ICDL

Written December 27^th, 2011

I love computers. And I love learning. So it just seems natural that I should learn more about computers, agree? To aid that, I began a course called ICDL, or International Computer Driving License, in the fourth term of 2010.  The course is split into seven modules, one on the basics of IT, another on publisher, word, excel, access, and, well you get the idea.

The assessments and exams have to be sat at a school or other such institution. We chose Tyndale Park Christian School, because I have friends who go there, and we know or have met quite a few people involved there. It was certainly an experience, as I have never been to school, so didn’t know first-hand what it was like trying to do something in a classroom of not-so-focused students!

When I finished the course, the school asked me to come to assembly one Monday morning, so I could have my finishing certificate presented to me. My parents thought this was a great ordeal, which meant two things. One, they though I would be really nervous, and, two, Dad went to work late so he could come to the school first. First, I certainly wasn’t nervous, I mean, I knew these people, including Mr. Vivian, who presented the certificate to me, and all I had to do was walk up to the front, shake his hand, take my certificate, and walk back to my seat, seriously, what on earth is so scary about that?!? Lol! And I was just about the only one there with both my parents present. I say almost because some of the parents are teachers there, and Mrs de Boer stayed to watch me get my certificate ( I don’t think Anne Roos was very impressed but anyway..).

So anyway, here’s a pic Mum took:

Sorry it's taken from so far away, I posted it the largest possible size for you though!! =D

No, I don't have a boring life!

Written February 1st, 2012

One Saturday night our family went out for supper, and afterwards Dad decided to take me for a driving lesson. He said we would just head up the motorway a bit (towards the city), and then drive home on the road. Dad wanted to move into the middle lane, which we did, and I think I did ok then, but I hadn’t been on the motorway all that many times, and then only in the left lane. So it was challenging trying to stay where I was supposed to be! Somewhere about now I noticed a cop car when I looked in the rearview mirror; however I didn’t think much of it at the time.

Then we needed to move back to the left lane because our off-ramp was coming up. I’m afraid I didn’t have enough skill for that, then! Coming up to the intersection at the end of the off-ramp, I noticed in my rearview mirror that the cop car was now behind me, lights flashing. I find it hard to believe now, but at the time I still didn’t think anything of it! I mentioned it to Dad, while thinking about where I needed to go next...and I can’t remember what else. Dad then began telling me to pull over. I was horrified; pull over ON YELLOW LINES in front of a cop?!? But I did end up doing so, and somewhere along the way I finally realised that this cop wanted to speak to us!

We were told that someone had rung the police saying there was someone driving slow and weaving on the motorway (I actually don’t remember changing lanes more than twice!), so they’d had to come and check things out. Mine and Dad’s licenses were checked, and the caller spoken to; everything was in order. Last of all we were both breath tested – the ones you actually have to blow into.

It all took FOREVER, but we finally were able to go home (I was getting tired, and had stuff I needed to do at home). I should probably note that the cop ended by saying he hoped I wasn’t too freaked out and ...uh oh I’ve forgotten the rest!

So, you can’t ride a horse until you’ve fallen off, and, just perhaps, you can’t drive a car until you’ve been pulled over?? Haha! =D

Before you ask....I actually didn’t find it scary, believe it or not! I was just like.. “Well, here’s another experience, and something to tell all my friends about!” I have since driven through breath-testing stations twice, and tested once. (Just the name and address one this time lol!)

By Bee (who does, sometimes, have interesting things happen to her!! Haha =D)

ATI Conference (Part 3)

On Saturday morning, Mum and Dad decided to sleep in, so we arrived at the conference just as the first seminar began (having missed worship and notices) - about 9:35/9:40am
Steve Dulin was speaking on "How to Apply ATI to Business"

From my notes (again!)...
Your business is as good as your systems and processes.

If something takes less than two minutes, do it right now.

Most successful people are gracious in their speech.

Appearance is important
(writing now-) Mr Dulin shared a story about how a businessman who wasn't making many sales changed his hairstyle and shoes, by someone else's recommendation, and his sales increased dramatically!

Morning tea was at 10:30. Because the children's program was at the same venue this day, it was easy, while we were on a break, to see what the children were doing, or, er, catch up with my friends who were helping with the program =D    

After Morning tea we listened to Paul and Jenny Speed; their talk was entitled "How Discord in Marriage Dissipates Financial Wealth"

My notes - "Marriage is not about your convenience, it is about your COMMITMENT"

At 12, the one hour lunch-break was next. (We once again piled everyone into the van and went home).

Then  (the session I had been eagerly awaiting!) Mr. Gil Bates spoke on "One Failure That Families Cannot Afford to Make"

Mr. Bates is father to 19 children, the youngest being less than two weeks old. Visit the family's website here.

His speech was on anger and was both humorous and sobering. At times the room was filled with laughter; at other times many eyes were moist.

"Stop before you blow your top" we heard numerous times.

When angry ask

• "What is the physical thing this is costing me?"
• "What will it cost me if I blow my top?"
• "What is the possible permanent cost?"
• "What is the final cost of it?" - It will ruin the harmony in your home.

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We deviated from the original program here, and I don't recall exactly what we did. We may or may not have had afternoon tea now.

Then we listened to Tom Harmon again for his talk "Join the Few Who Finish Strong."

I'm afraid I didn't get any notes this time!

Next was the Arahina Update, by Jeff Lees and Gordon Strong.
Arahina is the ATI 'base,' if you like, in New Zealand.

Last of all was the Children's Presentation. They presented Bible verses - with actions, sung songs, etc..which they had learned in the two days of the children's program.

We all helped clean up, before catching up, and finally heading home for dinner.

Another great conference had come to an end! Can't wait for the next one...! =)

<3 Bee

ATI Conference (Part 2)

Then Rick Grubbs' talk - Conquer Procrastination.


So...what is procrastination? It is "putting off until later what GOD wants me to do right now."
Sounds bad, put like that, huh?!

What are the root causes of procrastination?

     - Laziness
            *Overwhelming (Because I can't do all of this, I just won't do any of it)
            *Short-term focus
            *Imaginary Obstacle
     - Fearfulness
           *Unpleasant
           *Perfectionism
          *Activity without accomplishment

How to combat procrastination?

WEAPONS AGAINST SLOTHFULNESS

1. Deadlines
2. Commintment
3. Accountability

WEAPONS AGAINST FEARFULNESS

1. Seeing failure as necessary for success (more on this after)
2. Create momentum

Work expands to fill the time you allow for it.

Don't shoot for perfectionism, shoot for excellence and GET SOMETHING DONE!

It is not the number of times you fail that matters. It is the number of times you succeed. And the number of times you succeed depends on how many times you try.

Thomas Edison said he didn't fail 500 times, he succeeded in finding 500 ways it didn't work!

So THE KEY QUESTION

Will I obey God right now, YES or NO?
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Believe it or not, the talk on procrastination actually was only about 15 minutes long!

We then listened to Mr. and Mrs. Duggar speak on Important Life Lessons.
I actually didn't take any notes listening to them, but most of what they shared there they've also written in their books - The Duggars: 20 and Counting; Raising One of America's Largest Families, and A Love That Multiplies. Both books are available from the Auckland public libraries.

That was the end of the seminars for the day, next was the shared dinner which we didn't stay for, we just went home...tired! But we'd all enjoyed the day and were looking forward to the following one.

ATI Conference (Part 1)

Finished 17th January.

Last year we went to ATI Regionals for the first time. It was held on Friday 22th and Saturday 23th July, at the Manukau New Life Church on Jellicoe Road.
We somehow managed to get up and arrive there on time(!)  to register - 9am.

Worship and notices were at 9:30, then the children all left for the children's program, which on the Friday was held at Manurewa Bible Church (Manukau New Life had a double booking so there wasn't space for the children there that day).

At 10 o'clock we listened to Steve Dulin speak: Put Everything Under God's Control.
Some of my notes from this talk:
"If A = B and B = C then A = C

A: You shall love your neighbour as yourself
B: You shall love your neighbours as I (Jesus) have loved you
C: Love yourself as Jesus has loved you"

"We can change the world if we love the world"

Morning tea was at 11am; attendees brought plates of food for snack times.

At 11:30 we listened to Dr. Bill Gothard speak on The Overlooked Secret of Personal Rhemas.

I have a lot of notes from Dr. Gothard's talk, however they're not making much sense even to me anymore!
But, did you know that every chapter in Isaiah is a commentary on a book of the Bible?

Then it was lunch time - 12:30 to 1:45. Mum and I picked everyone up from Manurewa Bible Church, and went home for lunch, after which we dropped them back at the church for the rest of the children's program that day.

On arriving back, we were able to talk for a few minutes before going in to the next session - The Rewards of Serving God and The Pain of Loving Money, by Tom Harmon.
My notes are just about nil for this talk, but I should note that Mr. Harmon is very interesting to listen to, as he is quite, well, animated!

Afternoon tea break was at 2:45.

Continue to Part 2....

A few pics from around-the-house

Ok so I mostly blog about once-off events, so to change that a little bit I'm posting some pics from a day at home.

Bryce (3) poses

Maria (20 months) poses

Monique (10) not posing; you can see her like this much of the time

Danielle (8) baking. She and Diana (6) baked Gingerbread cookies and Double Choc Chip Muffins on their own one afternoon, yes it took a VERY long time, but they did it! =)



Cookies mentioned above.



Diana (6) shows off for the camera

Well that's not really very many pics, but I did a bit of a photo shoot one afternoon; and this is what I ended up with so anyways... =)

Auckland Home Educator's Science Fair

Ok Here's an old post I found saved as a draft, I figured I may as well post it seeing as I'd already done all the work!!

Well on Tuesday the 29th of June (*clears throat* 2010), Jarrod and I had to very quickly finish our science projects so we could take them over to New Lynn for judging that night....unfortunately that made me very tired that night, which isn't exactly helpful when your being judged!
I also had decided to do my experiment WAY to close to fair day, so i didn't have enough time to think through the whole experiment process, AND, i forgot to repeat the experiment a few times to check my results were accurate..but anyway..there's always next time i suppose!

My project was called "How Long" (No, it wasn't anything to do with the song!). It was, however, about how long deodorants can hold their scent when applied to a certain fabric that we had heaps of.
Here's a few pics taken while i was working on it, unfortunately we don't have any of it at the fair

Jarrod's project was something to do with airfoils and how they affect flight on model aircrafts, pics below:

Well anyway, Jarrod and I were judged on the Tuesday night, after which we got home around 9 - 9:30 I think, and Monique had to finish hers off, before we took it in for judging at 9am the next morning!
Monique did a project called "Ponies of the World" for the 'Observational' (as opposed to experimental like Jarrod and I did, or technology - where you design something). She researched various ponies using books, the internet, etc... She also dressed up, and made several props for her display.

We ate lunch throughout the day, as we didn't have much time after prizegiving (which was around midday) [no we didn't get anything!, although I did recieve an email a couple of days later asking if I wanted to do more work on my project and enter it in the Auckland Regional Science Fair, which is for all the schools as well. After much thought I declined as we were very busy around that time] because we had to pack up all of our stuff (of which we had a lot!) and get to my flute lesson in Mangare by 2pm.

All in all, it was a great day, after which we were all ready to relax, but needed to work on our history projects for a couple of days later!

Luv Bee