he wanted to play a computer game. I had told him when the big boys go to piano lessons. So, all morning........."when can I play the computer?" "it is really long wait mommy." I heard this 100 times at least!!! So, I told him ONE more time about asking me when you can play the computer you won't get it. So, he comes to me later and says "mommy when...." I cut him off to remind him of my "threat"...........after a minute of thinking....he says........No, mommy, I was going to ask...when are the big boys going to piano class?".....this boy thinks way too fast
Josiah is doing fine for his sporadic 1st grade year!!!LOL!! He is over half way through his 1st grade reader. He is reading, but we need to work on reading a bit better. He is doing well. We only do Chinese, reading and math the first 2 years at least.
Joshua, well, he is 10yr old. I have been reading other moms with 10yr olds and realize, my 10yr old IS NORMAL!!!!He is a child who really needs to have things structured. This "doing the work" independently just isn't working according to plan. I admit that I have been busy with some ministry stuff and not forcing things. But we have to get back on track. He can do the stuff.
Ok, writing, English grammar........do you all really follow a book? I love to write, but trying to teach my reluctant 10yr old just makes me want to give up. He is allowed to write his stuff on the computer. I don't know if I should just have him write a diary or what, or something. This following the book stuff is not the easiest thing. He was to write 7-8 sentences on Things to do around the house:
Like in my house I wash bowl. And my brother swept the floor. And I washed my clothes. And I feed my rabbit. And my brother feed the turtles, and fish. And we clean are room. I throw the trash. And I take a bath
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my 10yr old thinks now that he has grown up considerably.......... he has an email account (though mommy has the password) and IM.....so now he thinks he is cool................. though mommy is having difficulty dealing with the fact that her son is old enough to have his own email account...............let alone use it and IM!!!!!
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that there ARE people who read my blog, though don't leave message. So, I figured while I have a very rare quiet moment, I can update you all on why I haven't posted much.
We currently have 3 infants, 4 children and a teenager in our house, not to mention a caretaker for ONE of the infants. One of the babies is my own little Anna. The other two are children in the process of waiting for completion of adoption. I know seems crazy, but what was I too do? sorry, leave them out on the street in a basket? actually the end of October, like 3 blocks from our house, someone had a baby and left it there on the ground!!?!!oh, I was mad...........anyway, both are children of unwed mothers who decided not to abort, but give the child a life with a forever family. We are praying (really hard) that they get home SOON!!!
I have discovered I am not cut out for nannyhood........It might be different if I didn't have a nursing 4month old and 3 boys who need to be homeschooled,etc. We are doing our best and praying for endurance.
How has this affected our homeschool? well, the boys have learned alot outside of the text books. Our ds1 has learned how to measure water and formula correctly to feed a screaming baby, as well as change any kind of diaper. Our ds2 has learned how to hold a baby just the right way to keep him from screaming so mommy or Miss P (a young lady and former foster daughter who is back helping and taking care of an infant for us) can eat or take a shower. Our ds3 is learning how to be gentle and make a baby laugh.
We did start up school work this week, but slowly. Math, reading (Hardy Boys book) and spelling. Next week we will add on some other subjects. Now that babies are here and paperwork is about done and we are waiting for courtdates, it should slow down SOME. Well, Mommy needs to learn to schedule and organize, something that is NOT me at all.
So, I will try to get pix of our new borders, Anna is 4.5months old and 17.5lbs. She was sick last week, so that didn't help at all. Baby A is 2.5months old and Baby C is almost a month old. I know if I can live til mid-Dec., then it will be better!!LOL!!
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it has been quite a while since I've written anything. Honestly, my boys are champs!!! we have been so busy with our unwed mom/adoption ministry that we haven't had school for 2 weeks (not that I am hearing any complaining).
We had one infant in the hospital for a week with pneumonia. In Taiwan, someone MUST be there 24hours a day. So the nanny and I rotated shifts. Then we had somethings to straighten out after that. Then our unwed mommy had her baby and some financial situations to straighten out. The baby is going to a great family in the USA, but he is staying at our house until he goes home. So we have 2 extra infants in our house. We do have a 20yr old young lady staying with us (a former foster daughter) to be main caretaker of one baby, but still.
Though I think alot of this has really shown the character and need to build character in some areas in our boys. Joshua has really taken charge and when the 2month old cries, if the adults are busy, he will pick up baby, check the diaper and even fix the formula and feed baby. He loves it!! He'll pick up his sister and play with her. He isn't too sure about the 6lb week old though!LOL!! He has also done lots of household things without asking.
Josiah is more of the laid back, you ask me 3 times and I'll do it. Though not defiant,more of you have to be exact in your wording. A "can you get me 2 or 3 diapers?" will have a "how many do you need?" response.........you have too say EXACTLY how many. If it's "could you sweep the floor?" he might walk around with the broom and see where there is dirt, not sweep the whole floor!!!!
Noah, well, he is 4yr old..........he is having issues dealing with all that has been happening. Since July, he has had a new baby sister, a 14yr old foster brother, former foster sister move back in, 2 babies come to stay, one other baby stay a few nights, and a 19yr nagging unwed mom..........all come to stay in our house.............the last two have left, but still................alot to handle for a 4yr old. So, we have had some issues as he seems to get physical under pressure. I just can't do the tomato staking thing, ok.........I could.......but you know, I just can't handle the fact that then he would be talking non stop and when I need to make phone calls or translate stuff, I just can't have all that going on.
When all the extra babies leave, we will probably go take a short vacation. Hopefully all the paperwork we need to have done and such will be done and turned in next week and we can get settled down into a routine again............................anyway, that's us for now!!
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http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=59252
This link above is to a lady raising money for our unwed mothers ministry here in Taiwan. She will give 50% of each purchase to our Morning Light Home. She has already raised over $200. Please take a look
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I have been busy, it has been a whirlwind here. I don't even know where to begin. I can say that recently, we have had a homeschool graduate (two actually) who are doing a year of teaching here in Taiwan, visit our church. They are from Idaho. AND the 18yr old even used Rod and Staff!!! The 18yr old is a college graduate. So that has been great for Joshua to see that someone was homeschooled and lived to tell about it!!LOL!!
Rod and Staff is fun. Being a Mennonite program, it deals with alot of farming stuff. You know..."Brother John planted 4 rows of corn, with 5 plants in each row. How many plants did he have?" and things about harvesting, hanging clothes out on the line...............um, we do have to explain somethings as we go along.
The other homeschooler told us that she remember in 4th grade crying over math, and her mom getting mad during math..........whew!! and here I thought it was just me! I tell ya, my 4th grader should thank the Lord he lived through last week!! We are on schedule and could probably even take a break, at least if we need to I won't feel bad.
Ok, I am trying to get pix of Anna up. Hopefully next post.
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Any Texas people can tell me if this is true or not?
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Awesome toilet! I would not feel comfortable using it |
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What happens if you turn the light on at night?? Good question ! |
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We didn't get blown away:-) they typhoon actually headed up more north and really did alot of damage there. My mother in law, who still lives up in the mountains said that some of the mountains had big chunks slide down!!!scary!! Because the typhoon headed north of us, we got the Berg Winds. So when that happens we get around 100F degree winds for hours. This time wasn't as bad as the typhoon before that we had those winds for 18hrs!!!! There was another typhoon brewing, but I understand it went to Hong Kong. That would've been 4 in 4weeks and honestly, I don't think Taiwan could've handled another one!!
We are moving right along. The boys are doing good in their work. We did have to take some time off this week with another addition to our house and the weather is changing so I had a migraine like I haven't had in a while (aka......laying in bed only). But we are working on it. We still need to get into a routine. Does one ever?
Oh, we have 4 English teachers coming to visit Sunday. We are excited, I know that at least one is a BJU graduate, granted 9 years after I graduated, makes me feel old:-) But anyway, they are here with a servants heart. At BJU, Dr. Bob always encouraged students to spend at least 3 years helping out small churches before seriously getting into a career that might boggle you down. Serving somewhere for 3 years will impact your life and many small churches need young blood in there to help:-).
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Typhoon Jangmi..........our 3rd in 3 weeks........
Can you see Taiwan?Yup, that little island all but covered up by this very large and powerful typhoon that gained power in the ocean off the Philippines........guess we better get some stuff just incase!! oh you see where the line showing it's path is going? we are about 1/4 in above that line......the teen at our house is praying for a typhoon day (I on the other hand AM NOT!!) though this goes in hand with our science lessons from last week!!LOL!! my 6yr old says "YEAH! we get a typhoon holiday!!" mommy is the bad one that says "Um, nope.....you are at home, so it doesn't matter sweetie pie:-)".........
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dh brought me home a new instrument:-)
http://www.melodyofchina.com/06instruments/xun.html
it is called a xun...........now i need to have my dad send my 12 holed ceramic ocarina......ds1 can play that one..... it i relaxing to hear and play older instruments
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how's that for a title!!LOL!! here I was getting miffed at the 14yr at our house who was laying on the floor pretending to do his math homework (dh let him, not me!) and thinking he has 6 things to do!! then it hit me, oh, it's Saturday tomorrow!! DUH!! so he was allowed to put his stuff away, but is gonna have a long day. We are watching some Chinese history movie.........ok, it's in Chinese and just loses me!! plus I think Chinese history movies are gory, I mean blood squirting and all that!!EW!!!!
Well, I allowed ds1 to do a pretest on two lessons, he said confidently he could do it!!LOL!! then he got his score. Needless to say he wrote the words two times and then took the test today, he got a 95%!! We aren't going to do two lessons at a time, this was a once thing. I wish I could say the same for his Chinese........*sigh* dh really needs to help with this subject. Ds1 DOESN'T want to do Chinese, but such is life, it is part of him and well, he is gonna do it.
He had a history/geography test today........orally he did fine on the review, I only gave him an oral review, the test, well, I haven't given a written score yet, almost afraid too!!! I am sure he is retaining it, but just not regurerating (sp?) it for tests. Why test? well, technically I don't have to I guess, but I do have to give scores for the school we are under. Math is doing fine, so far it is kinda reviewish for him as before he was a year ahead and in Singapore, so yeah, RS math is pretty self explanatory for him.
DS2 is doing well in reading. He is starting to write Chinese too,he isn't thrilled with that, but then again, he is repeating the complaining he hears his brother do. Funny, doesn't get his brother anywhere, so why should he bother???!!
Oh, we have been doing the "grunt/complain" jar. Basically, when they are told to do something (mainly school work) and I hear "oh man!" "awww!" "i don't want to" things along that line, they have to put 1NT in a bowl (that is like the equivalent of 0.03US). They weren't thrilled with that, but it hurt more than anything!!LOL!! But then my brilliant 6yr old says this:
Me: you owe me 3NT bud, in the bowl!
DS2: .......thinks a bit.......Mommy, can I just go ahead and put 10NT in there so then I just owe you 7 complaints?
WHATEVER KID!!!Things they come up with......
Oh, daddy is back and I think I am going to get a month, every Sat (or once a week maybe) massage or spa or something as payback!!!LOL!! lest you freak, it is cheaper here than in the USA. For a 45min session reflexology, it's only $10US!!! dh hates it as it is NOT a goochy goo session!!
Ok, baby crying!!I know, I know.....owe you all pix
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it's another, I tell ya........if you want to read about the milk/dairy product scare, poisoned with melamine (sp?) check out here:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/
and you'll see a number of articles. I had JUST bought some products to make milk tea, now no one here in the house will drink it. Though they are now saying that it will ONLY cause kidney stones IF you drink large quantities of products tainted with the stuff. Funny, the head of Dept. of Health refused to have a drink of coffee with creamer in it at a meeting............that's a bit scary!!
AND the news here said that another fatal case of the enterovirus 71 happened this week, it was of a 4yr old. Now, this makes no sense..... the child was sick, didn't go to school that day, but wanted to go to the activity the school had. So, his parents took him, sick and all, to the activity, which he got on the stage and all and then had breathing problems, blood pressure went up and they called 911......he died the next day....................why if the child was sick would they take him in public and now possibly infect the other kids around them??? that is what gets me.........I told dh (who is still in China) and he said "DON'T go out anywhere!!" like I am taking all these kids out by myself!!LOL!!
Dh gets back tomorrow thank the Lord! We had a typhoon come through this week, thought my screens all got blown off.......goodness and we weren't even IN the storm...........it will be good to have daddy home.
Question for my 3 readers out there:-)........spelling........do you make your kids write the new words? or just have them do exercises and then say an oral test or what?
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