School has Began

Autumn Term is finally here and school has began. The kids are in uniform, as is the custom here. Caleb will learn to live in a suit, with tie, every day for the rest of the school year. Belle's uniform is more adaptable with pants in grey, different skirts in grey and she can add the school royal blue sweatshirt or cardigan (jumper) they are called. And she has the option of a full dress, in grey! Both love their schools here. Belle will begin her year relearning vowel sounds and sight words. She will also have a 10 word spelling list a week! Someone who can't read yet, is only five, will have spelling tests! This will be fun, as she does not take teaching well from me. Oh well, we both will learn. Caleb has 14 subjects in one week. They are scheduled around each other, some twice, back to back. He has Italian, French, Math, Science, English, History, Geography, Art, Music, PE, Computer Lab, Food Tech, ACS class,R.E. class. I know, I don't know what the last two are either! Life goes on.

Belle is sick right now with Tonsillitis and has missed 4 days of school. She is running 101 to 103.5 temperature non-stop. They now have her on antibiotics (5 day only of Amoxicillin) and they are letting me give her Tylenol with Ibuprofin, at the same time, to bring the temperature down. It does come down to about 100 and then goes back up after 3 hours. I am looking forward to her getting back into school!

I walked home with an English couple in the village last night from a school meeting. They have a little boy in Belle's class that is full of energy. They were telling me that I should never call for an ambulence because we are in Northamptonshire, so the ambulance has to come from there, (45 Minutes Away) to pick up and take us to Peterborough which is 13 minutes away! (I am thinking I need a self-refresher course in First Aid) :) This couple had friends in another village and half the village was one shire (county) and the other half was in another one, and while the fire department decided who was responsible to put out their house fire, the house burned all the way to the ground! Yikes! It is fun to visit with them and hear their stories of woe. Everyone has been concerned about Belle and asks after her constantly. I am very appreciative of my friends here. I have had offers of help, babysitting if I need to get away, pick up medicine.... They have all been most kind. I feel like we have traded a Church family for our Village/ISE family. God is Good.

Well, that is my week in a nutshell. Lots of Laundry, Doctor Visits, and driving back and forth for Caleb's bus. To leave on a light note: My dad, who lives in Florida, has acquired a new living companion that I have named "Gypsy". It is a turtle that has dug out the sand under his sidewalk and my dad believes it is a protected gopher turtle, so he cannot touch or move it! Ha! God just knew he needed something else to keep watch over! In England, a gypsy is someone who moves onto your property to live and you cannot evict them without a court order. This is not always a homeless person, but working people who live out of a camper because they cannot afford rent. It can be quite a problem in the larger towns. Hence, the name "Gypsy".