Isaac's 11th Birthday!!!

And this years theme cake was Sonic the Hedgehog!!! Whatever will it be next! This will now be the second cake I have made in the last four days and we are beginning to feel ready to burst!!!

Anyone for a slice?

Eleven years ago I gave birth to my first born son in a hospital in Rockledge, Florida at 8.25 in the morning. During his birth there were complications and he was not breathing when he was born. I just remember seeing his little feet before the Doctors whisked him away to ICU for the first 24 hours of his life. Several hours later that day, I was wheeled into see him for the first time...... oh what joy and overwhelming peace as I looked at his little sweet face, with wires in his nose and mouth as his lungs were drained from the fluids on his lungs. The following day, he was finally brought into my room and placed in my arms. A mother really cannot describe the joy she feels when her first child, (whether biological or adopted) is placed into her arms for the first time. Isaac opened his eyes and looked at me and it was as if he knew who I was! I had been longing to hold my son for many months and now I could cherish that beautiful moment! And my first instinct, built within every mother, was to kiss his little face, hands and feet and stare at him in amazement and wonder why anyone would continue to not believe in an intelligent Creator..................GOD!!! How in the world could this little boy have "just happened" to be formed in such an intricate and complex little body all by its self?

How I love Isaac so very much and how we are so thankful for ALL the things about him!! And just for you Isaac, here are 11 things we love about you........

1. Your warm smile

2. Your ability to make us all laugh

3. Your sensitivity

4. Your imagination

5. Your cuddles

6. Your passion for life

7. Your amazing stories, songs and poems you write

8. Your ability to tell good jokes

9. Your leadership qualities

10. Your cooking skills

11. Your love for your family

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Lydia's Dedication

My Mum is visiting with us at the moment, so we decided to dedicate Lydia to the Lord while we had a family member in town to share the special occasion with! Lydia wore a dress which my Mum made for her grand daughters to wear on their special days. I was so pleased that she was still small enough to fit into it! What a sweet blessing to give her back to the Lord today, especially because it was exactly five months ago on this day when this little bundle was placed into our arms, screaming! How truly thankful we are for God's little gift to us. Today she seemed somewhat pensive at the front with her Daddy, Mummy, brothers, sister and Granny. However, she did keep trying to speak into the microphone. I wonder what she wanted to say?

My dear Mother helped me with the cake last night. We cannot take any credit for the beautiful decorations which were in fact made by my sister almost six years ago, when Eliana was dedicated to God. We were living near DC at the time and my sister travelled up from Florida with these beautiful cake decorations she had made from sugar paste icing! (Anyone living in the Orlando area who needs a great cake decorator should seriously consider her!!!) I am amazed that they have lasted so long..... not because they go bad after awhile but because we have moved house four times since then! It was so precious to use them again but we did need to change the hair colour of the baby!

This is Lydia at our friends wedding yesterday looking as beautiful as ever!

David and Andrea. Andrea is the lady who made a beautiful quilt I posted some time back!

An absolutely beautiful day and Lydia enjoyed every moment!

GO APE!!!

Isaac will be 11 years old next week and we celebrated his Birthday early at a place called Grizedale Forest where there is an amazing rope course through the trees known as GO APE!! You must check out the site for yourself to see more of the course. There are many other places in England where there are GO APE courses. In some areas of this course, they were 50-60 feet high in the trees. Isaac's friend from York went with him and they had such a blast! Even though they are looking very serious in the picture above, they had the best time ever and would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who loves adventure and an adrenalin rush! Since the boys were under 18 years, they needed an adult to accompany them and Jeff was more than willing to go. There was absolutely no way I was going to subject myself to so much 'fun'...... I stayed firmly on the ground with the other children and my friend Andrea (James' Mum) and her daughter Maya.

James being a clown the whole time!

Isaac looking somewhat worried at first but he became confident soon enough!

Doesn't it look like he might just fall off the edge?

Just hanging around!

You can see how high they were at times in this picture!

As you can see, I am somewhat concerned by the zip wire that Isaac is about to attempt!

And this is some video footage of Isaac riding the longest zip wire on the course..... it went on and on and on.....

The course lasted for three hours but we only saw them as they completed it at the end. There are some lovely walks at Grizedale Forest and a cafe and play area for younger children. So we made the most of our time there and kept the other children entertained, although I think Caleb and Maya would have liked to have joined the others for GO APE. Age requirement is 10 years of age and there is also a height requirement. Having seen how high they climb, I was pleased to see the age restriction in place!

Next week Granny will be here to celebrate his actual Birthday with us and we shall, of course, have cake.... this sounds more like my cup of tea!!!

Lisa met Izabella Today!

I just checked their travel blog and saw the pictures!! Oh she is such a little cutie and looks like she is a Daddy's girl!

Lisa has been such a faithful friend and precious sister in Christ. She has been an encouragement to me this last year and it is now such a blessing to watch her become a Mother for the first time! What a wonderful one she will be!

Congratulations to Dan and Lisa! Izabella is so beautiful!

We Met Ruthie's Daddy!

On Thursday we headed to the city of York for a couple of days. We LOVE York and we have lived there a couple of times during our marriage. It is a city which is buzzing with excitement, activity and so much history. There is a Starbucks on every corner, (which Jeff enjoys and since there are none where we live, he makes up for it when we are there.) There are always so many friends with whom we want to spend time and we did manage to have coffee and tea with quite a few, catching up where we last left off!

However, the primary reason for our visit there this time was to meet someone whom we feel we have known for the last 9 months. Ruthie's Daddy was in town for some ministry opportunities and we could not pass up the chance to meet in person. Trent is just about one of the nicest people we have ever met and the children kept saying how much they liked him and would like to visit Jack, Sam and Ruthie in their home in America!

We introduced Betty's Tea Room to Trent.... you really cannot visit a more traditionally "English" place than this! Had lunch together there and wandered the streets of York talking about his family, (whom I feel I know so well already,) and how Ruthie is doing. It is such a shame the girls could not have met this time..... but we do plan to visit them one day and it will be so much fun to see them interact together. I feel like I have been through so much together with Ginny that it would so precious to meet her. All in God's time and plan!

If you are reading this Trent...... thank you so much for making the time in your busy schedule so that we could meet you. And thank you Ginny for allowing him to come to England during such a crazy time with Ruthie's surgery!

Trent brought Lydia a little gift all the way from their State. Here is Lydia wearing her new T-shirt and practising 'hook'em horns'!

History ~ His Story

The Mystery of History curriculum is excellent. We started at the very beginning of His story when school began and we have been slowly cruising through each topic, absorbing each detail and enjoying every task and project. We have started a Timeline beginning with Creation and Adam and Eve which I will post some other time since I have not yet taken any pictures of their lovely art work!! We have been working on really grasping the 7 days of Creation and the order in which God created each part of the earth and the living things on it! Even my mind gets jumbled at times so it has been an opportunity for me to learn also.

Notice the cup of tea...... we simply have to have a tea break in the afternoons and my children love to share this tradition with me!!! (Don't worry, theirs are mostly made up of milk!!)

As a separate History project, I have been using a wonderful curriculum from a Christian School in Oxford, which for the past two years, were used in our small school. Isaac and Caleb are studying King Alfred and the Anglo-Saxons, while Eliana is learning about the Parables of Jesus.... His Stories! I am learning to juggle as I teach two different topics in the same afternoon, but so far it has worked well. I was amazed to learn that King Alfred the Great was a Christian and began the first Christian school in England.

I am astounded by their talents and attention to detail!!

We had a little fun when learning about the clothes that Anglo-Saxons wore.....

We used remnants of fabrics to decorate their picture of themselves....

FIMO!!! The wonderful world of clay which is so easy to use and can be baked in the oven so that it will last. Our boys were quiet for two whole hours as they worked to create their very own King Alfred!! This may be the answer I am looking for when I need some peace!!!

They have decided to make a Viking and a ship from FIMO when we come to study these topics. As it turns out, we are heading to the beautiful city of York this week, (where we used to live). York is rich in History, especially regarding the Vikings. More pictures of this day out to follow soon!

New Blog Makeover!!!!

Now that we are no longer "Waiting for Lydia Hope", we thought it was time to change our blog. Of course I have absolutely no skills when it comes to anything like this! I therefore contacted Miss Alexis who is not only more than gifted with designing blogs, (you must check out her site which features all the other blogs she has designed) but her main reason for starting her business is to raise money to go on mission trips and sponsor orphans!

She is very young and such a beautiful girl both inside and out, especially to work with!!!!

She has so much patience and was so gracious towards us when we changed our minds several times and went from, "we'll just change our blog header" to "actually now that we have seen all the designs out there.... we'd like to have a complete makeover!!" Her prices are also VERY good! So please remember to use her service in the future if you also need help with your blog. We are more than pleased with her hard work and we feel that the designs turned out to be even more beautiful than we had imagined!!!

THANK YOU ALEXIS............ may God bless your ministry and continue to use you for His glory!!!!

Our Cookery Classes~

I must have close to 150 cookery books in my home and I do use almost all of them! I cannot resist cook books especially when I see them on offer...... and my mouth starts watering as flick through the pages..... dreaming of all the things we will attempt. The cookbook pictured above only cost me £2.99 (which is about $5.00) and I have to say it has been worth every penny! I am only allowing the children to use this cookbook right now, (they may be overwhelmed by my collection of cookery books otherwise!) They get to choose what they would like to bake when it is their turn and so far everything which has been made, has turned out to be delicious!

Now below are my beloved measuring scales which I LOVE! Here in England, we measure weight differently than in the US. Growing up, we always measured in ounces and pounds, (in fact I still prefer this method), however, I am teaching our children metric system also which is grammes and kilos.

And just so that they are very cultured, we also measure in cups which are mostly used in the US. I have so many cook books from America so it is imperative for me to have a set in my kitchen. To be honest with you, I do find that measuring in cups is by far the most convenient and less messy of all the methods!

So each week, one child bakes something they fancy from the cook book. Isaac works completely on his own from start to finish and during this time, I work on different practical science experiments with Caleb and Eliana. Both Caleb and Eliana need some assistance during their time, especially with measuring and heating ingredients on the stove.

One of the recipes Eliana has made was a Marbled Chocolate and Orange loaf cake which was really moist and yummy! She enjoyed herself every single moment and patiently followed every instruction. One key ingredients I always use when cooking with chocolate, is to make sure that the cocoa content is as high as possible, (around 70-72%). I always use free-range eggs because I find this makes a huge difference also. As much as possible, I will use Organic flour and I love the golden caster sugar which is available over here.

Teaching them to clean as they go is an essential part to keeping everything under control and maintaining a clean kitchen! (And I get to have a break from all the dishes!)

Ready to go in the oven......

Orange and Chocolate cake galore!!!!

Marbled Chocolate and Orange Teabread

150g butter

75g dark chocolate

250g caster sugar

5 large eggs

150g plain flour (all-purpose)

2tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

grated rind of two oranges

Method

Place chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of water. Remove from the heat once the chocolate has melted.

Place the sugar and butter in a mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture and fold in.

Transfer one third of the mixture to the melted chocolate and stir together. Stir the orange rind into the remaining mixture and place one-quarter of the mixture into the greased and lined cake pan (2 lb loaf tin).

Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture on top.

Add the remaining orange mixture on top and then use a knife to swirl the top two layers together to make a marbled effect.

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180.C/350.F/ Gas Mark 4.

Caleb chose to make Chocolate Marshmallow slices which did not require any baking. He also worked so hard reading the Method and following the instructions carefully. This boy is meticulous and a perfectionist and pays attention to every detail.

Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the finished product.... I think we must have devoured them much too quickly!! Seriously, they were so good and so easy to make!!!

Chocolate Marshmallow Slices

350g digestive biscuits (graham crackers)

125g dark chocolate

225g butter

25g caster sugar (superfine)

2tbsp cocoa powder

2tbsp honey

55g mini marshmallows

100g white chocolate

Method

Put the biscuits in a ziplock bag and break them into small pieces.

Put the chocolate, butter, sugar, cocoa and honey in a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Remove form heat and allow to cool slightly.

Stir the crushed biscuits into the chocolate mixture until well mixed. Add the marshmallows and white chocolate.

Turn the mixture into an 8 inch square cake pan and lightly smooth the top. Put in the fridge and leave for a couple of hours until set.

Isaac also chose something with chocolate, I mean really, what child wouldn't if given the chance?!!! He made Chocolate Slab Cake and it really turned out well. Isaac loves to eat and has been in the kitchen baking since before he was two years of age. He loves it with a passion and wants to be chef when he grows up. He is always trying new things and his own inventions... so who knows, maybe he'll be the next Jamie Oliver... but one who gives glory to God!

Don't you just love his apron?

Nothing quite like it!

Chocolate Slab Cake

200g butter

100g dark chocolate

75ml water

350g plain flour (all-purpose)

2tsp baking powder

250g light brown sugar

75ml soured cream

2 eggs

Icing

200g dark chocolate

6tbsp water

3tbsp single cream

1tbsp chilled butter

Method

Melt the butter and chocolate with the water in a saucepan over low heat.

Sift flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl.

Pour the melted chocolate liquid into the bowl and beat until smooth.

Stir in the soured cream and then the eggs.

Pour into a greased cake tin (13x8 inch) and bake for about 30 minutes.

Leave to cool completely while you make the icing.

Melt chocolate with the water in a saucepan on low heat, stir in the cream and remove.

Stir in the chilled butter then pour the icing over the cooled cake and spread evenly over the top.

As far as I am concerned, passing on any cooking skills I may have is the best thing I can give my children practically. I am amazed by how many children do not know how to bake when they grow up because they did not practice this wonderful skill with their parents. We make so many memories together when we are in the kitchen. There is nothing like the smell of home-baked goods wafting from the oven, warming even the coldest of hearts! I have also discovered so many lessons which can be taught from the Bible during our times of cookery together. Isn't this what Home Schooling is all about? Teaching opportunities through everyday, practical experiences? I am loving this time together with each of my children and cannot wait for Wednesdays when they try something new and we all get to taste...........

My Baby is 18 Months Old Today!!

Where did the last four months go? I cannot believe that we have been with Lydia that long. I realised today that we have known about her for half of her lifetime!! She was 9 months old when we received the referral. I often wonder what she was like when she was with her Foster Mother and how she filled her days. It will always be a mystery for us and especially for her when she grows and begins to ask questions. I do not think that we will ever become complacent about this miracle which has taken place in our lives. Lydia will always be a reminder of how much God loves me, to the extent of making it possible to adopt me into his family! I was reading in Romans 8 this morning; being reminded again of His great love for us all.... the Spirit of adoption and how much more real the spiritual has become through the actual adoption of Lydia.

' For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father' (verse 15).

Lydia was not too fond of the ducks on Lake Windermere!

But she REALLY loves the park!

God's Word of Encouragement in Times of Trouble

We cannot watch current events without sensing that the time is so close for the Lord's return for His church. It is exciting to see the way the world is moving towards the fulfilment of Biblical Prophecy. However, the tragedies which constantly unfold before our very eyes, often stir within in such a sense of utter helplessness and despair. Our heart breaks when we hear of the many who have recently died in the Samoan tsunami. The increase of earthquakes should be no surprise to us for God's word in Matthew 24 declared that there would be earthquakes and famines in various parts of the world. None of these things should move us to a place of fear but should actually cause us to want to share the truth that we have to those who are in darkness.

So why do I sometimes find myself moving into that place of fear when I hear of yet another birth pang? Why do rumours of wars and the increasing number of disease and pestilence (virus) grip my heart and try to paralyse me, thus making me ineffective as His witness? I went to bed last night pondering on this question and awoke this morning to this word in Psalm 91. God's peace and comfort washed over me as I read, re-read and meditated on each portion of this scripture, hiding every part of it in my heart. Oh what a blessed Psalm! Such soothing balm for a fearful heart as mine! I felt that I should share it here this morning for any others who need God's promise of protection in the midst of danger.

Psalm 91

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

This I declare of the LORD:

He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;

He is my God, and I am trusting Him.

For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from the fatal plague.

He will shield you with His wings.

He will shelter you with His feathers.

His faithful promises are your armour and protection.

Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor fear the dangers of the day,

nor dread the plague that stalks in darkness, nor the disease that strikes at midday.

Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you,

these evils will not touch you.

But you will see it with your eyes; you will see how the wicked are punished.

If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,

no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your dwelling.

For He orders His angels to protect you wherever you go.

They will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.

You will trample down lions and poisonous snakes; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

The LORD says, "I will rescue those who love Me. I will protect those who trust in My name.

When they call on Me, I will answer;

I will be with them in trouble.

I will rescue them and honour them.

I will satisfy them with a long life and give them My salvation."

(New Living Translation)