Sunsets, Spanish, and Spending

Yeah, we're doing alliteration .... why do y'all ask? 

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The sunsets are now happening earlier in the evenings, and the sun is setting further to the west. It's amazing how quickly the seasons come and then move on, giving way to the next season.

It's always good to be assured that, "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22)

This was what I called the kids to see last evening. As always, the photo simply does not do the beauty justice, but as it's not possible for y'all to land on my doorstep evening after evening, then a photo must suffice.

Just a few minutes later, the sky looked quite different. I was glad I caught it, because the colours didn't last long at all.

You see, it always pays to be close to a window at the time of the sun's daily Adios!

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Can you tell the Wee Guy - who is no longer the Wee Guy, but is Calum Stewart - and I are learning Spanish? Si. We spend an hour every morning with Rosetta Stone's Spanish, and then we spend a shorter time in the afternoon doing some revision.

I am having to make myself keep up. It ain't easy when you're forty-seven ... that is why I'm doing a language with CS now. Young brains an' all that.

For example, the other day, when Jackson was doing what he's doing in this photo, I said:

"Un perro esta come."

"No!" corrected Calum, "He is not eating."

"Un perro esta corre?"

"Noooooooo, mum! El esta durmiendo!"

Okay, okay, mate. I'll get it right sometime ...

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Now, talking of Jackson and eating. While we were away in summer, the Builder came back to the house in which we were saying with the announcement that he'd bought Jackson some new bowls.

Fine, I thought. Good thinking, I thought. 

Later, when I went into the car, THESE were the bowls I saw.

MASON CASH?!?!?

For the DOG!!! (no offence, Jackson).

"Honey.... do you know how often I've looked at Mason Cash bowls for the kitchen, but convinced myself that the cakes will taste just the same when made in a plain old £3.99 bowl and resisted the temptation to buy them???"

For. the. dog....

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Clearly, the Wee Guy's reading habits are a good deal more useful than the Builder's have ever been.

This is what I 'caught' him engrossed in today. He is loving it! I reckon he needs to sit his father down some day soon and give him some of Dave's and Rachel's (yes, he's on first-name terms with them) advice. 

Four Winter Walks

Having Jackson means that at least one daily walk is a necessity. It's not often that task falls to me, but the other day, on a lovely sunny day, I headed out for his daily stroll.

It wasn't far off midday, but the sun was low and both Jackson and I - astonishingly - looked rather tall. 

It's not often Jackson will sit still whilst on a walk....

Once he heads off, it's all sheer joy for him. He absolutely loves his 'Walkies!' (Does anyone else think of Barbara Woodhouse any time they hear the word, 'Walkies!'? I always do.)

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Yesterday, DR - Jackson's normal dog-walker - took him for his walk. After the walk, he decided to head back down to the machair with the camera. And a set of wheels.

We've had some beautiful winter weather.

No snow, but spells of blue skies and low sun always make for loveliness.

Having a very blue sea on our doorstep is an added bonus, especially when the low sun rays give a golden hue to the land. 

Those of you who follow Homeschool on the Croft on Facebook will have seen the next two photos already. Katie took them on her mobile when she and some of her cousins went on a coastal walk just after New Year.

Such an unusual cloud formation ... looking more like an explosion.

This photo was taken on the coast looking south.

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And, finally, Katie's walk today ...

It was frosty and again she had her mobile. I love the frost, but I really love the beautiful signs of life peeking through the dead grass. 

"While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." Genesis 8:22

Frost makes everything look alive!

When to Begin Full Time Education ... With our Youngest

Our youngest child is already bilingual.

Whether we say "Cuairt", or "Walk";

whether we say "Mach" or "Out";

we get the same level of understanding and excitement.

We are gonna be in real trouble when he learns to spell.

We will not get off with 'M-A-C-H'

or 'O-U-T'.

Maybe because we're homeschooling, 

and don't have to have our kids sit standardized tests, 

we can leave this fella's education for a few years yet. 

After all, many educationalists believe in the Better Late than Early philosophy. 

We've decided to go with it for this guy, cos

frankly, something tells me he's just not ready for it yet.

What do you lot reckon?

Me and My Toast

Toast?

Every time I hear the toaster pop, I waken up.

I don't mean that I am simply not asleep any more, 

I mean that I am really awake.

Awake. And questioning.

"How long do I have to wait?" 

"How much butter can you get onto that toast?"

And finally it arrives.

Mum even likes to torment me by making lick my lips countless times before she'll actually give me the butter-lathered toast.

And while I wait, I attempt my Angry Look.

Mum just laughs, so it clearly doesn't work very well.

In future, I will use only my Pathetic Look.

Oh, and mum says to tell y'all that she keeps the butter for herself. I am relegated to that spread-stuff-that-has-who-knows-what-in-it.

Huh! She has clearly forgotten that I have Royal Blood in me.  I'll bet the Queen's corgis get butter.

Blindness, Sight, Compassion

Read on and you'll find out about this photo.

Matthew 20: 30-34

³⁰ And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.

³¹ And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord,thou Son of David.

³² And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?

³³ They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.

³⁴ So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.

I read this passage in Matthew's Gospel some time last year, and the compassion of the Saviour really struck me.

Not for the first time, those who were approaching the Lord were discouraged by others - here, they were 'rebuked' by the multitude, but there were other occasions too:

- remember those who brought their young children to Jesus to be blessed by Him. Christ's own disciples tried to shoo them away. (Read Matthew 19:14 and you'll see the difference between how Christ's disciples treated the mothers, and how the Saviour treated them.)

- in Matthew 26: 2-13, we're given the beautiful account of the woman who anointed the Saviour with 'very precious ointment'. Instead of being commended for her selfless act of faith, the disciples indignantly spoke of her wastefulness. Thankfully, Christ gently rebuked them for 'troubling the woman', and He recognized her work as a good work.

- and here, in Matthew 20, two blind men cried out to the Saviour when they realized He was passing by. They were rebuked by the people in the vicinity, but they 'cried out the more'. Let this be an encouragement to anyone who is seeking Christ, and has found discouragement from any around them.

These men desired that they would have their sight, and Jesus 'had compassion on them'. Now, compared with eternal and spiritual sight, physical sight way less important. What is it if we see the world around us all our lives, only to be cast into outer darkness when our short time on this earth is over? There is no sight more precious than the gift of having spiritual life, our souls being brought alive and seeing both our need of Christ, and the sufficiency that is in Him to save us.

Nobody, I am quite sure, cared for the spiritual well-being of souls like our Lord. And nobody has ever walked this earth who knew the desperate need of souls like our Lord. And yet ... He had compassion on those blind men and healed their physical blindness because of His compassion. These blind men had the amazing experience of seeing what was around them, maybe for the first time ever, and then they 'followed Jesus'. Now they had physical light and spiritual light. What a day that was for them!

Of course I cannot give anyone spiritual sight - that is God's work alone; and I cannot give anyone physical sight - at times, and in increasingly amazing ways, doctors can work to restore the sight of the blind.

But reading of Christ's compassion awoke something in me. (Yes, I know I've read that passage hundreds of times before, but that's what so amazing about the Bible - I read parts I've read umpteen times before, and time and time again, new aspects of the Word are brought to my mind and to my heart.) And here is the connection to the photo at the beginning of this post....

The photo is of Sparkle (named in honour of our Queen's Diamond Jubilee), and she is in training to be a Guide Dog. You can read more of Guide Dogs for the Blind's work here. 

Isn't she lovely?

'Erm, Jackson, what are you doing here?'

No, this post is not about you. It's about really clever dogs who will, one day, be able to take those who cannot see for themselves out and about. 

Jackson! I don't care what sweet photo you show, this post is about Sparkle!

She is clever, smart, intelligent, witty .... Okay, so I'm not sure about the witty part, but she's SMART.

And soon, she will be transforming someone's life. She will give a person independence and the ability to go out and about, in ways they could never have done without her. I reckon that makes Sparkle more than worthy of her own blog post.

We are sponsoring Sparkle - her training doesn't come cheap ... What does?! As we hear more of Sparkle's progress, I'll let y'all know how she's doing. I sure hope she'll transform someone's life in the future. When I think of those who cannot see the world around them, I can't help but feel compassion. I wish I could do more for them, but for now, sponsoring a puppy-in-training seems like a good idea.

Have any of you had any experience with Guide Dogs? Let me know if you have (and I promise not to read out anything that would give poor Jackson a complex).

Promise.

Giveaway Reminder

Have you commented on the Giveaway post yet? If not, you only have a few more hours to go: it ends at midnight, UK time. And remember, you can also comment on the Facebook status from 15th August.

Only one comment per person on the blog. And one on the FB page.

And just because I love y'all so much, I leave you with our very intelligent looking Jackson, this photo having been taken from his good side.

My Early (ish) Morning Power Walk

If you haven't already left a comment on the Giveaway post, link to it here, and leave your comment.

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I went for an early morning stroll yesterday.

Er... what do y'all mean, 'It wasn't very early'? Just because the sun is a wee bit high, and just because the sky is blue, it doesn't mean it wasn't early. Remember, we are far north, and this is summer.

So, I'll begin again:

Early yesterday morning, I went for a power walk. Well, a brisk walk.

It was kind of brisk. Okay, so I'd planned for it to be brisk.

I went for a stroll. I sauntered.

Happy?

I took my camera and Jackson with me, cause that's what bloggers do. Er ... the camera part - not Jackson.

Right, I'm going to zip it, and show you photos.

Even though I am walking very briskly, he runs ahead of me.

Waaaay ahead of me, 

and then comes back to say Hi, and to check I haven't run out of steam yet.

When he reaches the end of the road, he waits for me to open the gate onto the machair.

Once he's through the gate, I can't see him for dust.

Rabbits! He chases. They make a fool of him.

Again, and again.

And again!

But we love you all the same, Jackson.

It is sheer joy for him to be free on the machair.

And then it's off home ...

... at a more leisurely pace.