Friday...weekend!

Friday at last! We've had a busy week, but it was nice!
I did some cooking this afternoon with the juniors: soup and pizza... I had taken the breadmachine into school, so I made some brown bread dough for the pizza's and we topped them, baked them ate them... mmmmmmmm They looked great, apart from me having totally forgotten that cheese is one of the main ingredients in pizza.... Never mind, they seemed to disappear fast enough.....!

Now it is weekend.. I have no plans for this evening, apart from hanging the washing, doing some cleaning etc etc.. Tomorrow is the Salisbury conference, I hope to give you an update on that. Fatbaptist is coming with us.. Hey, I hope you will behave.... We don't want to get a bad name by bringing friends along!

Apart from that I'm still waiting to hear from a particular scouthut in Cheltenham, as we hope to rent it from them.. sigh, why does everything have to take sooooo long?????? As soon as we hear from them, and we can arrange something, we can then start making final arrangements for our school. Won't I be relieved!!!!

I just feel sad though that no Reformed Christians seem to have a vision or a heart for their or other people's children... CAN'T PEOPLE SEE WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO THEIR KIDS??????
Sorry, but I feel very strongly about that, and if any one wants to speak to me about it, you're welcome.. Even better, if you want us to come to your church and speak about it, we'll come!

Autumn is here...

Autumn is come, the summer is past. Winter will be too soon! Stars will shine clearer, moon seems nearer under the autumn sky.. Something like that was a song we learned at college.. And I'm sure it's true..

School has started! And it's great! The building is cool, nice and big with lots of windows! My cooking lessons are going fine, I'm really enjoying them!

I have to make some more lessons this afternoon, so that can be fun.... I just hope the computer co-operates, as it is in a bit of a funny mood today... Probably doesn't like the cold either!

We made oven-potatoes and salad last week, and it was great! As desert we had scones.... The children liked it, and altough I didn't taste any of it, it just looked and smelled lovely!

On Saturday I went to the hairdresser's, a place I haven't been to for the past 10 years or so... I had been trying to grow my hair for the past year, but was getting fed up with it! My hair just doesn't want to do what I want it to do! It usually looked really scruffy and untidy, so I had had enough! Now it is really short. It will grow, as it is a little too short for my liking... Anyway, it is much easier to deal with, I must admit! Even though I had to pay a fortune to get it done! I remembered at the end why I always cut it myself or let a friend do it....

I will have to get moving I think, as the house is getting more and more like a tip! Plus there are some letters to write, lessons to make and prepare, etc etc.... Richard is not here today, so it gives me the freedom and space to start moving around, and get the place sorted!

Definitely autumn..even school is starting!

Sigh...autumn has arrived, it's soooooo cold! But I cannot complain really, and especially now school has started, it's probably best that the temperature drops as well...
I spend a few days at the school last week to help to clean and tidy... The building is just so nice! Big and spacious and mostly: light!!
I spend most of the Friday cleaning the kitchen. It's enormous, but windows all around! So many pot and pans, I didn't clean those... I cleaned the windows, and the worktops etc, and decided to clean pot etc whilst going along!

Tomorrow I start, and I'm really looking forward to it! Today I spend some time at the dentist..Even though he is a nice man, and good at his job, I do prefer to stay clear of that place as much as possible.. Now the one side of my face feels as if it is enoooooormous!

I decided to sit down at my pc, and start on making a curriculum for my cooking lessons... Quite hard to do, I fear, even though it is nice to do!
I decided on biscuits with the 2 younger children, they will like that, and then a proper meal with the seniors on Wednesday... See if they will like that..mmmm... They might prefer MacDonalds....

Tuesday, still summer

We had a bit of a sad weekend really! Sjoerd was going on Monday, so it was saying goodbyes over the last few days. The last service, the last meals.... Meals were always an important part of our day. Not only because Sjoerd is a food-lover, but also because of the discussions going on at the table.. A meal was not just about stuffinf food into your mouth at top-speed, but was the social highlight of the day!

Anyway, after giving out presents etc etc I even got myself into cooking breakfast monday morning... That was bad news. Breakfast was at 7, as Tup had to be at college in time, and we had to set off early as well. Sjoerd choose to study in Norwich, which is about the other side of the world!
So we set out on our journey in our red Scooby-van to pick up Mr Johnson, our deacon, and good friend of Sjoerd. He is well past retiring age, but still works 3 days a week...Keeps him young he says..

Anyway, we drove all the way to Norwich, or nearly Norwich, to Alan Clifford, a well known pastor, who was going to put up with Sjoerd for a few days...
We had some great conversations! To my joy he showed us his hymnbook, which has a full psalter. Not just any psalter, or the Scottish one I like sooo much (NOT), but the Anglo-Genevan! It is the same psalter as is used in Holland! The psalms I know and love! So we bought a few copies, and who knows we might even start using them on Wednesdays in the prayermeeting! At the moment I am quite happy to look at the psalms, and get a little steamed up when some of the nicest verses are missing.. o well, one can't have everything!

It is amazing all the books Alan Clifford has on Hugenots or however you English would like to spell it... We had a lovely afternoon with him and his wife in the sun...

Then, sadly, it was time to say goodbye to all, especially Sjoerd... It was really weird to leave him behind! So quiet....!
We drove back, just stopped for a hot meal, and were home about 10 at night... Tup had been quite busy, which made me happy! She had quite a good day at college, so I hope she will keep on liking college... It will be hard work though!

Today Richard's mum came to pick up Jake, Richard's youngest brother.. He had stayed with us all weekend, been a little too excited for our liking, but well, he enjoyed it, so we did as well in a sense. It is always nice to have Jake staying though, although you have to watch him.. He likes clocks, and will try to wind them or open the at 3 in the morning or so...

This morning is the first of our Ladies Bible Study! We are hoping to study Philippians together. I have just been working on the next set of questions for next week.. but just so you can join us, here are the questions!
Chapter 1

1. What is the general information we are given at the start of this letter?
2. What do we know about the church at Philippi, and give references.
3. What does Paul say to them and about them in his introduction to the rest of the letter? Verse 1-5.
4. What is meant with the good work in verse 6, and find references.
5. How would you summarise verse 6-11?
6. What fruits do you think of when you read verse 11?
7. What does Paul tell them about his state of affairs? Verse 12-23.
8. What does the Bible tell us about the furtherance of the Gospel, verse 12? Think of the word ‘spread’ if furtherance doesn’t give you references…
9. How did some try to hurt Paul and the furtherance of the Gospel, and what does Paul say about it? Verse 15-19.
10. What is Paul’s outlook on life? Verse 20-24.
11. How does he encourage the Christians in Philippi? Verse 24-30.
12. In verse 28 he tells them to not be terrified by anything… Find references and grounds for this courage.

I hope you enjoy thinking about these questions, and the thing is to apply it all the time! That is what we do when we get together!

I will have to go for now, as I have things to do this morning!