Flashback to 2001 Family Newsletter from Grand Bahama Island
School Drop-off! Neighbour friend Khadejah, Tohni and Loryn in back with Jackie and Nathen in front.
This appeared in my Facebook Memories today. Had they not removed the Notes feature I could pull this up any time I like. I’ll be posting much of my writing here no, so they never get lost.
The Blower/Whachell Newsletter – September 2001
Hello all our family and friends,
Just wanted to keep you posted on how we are doing down in the sunny Bahamas…
Life continues to be quite wonderful. As the sun is rising to greet a new day, it is the same, “another day in paradise”. No, we are not tired of it at all. We are truly treasuring our life and time together more now then ever before! We do miss our family and friends in Canada, but this has become our home.
We are just starting our third year of home schooling and it has been going very well, and even better than expected. We are still being tutored in Spanish and Piano. We lost our old teacher and just found wonderful replacements. We will also be doing an online class in “computer” through the help of a local teacher. We went to the local radio station for a tour in late spring and ended up being interviewed by surprise on home schooling with 2 other families with us. At first we were kind of considered weird by everyone for home schooling, but now it is really changing, as many people still ask if I would take in their kids to teach (no way – not yet, likely never!). Our community has gone from 3 families to 6 just over summer.
The kids are growing like weeds and are as brown as beans. They continue to show us unconditional love and bring joy to our hearts. Our children play well together and enjoy teaching each other, or looking out for one another.
Jackie has just turned 5, and is the child that never seemed a baby. She still carries her attitude wherever she goes, but is most loving. She started grade one this year and can read at least at a grade 4 level. She likes to read us the bedtime story. She is very into her Barbie’s and playing dress-up. She likes to boss around her best friend Khadejah from next door, who is 7. Her latest monkey business is getting into all the bathroom soaps, shampoos and lotions and making concoctions in her play dishes, of course with the bathroom door locked! Last spring we took a formal ballet class (her, Tohni and I, with a couple other home school kids) and the teacher was surprised at how well she kept up. Jackie also got over her fear of water and is now swimming - something she just did on her own. Out of all our kids she expresses her emotions the most openly, and likes to ask about them. “Why do I feel sad when I hear this music?” and of course
“I am MAD right now!”
Nathen is still the little dreamboat. He is a continual source of love. Lately he’s made some comments about wishing he had a brother, but most of the time he never complains about all the women in his life. He even shares a bedroom with 2 of them! He started grade 3 this year and is doing well. In Canada he would have been in grade 2 only and has adjusted to this change in his own pace. That is what I love about home schooling – you really get to see what makes your kids tick and see exactly what phase they are at. He is a Lego fanatic and loves his bike and blades. The kids took up hockey in the neighbor’s tennis court this year, and I’m amazed at how well Nathen can skate and play (a big thing for a Canadian mom!). I actually began feeling perhaps he was missing out on his natural cultural sport, but his love for soccer will suffice. He took a soccer camp this summer and they said he was a natural. He also won “most considerate player”.
Tohni is 9 now and starting grade 5. She and Loryn have started formal swimming at a local swim club and she’s doing well. Tohni and Loryn are also training for the Conchman Triathlon (a world event) in November with the other kids from the club. She is Miss Social in our house and usually has the most invites for sleepovers and parties. Tohni also loves anything artistic or crafty. She has followed her father’s footsteps in junk collecting (oh no!). One can never tell what one will find on her bed! She is feeling the ‘middle child syndrome’ and often complains about how “Loryn gets everything”. Tohni’s bed is her only domain. She shares a bedroom, a closet, a bunk bed, and even a dresser. “’Soon we will move into a bigger house Tohni.” We’ve alleviated some of her stress by giving her Loryn’s desk from last year for school and trying to give her more freedoms and responsibilities than the younger ones. Of course, being included with whatever Loryn does also helps. Anyway, she is mostly the “no trouble” kid of the family. Her mood is the most balanced.
Loryn is now 12 (can you believe it!). She has had an interesting year. On the threshold of puberty she has had (past tense) her first boyfriend (only for 4 weeks, and bragging rights only). She is almost as big as her mom and has passed my shoe size. She won Youth Player of the Year award last soccer season in the amateur league she and I play in. Along with soccer and swimming she likes to blade and can play street hockey very well. Her curriculum has become quite extensive and she is handling it so well. I had her tested with an American standard exam this summer to see how she is doing. In Canada she would have been in grade 7, but here, she had been bumped up to grade 8. (This was due to east coast schools starting a year earlier than west coast, so when we started school here our upon arrival, the kids were all placed in grades higher according to age). She placed above average in all subjects except one and in 3 of them, did better than most post high schoolers. It was reassuring to me and I now “totally” trust what we are doing. Loryn’s teaching herself guitar over the Internet and can even tune it from a site using our microphone. (I would have never figured this out!) She also took a ceramics summer camp this year and did very well. The teacher has invited her to come work in her studio with her whenever she wants.
She’s had some harrowing experiences and lessons learned regarding the use of the computer. Two viruses later, the “rules of use” are posted boldly on the wall and some banned time had to happen as well. Like I tell my kids “we are guinea pigs for future research on the effects of the computer-age on our lives and home”. It definitely can affect ones home life! My kids love the computer and vie for time on it everyday. Again, we have to do things in balance and rules had to be placed upon it. Four kids, plus 2 adults can consume a computer any day, easy, in one home.
The kids have their own “allergy free” pets on the computer and hoot and holler when someone’s mutt or pedigree is pregnant or has just had puppies. They are also saving up for a drum set and have it almost all together. Now, I just have to find the space for that! It will be noisy, but I encourage their musical and financial saving efforts. We have been looking for a used video camera as they are chatting about video production. I will have to just buy them a cheap model, as one has not come available here. They love counting up their allowance money and dream of a trip to Florida to go to a Target store. We are so commercially deprived here, not that that is a bad thing! Nathen only likes receiving American Dollars, so he doesn’t have to swap around before a trip to exchange his currency. They love the freedom of home schooling. Sleeping in, when it is needed is such a bonus. Wearing what you like is good too. Once a month Loryn invents a theme day and they do theme related activities on their breaks, like pirate, space, cowboy days etc.
Brian is always keeping himself busy with one thing or another. He’s getting famous for his pesto. Basil grows great in pots here. His cooking has improved ten fold (and it was great before!). All those nights last year while I was on the soccer field, he let his gastronomic juices flow. He is presently suffering today from a bout of poisonwood (similar to poison ivy). It is fierce if you keep getting it. To avoid it you must stay out of the bushes. He was collecting firewood on a camping trip we just went on. Brian has not been fishing this year as much as he would have liked. I guess it was the shark attack. His permit to work in this country is still in progress and things like this can go on forever. It is a good thing he has some friends here with connections that believe in what he does and are helping things along. It could be any time soon. He reads a lot and runs the beach for exercise or rides his bike. He has also become the neighborhood bike repairman. He is starting to become a little more comfortable with the computer and we send apologies for his lack in responding on line.
I Robbin, have had a great year so far. If I am not continually hanging clothes on the line, I am teaching (learning with) the kids or cleaning the house. It is a most purposeful life. I am trying to get the kids to understand that education is a life long endeavor and it is a joy. Also, that we are responsible for our own learning. It cannot be forced. I’ve sure learned that by watching my kids! I love the fact that on days when I am feeling my worst and think we can’t possibly get a days work done, they take over and seem to do things effortlessly. What a lesson for me in pushing them too hard.
On top of motherhood, I had a busy, very long soccer season playing and assisting with coaching. As some of you may have already known from previous emails, our team won the national championship. It was a tough haul, but worth the effort. I was surprised to discover that I had been nominated for MVP and Best Defender in our league. I am starting my 3rd year in soccer and still have much to learn about the skills of the game. It is a tough go on my body at times and I couldn’t do it without the support of my wonderful husband, both with dinner help and adjustments! It is definitely a team effort
I helped start a Writing Circle that has really been a joy and creative outlet for me. It has taken my commitment of writing to a new level. With the encouragement and support of the other women in our group of about 10, I am working on some of my potentially bigger aspirations. I am working on a screenplay and in the process of heading or instigating the production of a play, from a book I read. Our hope is to open the play in New York City. We shall see how things evolve.
I also made a couple of speaking engagements this year on Nutrition for Children, basically sharing Brian and my beliefs on nutrition. There is the potential of doing more of that if I want. We’ll just have to pace things. Anyway, my life is so full, and there is never a dull moment. I thank God for it everyday!
Now, about you all… we are experiencing a shortage of visitors this year!! Do please come for a visit. If you haven’t been, you must come. If you have already been, then you are welcome back! We do so enjoy our visitors when we get them. The calendar is wide open!! We only have someone coming at end of October for 10 days. That is a return visitor. What’s up!?! I would jump at the chance of free accommodations!
With the current state of the world it makes us rethink our lives, our environments and ourselves. I wrote in my journal the other morning: “Brian and I watched a special on Afghanistan and the Taliban. A lot came clear to me. (Some of you may remember a mail-out I did about 5 years ago on the Taliban and Afghanistan women, I have been following the events in that country for some time) I believe the recent events in the USA have triggered the US and the world to finally stand up and take notice of Afghanistan and the sad state of its people since the Taliban took over some 5 – 6 years ago. We may ignore it because we can say it is ‘their country’. But, if Hitler were alive today and he had reign over a country and was doing atrocious things, would we just ignore it? Would we not, as a “New World”, go in and get him and any and all of his people? Afghanistan has been a sore on this globe for some time. If we are all One, the One has caught a disease like cancer, and it must be cut out. We must not remove the arm (Afghanistan) as it has use and it is a part of the whole, but the cancer needs to go. The humans in Afghanistan have been living with Hitler-ish atrocities for years while the rest of the world has just sat by and done nothing. Cleaning the world of this mind frame, or at least trying to, is something positive that can come out of the September 11 events”.
Anyway, that’s my two bits. May you all be safe in body and in mind and spirit. We enjoy our communications with you all either via the Internet or by mail. Keep in touch, and get some photos out our way. The kids need to “see” you, and it may not be until summer of 2002 that we return to visit Canada.
All for now, much love,
Love the Blowers
Ps. I will be sending some photo albums under a separate email. Please show those in the family who do not have computers.