Another First Price for CJ!

On Tuesday the 16th of June, CJ took part in his third Cross Country Horse Riding Event in Stellenbosch. Here I wrote about his second Cross Country Horse Riding Event in which he achieved his first, First Place. This time he won again, but not without a spiritual battle!

On the Monday night before the event, CJ and Christo were trying to practically find the answer to the 9th Science Question of the Week Competition. In this question they needed to work out the minimum force a painter will need, to pull himself, with a single pulley and rope, to the top of a building. They constructed a system with a pulley, rope, piece of wood to sit on and a scale. First they tried it with Josua since he was smaller, but they couldn’t get an accurate answer. Then they put CJ on the piece of wood. First mistake: CJ wore socks. Since his legs were too long when he sat and the garage roof not high enough, he had to stand on the piece of wood. Everything went well, they even got a hint of the answer, BUT, then he slipped on the piece of wood and landed on his back. He would have been OK, if he didn’t let go of the other end of the rope (the second mistake). After he hit the floor (letting go of the other end of the rope) the piece of wood swung back and hit him on his head, where he was still trying to get up from his unfortunate landing!

Heidi-Mari and I were busy with the final touches of supper, Daniel was playing at our feet and Josua and Danika were bathing David and Andrew. The garage is next to the kitchen and we just heard the noise as CJ fell. I was uncomfortable with the ‘experiment’ from the start and, ran to see what happened. I was just in time to see the piece of wood hitting him on the head! CJ was groaning and his hand was covering his head and blood ran through his fingers, down his fore head. I was in total shock and could not think straight. Christo had trained the children extremely well in how to handle an emergency situation. Within seconds Heidi-Mari was next to Christo and CJ with the first aid kit.

It was only then that I realized they needed my help and I pulled myself together. Heidi-Mari started giving CJ Rescue and Injura drops and we slowly moved him to the bathroom. We had to stop the blood running out of the 2cm long cut just inside his hair line. It was a clear cut and with some maizena powder, Wercesin Grace & Weeping wound powder and Silvermax we managed to stop the blood quickly. But then it seemed like CJ had concussion of the brain. He was nauseas and complained of terrible stomach ache. We gave him some sugar water (we now have glucose syrup for shock) and let him lay down on our bed. Christo also put some Traumeel S ointment on the wound.

At this stage I was convinced he would not be able to compete at the Cross Country Event and told them so. Christo started to check his pupils and told me he was fine, but I was not convinced…

Very early in our parenting years, the Lord taught me a lot on submission to my husband, through The Biblical Portrait of a Marriage. Submission was especially hard for me when it was concerning one of my children, but I learnt to trust the Lord. This was one of those moments. I knew I had to trust the Lord with my Son.

By bedtime I could see CJ was exhausted and it was definitely a serious injury and I was still not convinced that he was fine and able to take part in the Cross Country Event. On top of it, it rained the whole night. I was awake a few times during the night for baby Daniel, and every time I could hear rain coming down in buckets. Not just a nice drizzle.

Sometime during the night I started crying out to the Lord! Lord, my son needs your protective Hand when he got onto Silverball. I was not sure that he was fine from the head injury and the course was going to be very, very wet and slippery. Please Lord stop the rain and keep my child save, was my prayer. At some point I got peace and could sleep for a few hours.

When morning come, CJ needed to be at Camelot at 06:00, it was still raining and Christo declared CJ fit to go. Since it was still raining and very cold, only Josua went with Dad to support CJ and they left at 08h00. I was still a little worried, but I knew I could trust my Heavenly Father.

The rest of the morning I kept myself busy with cleaning the house, taking care of the little ones and praying all the time. By 9h00 the rain stopped and within 30minutes there was a clear, blue sky and a warming sun. In my spirit I experienced an expectation and I just knew the Lord was about to do something big.

Needless to say I was overjoyed when the SMS came through at 12h00 with the message, CJ got 1st Place!











For the rest of the day I was pondering on the greatness of the Lord, praising Him for His faithfulness and also wondering how different the day could have been if I didn’t cry out to the Lord in the early hours of the morning, to protect my son and change the weather. I once read, The prayer of a Mother for her Child is powerful!

This also reminded me of Nancy Campbell’s teaching Gate-Keepers of the Home. Mothers are Prayer Worriers. The enemy is always looking out for ways to rob, kill and destroy in our homes and our lives. We as mothers need to guard our homes and the lives of our husband and children. We are in a war and dear mother, never turn away from the battle, except victorious!

I would like to share with you a part of Nancy’s teaching, from Gate-Keeper of the Home:

Proverbs 8:34, "Blessed is the man (or woman) who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors."

I have always loved unique gates and doors. When visiting Israel on a number of occasions I was captivated by its gates. I have pictures of all the gates of Jerusalem in my photo album.

In Bible times the gates of the city were more than an entrance way. They were the busiest place in the city. They were a hub of activity. It was here that the elders sat to rule and direct the affairs of the city. It was here the judges and officers judged the daily matters of the people. It was at the gates the soldiers stood sentinel to guard and protect the city. It was here the people gathered to hear the prophets proclaim the Word of the Lord. Just inside the gates the markets flourished.

But where were the women? They were not in the city gates. They stood sentinel at the gates of their home, watching and guarding against any intrusion of the enemy. They used their God-given authority as mothers to direct the affairs of their home. The men were the city gate-keepers but the women were the home gate-keepers. This is still God's principle for us today. As mothers, we are to be gate-builders, gate-guarders, gate-protectors and gate-repairers.

In the book of Nehemiah it tells us how Nehemiah heard that Jerusalem was in ruins - the walls were broken down and the gates were burned with fire. He was devastated. He prayed and fasted and God opened up the way for him to go back to his city and help rebuild the walls and gates. In Nehemiah chapter three it mentions all the gates that they repaired. There are only eight gates in the walls of the old city of Jerusalem today but in Nehemiah's day there were twelve gates, just as there are twelve gates in the heavenly Jerusalem. (Revelation 21:10-13, 21)

As we look at these gates in Nehemiah chapter three, we will relate them to our home. Will you check with me to see if these gates are in good repair? Or could they do with a little repairing?

Nehemiah 4:14, "Do not be afraid of them, Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

The eighth gate, was the:

THE HORSE GATE (Nehemiah 3:28)

The horse gate was the gate through which the soldiers marched out to battle and returned from battle. In the Word of God the horse always speaks of war and battle. Read the magnificent picture of the battle horse in Job 39:19-25. It is imperative that we keep our horse gate continually reinforced and repaired. We are in a war! We are in a battle against the enemy who seeks to creep into our homes with his subtle deceptions and evil connivings. He is the one who comes to "rob, kill and destroy" and his greatest joy is to destroy our marriage and family life. We cannot sit down. We must stand up and guard our homes.

John's revelation of the heavenly city reveals that the twelve gates of the heavenly city are "guarded by twelve angels." (Revelation 21:10-13,21) Wow, if each gate of our heavenly home is guarded, surely we need to guard the gates of our earthly home.

There are two aspects to motherhood. Firstly, motherhood is tender, caring, loving, comforting and nurturing. As we pour out these beautiful virtues to our family, we reveal the picture of God's maternal heart which He has divinely placed within us. There is nothing more beautiful to behold than a mother tenderly nurturing her children.

However, there is another side to motherhood. It is the war-like, watch-dog, lion-like, horse-prancing spirit that roars at any enemy that would come to devour her marriage or her children! This woman is ready to fight. And she will fight hard to protect her family. She will not give up until the enemy is demolished. When God told the Israelites to fight their enemies, He told them to "drive out. destroy. dispossess. and desolate." (Numbers 33:52-53) We should have this same vocabulary.

Balaam prophesied God's purpose for His people, the Israelites. "These people rise up like a lioness: like a majestic lion they stand. They refuse to rest until they have feasted on prey, drinking the blood of the slaughtered." (Numbers 23:24 NLT) We, as a child of God, and especially as a mother, should have the same anointed attitude against any attack against our marriage or family. We should see the enemy as a foe to be defeated and utterly routed. God calls His people "My battle axe and weapons of war." (Jeremiah 51:20) We are sweet and gentle in our mothering, but a battle axe against the enemy.

God describes the bride in Song of Solomon 6:4 and10 as "terrible as an army with banners." Other translations use the words, "formidable, awesome, frightening, majestic, utterly captivating and awe-inspiring! My husband says, "Don't mess with this woman!" What an awe-inspiring sight to see an army of soldiers on horses, banners waving high in the air, marching home in victory. The people in the city wait to see this sight and how they cheer as the soldiers march through the horse gate in victory.

Are you standing sentinel at your horse gate? Are your banners waving high? Or is the enemy laughing in your face because he has grabbed them from you? Don't stay groveling in the dust. Come on, dear mother, get up again! You are the guardian of your home. Fight. Regain your banners. Hold high the banners of love, truth, righteousness, purity, faithfulness and commitment in your home. Banners are to wave high, not drag on the ground. Just as the men guard the city gates, God has placed you on duty at your home gate.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

"Lord, please help me to be sweet, tender and loving as I care for my family each day. But also help me to rise up and fight every evil force that attacks my home. Help me to roar like a lioness at my enemies, just as you roar at your enemies. Save me from lagging in the fight. Thank you that in the powerful, authoritative name of Jesus, I have power over all the power of the enemy. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:

I am a banner holder and I will not let go my banners!

By Nancy Campbell

PS.
On Tuesday evening, CJ submitted his answer to the Science Question. He got the answer right and was one of only four teens in the world to get this one right!

OK, I supposed not every one is willing to pay the prize of a head wound to get the right answer!

Birthday Cake Recipe

Since our family is wheat and dairy intolerable and sugar makes the boys grumpy and irritable, we use spelt, rice milk and xylitol when we bake birthday cakes. Years ago we tried a 'healthy' birthday party. I made coloured eggs, rainbow bread and served a spread of fresh fruit. Was I disappointed? The children by no means thought it was a nice party. They were looking at my hours of creative thinking and hard work with expressions of: 'is this it??' That party cost me more than any of my 'normal' parties and I had to throw away every coloured egg and pieces of bread, they took one bite and nothing more. They didn't even enjoy the fruit!

We decided our children will always be restricted on sweets. With their birthdays we will start boosting their immune system the week before the party and let them enjoy a real party. But we never send packets of sweets home with the party quests. We made the cake, decorate it with lots of sweet treats and when that is finished, no more sweets!

Over the years I've experimented a lot with different cake recipes, spelt flour has less gluten content than wheat flour and consequently don’t rise as high as cakes baked with wheat flour. When I replace the wheat flour in recipes, with spelt flour, I always increase the amount of spelt by a third.

I have found this cake recipe gave the best result with spelt flour for a decorating cake:

Chiffon Cake

360g refined spelt flour
250g xylitol
15ml baking powder
3 ml salt
120ml olive oil
5 eggs, separated
180ml water
10ml lemon juice
5 ml grated lemon skin
2 ml cream of tartar

Method
1. Cover the bottom of 2 cake pans (220mm in diameter) or one ring pan (100mm deep) with butter coated butter paper (sandwich wrap)

2 Sieve together spelt, xylitol, baking powder and salt. Make a hole in the middle of the ingredients.

3. Add olive oil, egg yolk. cold water, lemon juice and lemon skin (in this order) and beat together until smooth.

4. Add cream of tarter to egg whites and beat until stiff but not dry. Fold first mixture into stiff egg white.

5. Put the mix into the cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes, or for the ring pan 50 minutes at a moderate heat (180°C), if the cake feels spongy at the top, it’s done.

6. Let it cool down BEFORE loosen the cake from the sides.


Variations:

Chocolate chiffon cake
Replace 40 g of spelt with 20 g cacao and sieve together with dry ingredients.

Pineapple chiffon cake
Replace the 180 ml water with 180 ml pineapple juice and decorate with pineapple mouse.

Icing

For decorating the cake we used two kinds of icing - Butter icing and Royal icing.

The butter icing is a soft icing and stays soft, used to cover and decorate the cake.


The royal icing hardens within an hour and we used it as ‘glue’. On the Cinderella cake we used it to ‘glue’ the party cones to the marshmallows for the towers and the tiles to the steps.












Butter icing:

100 g butter (we never used margarine)
250 g icing sugar
10 ml vanilla
rice milk

Method:
Cream the butter with icing sugar.
Add vanilla and little rice milk to obtain a soft, creamy icing.
Add colouring.

Royal icing:

1 egg white
3 drops of fresh lemon juice
175 g icing sugar, sifted

Method:
Beat egg white and lemon juice together, until foamy.
Add tablespoons of sifted icing sugar, until you can draw peaks.
Add colouring.

Enjoy decorating!

Danika's Sixth Birthday

On the 14th of July, Danika turned six! She wanted a Cinderella party and I made her a Cinderella dress and a Cinderella cake. She invited 11 girls to her birthday party and they had a lot of fun playing musical chairs and unwrapping a present wrapped in layers and layers of giftwrap.




After all the fun, she blew out her six candles and they enjoyed the cake.

Danika said this was her best birthday party ever! Since her birthday she only wears her Cinderella dress.

Something I’ve learned after making this Cinderella dress made of satin – One can’t use a universal needle when working on satin. You need a special needle; it prevents the seams from tearing.

Danika's Cinderella Cake

In our family the birthday cake is huge in making memories. It all started with grandma Lues. Grandma Lues used to bake the most incredible wedding cakes. When CJ, the first grandchild, turned two years old, she offered to bake his birthday cake. It was a beautiful Mickey Mouse cake.

With CJ's 3rd birthday he ordered an airport cake. Grandma and grandpa totally overdid it...! They built the aeroplane and helicopter out of Swiss rolls; they also made the terminal building and even the boom, with small cars and a garden. That was it! Grandma was back in the cake business, this time in her grandchildren's birthday cakes.

It became tradition that the children would 'order' their birthday cake months before the birthday. Grandpa would plan the construction of the cake and grandma would decorate. The night before the birthday party they would bring the cake to the great excitement of the children. The children needed to hide, then the cake would be brought in and then we would lead the children, birthday boy or -girl in front, blindfolded to the cake. With cameras ready we would open their eyes... And bang!

After everyone’s ooooohs and aahhhs, grandma would sit with the grandchildren on her lap and start telling the story around the cake

Over the years there were the 3 little pigs, little red riding hood, humpty dumpty, a train and many more.

After Josua's 1st birthday and now 4 grandchildren along the line waiting for their special birthday cake, grandma resigned. But Christo and I had watched closely over the years and decided the tradition will be carried forth.

The past few years the older children become involved too and helped in planning the different cakes. The excitement mounts the week before the birthday party, when we started buying all the sweets, very specifically chosen for each cake. The Thursday before the party on Saturday, we would bake the different layers of cake. By Friday afternoon, we started decorating. Sometimes dad and I would decorate into the early morning hours, before we are satisfied. And then early Saturday morning the birthday child would wake up and hasten to see the finished cake. For hours they would just look and pointed out this or that.

This year was no exception. Danika had already ordered her Cinderella cake months ago. It must at least have the pumpkin carriage and little Cinderella. Christo and I went to the shops on Wednesday for the final purchases and decided to do the Cinderella castle, since we could buy a Cinderella carriage and Cinderella at Toys-R-Us. CJ was responsible for the construction of the steps leading up to the castle, on which Cinderella lost her glass shoe.

This is how the cake developed over Friday:

The starting point:

Making and decorating the towers:

One of the towers is going to fall!

Daddy strengthening the construction of the towers

Look at the faces!

Now for the finishing touches:

And by 22h45 we have the final product! We are exhausted but it so rewarding!

After the Rain!

After a week of constant rain in the Western Cape, the children needed some open space to get rid of all their energy. On Saturday afternoon, Dad took them all to the park, while I tried to finish Danika's Cinderella dress for her 6th birthday party this weekend.

You may see Daniel (on Christo's back in the Ergo) trying to peep around Dad.

Josua always on the run!!

My Health while Pregnant.

I have a history of being really ill during my pregnancies. From as early as 5 ½ weeks the nausea starts. I will be tremendously tired, accompanied by very low blood pressure (100 over 60) and will have no choice but to leave the little ones with the older children and lie down at least once a day. On top of it, I have insomnia for the whole 8 months

During my pregnancies, Christo really took good care of me. He would do research on supplements that help for nausea, insomnia, low blood pressure and heart burn. He also made sure I took my supplements every day. But it was almost like it was more important to him than to me. I didn’t really care what I took; I just swallowed what he gave me. After all, bad health is part of my pregnancy, right? Wrong!

I believe I had the wrong attitude towards my health and decide to chance it. I once read: Fail to plan is a plan to fail. With this pregnancy I will have a plan and take responsibility for my own health. I’m going to make sure I have optimum health and then I will rest in God to sustain me during this pregnancy. After all I’m in His will, when I’m pregnant!

Over the past 2-3 months I’ve really made sure I keep my pH on 7 – 7.5. When your pH is 7.5, it can absorb all the nutrients it need for optimum health. More on pH, later in this posting. I also make sure I drink lots of filtered water, between 3 and 4 liters per day, with coral Calcium sachets (more on this too). I also take natural digestive enzymes, half an hour before every meal, to optimize the digestion of my food. I need a starch and protein with every meal, to keep my blood sugar levels stable during the day. We also include at least 2 fresh salads with our main meal every day. I don’t take anything that taste sweet (no jam, xylitol, or fructose, not even my occasional Lint chocolate!) or any rooibos tea.

So far, I’m doing better than ever. I’m already 7 weeks pregnant and don’t have any of the symptoms I experienced with the past four pregnancies. Praise the Lord!!!

I’ve asked Christo to share with us some basic principles of health. I will periodically post some more, as time allows Christo to write, under Health Wise.

Three steps to help you REGAIN HEALTH

Often I consult with people that are severely ill. They don’t have the common cold or even flu. I am talking about all kinds of cancer, fibromyalgia, diabetes, depression, constant headache, eczema, chronic sinusitis, cardio vascular diseases, infertility and the like. These are things that take over your whole existence, it’s in your face, and sometimes it debilitates you.

WHY, do you get these diseases?

Is it simply the parents you chose or the ‘luck of the draw’ or are there other factors that can cause these debilitating or life threatening situations?
If you had to ask your doctor he might confirm the above, with the view, that many of these cannot be cured only managed through chemical treatment.

Is that the whole truth? If you have been involved in Natural Medicine for as long as I have, and have witnessed what I have, then you will strongly disagree with the above statement.
If you visit your doctor and tell him that you are healthy, and would like to stay that way, what would he recommend you do? He may think that you are joking! See there are no Symptoms that he can treat, and when there is no symptom, he is clueless. A doctor’s function is to diagnose and treat illness, not to maintain optimum health…..

Why we get sick.
Living in Durbanville or any modern day city, chances are very good that exhaust fumes, cell phone radiation, food additives, household chemicals and toxic chemicals in your toiletries may poison you. These accumulate on a cellular level and as time goes by, start damaging your cellular “plan” (the DNA). With a damaged plan, and accumulated toxins in the cells, the builders starts getting confused and may build something that it’s not supposed to.
If left unattended and it spirals out of control, you would start to develop a serious illness.

The way that unnatural medicine looks at this situation is to cut out the part of the body that is ‘built incorrectly’ or to poison it by giving you a drug or by irradiating it. You may spot the problem here. No amount of cutting, radiating or poisoning can supply a hungry cell with food or nutrients. That is in essence why a disease can only be managed (called treatment) by medicine, but symptoms keep on coming back. If a symptom is suppressed effectively, the body usually finds another way to let you know there is a problem by presenting another symptom.
This is the reason why people with severe asthma often started off having sinus. When suppressed effectively, it develops into eczema, which suppressed effectively, then develops into the current asthma. If this is suppressed effectively it could turn into something more serious.

Here are three steps to help you REGAIN HEALTH

A better model is to start off by CLEANING the cells – this is a very special detoxifying process on a cellular level. When the cells are clean, we need to NOURISH the cells by supplying the body with the missing micronutrients. When the body gets what it needs, it can start the self-healing process. If the hormonal system of the body is out of balance, we need to do something to BALANCE the body again. This usually means that you need to take an herbal supplement for a limited time period to balance your body e.g. your menstrual cycle or imbalances like high blood sugar or depression

1. Is your body too acidic?
The human body is able to repair itself it we provide it with the means.
Virtually all degenerative diseases, including cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, kidney and gall stones, and tooth decay are associated with excess acidity in the body. The body does have a homeostatic mechanism, which maintains a constant pH 7.4 in the blood. This mechanism works by depositing and withdrawing acid and alkaline minerals like Calcium from other locations including the bones, soft tissues, body fluids and saliva. Therefore, the pH of these other tissues can fluctuate greatly. The pH of saliva offers us a window through which we can see the overall pH balance in our bodies.

Cancer cannot exist in an alkaline environment. All forms of arthritis are associated with excess acidity. Acid in the body dissolves both teeth and bones. Whatever health situation you are faced with, you can monitor your progress toward a proper acid/alkaline balance by testing your saliva pH.

How to Perform the Saliva pH Test
Firstly you must wait at least two hours after eating. Fill your mouth with saliva and then swallow it. Repeat this step to help ensure that your saliva is clean. The third time put some of your saliva onto (Litmus) pH paper. Take the reading IMMEDIATELY.

The pH paper should turn blue. This indicates that your saliva is slightly alkaline at a healthy pH of 7.5. If it is not blue, compare the colour with the chart that comes with the pH paper. If your saliva is acid (below pH of 7.0) you should take action.

What the Reading means:
When healthy, the pH of saliva is 7.5. The pH test of saliva represents the most consistent and most definitive physical sign of the Ionic Calcium Deficiency Syndrome. The pH of the non-deficient and healthy person is in the 7.5 (dark blue) alkaline range. The range from 7 (neutral) to blue 7 (blue-green), which is weakly acidic, to 4.5 (light yellow), which is strongly acidic, represents states from mildly deficient to strongly deficient, respectively. Most children are dark blue, a pH of 7.5. Over half of adults are green-yellow, a pH of 6.5 or lower, reflecting an Ionic-Calcium deficiency of aging and lifestyle defects.
Read related article.

2. What to do if you are too acid
Before you rush out to buy the first calcium supplement you can lay your hands on, hold on. Firstly you need to get the correct form of calcium. Then there are some changes you can make to your diet, which will greatly affect your pH.

Changing your diet
Foods that greatly influence the intra-cellular fluid pH towards ACID would be the following:
• Processed meats like; salami, viennas, bacon, cold meats and polony.
• White or brown sugar and products containing sugar like, confectionary, normal or diet fizzy drinks, concentrated fruit juices
• Cakes, muffins, pastries, biscuits, sweets, chocolates, ice-cream, puddings, milkshakes, tea, coffee, alcohol and Rooi bos tea
• Pasta made from wheat, white rice, white bread (Spelt Bread or Essene Bread is fine), meat pies, hamburgers, gravies, green peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, aubergine (night-shade family of plants)

Supplements that BOOSTS your pH to be ALKALINE
• Take 2L of FILTERED water per day. The best kind of filter to use is the KDF type of filter. KDF is not a specific make, but rather a kind of filter medium. I strongly advise AGAINST using Reverse Osmosis water on a regular basis.
• Now that you have clean water, purchase some Ionic Coral Calcium sachets, made by Sevenpointfive. Add one sachet to the 2L of filtered water and drink during the day.

3. Are you taking the CORRECT variety of supplements?

How do you become who you are?
A VERY simple explanation: your body has a ‘plan’ (called DNA) for each cell in your body. This plan, contained inside every cell, contains information on what the cell looks like, what properties it has, and what it needs to function and what it needs in order to re-produce. Then we have little ‘builders’ called metabolic enzymes. Their job is to read the plan and take the building material (the food you ate) and build or maintain the body – and viola - YOU!

On a daily basis our body needs a lot of micronutrients, among these are:
• 72 Trace minerals
• 26 Vitamins
• 21 Amino Acids
• 8 Sugars
• 2 Essential Fatty acids (Omega 3 being the most important)
• A wide range of anti oxidants to protect our bodies against environmental and other toxins
• Fresh clean water
On average, because of our modern day diet, we do not get these. If you follow a balanced diet, as prescribed by a ‘Registered Dietician’ you can be assured that you will get all these in a day’s balanced diet.
The problem arises when the farmers, only put back into the soil what is needed to make the produce look good. So, irrespective of what the dietician’s textbook teaches, if the farmer does not put it into the soil, the plant does not contain or cannot manufacture what you need for optimum health.

When we do not get all the above nutrients on a daily basis, it means that some of the building blocks will be missing. When a building block is missing, the end product (a cell of the body) will be missing or will start malfunctioning – that is what your doctor calls a “disease” .

Our Home School Journey - Science

At the end of last year CJ started with one of the books in the Apologia series: General Science by Dr. Jay Wile. Dad took responsibility for this subject and every morning and evening for an hour they do science. During the day CJ will answer the ‘on your own questions’ and do the experiments, which he also needs to write down. This science curriculum is Creation based and constantly compares Creationism with Evolutionism and scientifically teaches the Bible truth. Since this year is the 200th birthday of Darwin, this really answers all CJ’s questions and gives him everything he needs to know regarding the scientific method of research, something often missed in the evolution model.

Apologia also has a Science Question of the Week Competition that runs every 12 weeks. These questions require a lot of research and the general knowledge he (and Dad) are gaining is amazing! During CJ’s first participation, he got 11 out of 12 questions correct. Read more here….

They are currently on question 7 of 12 and CJ has 7 out of 7 correct so far. At this stage only 6 students got all the questions correct and nerves are running high every time a new answer is submitted.

Since CJ enjoyed Apologia so much, I got interested in The Young Explorer series, which is the junior level of Apologia. These books are also Creation based and the names say it all. Exploring Creation with Astronomy (the 4th day), Exploring Creation with Botany (the 3rd day), Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 (Flying creatures of the 5th day), Exploring Creation with Zoology 2 (Swimming creatures of the 5th day) and Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 (Land Animals of the 6th day).

While searching the internet I also found the complete notebook lapbook e-books, specifically customized to be used with each one of the five books in this series.

A month ago Heidi-Mari and Josua started with Exploring Creation with Astronomy.

During Lesson 1 they answered questions like: Why did God create the Universe? They were introduced to some astronomy history, the work of NASA and did an overview of our solar system. Their assignment was to build a model solar system that hangs from the ceiling. Since we always overdo things, we didn’t use different size balloons as suggested in the book. They painted polystyrene balls of different sizes in a variety of colours

and hung it in the right sequence, in orbits, from a piece of cardboard.

Josua couldn’t believe that he could actually have so much fun! He is my visual learner who can never have enough fun!

The most amazing part was when Danika (turning 6 next week) looked at the solar system hanging from the cardboard, and had a breakthrough in her ‘understanding’ of the greatness of God. As she was standing ‘outside’ the solar system, she linked it with God that is ‘outside’ of our world, watching us, holding us, taking care of us. She will never forget His greatness. She will never doubt His presence, although she cannot ‘see’ Him. In her book, Gate-keeper of the Home, Nancy Campbell tells mothers to pray that each of their children would have a personal encounter with God, and that it will tie their hearts to God forever. This was definitely such a moment for Danika. I could see it on her face!

This post features on the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers where South African home schoolers share experiences, ideas, philosophies and much more.  You can join the carnival too by heading to the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers sign up page.   In the meantime, head to SACH Carnival #5 - Science and Natural Science for this week's carnival.  We hope you enjoy the carnival as much as we have!