Life at Oak Grove

You must think that I am crazy but I am so excited about the fact that we can pull our RV with the Suburban that I am actually thinking about next summer vacation.   We want to go on the road this time...  for at least two weeks...

Our options:

1) Prince-Edouard Island and New Brunswick

2) Pennsylvania

Now with the baby being 6 months old by then... I wonder what would be the best option.  Not to mention that I would prefer having the birth certificate in hands and the passport of the little one... (need the birth certificate to apply for the passport... and since it can take a while to get the birth certificate well...)

Our best bet would be East Coast it seems...  but just to be safe and to educate myself, I've ordered the travel guides of all the places above this morning.   I really want to go to Pennsylvania in a near future.  But it has been ages since I went to the East Coast (I was maybe 2 year old when I went... ouf!).

So I am planning - my little fun here...

Why or why do I need to deal with some things sometimes???   I am frustrated about a couple of things nothing related to homeschooling fortunately.  But other stuff...  I don't want to go into details because I don't believe that a blog should be a place to vent about people but I do need prayer in this area.

I trust that God can guide others to pray for me.   So you will understand why I am not giving more details here.   I just needed to ask for prayers.

Apart from that, the day is good...   Husband went to meet with two clients (one in the morning, one in the afternoon).  We need to bring some stuff at Value Village a second-hand store to empty the garage...  Alexandre is doing his maths right now, Dominic is bring very nice with Jérémy and Jérémy is over his temper tantrum of this morning.   OUF!   Already I am a bit tired but I will go with the flow trusting that God will give me strength, patience and understanding for the other stuff.

In Him...

It is going well... I must say that I am impressed.   Yes there is some days where the younger ones are a bit a pain in the butt and there is some days where I don't feel like it but I can see the benefits of homeschooling...

• Alexandre do not have to be rushed out of the house in the morning to catch his bus at 7:35am.


• No lunch to do in the morning....


• I can sleep a bit more in the morning...


• Alexandre is not chewing his nails and skin around the nails.  He is more calm.


• No bad influences, or bad TV shows or any other things I didn't like from last year.


• Having fun with my boys


• Being flexible in our time... if we want to go out we can.

And so much more...

Now I have to think about incorporating sciences, field trips, arts, and introducing piano somehow...

Swimming is going well...   Math U See primer book is almost done.   He just completed the first book of Je lis... J'écris... which is a reading program in French I bought.  

So I am satisfied.   Not worried anymore.   Not stressed about it anymore.   At peace with my decision more and more every day.

Like today, I need to pack for camping and we will go to the trailer for the week-end.    We might even leave in the afternoon - talk about freedom!

Wondering what I am talking about?

Some of you know we had problems with the van.  Motor died on us while on our way to visit my mom...

So we considered our options for a little while.  Had only a vehicle for that time.   A dealer lented us a Suburban for the field trip we did two weeks ago.  Nice gesture!

We decided to go ahead with changing the motor but a used one... cheaper that at the dealer believe me!   Then we still considered our options...  Got the van back last Thursday.   But the motor didn't seemed to run as smootly as before.  Was it just me?  

We had a serious discussion about our options the following day and decided to go check out a vehicle in our city.   We tried it...  We loved it... We got a quote for the van...  We bought it...  We got it yesterday!

So here's our new wheels!

It's a 2007 Suburban which can pull our RV.   Now we can plan vacation outside of our province...   Rest of Canada and USA, here we come! (in the future that is! One of the first place I want to go for sure is Pennsylvania....  Heidi, I can't wait to see you again!)

My brother-in-law and his wife would like to adopt a little girl.   They had learned that there will be a pre-trial next week and that there is a possibility that the judge will make a final decision regarding this case at the pre-trial...

They really hope to have that little girl.   Even their son is quite attached to her.  Actually, everyone in both families like her a lot.

Please pray that we will have good news...   Personally I would like a niece in the family as we have a bunch of boys.   Don't take me wrong, I love the boys in the family but some feminine touch is missing...

This is a wonderful recipe... We got it at the kids cooking course last year.   Just made a batch and I had to share it with everyone...

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Brownies

Makes 12 large brownies or 24 small

Ingredients:

• 1 package chocolate cake mix


• 1/2 cup melted butter


• 1/3 cup milk


• 2 eggs


• 1/3 Caramel Sundae Syrup


• 3/4 cup chocolate chips


• 3/4 cup SKOR toffee baking bits

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x13 inch pan.


2. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, melted butter, milk and eggs.  Stir with a wooden spoon until well blended.  Press half of the mixture or a little bit more evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.   It will just cover the bottom of the pan.   Bake for 6 minutes in the preheated oven.


3. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips and toffee bits over the top.  Drizzle the caramel sauce across the top.  Spread the remaining brownie dough over the top. Return to the oven fo an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clear.  Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Hint:  Spray your knife with cooking spray to make it easier to spread the batter.  It will be very sticky...

This afternoon, we decided to attack the basment!   In more than 4 years living here (not counting the 4 previous years before that) let me tell you that we had a bunch of junk and other stuff to get rid of.   So a lot will go to Mr. Garbage Man and a bunch will go to a second hand store...

Now, another section has to be done but for today I am quite happy with the results...  

Why in the world have we waited SO long to do this?????

We are getting the van back today... hopefully if someone comes and pick up my husband to go get it that is... It is amazing how much you realize how nice your vehicule is even though it is an older model...

But the motor has been changed...  ended up changing other stuff too but they did not called about that before hand.  So we told them that usually you should call before changing anything else...  as if!   So they removed one hour of labour because of that...

Got a call from the contract we have been waiting for...  Technically, the boys can start next Monday.  Which is good news but we want the contract in hand before we go in.  

Now we need to pray seriously about what to do with that truck we are looking at...  Black Suburban... really nice too!   We were waiting for that contract to come in to decide...  So we will talk about it later.

" Don't feel totally, personally, irrevocable responsible for everything.  That's my job.  Signed, God."

Since I've started the year, I am taking the habit of doing daily devotions in the morning...   There are days where it is harder than others but most of the time I am doing good.

This morning though, while reading the part called "Readings for reflection" which was about poor people, it made me think...

It sort of said that poor people are often more patient in trials, rich in hope and strong in adversity.   They bear witness every day that God is present in their lives...   Remember Luke 12:27-31?   This is what we should not forget...  God do take care of us even when we don't see the end of the tunnel.

To be honest, we learned this important fact this year.   In North America, we tend to forget that God is taking care of us in ALL circumstances.  We have it easy really...   2007 was a year of trust in our family.   Trusting that the LORD will take care of us... and He did indeed.   And He continues.  

I give thanks for what He has done so far and what He will do in the future.   May I ever forget how He took care of us during a harder time in our life.

Hallelu Yah!  (which means Praise the LORD!)

Ever thought that you have not accomplished all you wanted to do?   This is what I feel right now...

Even though we did devotion, a whole lesson in French reading, writing, Maths and a cooking lesson with the Pumpkin Chip Muffins... mmmm! good!

Still I feel as though we should have done more than that... 

Alexandre was very helpful at one point since I had something to deal with and he took care of his little brothers by playing with them.

So I guess it wasn't that bad after all....   Just need to work on my expectations!  

On Saturday,  I had to go with my eldest at the children hospital because he was playing "Monkey jumping from the bed...".   Really we have told tell numerous times not to jump from the bed but they were still  doing it.   Well, on Saturday it happened.  He jumped and then fell on the bed of hisbrother Dominic and opened his left check under the eye.  He was very fortunate to not catch the eye....

It wasn't very big but it was opening and bleeding...  At first I thought it was just a bump so I told my husband to put ice on it... That's when he told me "No I think you will have to go to the hospital for this..."  I turned around and saw the bleeding and dear husband opened the wound to show me...   The cut was kind of curvy not straight...

So at the hospital they applied some glue and put on some tape to hold it.   Tape will fell by itself... as for the glue, well no water in the face for 48 hours...  

The worse part is the next day he was jumping from his little brother Jérémy's bed...   I guess he hasn't learn the lesson yet....

Poor child, looks like he is more prone to accidents like his mom...   Broken arm last year, a cut this year... what will it be next.   Always thought my second would be the one like that as he is my risk taker...   I guess he is a risk taker but a careful one... ha ha ha!

As promised, here's some pictures of our first official field trip at Upper Canada Village with a bunch of homeschoolers...

We had a great time even though it was very hot and humid...

A machine that holds new wool.

Inspecting the weight at the mill

Installing a new shoe on the horse...

Quilting time!

Broom making... very interesting!

Preparing for the fair - they are seying dried flowers to make a special design on the moss...

with the homeschooling organization in town...

We went to Upper Canada Village today!   Very hot and humid but so instructive.   We were blessed to have my in-laws with us as well and grand-papa did told how things worked to the boys... well the two older one anyway!

Upper Canada Village is a re-enacted village life from the 1860s.   It was so interesting to see people working at the mill, the broommaker, the shoemaker, the blacksmith, the bakery and so on...   I promise to post pictures soon but right now I need to relax and figure out supper!

This morning when I woke up, I had this strange feeling about the vehicule.  So I told my dear husband what I thought we should do before buying this old motor...

I think he needs to go to our regular dealer (the one we have been dealing with the last few vehicules) and get an idea of prices that they offer either for a used or a new vehicule.

Then, we will be in a more comfortable position to make a wise decision...   He told me he had the same feeling so we might do that.

...from God???

Yep!  You read it right.   After debating all day what we would do with our vehicule... Should we buy a new one or even a used one? (difficult decision to make since no contracts have been coming in since a few months), Should we replace the motor? (is it worth it?), Should we just live with our little ECHO? (another hard decision to make since we can have three kinds in that one...), Should we get rid of both vehicules to get a new one? (again money wise, not the best decision...)...  we finally arrived to a decision... AND NO we are not getting a new vehicule and we are NOT staying with the ECHO only...  Oh we are NOT going to buy a used one either...

We will change the motor... however, we are not going to the dealer which charge a fortune for the replacement only...  We learned during the day that some scrapyard do replace motor from other vehicules they have... (thanks to my brother-in-law's boss!).   So we called around to ask for prices...   We got a good price for a motor with labour and taxes.   This "new" motor will have 74000KM on it but to be honest, it is better that getting a new loan on a new vehicule for our finances right now.

So we decide that, and funny enough we got two calls for contracts we had been waiting since forever to hear from... BOTH should start next week or so.  UNBELIEVABLE!!!  Rob and two of our guys will be busy.   When that happened, I looked at my husband and said: "God has a funny sense of humor don't you think?".

No really...   After all the stress I had today only... and believe me I had stress (Yes Anita, I had stress!!!  seemed calm in my previous post but believe me inside it was a tornado!!!).   The news of these two contracts finally coming through is a great relief.   We felt like Job in a way (that's my husband saying) as if God was testing us all this time...   Now I trust Him but couldn't He had done it a bit earlier???   I know... I know... God's timing is not ours...  

I think I will fully relax when the guys start on the contracts.  Thank you LORD for taking care of us! 

.... yes you read it right.   We were on our way to visit my mom yesterday when a bizarre noise seemed to be coming from the motor... oh oh!  So we pulled on the side of the highway (fortunately we were only 40 minutes from home) and check it out.   A provincial police came and asked us if we had a problem.   He took information about our vehicule to let his co-workers know we were turning back and might have some problems on the way back.   He was very nice.   Thanks OPP!

On the way back... we were hoping and praying to be able to get back home.  Unfortunately, it was not the case.  The motor let go three times.  However, we were able to get back to our exit and to a gas station there.    We called CAA!  Thanks goodness we had a card!    Called my in-laws as well to come pick up the kids and I.   CAA arrived before the in-laws...   and we had been told it might took 2 hours.

Got the van towed to our car dealer... the one with a brother in christ from our church there.   It got checked out this morning....  Motor is a goner.  LITERALLY!   Should we replace the motor... 4000$ job or get a new vehicule or wait... with only a little car that can't have three kids in there?   Decisions, decisions to be made...

Husband went to see used vehicules at the dealer...  There is a 2007 Suburban there.    It can pull our RV no problem.   Now if we can get a good price on it...   We never know.

Right now, I am speechless about the whole situation.   Never thought that after getting our van go through the whole inspection and repairs last month that the motor would die on us.    I wonder if God has plans that we don't know off...