The Last Review of 2011's Posts

In September, we had a fank where the Wee Guy was able to keep Big Brother right.

and we had a look at Jackson's fall from the heady heights of his ancestry.

Of course, along the way, we captured a sunset or two...

And, of course, September is the month of remembering that day in 2001.

And then into October, when we celebrated Reformation Day with fellow homeschoolers,

and I had a look at some pretty awesome sights.

I had an announcement for all you Americans, though sadly, few of you seemed to take it too seriously...

In November, we celebrated Bonfire night,

remembered our fallen heroes of past wars on Remembrance Day, 

and celebrated my birthday with a photo session.

Okay, with a photo.

This month, I have spent most of my time reviewing the past year, though poor Jackson did have a post where he welcomed the rams back to their field, but was not rewarded with any gentlemanly behaviour from them.

Not so much as a Hello.

I cannot believe we are now just a day away from the New Year. We were blessed tonight to have a crowd of young folks in our house after they'd been 10-pin bowling. We ate some food then sat and talked.

Listening to over a dozen young folks speaking about the things of the Lord was such a blessing.

What a privilege it is to have the Lord's people in our home once again. What a blessing to end our night with the singing of Psalm 122.

I joyed when to the house of God,

Go up, they said to me.

Jerusalem, within thy gates

our feet shall standing be.

...

Now, for my friends' and brethren's sakes,

peace be in thee, I'll say.

And for the house of God our Lord,

I'll seek thy good alway.

Psalm 122 (first and last verses, Scottish Metrical)

My prayer for Jerusalem would be that peace may indeed be within her walls (v7). My prayer for all my friends and brethren is that they, and I, would all grow in love for our Saviour, and that we would grow in the love that brings us together, whether we are separated by seas or continents.

I pray that I would continue to be blessed by friends, near and far; by bonds that have been created over miles with people whom I've never met in the flesh, but who are indeed my 'brethren'; and that those whom I love in the world but who are still outside of Christ would come to know Him as their Saviour. This is my greatest desire of all. 

As Paul said of Israel, 'my heart's desire and prayer is... that thy might be saved'.

Ramblings.... (what I do best)

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, my delightful little cowboy has now taken to tipping his hat, with a quiet, 'Ma'am' every time he passes me.


I don't know where he saw this gesture, but just when I thought he couldn't be a more perfect cowboy.... he discovers this.

Here's my Cowboy with his Cowgirl. Aren't they the cutest pair...

And here they are with Buzz Lightyear. So cute.

***   ***   ***

To add to my delight over Christmas, the Builder bought me perfume. Now, those of you who follow Homeschool on the Croft on Facebook already know this, but to the rest of you, this will be shocking news.


It isn't?


Well, it ought to be. Twenty years it took, but he finally bought me perfume. And I love it. 


I believe his shopping experience went something like this:


He walks into Chemist and finally reaches the front of the queue. To the shop assistant, he said, 'Ahhh, perfect. You're the very person to tell me what perfume my wife will love.'


Those in the queue behind him laughed, but the shop assistant asked a few questions and once she'd established what kind of person I was (tall, slim, cute, fashionable .... ) she recommended Hugo Boss. Pour femme. Naturally. And thankfully.

***   ***   ***

Now, to me, the joy of this whole time of year is of being surrounded by family and friends. On Saturday, my Mum and Dad came with us to see the kids opening their Christmas presents. I think I spoke recently about Grandparents and how we ought, if at all possible, to treasure them and to try and include them in our children's lives. I can tell you that a gift of a million pounds wouldn't mean as much to my folks as what they had on Saturday - the pleasure of being with the kids, seeing them open their gifts, and have them show everything off to them. I reckon if we're able to give grandparents anything, let it be the gift of our time and our company. I'm thinking most grandparents would choose this over any other gift.

 ...although here...

they seem more concerned with what is in their bag than with any of their grandchildren.

***   ***   ***

Today, we were expecting some visitors. These visitors are friends of our kids - friends DR made whilst in America last summer, and who have kept up the friendship via Skype. (Did I ever tell y'all I loved the internet?)

Well, these Englishers, these city-folks, are coming to stay. They were supposed to be here today, but our Gale Force 11 winds meant the ferry did not sail today. All being well, they will arrive tomorrow. Over the past months, while our kids made excited plans with these city-folks, the Builder and I planned on how to make their holiday as much of a culture shock as possible.

We thought we'd feed them...

yep, the Guga. Read about it here and you'll see why our citified friends will not come back again.

We thought we'd threaten to take them here...

to the peats.

Or to do this...

with the sheep.

But of course, it's the wrong time of year for these.

However, it seems the experience they're gonna have has been taken out of our hands.

Winds of up to 80 mph today meant their ferry didn't sail. They're stuck on the mainland, just across the Minch overnight. 

High winds tomorrow and a sea still raging in the aftermath of today's gale will give them a .... er, slightly choppy sail tomorrow.

Oh the joys of living on an island.

Our electricity has been flickering on and off in the high winds. Over the next week, there is every likelihood that they will experience a power cut. Life with no electricity: how will city folks cope?!

But the best is yet to come. Today, we lost our water supply. No kidding. We have no running water. The water company supplied us today with bottles of water... so we have water with which to cook, and we have water to drink. We don't, however, have the capacity to shower.

Seriously, we did not want to show our English friends this. We did not want to go this far back in time. 

Never mind the Londoners.... I can not cope without running water. 

2011, Review III

In July, our eldest had his birthday. He insists it was his 18th, but as there are only a few short  years since I gave birth to him, there is clearly some mistake here.

A blogging friend, and her lovely daughter came to visit. All the way from Pennsylvania to the Our Beach.

We had the Barvas Show, and here a really well-known, even famous, guy admires a Highlander. Her rump. 

And in the pen, you can also see Adam Henson, who some folks seem to know too. They said he was on the telly or somethin', but the other fella is much more famous.

In our neck o' the woods anyway.

Enough of your rump - that's the bonny side of ya.

In July, I also said Goodbye to my friend, Laurie.

Yes, she of the pea planting, 

and getting-boots-soaked-in-the-peats.

And her of THE Coffee Cake

I don't like Goodbyes. At all.

Of course, being July, we celebrated our your Independence Day.

In August, we had an unexpected incident in our garage,

took a wander down memory lane,

and I celebrated twenty years of marriage to this guy...

Cowboys don't come Cuter than this...

This was our cute little waiter tonight ...

...sitting patiently after the meal...

... and not so patiently.

Waiting. Waiting for...

...this!

And now we have the cutest cowboy in the West.

The quickest draw in the West.

As I say, the cutest, noisiest cowboy...

to ever say, 'I love you Mom so, so much'.

2011, from April to June

In April, we had a new addition to our family

Our very cute, Jackson, became part of our family.

Sometimes, I wish he was still that size...

We also had a Homeschoolers' get-together to celebrate the Queen's birthday, but the day was so lovely, we spent most of our afternoon at the beach.

Here, we have to take advantage of the weather when we can.

During April we had the very joyful event of our Royal marriage, our day tinged with some sadness, of which you can read here.

In May, we looked at Harris Tweed in a number of posts, and in this one, we met a friend who weaves on a traditional loom.

And, began our look at the fruit and veg for this year's plot.

Finally, for this post, we have a little skim through June.

I answered some of your questions in this post

and we had a look at Big Brother shearing some sheep....

...with a little help from a (little) friend :)

Beginning our Review of This Year's Posts

We're coming to the end of another year and here's the first look back at 2011 on the blog.

In January, we looked at the reason for sheep. I was glad we studied this topic, because I did know there must be a good reason for them.

In February, I took a walk along the beach...not our beach, but the beach to which we went when I was growing up.

In March, the girls and I went to the mainland, 

we drove to Harris for the day, 

and both Catherine 

and Katie celebrated their birthdays.

As we enter our final week before Christmas, I realise that those of you who have the gift of organisation are more fortunate than you'll ever know.

Those of us who are not, are thankful that we are loved despite what we are. 

In the next review, we will look at some posts from the next three months of the year.