Waiting for Morning by Margaret Brownley

A Brides of the Last Chance Ranch Novel

Molly Hatfield only has her 14 year old brother Donny, who is paraplegic as a result of an accident when Molly was only 8. When their home is destroyed by fire, she answers Miss Hatfield's advertisement seeking an heir for the Last Chance Ranch. The catch is, to inherit, Molly will have to sign a contract saying she will stay single for the rest of her life. In her desire to provide a home for her brother, Molly neglects to mention Donny in her application. Things become complicated when Dr Caleb Fairbanks comes on the scene, along with his tin lizzy, Bertha, and dog, Magic. Can the young doctor win Molly's heart? Can he help Donny gain some independence? There a mountains to be overcome by all of the main characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the characters of the Last Chance Ranch for a second time. They are well developed and the plot is intricately woven. Sub plots add further suspense to the overall book.

As a Christian novel, this book challenges the reader to think about how he/she responds to people who are different, both inside the church and out. It also reminded me of God's love, and how important it is to remember that while God is perfect people are not, and we cannot expect them to be. People will hurt us, and we may hurt others, but God asks us to forgive and to accept forgiveness.

This is a great book, and I highly recommend it. If you can, read Book 1 first as it helps set the scene, but this book can easily be read as a stand alone novel.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Meet the newest member of Grade 4K

Hello everyone, my name is Lamb Chop, and I've just joined Grade 4K at East-West International School.

First thing this morning I was a very naughty lamb. I kept shouting "I want a story! I want a story!" Eventually Miss Karen said that if I was a good lamb and did well on my Spelling Test today, and my Maths Test tomorrow I can have a story on Friday. So now I'm trying really hard to be a good lamb.

Later in the day I helped Miss Karen with the maths lesson. She was talking about really hard stuff - per... per... permets? perims? permitres? No, that's not it. Oh, yeah, Perimeters. Some of those kids were really clever. So now I know that a perimeter is the distance around the outside of a shape, and you can work it out using measurement and multiplication. See, aren't I clever!

Some of the girls wanted me to go swimming with them today. Miss Karen said I couldn't, and I'm so glad. I wouldn't want to get my beautiful white wool all wet. I might drown. I don't think I'd be a very good swimmer.

Well, Miss Karen wants to write something, so I'd better sign off for now. Lovely to meet you all. Don't forget to come back and say "Hi" some time.

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So now you've met the latest addition to my classroom. Lamb Chop was one of my purchases on a recent visit to IKEA in Thailand during the "Winter" break. I think he's pretty cute, and my students love him, and I can see us having lots of fun in the coming days.

Back again ...

Sometime in the last month this blog has clicked over the 10,000 views mark. OK, so that's not many in the land of blogging, but it's a milestone.

In view of that milestone, I thought I'd have a quick look at some stats.

Pageviews all time history: 10,146

Comments: 86

Most popular post: Welcome to Grade 4K (12 Sept 2011) - 1399 Pageviews

Most frequent traffic source: http://dedertfamily.blogspot.com/ (which is rather interesting because this blog is no longer being updated)

Reader locations (in order of volume): USA, Australia, Cambodia, Russia, UK, Canada, India, and heaps of other places.

Most frequent keyword search:

• noise o meter,
• classroom noise meter,
• noise meter classroom,
• noise-o-meter,
• noise o meter poster,
• noise-o-meter poster

So, let's do a quick update on what this blog is about.

 

I'm a middle-aged Australian, who heard God's call to serve overseas in my early 40s. I embarked on a major career change, after 20+ years working in various administrative roles for Queensland Health, and undertook graduate teacher training. I moved to Cambodia six years ago with two subjects and my major practicum still to be completed in my Graduate Diploma of Education (Middle Years). I finished my course, graduated in absentia, taught three and a half years in a Christian school in Phnom Penh, then transitioned to East-West International School where I'm currently teaching 4th grade.

 

In this blog I do a number of things. Initially I started this blog because I could not fit all my experiences into my bi-monthly/quarterly newsletters. Since then it has developed into a place where I not only share about what happens in my classroom - the good and the bad (but mostly the good), but share a little more of who I am. Sometimes I reflect on deeper issues that are impacting on my life. Other times I review books I've been reading. I also share snippets of what it's like living in Cambodia. Sometimes there are photos, sometimes, it's just me writing and thinking.

 

If you've read this far, can I ask you to do something for me? Would you make a comment to let me know what things you enjoy reading about? One of this year's resolutions is to get back to writing at least once a week. We will see if I can keep it up. Meanwhile, this day is almost done so it's time to post this and head for bed. Be sure to check back soon. I promise to post more in the near future.

Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock

Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock

Imagine two precious 3 year old girls, ripped from the arms of the only mother they have known (following the death of their father), to be dragged up, abused, and lied to by their grandparents, who only wanted custody because they thought it would be easy money. Meanwhile, their adoptive mother, Amanda, continues to watch over the girls from a distance. As they grow up, she seeks to meet their needs, despite the conflict with their "grandparents". Eventually, the girls are independent, and it is possible for Amanda to legally make contact with them. Will her loving be accepted, or rejected. Will they believe the truth she tells them, or the lies they have been fed during all their growing years.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, although this wasn't the first time I had read it. I kept turning page after page to find out what happened next (I first read it many years ago and so I'd forgotten much of the details of the plot). The detailed descriptions were clear, and the story-line kept flowing. As the story unfolded, and the characters developed, I was reminded again and again of our heavenly Father's love for us, a love that is freely given, but never forced on us. While different to other Terri Blackstock novels, Covenant Child is certainly worth reading.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Teaching English in Missions: Effectiveness and Integrity

During the ACSI ICEC conference which I attended last week, I was privileged to participate in two workshops by Jan Edwards Dormer. After the second workshop, I decided to purchase a copy of Jan's book Teaching English in Missions: Effectiveness and Integrity, despite the fact that I'm not "teaching English" as such but rather teaching primary school, in English. I have to say, that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I was also challenged by it.

With chapters like If you can speak English you can teach it. True or False and "First, do no harm": An English Teacher's Hippocratic Oath, you might wonder what was being said. These two chapters challenge the idea that any native speaker can teach English, and that teaching English is always a good thing to do. After setting the scene in these two chapters, Jan goes on to provide some core information that all those involved in or considering English teaching as a ministry would do well to consider, covering four types of English ministry, some requirements for English teachers, some models for teaching English, and some building blocks for English classes.

The book is easy to read (I read it in two days), with thought provoking questions at the end of each chapter. At the same time is a professional read, with a useful range of appendices and a reference list for further reading.

For me, the challenge is to learn more about something I do daily, although in the context of providing general primary school education. I'm a native English speaker, and a trained teacher, but reading this book has highlighted for me how much more I need to know in order to be truly effective in the work God has given me to do.

If I've got you thinking and you'd like to read this book, it's available on Amazon.com.

What does your weekend look like?

A fellow blogger posted this queston this evening, after sharing some highlights of her weekend, so I thought I'd rise to the challenge.

This weekend's activities are a reasonable sample of a "normal" weekend, although I'm not sure there's such a thing.

After a slight sleep-in (8am instead of 6am), and the usual morning routine it was off to my piano teacher's house for my piano lesson. The trip across was uneventful, although I did notice a larger than usual police and military presence along the roads. Lesson over it was off to school. Slight delay at one intersection as we waited from some unknown (to the road users anyway) dignitary to make clear passage.

I then spent about 5 hours at school, mostly grading papers and preparing homework for the coming week or two, as well as a little planning and preparation. Why go to school? Because if I'm at school I actually get school work done, where as if I stay home I get distracted by various other things.

Next was a trip to two of the bigger grocery stores, where I bought a large glass casserole dish, as well as groceries. Why two stores? Because I can rarely get everything I want at one. Both of these stores are about the size of an medium sized IGA, and cater primarily for the expat population. One has the best range of Cadbury chocolate (from Australia) available, as well as a few other things I like, while the other carries the best range of Arnott's biscuits, and also frozen meat. Neither had the deodorant I like so that meant another store needed to be visited this morning.

Prior to arriving at the first grocery store I experienced another traffic delay. This time, we actually got told to turn our ignition off as we waited for the convoy to enter the complex 100m or so down the road, plus one van at the gate near where we were stopped. There will be many more of these delays for folk who need to use the main roads during the coming days of ASEAN meetings.

Finally headed home to find our street turned into one big parking lot, with a large function happening further down the road. Access to our gate was completely blocked from the street, so I came up in front of the neighbour's gate, along the sloping footpath, then neatly executed a 90 degree turn in less than one metre of space. It was tight, but at least I got in. A quiet evening followed after putting the groceries away.

This morning, after another pleasant sleep, I jumped on my moto to go to a "convenience store" on the other side of the main road and down a few blocks. That was no problem. Yay, they had the deodorant I like back in stock, so I stocked up, as well as getting the drinks I wanted for the coming week. Loaded the back pack up and headed for home. Got almost to the main road and spotted road blocks in place, so detoured back to the alternative intersection which was also blocked. I joined the throng awaiting the passing and eventually got across the main road and back home.

The unusual event for today was guests for lunch. I had invited my piano teacher and her husband and daughter for lunch, and was looking forward to it. I made a variation on Apricot chicken, which we all enjoyed, including the extra unexpected visitor. No problem. I can find an extra chair and plate and I had enough food. Variation was required as some of the ingredients I would use in Australia were not available here (at least not where I looked). Didn't matter. It still tasted good and my guests all enjoyed it.

After that, it was time to head up to church so I could practice on the piano there. I've been doing much more practice at home lately, but the touch of the church piano is different to mine, so practice there is important. I made it through the service with only a few variations on the theme, then home.

So that's my weekend. What about yours?

Public Holidays and so on...

If there was a contest for the country with the most public holidays, I'm sure Cambodia would be right up there at the top of the list.

Since school started on 3rd September, we have had a total of 7 public holidays and 1 teacher work day when we did parent-teacher conferences. So that means that in the first 11 weeks of the school year, we have had 7 five day weeks (i.e. no public holidays). We've had two 4-day weeks, and two 2-day weeks.

This week was supposed to be the 8th five day week, but alas, ASEAN has come to Phnom Penh, and schools are closed. We were officially notified on Friday that we would have to close on Monday and Tuesday. So that makes a 3-day week this week. Next week is a 2-day week (Monday & Friday with holidays Tuesday to Thursday), then a five day week, a four day week, and one last five day week to bring us up to the Christmas break. Hmmm.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the holidays. They help me stay sane, giving valuable catch up time, BUT they also make it hard to maintain momentum with my students. Have a look at this.
Week 1     5 days
Week 2     5 days
Week 3     5 days
Week 4     4 days (I was ready for that long weekend) (Constitution Day)
Week 5     5 days
Week 6     5 days
Week 7     2 days (The 5-day break was good) (Pchum Ben)
Week 8     5 days
Week 9     2 teaching days, plus 1 day parent-teacher conferences (Coronation Day & King Father's Birthday)
Week 10   4 days (Independence Day)
Week 11   5 days
Week 12   5 days (only now it's 3 days)
Week 13   2 days (Water Festival)
Week 14   5 days (Hooray)
Week 15   4 days (big concert that weekend, so don't mind that Monday is a holiday - International Human Rights Day)
Week 16   5 days
CHRISTMAS / WINTER BREAK (2 weeks)

We haven't got the calendar for 2013 yet, but I'm fairly sure the holidays are a little more spaced out after Christmas, and we should be able to get some solid teaching happening. Life is interesting.

It's interesting, because this means we have a 16 week term! It would be way too long if it weren't for all those sneaky little holidays. So, what should I do? Well, I think that what I do is actually OK. I enjoy the holidays when they come, and do my best to keep some continuity happening in the classroom despite the interruptions. Keeping routines going helps kids, so when I can do that I do.

And as for ASEAN, well, I wonder what Aussie parents would say about school being closed for two days with only one weekend of notification. I wouldn't like to be a teacher there in that situation. Here, it's just part of life, and you do what you have to do. Either the kids will go to work with Mum & Dad, or Mum and/or Dad may just have to stay home too. Life is different here.

What about me? Do I get two extra days holidays. No, although I do get two shorter days (9am - 2pm instead of 7am -3pm). We need to get working on WASC, and hopefully I can get some grading caught up and some extra planning done.

As for those lessons I had planned for Monday and Tuesday .... Well, that will teach me to try and plan two weeks ahead. Some can be shuffled to Wednesday, and some will just have to wait until I return from ICEC in Chiang Mai after Water Festival. Life's like that.