Life at Oak Grove

 The reason behind the title of this blog is because oaks can become majestic trees, strong, sturdy, and have life in it.  Oaks produce fruits that squirrels and chipmunks will feed off.   Oaks can also welcome birds and their little ones in their branches.
 I like the idea of oaks so much that I decided to name my home school Oak Grove Academy.  I want my kids to stand strong on the Word of God, to follow the Lord wherever He will take them and to trust Him with every aspects of their lives.   I want my kids to plant seeds of hope around them, show the love of God through their actions and become a beacon of light for others in this dark world.    I want my kids to be open to anything God will bring on their plates.   I want my kids to have compassion for others and be willing to sacrifice what they have for the ones who need it.

My kids had some money put aside.  But when disaster stroke Haiti, they wanted to do something for the people there or anyone in need.   This week-end, we went on the Samaritan's Purse website and clicked on their Canadian catalogue.   They bought small animals as well as Bibles and Gospel Storybooks for Children.   We also added gift of good health for a family as well as support a church and pastor.

The kids first question was "Are we going to receive the animals, feed them and then send it to the poor?"   So cute.  We told them the animals will go directly to the people in need.

Now, they are working hard around the house without us asking so they can get more money to spend to help the poor.  Over the week-end, while we were busy with something else, we heard the vacuum.   They were cleaning the first floor so they can get more money for the poor.  Priceless.

I'm proud of my kids.   I pray God will continue to guide them and speak to them.

We are blessed lately.

Beyond measures actually.

2009 has been a hard year for us on many levels.    Our church plant was struggling and we had to shut down for a couple of months.  The business had troubles due to lack of contracts and we had to lay off our employees for a period of time (this is hard when you know some of them have kids... sigh), we battle the dark depression both of us but not at the same time (thank goodness)...   this is only to mention a few things that was going on.

But this brought us close to God as well which is VERY good.

In the last month, we have been blessed twice with our finances.    It's incredible what God can do. 

Okay to give you a bit of perspective, let me tell you about the business.   We are in the IT world building databases for clients in the area.   Well back int he Spring 2009, the federal government has changed the rules concerning contracting.   Back then we wanted to release LobsterNetwork so we didn't worry too much when we were not getting calls for contracts.   All three employees were working on LobsterNetwork and that's what we wanted.    But then September arrived and we sensed something was bizarre.   No calls.  Now to think about it - it was a while since we had calls...  Mmmm!   Not good.   We learned about the changes then.   We had to layoff our guys.  Sad time.  Very hard time.   OUCH!

But then contracts came in.   We re-hired the guys.   Problem is the money don't usually come until a month or two later.   Mostly a month later.   So we are still in a thight spot even though we have contracts.  We are getting out of it slowly but man it though.

Recently, we had a business bill to pay.   But how should we pay it when the money is low.  We pay the employees no worries about it.   We usually take the hit as we pass the employees first.   So we had that bill to pay which was about 1500$ or so.    I know about the bill but not the amount.   One day I go to the mail and bring back an envelop from the government for the business.  Inside it a refund cheque for the GST.  Believe it or not the amount is 5$ less than the bill we had to pay.   God is so good.   We had forgotten about the refund we were supposed to get.... and it arrived exactly when we needed it.  Amazing!

It will be taxes season soon here in Canada.   So since we know the amount of our donations, we did a draft to see how much would we owe in taxes.   We had put aside some money back in 2009 to cover this but when times were hard we had to use some of it.   So we needed to know how bad the situation was.  So we do the taxes and we just couldn't believe our eyes.  I was emotional at that point.   A good emotional that is.  Why?  Because it turns out that we don't owe much but instead we shall receive.    Unbelievable.   God is indeed good and takes care of us.  

Then because we are still not out of the thight spot we were in we talked about the essential things we needed to buy for homeschooling.   There was MathUSee books for Alexandre and Jérémy (we already have Dominic's book), Easy Grammar for Alexandre as well as some French things to get for Alexandre and Dominic.   Oh and don't forget the renewal for RVHEA and Homeschool Legal Defense.   So that were the basic things we needed to get.    I also had some things I had accumulate from previously.  And I was blessed with good things from my first year on The TOS Homeschool Crew.   Well about a week ago I was asked if I could rejoin the crew for the remaining of the year since some people have dropped off.   I said yes because I know it is good.   What I wasn't expecting is how blessed I would be...

The first products I received (via email) were from Home School In The Woods.  It was the Olde World Style Modern and Ancient Maps: World Maps AND the Old World Style Modern and Historical Maps: United States Maps.    I was looking into it and realized the quality of the product.   I had tears in my eyes.  I was indeed blessed beyond measure and I just couldn't believe that I had a wonderful geography tool to use with my kids.   I won't tell you more about it because I will write a review soon on Canadianladybug Reviews! - if you want to know more about it follow me there!   Something else came up for me to review, Math Galaxy has a bunch of software to review.   And from I see it looks pretty good...  Then there will be Educaching which looks really cool.

So I am not worried.  God will take care of us.   I am blessed indeed.   Thank You Lord for taking care of us, the business and homeschooling. 

Remember that song... Well a very creative homeschool mom has made her own version of it...   Check it out!

 

Thanks to a fellow crew member to the TOS Homeschool Crew of 2008-2009 for posting this on facebook. If not, I would have not seeing it... *grin*

Okay, I think this is well done... Not sure I would attempt it though.  

However, I wonder why thesong Brown Eye Girl is attached to it....   I would have picked something with vegetables on it like the song in French....Tous Les Légumes which I learned when I was in the girl guides - looooooog time ago!

Tous les légumes
Au clair de lune
Étaient en train de s'amuser HÉ !
(En faisant le HÉ!, on saute dans l'air en faisant un tour sur soi-même et en levant un bras)
Ils s'amusaient HÈ!
(En faisant le HÈ!, on saute dans l'air en faisant un tour sur soi-même et en levant un bras)
Tant qu'ils pouvaient HÈ !
(En faisant le HÉ!, on saute dans l'air en faisant un tour sur soi-même et en levant un bras)
 Et les passants les regardaient...
(S'arrêter et mettre la main en visière et regarder alternativement de gauche à droite)

Les cornichons tournaient en rond
(Tournoyer sur soi-même vers le centre du cercle)
Les artichauds sautaient à petits sauts
(Faire des petits sauts désordonnés)
Les céleris valsaient sans bruit
(attrapper la personne la plus près et valser avec elle)
Et les choux-fleurs se dandinaient avec ardeur
(Se plier légèrement vers l'avant et se dandiner à reculons pour reformer le cercle)

Check how to dance the French song from this video....

...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...

Ever heard of Webkinz?   It is some stuff toy that Ganz is selling with a special code to access their Webkinz world.   Alexandre got the BullFrog for his birthday from some friends of ours.   The whole family is now "addicted" to the games.   Don't take me wrong though... We have a good addiction per say...  We control the access of the website and we do it as a family once in a while.   At first we were wondering what the heck is this???  but now, I can see the positive in the whole thing like for example, you need to work ie play games to get some money so that you can buy some food or bed or any other thing to keep you webkinz healthy.  

Meet Nicky and Max... the webkinz of the family!

Ever heard of Webkinz?   It is some stuff toy that Ganz is selling with a special code to access their Webkinz world.   Alexandre got the BullFrog for his birthday from some friends of ours.   The whole family is now "addicted" to the games.   Don't take me wrong though... We have a good addiction per say...  We control the access of the website and we do it as a family once in a while.   At first we were wondering what the heck is this???  but now, I can see the positive in the whole thing like for example, you need to work ie play games to get some money so that you can buy some food or bed or any other thing to keep you webkinz healthy.  

Meet Nicky and Max... the webkinz of the family!

Nicky is the bullfrog. Max is his new friend the black bear...   I told you how Nicky came into our life.   But Max came into our life this week-end.   Alexandre received some money for his birthday and it was a big debate on what he would buy with it....   Boy did he ever went back and forth with his ideas...   But this week-end, knowing we were going to the Blueberry Ranch, he wanted to buy a littleKinz for his brother Dominic.   We talked to him about it to make sure that's what he really wanted to do with his birthday money and he was very decided about it.   So when we were at the Blueberry Ranch, they went straight to the Webkinz display and Dominic picked the black bear.   While Alexandre was paying for the purchase, Dominic proudly told the lady at the cash that the bear's name was Max...  How cute!

Now, I am very proud of Alexandre for sharing and giving something to his brother.   And we made sure that Dominic needs to be extra nice to his big brother...   Next thing we know is that while leaving the Blueberry Ranch, Alexandre just said that he wanted to make some more money so that he can buy one for Jérémy as well... 

My mother's heart just melted...  How sweet of him!

 

This picture was taken not too long ago while Jérémy slept.   No really, try this position and you are not comfortable at ALL!!!   I wonder how he does it...   Good picture to post when he will get married though...