I was so close.....

I have a very good reason for not posting in over a week. I have been enthralled by this book.



I started reading The Other Boleyne Girl a couple of weeks ago after a friend lent it to me. My only knowledge of this part of British history prior to starting the book was vague at best. I knew that Henry the VIIIth had started the Church of England in order to end his marriage. I knew that he had sired many children in and out of wedlock in the hopes of gaining a legitimate son - but that was about all I knew of the time until Elizabeth came to the throne.

One of the great things about my historical ignorance of this period is that the story has been all new and mysterious to me. I didn't have all those cumbersome details already in my brain to dilute the wonder I have felt as the tale unravelled. The tangled web of deception, love, courage and treachery has all but consumed me since I started reading. Most of what happened is quite horrifying when I really think about it but it is quite captivating to read about.

When I have mentioned what I am reading and my lack of prior knowledge to others, several well-meaning folk have offered to fill me in on the history. For the past two weeks I have carefully dodged any further information so that I could carry on in my blissful ignorance. It has been tough - some people have come close to divulging details but I have stealthily avoided them.

Last night at 1:30 am I forced myself to put down the book and get some sleep even though it was at a really great, tense moment. I was tempted to cancel all my plans today and stay home to finish the book, but I used great restraint and carried on as normal.

After a fantastic day with good friends and a delicious dinner at an Indian restaurant Daniel and I started our half hour drive home. Of course, my mind floated back to my book and I was looking forward to getting home to read it. As we drove I thought I could be ever so helpful and give Daniel a little history lesson about Henry the VIIIth. After all, isn't that what any good homeschool mom does during a lengthy car journey? Truth be told it was mostly an excuse to keep my focus on the book while also engaging in some conversation.

So, in my best intellectual grown up tone I began to recount the story of Henry the VIIIth as I now knew it. Daniel listened (somewhat) politely for a minute or two and then he interrupted me. "Yeah, I know mom and then he...."

Daniel then proceeded to give me a full account of the historical details including all the ones I didn't know because they are yet to come in the book. I have been so careful not to let anyone tell me what to expect and in one split second he totally wrecks the story for me. I couldn't believe it! Worse still when I mentioned what he had done, he thought it was hilarious. There he sat laughing for the rest of the drive home... while I fumed.

Now I am slowly finishing the story, but it just isn't the same. I know what is coming and it is unfolding just as Daniel said it would. .... darned homeschooled kid - Where does he learn this stuff?

:-)

Homeschoolling Conference...

I spent the day at a homeschooling conference. This is our third year of homeschooling and I have never attended this conference so I thought I would give it a try. My hesitation in the past was that it is a Christian homeschooling conference and I was concerned that the content would not be heavily relevant for me considering I am not a Christian.

Unfortunately I was disappointed with the Keynote speaker and I will likely not attend tomorrow because of it. I found her talks were almost entirely sermons on how to live a devout Christian life with only a couple of references to homeschooling thrown in.

However, I feel the whole experience was worthwhile because of the talk I attended in the afternoon. The speaker's name was Paul Faris and he spoke on the subject of homeschooling through high school. He is a home school graduate who now works as a lawyer and serves as the Executive Director of the Home School Legal Defence Association.

The Association funded an independent study on the achievement of homeschooled kids compared to public school kids. It was very interesting to hear the results of that study. The homeschooled kids out-perform public school kids in every area. The findings were that they are more likely to vote, to volunteer their time, to have a love of learning, to be employed and to attend post-secondary education. Faris mentioned that the evidence suggests that the # 1 influence on the academic achievement in a child is their parent's involvement - and there really is no higher level of involvement than homeschooling. He is such an advocate of homeschooling and I found him really inspiring.

I think High School is a common time for families to re-evaluate their decision to homeschool. There is a big concern about children not achieving a traditional high school diploma. Faris argued very strongly that the benefits of kids staying at home far outweigh the benefits of the diploma. He gave some great tips about how these kids can gain entrance into University. He mentioned that the University of Saskatchewan is so excited and impressed by homeschooled kids that they are chomping at the bit to accept them. This was all very comforting to me as we are approaching the high school years.

I was very inspired by this talk and the connection I made with other homeschool families that I am now considering going down to the coast to attend a secular homeschool conference.

Embracing my curls....

Over the past couple of months I have been slowly trying to embrace my curly hair. For the previous five years or so I enjoyed complete denial about it. I straightened my hair almost exclusively. Having my hair straight was wonderful - It was tidy and easy to maintain. I could run my fingers through my hair without fear that it would explode into a mass of frizz and it was so soft and smooth. After the frustration of wild unmanageable hair for the first 28years of my life it was such a nice change.

My teen years were spent investing in thousands of dollars worth of hair products and trying all sorts of odd techniques to keep my hair in check. At one point I shaved the underside of my head to try and keep the volume down. So you can imagine my relief at having 'normal' hair for the first time in my life.

The reality is though... it wasn't me. I have a little bit of a quirky, unique personality and I think the curls actually suit me better. Perhaps their is some divine order in the universe that matches curls to the personalities that compliment them.

As I have been embracing my uniqueness in other areas of my life it seemed like the right time to rekindle my relationship with my curls. On one of my first 'curly' evenings out, a friend recommended the book Curly Girl. I read the book a couple of weeks ago and it has been a big help. I have learned how to manage the curls so that they are bouncy and fun instead of wild and a little freakish. It is so nice to be able to enjoy them rather than beat them into submission with a flat-iron.

I guess it must be quite a radical change to my appearance because I have been getting a lot of comments. A couple of friends didn't even recognize me at a party on Saturday night. Also, I was at the bank signing some documents for a client of mine and the woman serving me said " WOW! You look nothing like your photo id". She didn't specify whether that was a compliment or not... so I have chosen to assume it was...

Four Lakes and a Forest....

There have been times that I have complained about living in such a small town. Despite my complaint-free bracelet, I have whined that it takes half an hour to drive to the closest Health Food Store.

On my walk yesterday morning though I was overcome with how incredibly fortunate I am to live in this beautiful place. I decided it was time for a little public gratitude to balance out my past bellyaching.

Every day my little dog and I leave the house and walk up two big hills. From there we walk along a ridge surrounded by orchards. The view from the ridge is breathtakingly panoramic. I can see 3 lakes from there. I look at Duck Lake, Wood Lake and Kalamalka Lake.

I then walk over the top of the hill to the woods. After hiking through the woods for a while I come to a look-out where I have another beautiful view - this time of Okanagan Lake. All of this is wrapped up in a walk/run that takes me about an hour and a quarter.

By the time I had finished my run home from the woods yesterday, I was so full of awe at the beauty that surrounds me. I have become so accustomed to my surroundings that I often take them for granted.

I feel so grateful that this is how I start most days .....

A Little Soppy, but Good.

This was just sent to me by my mom. I love it. It really says it all. So I wanted to send it out to everyone who happens to read this...

http://www.hasanyonetoldyou.com/

Have a great day!!!!

A Really Great Day!!!!!

I guess any day will be great if you start out by participating in an hour long global peace meditation. That is how my morning began. Just before 9 am Daniel and I arrived at the Kelowna Community Theatre. I know what you are thinking... Wow! Daniel can meditate for an hour?... But sadly no - not yet anyway. Daniel found a comfortable spot in the lobby, not too far from an electrical outlet so that he could play one of his portable video games for an hour. Considering Sunday is usually his electronic-free day he was pretty happy to be there. Anyway, this was a worthy compromise that enabled me to participate in the meditation.





First let me back up. On Friday night I watched the premiere of the movie The Moses Code. In it, James Twyman discussed a group peace meditation that involved thousands of people circling the walls of the Jerusalem repeating a chant while other groups around the world held the same consciousness. That is what we did this morning.




I have been a part of many group meditations. It is always so neat after a while when you can feel a change in the energy that happens from the group focus. You know that tingly feeling you get in a mediation - not the one you get when your leg falls asleep - the other one. The good tingly feeling. Anyway I felt this immediately when the meditation started. It was quite phenomenal really. It is very hard to explain in words - I guess it is just a real sense of connectedness. I was so thankful to be a part of this powerful experience.




After the meditation and KCPL Sunday Celebration we spent the afternoon at the park. Daniel playing with friends and me ... wait for it ... playing baseball. Now I know anyone who knows me and reads this will likely be rolling on the floor laughing at this point, but you know I really didn't suck as badly as I thought I would. Now I have always believed that baseball was definitely not my sport. I am a big fan of my local team, but that is where it stops. A few weeks ago though I was playing catch with Daniel and I started to really enjoy it. For the first time I considered perhaps playing. I have a very dear friend who asks me every spring if I would consider playing on their team. To this point I have always said no. This time I decided I would go to the first practise.




When I arrived I started tossing the ball around with my friend. Now keep in mind, other than playing catch with Daniel a couple of times, I have not played baseball ever (except maybe in the second grade or something, but even that I don't really remember). Anyway it was going fairly well, my friend was very graciously encouraging me and giving me pointers. Soon though I find myself in the middle of a game. I was terrified - what was I thinking? I don't even know the rules of baseball. Someone had to give me a 30 second lesson on batting right before it was my turn.



Anyway by the end of the game I had actually hit the ball each time I had been up to bat, I had caught a ball and thrown it to first to get a batter out, and I had even run home once. I was pretty excited. I am thinking that maybe I should just never play again. Then I can live in the glory of that one successful game forever more - because it is always possible that it was beginner's luck. Maybe I was just one with the ball after all that meditating in the morning....



After the game we headed off for dinner with my dear friend and her family. We had some great laughs and good food.





Daniel and I were pretty tired after our busy weekend so this evening we came home and enjoyed a great movie called The Seeker. It is a wonderful fantasy film adaptation of Susan Cooper's The Seeker: The Dark is Rising series. It is a good against evil quest. I love the powerful message in it that good people can be led to do some bad things if they buy into their fear. I think that is a very timely message. We both enjoyed the movie and will probably watch it a second time. It was a lovely ending to our great day!

Immortality????

Yikes. I just got home from the philosophy/spirituality class that I have been taking this year. Tonight's topic was immortality. It was a really lively discussion. All sorts of different ideas about what happens to us when we die were flowing freely. It is all conjecture really. I mean whether the lights just go out, whether we come back again, or whether we go to some paradise in the sky - it is all just something we cannot know for sure until we face it.

All of the ideas were so interesting and deep I had a brain-ache by the end of the class. Right at the end of the chapter of our 'Science of Mind' textbook Ernest Holmes wrote the following paragraph:

With all these facts confronting us, we should learn to trust life. There is no power in the universe which wishes anyone ill. Life is good and God is Good. Why not accept this and begin to live? No man (I am sure he meant women too... after all it was written in 1926) need prepare to meet his God, he is meeting Him every day and each hour in the day. He meets Him in the rising sun, in the flowing stream, in the budding rose, in the joy of friendship, and love, and in the silence of his own soul.

Aaaahhhhhhhh! I think I can buy that. Thank goodness for such simplicity at the end of such a complicated chapter.

And so it is.