Five ‘Yay’s!’ on Friday
It’s Friyay (yes, the spelling is intended). There’s been lots to say ‘yay’ about this week hasn’t there? For a start it was the queens 90th birthday yesterday.
‘Yay!’ # 1
Our family is royalist for sure so any chance to celebrate our royals. Homemade scones with cream and jam were the order of the day – or actually – the order of the week in our home. Of course official celebrations will be held in June here in England and I am all ready to crack out the bunting. Last night I watched the most lovely tribute to the queen on BBC 1. The queen and various members of her family were filmed watching personal ‘home movies’ from the queens birth right up to current day. They filmed the reminiscing and the conversations between the the family members as they watched. It was just beautiful and really showed a very personal side to the queen and the royal family that is not often seen in public.
‘Yay!’ # 2
It’s Earth Day today. A day when we celebrate the earth that we live in. A day when we are reminded to take care and be good stewards of what God created for us. Today I spent a bit of time going through the Charlotte Mason Digital Archives. I chose to page through one of her students, Margaret Deck’s, nature journal. How beautiful her notebook is and what a treasure. I am so glad that I started keeping my own nature journal right at the beginning of our Charlotte Mason homeschooling journey.
‘Yay!’ #3
Bluebells! Oh my, my garden is just packed to over-flowing in this beautiful spring flower at the moment. They are simply everywhere, they frame the front of my house, gently leading my guests to the front door. With wild abandon they have taken over the garden, growing in swathes, flanking the garden path, some even stepping out of their flower beds and planting their feet in the middle of the garden path. I haven’t the heart to correct it’s position – it looks far too happy for that :).
Today it has been wet and drippy, but I love how the raindrops cling to the flowers and drop gently to the earth.
Although we have had a rather mixed bag of weather this week, I was grateful for two bright sunny days to dry my washing outside. I love washing that has been dried outdoors – it smells so good. It’s one of those ‘little’ things that add to the contentment of a simple life.
‘Yay!’ #4
My eldest daughter final year at homeschool has been good, but also fraught with indecision as to what to study. She is creative and cannot think of doing anything that does not involve some form of creativity. At first we pursued a fine art route -but she realised that she would not be terribly happy working to a clients spec. She then thought that perhaps hairdressing was the way to go. DH and I were not convinced and advised against it, but we allowed her a month out of school to try her hand at hairdressing. She hated it.
Finally I suggested a Media course. We found a fabulous one that covers film, photography, graphic design, journalism, an radio. It provides a wonderfully varied experience which leads to either going straight into the industry after qualifying or taking it further in Uni. She was sold!
So we applied, she completed a project required by the college as part of her application. Trouble was that the course requires a minimum of 5 GCSE’s for entry. She has two. I put together a Record of Learning which included the test marks of last years A.C.E work, committed it to the Lord and off we went on Wednesday for her interview. Well …. she got offered an unconditional place!! Whoohooo!! They were super impressed with her project, commending her on her insights and her writing skills (she is very good at writing 🙂).
Her course starts in the autumn and it feel good to have travelled this road and have dd#1 secured in tertiary education. Now for dd#2 🙂
‘Yay!’ #5
It came through! Our permanent residence application has been successful and we are here to stay! I just about wept when we opened the envelope and our passports and 4 beautiful permanent residence cards fell out. I love England so much and cannot see myself living anywhere else. This is home – and now it really is. Next year we will take citizenship – it’s a long and expensive process but so SO worth it. Rule Britannia!
Sorry – I got a wee bit patriotic there LOL. I’ll wrap up that post on that patriotic note I think and see you back here very soon. Have a lovely weekend!
Joining Amy for Five on Friday
15 Comments
Penny
Golly, this made me weep. Yay indeed!!! Congratulations to your daughter and the Queen and ALL OF YOU! Every single yay is so very wonderful!!! 🙂
Shirley-Ann
🙂 Thank you Penny.
mamasmercantile
I am thrilled for you all, congratulations on getting your permanent residence cards and a very warm welcome. I too watched the same programme about the Queen it was a real joy. Have a great weekend.
Shirley-Ann
Thank you for your lovely welcome 🙂
Amy at love made my home
Yay for all of these yay's!!!!!!!! I know that this might sound daft and like one of those things that is easy to say but might not be true, but this really is. When I started reading this post I immediately thought, oh, I wonder how Shirley's residence application is going, I must ask her sometime. I hadn't scrolled down or looked at the rest of the post, so you can imagine my surprise when there was the answer with your fifth Yay! Congratulations!!!! I am so pleased for you!!! It is wonderful to have you here in England on a permanent basis, we are very glad and pleased to have you!!! I hope that all goes well for your daughter with the course she has chosen, it sounds fascinating!! Thank you for joining Five On Friday again this week, I do so appreciate it and enjoy reading your posts. Hope you have a great weekend! xx
Shirley-Ann
Thank you Amy 🙂
Tammie
I have been reading your blog for the past several months and this is my first time here to comment. This post just calls for a hearty congratulations on all of the things you mentioned! Your posts never fail to uplift my spirits and brighten my day. I live in the US, but our family was blessed to spend 2000-2002 in England. We loved everything about our time there and your posts remind me of all of the things we enjoyed. My husband & I have watched several documentaries on the Queen over the past few weeks and celebrated her birthday yesterday with tea & HobNobs! Also I hosted a special give-away on my blog. Your blog is just simply lovely and I look forward to every post!
Shirley-Ann
Thank you for your very kind comment Tammie – I love when my readers take some time to 'chat' with me here, it means I get to pop over and visit you at your blog too 😉
Mac n' Janet
You have had a great week! Congratulations to your daughter! That's super that you got your permanent residence cards, where have you come from.
Shirley-Ann
Thank you :D! – We are from Cape Town in South Africa originally. My husbands mum was born here and left after WW2. I guess we have just taken our family back 'home'. My side is Scottish although they left Scotland 2 generations back.
Brenda Leyland @ Its A Beautiful Life
Oh I'm so glad I found your blog over at Amy's Five on Friday. And I'm happy to celebrate your 'yah' list with you. I'm Canadian but hubby and I are taking a trip later this year to visit your beautiful England. So looking forward to it. We're staunch Royalists too.
Wishing you a beautiful weekend…
Brenda
Shirley-Ann
Welcome Brenda! I'm so glad you popped by, I will certainly be doing the same after I have finished replying to my comments. I love Canada too – my husbands brother married a Canadian, they live on a ranch about an hour out of Toronto. We actually spend 3 months in Toronto about 19 years ago and loved it! I hope that we have some lovely warm weather for your English trip! Where are you planning on going?
A Colorful World
Wonderful celebratory "yays!" What a lovely daughter…I am so glad she is finding the path she wants to follow in life; one that will be fulfilling for her. Glad your path in life is opening up the way you hoped as well!
Shirley-Ann
Awww, thank you Marie 🙂
Sandra Ann
Fab news all round! So pleased for you all and as for DD1 she is such a credit to you and all your home schooling support 🙂 San xx