They come with a plan (based on the M'Cheyne schedule) for reading the Bible through in a year (the books offer a 2-year alternative) and also commentary on one of the Bible selections daily.... I'm into my second year of reading (there are 2 volumes), and dh and 15yob are in their first year. My oldest son uses a reading plan/devotional guide from The House of Saint James (same organization that does Touchstone magazine) -- it's based on the church year. Heather

Hi, all - Thought I'd take a quick look-in and let you all know what's up with me. I have not been spending a lot of time here lately, as I'm finding the new set-up hard to navigate (maybe because I have a brain tumour, and I'm tired? Who knows? It may also be that I'm too much of a Luddite to deal with too much hi-tech....) My surgery (for meningioma) is booked for April 24th. I am off work (I'm a part-time RN) as of yesterday, and just trying to tie up lots of loose ends over the next 10 days or so. It's been a difficult time, as I feel as I've been battling the health care system all along -- there have been lots of mistakes made. I have only been sure that my surgery was considered a higher priority than "routine" since I got the actual date last Thursday. Prior to that, I'd been told it might not be until June, or early May at the earliest. Please pray that my surgery won't be cancelled (that happens here in Canada) and that it will go well. Apparently, I will only be in hospital 2-3 days, and will then recuperate at home. At this point, I have been led to expect that full recovery should take 6-8 weeks (assuming all goes well, as assumed). I will try to check in when I can post-op. Thanks for your prayers so far. Heather

Hi, all -- Just a quick update to let you know what's up with Stacey and me. I talked to Stacey this evening -- she is still in hospital, but expects to be going home in the next few days. She is in the process of having her house checked over by occupational therapists, etc. to see what kinds of equipment, etc. she might need. She is "walking" using a walker, but with some difficulty, as she has a broken hip on one side, and a broken collarbone on the other. She uses a wheelchair some of the time as well. She still has quite some time to go before she will be back to "normal" (whatever that is....) Her boys are doing well, I think, but are looking forward to having her back home.... She is in good spirits, her pain is controlled, all seems to be going well, with no major setbacks. Me -- I continue to wait. I had an MRI about 10 days ago, and then my first appointment with the neurosurgeon was cancelled (he was called away; not his fault). So my week has been one of waiting, which I find I'm not that good at :-) I did finally see the neurosurgeon yesterday, and things seem to be in progress. The MRI seemed to show a fairly straightforward meningioma, and he was positive that "we'll just go in and take it out and you should be OK in a couple of months". That was a relief. However, he does want "another" MRI, so I am now awaiting that. It will likely take another few days, because everything pretty much shuts down here for 4 days over the Easter weekend. (I admit to feeling a tad frustrated that, for whatever reason, the first MRI wasn't done "quite right", which is why he wants another one....) The neurosurgeon seemed to think that I would be able to have the surgery sometime in April, and that all would go smoothly. I had a bit of a different opinion from his secretary today, though -- she led me to believe that it could be June before much happens -- that was quite discouraging to hear, and it's hard to know which to believe now. Please pray that things would happen sooner rather than later, and that I would be patient.... Thanks, all.... HeatherC

I ended up using some out-of-print resources, but did use the Spotlight Canada books as well. We combined history and geography. Some of the titles we used: Fair Domain One Dominion - both of these are narrative history books; we read them out loud. The author is George E Tait, who was a professor of education at the University of Toronto. They were both published in the 1960's. We went on from those two books to one called "The Twentieth Century" by R. S. Lambert - this book covered twentieth century history of Canada, Britain and the USA. It covered up to the late 1950's, and then we went on to I think Spotlight Canada, to cover more current history. We did readers and read-alouds as well. We used some "Great Stories of Canada" books, some out-of-print stories by an author called John F. Hayes, and some more modern books as well. One I particularly liked was called "No Man's Land" by Kevin Major -- this was about a battle in the First World War that wiped out nearly an entire regiment of men who were from Newfoundland. On July 1 each, when the rest of Canada celebrates Canada Day, Nfld remembers this battle of Beaumont-Hamel.... Another favourite was "A River Apart" by Robert Sutherland -- it was a story of the war of 1812, and talked about 2 families who were friends - but lived on opposite sides of the St. Lawrence River, one at present day Prescott, one at present day Ogdensburg, NY (both of these towns are close to where we live now, so this story had a personal touch....). When the war of 1812 broke out, these families became "enemies".... Anyhow- - some of these books are only available through used book sites -- I just checked Abebooks.com, and the 3 narrative histories we used are available, for varying prices. You could probably cover your Canadian history not badly just reading like this. Depends how "formal" your work needs to be, and whether you need to produce a proper transcript and all that...

I live in Canada, and have crossed into to NY state a couple of times since January -- photo ID is still fine. HeatherC

It's available through Amazon.com.

Hi, all - Stacey and I have not "found our place" on these new boards much yet. But I am checking in today to ask you folks to pray for both of us. Me, I have been diagnosed with a probable meningioma - this is a kind of brain tumour that is almost always benign (ie *not* cancer) but it will still require surgery. I am having an MRI Monday evening and will see my neurosurgeon (I have already met him once) on Tuesday to find out further plans. I have lots of support from friends, co-workers(I work part-time as an RN), family and my dh, 3 boys and I are OK for now. I am continuing to work part-time (the doctor said it was OK, but I may not drive because of risk of seizure. My 17 yos has become my chauffeur...) - to try to set some money aside. When I am off for surgery, I will not get sick pay (since I am a part-time employee) - I will have to apply for unemployment/illness insurance. This will help but will not replace my usual earnings.... When I got this diagnosis, but my initial thought (my Bible reading at the time was in Job) was "Shall I accept good from the Lord and not evil?" I am at peace.... So prayer that my tumour will indeed turn out to be a benign meningioma and "take-out-able" and that the Lord will provide for our needs financially would be appreciated. Also -- that he will uphold my young men, and they will find Him faithful.... Now -- re: StaceyL I just got an email from Stacey's son Erik; I will paste it here for all of you to read. "Hello Mrs. Candy, this is Erik emailing...I'm not sure which address you primarily use, so I'm sending this message to both. First of all, I heard you've had (or are having?) surgery on a tumor...I hope and pray it goes well, and without any complications. I don't know if David emailed you already, but our mom was hurt in a car accident on Friday, February 29th. I was in the car but am ok. She is going to be alright (no permanent injuries, organ damage, internal bleeding, or anything), but she is currently in Hamilton General Hospital, and has some injuries, including: -Broken collarbone -Fractured Pelvis -Fractured Hip -Broken Sacrum -Multiple broken ribs -Various cuts & bruises Don't get too scared though, as I said, she is going to be ok. Obviously she is in a lot of pain, but she says she has experienced a strange calm and optimism despite what's happened. The recovery time should be about 3 months (hopefully!), although she'll be able to come back home in the near future, albeit under homecare, etc. She asked me to send you this email and to send a message out to the well trained mind board (the highschool one, I think. Whichever one she posts on), and ask for people to pray for her (and our whole family) during this time. My brothers and I are doing alright at home. Matthew and Kenneth have been going between people's houses, but at the moment are back here. Our church had a meeting 2 days after the accident and put together a list of people who would bring us meals, drive us around, etc. so we are well-taken care of. We've gone to see our mom several times and she is doing a little better each day, and has made considerable progress considering it's only been 8 days. Sorry for letting you know so late. I just thank God she wasn't hurt any worse. Pray, and tell the WTM board to as well. Thanks, Erik" So Stacey needs our prayers as well, as do her wonderful young men (they visited with us a while back and they are a great bunch of young men -- my 3 boys and her lads all got along well together.) Even though "she is going to be all right" those are pretty serious injuries. It must have been quite a serious collision (and I can imagine her trying to take the worst hit for herself to protect Erik.....) I am so glad to hear that her church family is standing by her -- I know Stacey has struggled with feeling alone, not fitting in. This, I hope, will bless her ultimately.... Thanks, all for your support and prayers. They will be appreciated by both families..... HeatherC (Canada)