Schools in the UK

This weekend was the 20th anniversary for the school Brittney & Sophie attend. On Friday they had a special assembly that I was able to attend. It was 2 hours long and filled with an amazing testament to God's faithfulness... yes, you read that right - to God's faithfulness... and yes, they go to a public school.
The program started with the kids singing "Sing Hosanna" and "Blessings and Honour" and ended with them singing "The Blessing of God" (at the bottom of the post I have included an Order of Service). Several children lead the assembly in prayer and prayer responses, Brittney's class recited Psalm 148 in a popcorn fashion, another student read from Matthew, and the Bishop of Peterborough gave a small message on the importance of the children having an encounter with Jesus first, then getting a good education. WOW! That would NEVER happen in America. I found myself having to wipe tears from eyes as I realized just how faithful God has and continues to be.
This is such an important time in Brittney and Sophie's life. I am so thankful that they are attending a school that feels it is a priority to teach the real meaning of life. There is not a day that goes by that one of them doesn't tell me about something they learned at school about the Bible or want to sing a new song they learned at school about God's amazing love.
So... I will end this post with the same message I gave a future ISE who was worried about schools and churches when moving her family to the UK from the US... God is on this side of the ocean as well!

• Leading in songs: Sing Hosanna, Blessing and Honour, We Are All Celebrating Today
• Welcome, introductions and opening prayer by Head teacher and the Vicar
• Song : God of the Morning
• Psalm 148 by Class 17 (Brittney's class)
• Song: I'm Going to Paint a Perfect Picture
• Prayer linked to William Law (Vicar)
• Song: Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
• The Time Box (Head teacher)
• Song: Living and Learning
• Prayer of Thanksgiving (Yr 6 students)
• Celebration Dance (a pupil from each class)
• Cutting of the cake (Bishop and 2 students)
• Song: Thank you Lord
• Bible Reading: Matthew 7: 7-11 (Yr 6 student)
• Message by Bishop of Peterborough
• Song: Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God
• Intercessions (Vicar and Yr 6 students)
• Song: Lord's Prayer
• Prayer of Re-dedication (Bishop)
• Song: Everywhere Around Me
• The Blessing (Bishop)
• Song: The Blessing of God

God is Good, All the Time and All the Time, God is Good

Friends, Eating, Skating, and Guitar Hero...

When we were home in Illinois for spring break 08 we spent some quality time with friends. I had lunch with my good friend Luann - we laughed and laughed and laughed, then had some coffee and laughed some more; I had lunch with Pam S and Jason... we talked and talked and enjoyed our Panera's (hmm hmm good); and I had 3 lunch dates with my friends from Affina ~ we talked about old times, and how things just stay the same :-) . I had a shopping day with Whitney at Grand Prairie Mall, but you know how it is, when you want to shop you can't find anything but when you don't have time to shop, you find all kinds of things... Also we spent almost every night reminiscing with one or more of the youth from our former youth group ~ awesome times!
We went skating with our friends the Milams - David & Kevin ruled the dance floor, oops I meant the skating rink (they were playing lots of 80s and 90s music), and we spent several different nights with Pam, David, and the girls. We talked about how much their girls and our girls had changed in just one year, but of course, we adults don't change at all... But the boys (they never do change) played Guitar Hero for hours. Yep, grown adult engineers at Caterpillar playing Guitar Hero. I think it was a chance for them to live out their alter egos. It was hilarious to watch & definitely gave us all a good laugh.


See what Guitar Hero can do to a perfectly good engineer...


4 Beauty Queens ~ Hannah, Sophie, Leah, Brittney

Nana K becomes Nana D

While we were home in Illinois Kevin's mom was married to Grandpa Jim Downs. The girls were one set of the flower girls (I don't have a picture of the other beautiful girls to post :-( yet...) and Kevin got to escort his mom down the aisle. It was a wonderful weekend. We had a family dinner on Saturday to introduce everyone and then the wedding was on Sunday afternoon followed by a reception. Both events were so relaxing and great. The girls had a blast and Nana & Grandpa looked fabulous.

The Happy Couple - Nana & Grandpa (Nancy & Jim)

The Downs crew and the Duffy crew...

two little princesses...

Princess Sophie


Princess Brittney


Dad and his princesses....

On hold but will return...

Hello Everyone, yes we have made it back to the UK safely and life seems to be settling back into the "normal" routine. The girls are back in school, and Kevin is back at work. The difference for me - SCHOOL. School has started. Actually it started while I was on my home leave. And for anyone asking, it is tough. It can be tough going back to school & doing it long distance... OK, I'll quit whining but I do want to warn you that my udpates might be a little slower right now. I am needing to read 2 books (should have had them finished by now) and start researching for my class paper (a mini-dissertation). I know I signed up for this, but wow, it can be a little stressful. I promise to finish blogging about our home leave - which was wonderful by the way - and the normal day-to-day life back here in the UK. The girls are excited to be back & with their friends, and I must admit, it was good to be back home here in the UK. Love to all & until next time...

Easter for the Duffy's

Easter was celebrated at our home church here in Illinois - Willow Hill. I was asked to sing with the praise band & it felt like old times. The church is growing but not much more has changed. The kids had an awesome time & Sophie hunted easter eggs off & on all day. The girls had lots & lots of chocolate. Whitney & Micah came by first thing in the morning - what a great way to start the day.

Dad & Naomi arrived about mid day. We all had an easter dinner provided by Nana K & Jim ~ good pork roast, mashed potatos, veggies, mmmm good. It was a good relaxing day!

Bottom line - God is good, All the Time ~ All the Time, God is Good

There's no place like home

As I click my heels together and chant "there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home" to my wondrous surprise I opened my eyes to see that I was indeed home! Unlike Dorothy who realized it had all been a dream, my last 15 months have been reality. A wonderful reality filled with hard times and good times but with great memories. I have made some great friends while living in England, but this blog is to be about good ole Illinois...

Sophie was a dream on the trip. She sat beside me while Brittney & Kevin sat half a plane away. Sophie napped at times, played with her DS, listened to music, watched a little tv - but all in all, she stayed occupied and in a good mood. Kevin & Brittney did some school work and napped - boring!


After two plane rides within 18 hours, Whitney met us at the Peoria airport. The girls ran to her, squealing in delight. We needed two cars to get all of the luggage to our farm so it was a good thing she was there. Driving to the farm felt like a dream. Nothing much has changed, which some would say is a good thing.

Friday morning we woke up early. Truth be told we had not had enough sleep, but I think we were all a little too excited to sleep anymore. We were ready to look around the farm, plan our day, and get to it. We have air mattresses in the bedrooms, lawn furniture for a kitchen table, but hey, we are home! I have loved watching the girls run around the yard, hike around the lake, play on their playset, play hide-and-go-seek in the house, write with side walk chalk ~ basically, just having fun. We sat for awhile down by the lake and both girls asked if they could go swimming. Keep in mind, the lake freezes during the winter & the temperature hasn't been warm for too long here... obviously, I said no :-)

About mid-morning we girls decided to visit Willow Hill. We knew they would be busy getting ready for Easter, but we were anxious to make our first contact. We were able to catch up with Pam, Kari, Gina, and Pastor Ken. It was awesome. The girls wanted to see the youth room, but I told them we would wait til Sunday. We visited for about 30 minutes but needed to let them get back to the preparations for Easter. So we headed back home (that sounds so good to say...).

Our first visitors were from the youth group - Greg, Amanda, and David - and were waiting for us when we returned from the church. It was so good to see them. We sat around catching up, talking about their future plans, and discussing possible "dates" during the next few weeks. It is amazing to see how they have grown up over the last 15 months.

Soon after, Nana K and Jim arrived in their motor home. The girls were ecstatic. They ran out of the house to greet them with a big hug & kiss. We spent the remainder of Friday catching up with Nana & Jim, visiting with Whitney & Micah, and a second trip to Walmart. Nana prepared our favorite dish - Swiss Steak; it was as good as we remember.

Saturday morning started with the listing of the remodel project. After a little breakfast Jim, Kevin, and Brittney started ripping carpet out of the upstairs. Within a few hours the floors were down to the sub-floor. After a quick snack, Kevin & Jim were busting up the bathroom. Our garage is full of the former carpet and bathroom cabinets. Then it was time for the first of many trips to Lowes. We bought tile for the bathroom, paint for the bedrooms, and who knows what else. Kevin & Jim were like kids in a toy store. Before Saturday would end we would have a new sub-floor for the upstairs bathroom and our "list" for the next day.

Sunday will include services at Willow Hill (enjoying seeing everyone), Easter lunch, Easter egg hunts, and lots of memories... I'll write more soon, but for now remember THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

Walk Like an Egyptian...

Brittney has been learning about Egypt & Egyptians at school this semester. In an earlier blog I talked about us going to London to visit the King Tut exhibit & how she was able to educate Kevin & I on many things... well, today was Brittney's Egyptian dress day. She went as Princess Isis. The princess was Queen of Egypt ruling with Pharoh Osiris. Legend has it when they died the Pharoh and Princess became King & Queen of the Underworld.