This lovely sermon by our own dear Rector. It's a heartfelt reminder of the real motivation behind any small service that Christians do for others-- to see the face of Christ in that person. This is especially true as it applies to our spouses. There was not a dry eye in the church yesterday as Fr. Timothy's voice choked with emotion when he spoke about his own wife and his great love of serving her.

Operation Christmas Child-- The children and I delighted in wrapping our boxes with bright paper and prayers for the little ones who will open them.

Wintersong by Sarah McLachlan-- The soundtrack of our busy days-- every single track is breathtakingly gorgeous. I especially love her version of "River" by Joni Mitchell.

The Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas by Bill McKibben
I'm looking forward to sharing a potluck supper and discussing this book with a group of friends next week.

Here are some links that I’ve enjoyed over the last week

Australia’s day of Thanksgiving is earlier in the year but I have enjoyed reading Heart of the Matter’s weekly Meme where different bloggers have shared what they are thankful for.  It is always good to have a refocus on gratefulness.

I have been excited to find this Art curriculum.  I have ordered it for Nomi’s lessons next year.  Though she will continue to do FIAR this will be a delight study for her, which will also incorporate some discipleship opportunities.

This week the movie, Australia, was premiered in town.  There was quite a buzz.  More so in our family than we expected because Nomi helped out some friends in a fancy dress competition and they ended up winning two double passes to that nights premiere.  They gave one set away.  The other set went to the two dads – so off they went to the Premiere showing – red carpet and all!

I spent a bit of time looking at this Alternative Calendar.  I like the idea of being more aware of various church/Christian celebrations.  I have earmarked a selection onto my 2009 diary – not all of them, but the ones that fit our family.  I envisage using these dates at least for dinner time conversation.  When we discuss a variety of issues around the table we have the opportunity to speak into our children’s lives in a variety of ways!

We all need a tree…. This came through my email and it was certainly timely.  I am sure we all need reminding of this life lesson at some time.

has been getting done, if a bit sporadically.  Wednesday life just took over and nothing much got done other than picking up the house.  I'm trying to at least keep Zarek on track since he's in high school now.  Alexis is doing a decent job of getting most of her work done each day and sometimes has to catch up on the weekends.  We have moved on from the Egyptians and are now learning about the Greeks.  Caitlyn and Brett are still enjoying learning about these ancient civilizations.  For Brett, the more fighting/warrior type stuff, the better.  They're both doing a great job at remembering what they've learned and love answering the questions for each chapter for Story of the World. 

Yesterday Zarek went to a friend's house to work on his biology experiements since we don't have a microscope.  Today he needs to take a biology test and an algebra test.  He started taking a Spanish course online and I don't think it's going to well.  I'm going to let him work at it for another week and if he wants to drop it I'll let him.  I think it's just too hard trying to learn a foreign language online.

This weekend I really need to catch up with Zarek's assingment and get them into HST and make up the next few weeks assignments, at least through Christmas would be nice.  Next week we're only having school on Monday and the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving break, the kids can't wait and neither can I.

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.

- John Wesley

I followed a link from a discussion on the Homeshool Lounge that led me to Letter of the Week.  I was particularly interested in the Journal Ideas.  I am going to go through these and write a slightly expanded list as an ideas list for my children’s blogging. For example, one of the January Journal ideas is “How many brothers and sisters do you have, names and ages”  I will suggest that they “Introduce your brothers and sisters, and tell us what makes them special.”   Next year I would like to see the younger ones update their blogs more often and an ideas sheet will help them get into the habit of writing.

Last weekend we listened to Barack Obama’s Victory speech.  Nothing unusual in that you may think – except we are Australian!  We watched it, not because of the politics, but because he is a great orator and we wanted our children to watch how he used words, his expressions, his tone, his body to get his message across.  I don’t have the link to that but it was a very worthwhile activity.

I have quoted from Susan’s post, What are you sharing, several times in the last few weeks.  Oh, how important it is not to fill our days with things that robs us of the time to share our heart with our children.

Another blog I have been enjoying, is my friend who has moved to Thailand.  He is blogging as often as he can, considering very interesting internet connections but when he gets to write he is sharing real life stuff from village living.

1. What are your initials? RLOL 

2. How old will you be in 30 years? Are you trying to depress me?? 64

3. Where would you most like to vacation? Florida Keys

4. Rainy or Sunny? Sunny if I can be at the beach, Rainy if I can stay in bed and read

5. Do you make anything for Thanksgiving dinner? Yes, everything!

6. If so, what? Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, and desserts like carrot cake and pumpkin pie

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?  I don't wanna grow up  :)

8. What is your favorite day of the year?  Christmas

9. What is your favorite subject in school?  History

10. Look left, what do you see?  Windows

11. Look right, what do you see? My bed

12. Do you have a favorite stuffed animal? No

13. If so, what and who is it?

14. Have you written any books, or short stories? No

15. Do you ever wish for a different hair color?  Just that the gray would stop popping through

16. Superman, Spiderman, or Batman?  Um, none?

17. Do you have a pen pal, or e-pal?  My friend Wyndie is kind of an e-pal

18. What is your lucky number? Seven

19. What is your favorite Holiday?  Christmas or Thanksgiving

20. Who will you tag? Emmavj, Caitie, Brett

On Remembrance Day I was reading a story to Nomi and Daniel and the ending caught my emotions raw.  The end of the story told of both sides of the trenches, guns silent, singing Silent Night, each in their own language, but at the same time. 

My voice was catching, and I was teary.  Daniel, who has trouble processing emotions, tried to shake me out of it, and Nomi, who is a little older, tried to get him to give me some space.  All he needed was the reassurance that it was

1. Normal to cry
2. Okay to cry

It made me think though – do we show our emotions to our kids.  Do they see us crying over things that make us sad?  Do they see us grieve?  Do they see us carry on when we are heavy hearted? 

I think our kids do see this in me, but it was a good time for a little reflection and a little check up to see that this is really so because I think it is important for them to see these things.

The 11^th of the 11^th at 11.00am Australian’s stop to remember the soldiers who have fallen during the various wars that we as a country have been involved in.

I would love to do a week study on this aspect of our history and yet before I know it the day is here and gone and I have not got myself organized.  I guess there is no reason why we can’t do the study after the date, and use the memorial activities as a kick start to our studies.  I’ll think of that for next year!!

This year I gave a quick phone call to all the homeschoolers to let them know that there was a memorial service happening in the center of town.  I think we had all missed the advertising and if it wasn’t for my friends many years of encouragement we would have missed it too.  In the end 5 homeschool families turned up to remember and to be honest, we made up quite a crowd.

Earlier in the morning I did get to read a couple of picture books to Nomi and Daniel, we discussed the symbol of the poppy, the purpose of memorials, the enormity of how many men and women died, just in World War I, and we finished our discussion on the freedoms that they fought for.  We read In Flanders Fields which called us not to ever stop fighting for those freedoms.  A good reminder!