Reflect on God's grace, His provision and His love, not on His wrath or His judgement.  In His sovereignty, He knows all and does all things well.  Praise the Lord!

On another note... she has dyspraxia.  Her OT called tonight with the results of her latest Beery VMI et al test.

Perhaps that could explain her poor showing at gym lately, when things are getting harder, her struggles with messiness, with working, with Chinese.

Pray for how we can help her, how we, as parents, need to change the way we deal with her, how I, as her teacher, can help her to make little improvements every day so that she feels a sense of achievement.

How do we deal with disappointment?  Once again, disappointment is often a subset of personal pride and of jealousy.  Sarah has been 'demoted' from her squad  (Performance Squad 2) to the Advanced Competitive group for the next term.   This whilst all the rest of her classmates have been promoted to Performance Squad 3.  So next term, they'll do 12 hours a week, and she'll do just 6, down from the current 8.  How do I deal with this emotionally?  I don't quite know.  Some of my thoughts :
1.  She really deserves this because all this semester, she's been distracted, disinterested and disengaged.  By her own admission, she did not pay attention in class, and hence did not improve or learn anything.

2.  I feel she should be given a chance in PS3 still. Because I found the problem out just recently, and we have made many steps to improve her focus, and help her out of her emotional state. Maybe it was too late.

3.  How do I make an appeal to the coach?  What should I say?  Does Sarah have the necessary skills to make it to the next level? I'm sure she does.  It just didn't come through this semester.   I don't want her to stagnate and become bored.

4.  I'm also ashamed of her :(.  I'm sorry.  But I am.

How????  I saw this coming, but when it has come, I'm still stressed and depressed by it.  I've prayed for it, but it is still affecting me so much.  Please pray that we can get Sarah to try out for PS3 for one semester, and if she really cannot make it... she can go back to advanced.

A Random Post first...

Having not posted for quite some time (again), I really WANT to be more regular.  I think I will make some plans for my future posts.  This blog is actually a personal diary of our homeschooling journey.  For all you readers/followers out there, sorry, this is not one of those blogs that natter about everything under the sun, nor does it give helpful advice on how to do this or that.

However, now that I'm embarking on my 2nd official homeschool application (for Benjamin), I have plans for the following :
1.  How my 'Classical' Christian homeschool is getting along (aka what's so 'Classical' about my homeschool)

2.  Sarah's Progress

3.  Ben's Progress

4.  Struggles of our daily schooling

5.  The joys and fun of our homeschool life

OK.  So that's the next 5 posts.  See you here real soon!

What to teach?

Homeschooling gives us the liberty to teach our children many things, and opens the doors to many new worlds.  I'm terrible in that I'm something of a neophile.  I'm always excited about new things to try.

Lately, it's been Literature, and soon, it will be Writing.  Yes, reading and writing.  Heh.  I've always been terrible at Literature. I had lousy Literature teachers at school and never could fathom the aims and objectives of the subject.  But I'd like my children to grow to love good writing, so I thought I should introduce them to good stuff.  So I've started Sarah on The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.  We've chosen to read the unabridged version published by Simon & Schuster, under the Aladdin Classics label.  I'm still floundering, still trying to figure out how and what to teach her.

I've ordered a set of writing and reading books that should be arriving here soon.  Amongst them is a book called Reading Strands which supposedly will help me to teach Lit.  Hope so.  I never did get it, and don't know if I ever will.  In the set is Writing Strands, which is supposed to be an excellent writing curriculum.  Sarah will need to be able to write good compositions with 'complex sentences' if she wants to do well for her PSLE.  I don't ever recall having been taught how to write.  I just did it most naturally.  But her writing to date has been too simple in my opinion, and not well-organised. Some of her compositions have great introductions, a confused middle section and practically no conclusion.  So I had to get her some help. 

Then, in the same shipment, I expect to receive a new set of Latin texts.  At the moment she has finished with Prima Latina, so I'm starting her on Latina Christiana I. 

My part time helper had a relapse of her cancer and will no longer be working for us.  So this past week, we have had a homeschool break for Major Spring Clean.  I think we'll be taking school breaks every 8-12 weeks for this Major Spring Clean (or Summer, or Autumn, or Winter). And every 4 or so weeks, we'll take another break for minor spring clean.  No more do-nothing homeschool holidays.  But at least the children all chipped in to help.  I'm very proud of them.  They cleaned without complaining, and did quite a good job.  Today is Thursday, I should have finished, but I have not done the kitchen.  Fever has stopped me.  Anyway,  I think I need to do the kitchen another time.

The government has implemented 'cooling off' measures to curb the skyrocketing COE prices lately.  Now, car buyers must pay off at least 50% of their car's price, and the remaining loan can only be spread out over 5 years.  I'm happy.  Hope the car prices come down.  Maybe owning another car after this present one 'dies' might not be such a pipe dream after all.

One reason I don't blog very often is that I've just been lazy.  Every time I have seen the "Blogger:Dashboard" bookmark on my bookmarks bar, I have told myself "nah, I'll do it another day".  I guess that "other day" has come.

We've just started a new year, and a new year of homeschooling.  The year-end holidays were a good break.  Our family went to Phnom Penh with a few other members of our church.  It was a busy time.  There were relationships to cement with Pastor Narin Chey and his family, the boys at the Alpha-Gamma-Omega-Dormitory, and the lovely folk from Mission To The World. 
(Photos to insert from other laptop)

All in all, the experience was one of great humility for us, to see the fervor shown by these Cambodian Christians whose history had been so fractured.  Their simple faith in our Lord to provide all their needs made us realise that we have too much here, and thus we fail to depend fully on God for everything.  I made many new friends.  We should go back again soon.

Another event took place before this mission trip.  It happened right at home, in Sarah's bedroom.  Her tiles exploded one Saturday morning with a frightening noise and tile chips flying.  It has made me somewhat paranoid about those hollow tiles that are everywhere in our home.  Anyway, HDB replaced Sarah's tiles for free, since they had laid the original ones in the first place.  In the meantime, all 3 beds plus 2 wardrobes managed to fit into the boys' room, and they lived in this 'dormitory' for over a month.

We have been fighting many fires lately.  In summary, besides the tiles, there was the leaky toilet, the fried router and its replacement, terrible coughs and colds, the passing of a friend in a horrific car accident in Tasmania, as well as difficulties in character training for our children.  Some changes for 2013 - Sarah's great gym coach Nicole Tolhurst returned home to Perth, so now she has an ex-SEA games Philippines gymnast Coach Ronnie.  I want to teach her Composition in a more systematic way, so I'm ordering a book "Writing Strands".  Our family started on a new guide for Family Worship - Long Story Short.  I started on a new Bible Reading plan "Discipleship Journal".

I'll promise (again) to blog more regularly.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” (Isaiah 52:7)

I love being reminded about the good news of Jesus Christ.  It is such a joy and encouragement for a weary heart to hear the gospel preached from week to week in church. Jesus reigns indeed! Thank God for a gifted preacher in Pastor Chris Seah of Proidence Reformed Presbyterian Church. 

On the homeschooling front, things have been moving along.  We have decided that Sarah is really Dyspraxic, rather than ADD.  Ben is still exhibiting ASD characteristics.  Gabriel is as cute and clever as ever. 

But academics aside, there is still this constant struggle to shape and mould our children to follow Christ.  Obedience has been the greatest struggle.  Obedience, being a submission of heart 'right away, all the way, and with a happy heart'.  These precious years are going by so quickly. 

For mummy, the constant mess that the house is in is a cause of stress.  But I have to learn to look the other way most of the time, and be content with little clean-ups, which don't last long enough.

Still, there is much, much love here in this household, and we are so privileged to have the Lord our God with us each and every day.

COEs Up

Off topic post, perhaps a little of a rant...

The Singapore government has recently announced that the quotas for small cars under 1600CC will be reduced significantly over the next 6 months.  This move will drive up the cost of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which is a license that one needs to bid for in order to buy a car.  Presently, the COE for small cars is over $59,000, which is more than the cost of the car itself!  When we bought our car in 2009, we paid about $40,000 for it, COE and all.  Our car belongs to the 'budget' category, with engine size of less than 1600 cc and hailing from Korea.  It suited our family of 5, living on a single income.

The Singapore government has also recently been lamenting the lack of population increase (aka babies being born).  It is encouraging couples to have more children, and at a younger age.

Public buses in Singapore are well-known for being unfriendly to strollers and wheelchairs, and actually, anything that is not on two strong, healthy legs.

Put all of the above together and what do we have?  One confused me!  I'm not too sure what to put as a priority now.  We are told to have more children. But then cars are being priced out of the reach of any average Singaporean family.  So how do we get our children around?  The buses are unfriendly to pram-toting mums.  Taxi prices are increasing.  So the obvious effect?..... Couples will now think even harder before having children.  After all, if we have a child, mum may probably want to stop working for a few years to care for the child.  Family will be on a single income.  But then we cannot afford to replace our now aging car on a single income with the prices soaring like that.  And mum will be housebound because the only way out is the bus, which is unfriendly for infants in arms and strollers.  So it all looks so bleak.... better not to have children.

Sorry... RANT!

Hmmmm, this blogger has changed!!  Where's the title?  Where's the box for the tags?
Nevermind.

APRIL 2012
Our highlight of the month was a trip up to Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.
I drove.  Stopped halfway for a rest at our favourite hotel Holiday Inn Glenmarie.  What I like about this place is the beautiful view out of the full-height room windows - the golf course.  The rooms are really quite spacious, clean and very comfy indeed.
The food at the golf club has gone down in quality with the addition of the air conditioned section :(.
The drive up to Camerons was uneventful except for the heavy rain which sent torrents of water pouring down from the hillsides.  The kids were enthralled by these 'waterfalls', but I, as driver, was very stressed.

The OMF Bungalow was beautifully set on a hill, overlooking the town of Brinchang. I'll let the photos speak...

Needless to say, the children had a blast.  We met several missionaries on break.  It was a very refreshing time of sharing with the missionaries.  It opened our eyes to the real life and work of a missionary.  What a blessing!

On the way home to Singapore, we stopped the night again in Glenmarie.  This time, with Fiona and family.  Kam Loon decided he'd drive to Subang Jaya to have dinner.  But alas, we got sooo lost.  We spent almost 45 mins finding our way there, when it should have taken us just 5 mins.  On the way back too, same thing.  We should have asked the hotel staff for directions before we set off.  Maybe next time, we'll take the shuttle bus into town, and grab a taxi back.

Vacation

We took a short holiday to Bintan at the end of March. It was to be the last of our off-peak holidays because Gary is going to start work at a school. Off-peak vacations are bliss... no crowds, no queues, plenty of space to spread out. Nice. The Mangrove Tour was really nice. We learnt about the stilt roots, pencil roots and ribbon roots, and saw a yellow banded snake sleeping in the branches above us. The beach was beautiful, but that belied the fact that there was POLLUTION in the form of oil/tar in the water. Whenever we would step into the water, we would get tarry black spots on our feet or slippers. Fortunately, the resort provided some kerosene to clean it all off. But still, I would have liked to wander more into the water.

Highlights of our vacation :

The Mangrove Tour

The all-day blackout (for the sake of the generators, once in 5 years)

The power trip that same night due to a fierce thunderstorm

The discovery of another swimming pool in the resort, very very quiet, and with a slide!

Kid's Club. They had fun, especially on the Tour of the House with a buggy ride thrown in.

Sarah totally loved the flying fox and the trampoline. I totally loved the Indian meal at the Spice Restaurant.

The kids loved to ride on the 'Jungle Bus'. The shuttle bus that brought us around the resort.

Kuih Bakul

Hello there! Just woken up from a Rip van Winkle sleep since my last post.

School has been underway for about 3 weeks now. We're still adjusting to schedules and adjusting the schedules to suit us.

This term's targets

1. For Sarah to learn to be more on task and do everything without a)daydreaming, b)fidgeting or c)being distracted by things around her.

2. For Ben to be able to fully come on board.

3. For Gabriel to learn to occupy himself without too much interruption to us

4. For me to manage all my household chores, and sleep earlier at night.

Today, I attempted to fry up some kueh bakul. That's a sticky glutinous rice 'cake' that is the tradition of the Lunar New Year. Legend has it that some monster (or god??) is released during the month before the Lunar New Year, and it prowls the kitchens looking for food and gossip to report to the 'gods'. So people make this sticky cake to glue up the kitchen monster's mouth so that it cannot report all the bad things to the gods in 'heaven'.

Well, I called Mum this morning to ask her how to do the kueh bakul (also known as 'nian gao') with yam slices. She said to sandwich the yam between slices of kueh bakul, dip in batter and fry. It didn't sound right to me. Shouldn't one sandwich the kueh between the yam instead? That would make it less sweet!! Anyhow, I tried it her way. It turned out quite nice, except that the yam was not sufficiently cooked inside. But just now, I looked it up online, and actually, I was right all along. The yam should be on the outside... it would cook better. And also the melted kueh bakul would not stick onto my wok like it did just now. So, conclusion : sandwich kueh bakul between slices of yam.

OK. Time to start school now.

A great article with a challenge for homeschooling parents

A very good article leading to some major self-examination. I think I am guilty of pride and arrogance in my homeschooling. I need to learn to be more humble to others' suggestions and criticisms. On the other hand, I am also pressurized by a controlling partner and one who is prone to measure our parenting success by the success of our children.

A must read...

http://www.familyministries.com/HS_Crisis.htm

Dear Father, please help me love my children as they are, and not for what they can do FOR me. Please help me be more supportive to my children in whatever they do, as well as develop a strong relationship with them. Help me to remember that You have loved me unconditionally, and you have not depended on my 'performance' to bring You glory. May I reflect Your love in my relationship with my children as well. In Jesus' precious name, AMEN.

A medal

On a happier note, Sarah did well at the Singapore Gymnastics Nationals 2011 held on Sept 11. She passed her grading for Level 1, was placed 8th in a field of 15, and won a silver on the uneven bars. A nice surprise for all of us.

Next week, we have a one week term break for gym. So we'll take a homeschool break as well so we can do things that take all day :).

Oh, and we have not been late for gym for the past 4 weeks. Hurray! The kids have gotten into the groove of things. We have not been late for Chinese class either. Thank God that we've become more motivated to do things on time.

Personal Struggle

My boys are so ill-disciplined, and I blame myself for being too lax. I also see myself as being very conceited, and not considering others before myself. Why? I believe I've been too influenced by my own thoughts and distractions. Perhaps a bit of a proud, complaining person has rubbed off on me too, such that I also think that the world must revolve around me.

Well, I've sought the Lord's forgiveness for this, and I'm now working on these sins, by God's grace.

The boys kept running onto the gym mat at the end of Sarah's gym session, until the coach had to tell them off. They did not obey me. They got a caning from me. I forgot to apologize to the coach. Must remember this next time. Thank others for helping me with my kids. Apologize on their behalf, and get them to apologize too. Then, they noisily interrupted her discussion with another parent. Over, and over again. Dealt with the kids at home. Need to apologize again next time. Hope it doesn't happen again.

I need to learn to respect other people and consider them better than myself. Lord please teach me this lesson and help me to learn well.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4

Gym again

Sarah's floor routine is finally coming together. Although she hopes for a medal, realistically, she is still not up to the standard for one. Perhaps in bars, if she doesn't foul that up, there might be some hope. Sunday's the competition, not ideal, and I wish it were not on Sunday. She's got balance issues on the beam, I have no way of helping her practise this, and her arms and legs are like a hula dancer's.

I've been so tired lately. But homeschooling has still been going on. Just barely. I need sleep without the children bothering me half the time.

I want to spend more time reading books, but again, my eyes can't stay open and my mind goes to sleep anyway. I practically fell asleep teaching Phonics to Ben the other day.

Dear Lord, please give me strength and energy for all that I need to accomplish today.

An article to write

*sigh*... I'm supposed to produce an article for this Music magazine. It is due end of this month. So far, I've only drafted out some points that I'd like to cover. How am I going to churn out the whole piece? It is an opinion piece on Music education for children from a homemaker's perspective. How how how? Help!!!! No time! No ideas! I think I need to stop the homeschool train for a few days just to be able to write.

At times, I think that this homeschooling thing is not going too well. We're always running late, the kids are not attentive, they don't come when called, they dilly-dally over starting school. I also have to clean the house, cook the meals as well as wait around for them to follow instructions. Then there's the problem of the kids messing up the floor as soon as I have finished cleaning it. Also the foolish one who disobeys and plays with a toy at meal time, and subsequently knocks over his whole plate of rice (right after I have cleaned the floor). Is this 'redeeming the time?' Then there is the one who decides to throw a tantrum over the shirt I have put on him to go out. Just as we are trying to get out of the house, he vomits his meal. We were going to be nice and early for the gymnastics class, but now that I have to clean up the puke, we'll be late. Late, late, late. How can we be early for once?

Dear Father,

I'm sorry that I have not redeemed the time. I'm sorry that I am also guilty of wasting time, and leaving things to the last minute. Please forgive me. Forgive the kids too, of not realizing that time does not wait for them. Help them to control their impulses and to be able to be more forward-looking. Help us to get to our next appointment with time to spare. In Jesus' name, Amen.

A Blessing in Disguise

We've been on a brand new schedule (again) for the past 2 weeks.

Just over 2 weeks ago, Sarah's gym coach informed us that she should be transferred to the Intermediate class for training. She had been training 8 hours a week with a China coach in an ultra-competitive group (Development), and making little progress. I had been frustrated watching her, and I think she was also frustrated with the endless drills and the tiring conditioning.

However, when we were told that she should go to the Intermediate class, training 4 hours a week, I was rather disappointed. My baby was not cut out to be a gymnast. I felt like withdrawing her altogether. Why was Sarah not making progress? Why was her work attitude so poor? Why couldn't she do the things that her classmates did?

So I prayed and spent time thinking it over, as well as comforting her (she was upset at the change and at the prospect of leaving her friends), and I read in Paul Tripp's Instructing a Child's Heart, that we must never make an idol of our children's talents, or even idolize ours or their dreams. It seemed that I had been doing this. So I was comforted by God's word, and then spent the weekend re-organising the homeschool schedule to fit in the new classes.

Hence, now, on Mondays and Thursdays, we're off by 8.30am for her 9 am class. 4 hours a week is half of what she used to spend on gym. But I still have to bring Ben for his 1 hour class where it used to coincide with Sarah's class. But after 2 sessions in this new class, Sarah is loving it all over again. And guess what, on her third class yesterday, she learnt new skills!!!!! Coach Nicole is from Perth, Australia. She's much more hands-on, and tells the girls what they can do to improve their form. It's not just drill, drill, drill, do a skill over and over again until your arms and legs can't carry you anymore. Sarah's progressing much more happily here. I'm happy. The stress of competition is not there. She gets proper coaching in a quieter environment (who does gymnastics at 9am in the morning but the Pri 1 and Pri 2 girls in the afternoon session?), and Thursday's class started with 2 of them last week, but will have an additional girl from this week.

Thank God that He knows best. Sometimes we think we know what we want for the kids. We're disappointed when it doesn't turn out the way we'd hoped. But the LORD will always take care of us and give us what is best. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Fluey Bluey

The tummy bug, stomach flu, gastroenteritis has hit our family. The kids and I were affected, to various degrees. Sarah has just been feeling under the weather and without too much appetite. Gabriel has loose stools once to twice a day. On Thursday, Ben and I were down, really down. It was then that I realised how much energy it takes to run the family during the daytime. I had a fever, though I didn't feel warm on the surface, so I did not think of taking a panadol til much later in the afternoon. It started at 4 am, Thursday morning, when Ben came into our room, whining. He had vomited in his bed. He proceeded to climb onto our bed and vomited there too. So we began the big clean up, new bed sheets. Ben, meanwhile had been bathed and changed, and sat in the bathroom near the toilet. I made him a Ribena drink, which he drank all but 2 mouthfulls. Then soon, he vomited onto the toilet floor, on the mat. So that went to the wash too, the floor had to be cleaned up as well. In the meantime, I myself had not been feeling too well. Nauseous from the night before, and very groggy all the while I was cleaning up. I started a load of laundry in the machine (the bedsheets), and went back to our newly made bed.

The sun rose, and I couldn't quite get up. The rest of the day passed in a blur. I had no strength to make breakfast. All I wanted to do was sleep. I gave Ben a dry cracker and some water. Ben had some of the dry cracker, Gabriel had some too with his milk. Sarah wanted soft boiled eggs *horror! I had no energy to do that for her!*. I managed to make an egg for Sarah, sleeping for 7 minutes while it 'cooked'. She did the rest herself (toast, butter etc). Ben vomited his cracker. I cleaned up. Slept again. Soon the kids came and slept on my bed with me. Then the runs hit me. From late morning, I was more or less living in the toilet. Sleeping between toilet visits. Sometimes the visits might be 5 minutes apart. I rehydrated when possible, but mostly I slept.

Soon, I felt I needed to fix lunch for Sarah and Gabriel, if not for Ben and myself. So I dragged myself out of bed and cooked a small amount of rice porridge with 'mui choy' (preserved silverbeet stewed with duck and pork). No, I didn't make that mui choy. It was providential that I had bought some from the market on Wednesday. So I just mixed it into the porridge.

Lunch time came, nobody ate. I forced myself to eat two tablespoons. Too tired to eat, I gave Ben and Gabriel instructions to finish their own meal and went back to bed. Sarah said she didn't want any.

When I next woke, Sarah had come to my bed, Ben had gone to his own bed and was fast asleep, and Gabriel had laid his head on the table and was fast asleep too. All their porridge had not been eaten.

Well, to cut a long story short, it was a day of more vomits.... sofa cushions, floor, clothes and finally at night, another bedsheet and pillowcase and lots of cloth diapers supposed to line said bedsheet and pillow. Some underwear. A new set of PJs. I just didn't have the energy to do anything at all. After I had taken the Panadol, I started sweating and feeling a tad better. Then i realised that I had had a fever all along. *duh*. Dinner was not much different. Gary bought fish porridge, which nobody really ate.

Today, it's Saturday, appetites are improving slightly. Friday's breakfast was good though. Kids demanded pancakes, and ate them. But today, everyone has been really tired. Me included, so off to bed I go now. Good night.

All Aboard!

Getting Ben on board our homeschooling journey has not been easy. He's a very contrary boy. When I'm busy with Sarah, he will keep badgering me to school him. When I've finished with Sarah, and it's finally his turn, he'll turn away and says he doesn't want to do school.

This past week, I've finally given him a 'big' desk of his own during school time. I've made lots of alphabet and number tracing sheets (from Christ Centered Curriculum) copies. When Sarah is schooling, Ben does tracing (or Chinese writing). That has helped keep him occupied and focused. Once Sarah's is done and perhaps busy with written work, Ben is more cooperative and will continue to sit for his lesson.

Only drawback is that with this new table open, Gabriel has bumped his eye and head into the corner a few times already. He's not used to it being there. I'm thinking of hanging some tassels from the table.

An affirmation of our homeschool programme has been Sarah's good results in her Chinese language tests conducted by her Chinese enrichment class. She even did very well in Oral!!

We're boosting the kids' oral now by giving them Bible verses in Chinese to memorize.

Hiiii! I'm Baaaaaaccck

From where? Nowhere, actually. Just a long (and lazy) hiatus. Heh heh.

I guess it's good to put my thoughts into words, only thing is, sometimes, I'm just too lazy to do so. Hence the hiatus. I really should find a regular time to do this. I thrive on schedules. *snigger*

Homeschooling has been great. We're progressing down the academic alley. Even Benjamin is starting to come on board more regularly.

I've recently started them on Training Hearts Teaching Minds, by Starr Meade (what a name!) a devotional based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. This is supplemented by the WSC in songs which we play in the car. To their credit, the kids now know the first 28 Q and A of the WSC! We're still on Q1 in the devotional, though.

Our other subjects are progressing normally. Sarah's Chinese is improving, though we are still not successfully conversing regularly with her. She has now started to write 笔记 for each chapter, often with great pools of tears and frayed nerves. But then, it's nil sine labore, right?

She just took part in her first gymnastics competition, at IDP1. She's only be training at this level for 2 months. She only participated in the Vault. It was a good experience. Will post photos at a later time. Her team-mates did well enough for all of them to win overall team 1st. So she got a shiny gold medal in addition to her participation medal. Mummy learnt to tie her hair in the 'pineapple' style, and also not to assume that all notifications from the gym for her level are also meant for her, personally.

We've also been quite under the weather for the past month or two. Flu here, skin infections and impetigo, cough, cold, then I've just completed a course of antibiotics for tonsillitis and sinusitis. Feb 8th, I had surgery to excise an enlarged axilliary lymph node for biopsy. Thank God, it went well, and the results were as expected : dermopathic lymphadenitis. That's a good result despite it's long name. Better than Lymphoma or something to that effect. Anyway, there's still the Mondor's cords here to remind me of the surgery. Sarah is now down with a bad throat again. *sigh* when is it going to end?

Right here. Til next time.