SaraIsabella

What a journey this year has been!  

God have grown in my eyes, and He has taught me to trust Him in everything.  

When I’m writing this I’m sitting in our home in South Africa and yesterday was the day when we have been here for one month. We love it here. And yes, before anyone thinks it (or maybe you already have) I know about the honeymoon months. When we moved to England, we loved it completely and didn’t dislike anything! However, after a couple of months, when the everyday life came, we stilled loved it, but the reality of leaving Sweden got hold of us. I think anyone who have moved country can testify to this. Not that you stop liking it, but it is like being newly in love and everything is perfect! Haha. 

However, when you know that the Lord have called you there and that you are in the place you should be, the reality is also so beautiful and amazing after the honeymoon months!!  

Me and the boys came over here by ourselves. We got on the flight in London to Istanbul and then from Istanbul to Cape Town. The trip was smooth, and our friends picked us up at the airport in Cape Town and took us home and they have helped us with everything here, we are so grateful to the Lord and them.  

Leo came 1,5 weeks after and stayed until yesterday when he traveled back to Sweden, he still works there. While Leo was here, we sorted out some things that needed to be sorted out and was able to spend time together and that was really nice. While he was here, he didn’t work anything so it was three weeks where we could just settle down and be together. 

Like I said, we love it here and the boys are so happy and that is so lovely to see. We live in a house with two bedrooms so the boys have got their own room, like they have wanted for a long time so I’m happy that we could give it to them now. Me and Leo sleeps in the living room and that is perfectly fine for us. The bible talks about being content in all things and as more as I walk with the Lord, this contentment grows.  

We live on a farm, and it is animals around, cows, emus, geese, chickens and dogs. We are surrounded by mountains and quietness, and we are enjoying it!!  

For school, the boys have been on a holiday since we got here but tomorrow it will be back to routine. My plan is to be able to share more about our life here, but sometimes it is long between my writings, so meantime, if you are interested more about our life, I do use Instagram for that.  

This blog and Instagram are to show our everyday life, not so much ministry, but just as a homeschooling mother sharing life!  

instagram.com/saraaisabellaa/ 

Time goes so quickly. I wrote my last post about us leaving and then time disappeared. So what have happened!?

• I did a seminar, a DHT in Oxford and it went brilliant. I worked with an amazing team! A team that love the Lord above everything and laying down their life for Him.
• After the seminar me and the boys travelled to Ireland to meet up with our good friends. We stayed a couple of days and it was brilliant. How beautiful Ireland is and how peaceful it is with all the nature.
• After that we went down to Chichester and stayed the night with our other friends. We went for a walk, prayed and baked cakes together.
• Then up to Oxford again to work in the office and meet up with other friends.
• Now we just came home from our good bye party, and it’s been a day of crying!

We have built up a life here and now we are leaving it, but I know that what God has in plan for us is more than we can think, because that is just how good a God we serve! People are wondering if I am scared of moving to another place, which is completely different from here, another continent.
The answer is NO, not even a bit.
I couldn’t be more relaxed about it then I am to be honest.
I know my God.

For the party the boys had baked a cake all by themselves, I just helped with the oven. The more they are allowed to do by themselves, the more they learn. I want them to become independent, so then it is important to give them the opportunity to be it. In the beginning I wanted to look and help, maybe too much. When I learned to relax and let them do it, I realised how much they are capable of doing! It is fun to raise independent children, I am learning so much!

We had prepared a lot for the party, with games, snacks and drinks. The people that came brought food and amazing presents and it was such a good time together. I cried a lot and in the car I think the boys also realised that now we are actually leaving. We talked about what we have done here and all the friendships. We discussed how it is okey to be sad, it’s okey to cry. We have talked through it, prayed about it and we are there for each other. They have seen me sad and crying and I’m letting them understand that it is okey for them to do that also.

England is one of our homes. However, the Lord is our stay, so wherever we are, we are home.

It is so much to say that I do not even know where to begin!  

God led us to England soon 6 years ago to be able to do what we believe is right as a family – to home school our children the Lord have given us.  

We came over in a Swedish white Volvo with just as many things that could fit in a car and started completely over here.

I remember how nervous we were when we left the ferry and needed to drive on the left side for the first time. We took a paus after driving a bit, just to breathe and understand what was going on!

I remember picking up the keys for the house and then drive to our new home. We were sleeping and eating on the floor because we didn’t have any furnitures.

I remember when we bought a table with chairs at the charity shop, and it didn’t come in through our door, so we ate dinner outside in the rain.  

I remember the first birthday party I had here. Leo was away for work, and we had only lived here for a month, but our friends had a surprise party for me.  

So many things have happened since we moved here, what feels like so many many years ago, like a lifetime and now it is time to leave. In about one month we will leave England and move on to the next step in our life. 

Before we left Sweden February 2019, I thought I had it all figured out and I knew how our life would be here. But dear, was I wrong or was I wrong!!? And I am so happy that I was. I could never imagen that the Lord was going to grow me in ministry, that I was going to preach seminars, see so many miracles and healing. That I was going to grow in the calling the Lord has for me and to preach on the streets, evangelise, tell people the gospel, lead people to the Lord. That I was going to work with the homeless, to start Lifeteams and training people. Finish John G. Lakes Ministries Bible school (DBI), be ordained in JGLM, go on mission trip to Africa, fly to USA for the annual conference, travel to Austria and Italy, drive back and forth between Sweden and England so many times (the boys have been with in every step!!).

Also, have so many friends and memories, Christmases, New Years, walks, dinners, late nights of laughter and joy.   

It is hard to know what to write to get you, as a reader, to understand the gravity and importance of the time here in England. This is one of our homes and we have loved it here with our whole heart and being. We have seen God working with us, for us, in us and continue to form us to His image. It has been a preparation time for the next step.  

(I wanted to write all this a bit before we leave so it won’t be a surprise and if someone wants to say goodbye before we leave, now is the time 🙂 )

Africa, be prepared, we are coming!  

Today we opened a parcel with new school books. I marked up which books were to Daniel and which were to Gabriel. I then took out the exams from the books and put them away until they are done with their books and then they can do the tests. We buy books around every 6 weeks or so and they have six basic school subjects: English, Literature and creative writing, Science, Word building, Social studies and Maths. We are doing a program that is called Accelerated Christian Education and it works very well for us. It is a good education and the boys are learning so much. It also gives us the freedom to travel and go places that we want to because the school is easy to bring and do wherever they are. They can do school during the seminars that we are teaching, they can do it in the car, at home, out in the nature, bring it to Sweden. Yes, it is absolutely brilliant for us and for the lifestyle that we are living.

Our school day is usually something like this: 1 hour school – 15 minutes break. 1 hour school – 15 minutes break. Then they do school until lunch. We eat and have a longer break and if it is anything they are not done with they finish it after lunch. Keep in mind, the beauty with homeschooling: We can lay up the day the way we want to. Are they tired, lets sleep and start later. If we want to take a longer break, that’s fine. If we want to do school in the evening, we do that. Sometimes they skip breaks and just keep on working.

I just heard a story about siblings that had had this education and are now working great jobs.

I am not afraid of what the future brings for my children. The bible says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”. So what do I have to fear for the future?

I think it is easy to think that school needs to be one way. Especially for Swedish people who have never experienced anything else then a traditional school. However, in so many countries around the world, home education is legal and is flourishing. If the children want, they can come into universities later or they can start their own business or do whatever they want. The world doesn’t end just because children do not go to traditional school, there are other ways.

After school we went to the park and we were there for a long time. I had a wonderful conversation with a lady and got to pray for her and share the gospel. So precious!!

Our car broke down this week and it is hard to think how much you (or yeah, I know I use it a lot!) use it. When I don’t have it, it is quite weird, and you need to rethink and change plans. Its also good, keeps you on your feet.

Let us not look at the glass half empty or half full but let us see it overflowing! It is way much more fun to live like that. We always have a choice of how we look at things in life. Please don’t fall into the trap of thinking negatively and that everything is hard, but instead, see the light in things. Faith is positive!  

When we moved to England in 2019 we got many friends. One family that has come to have an important role through the years in our life is the Bowring family.  

This week me and the boys were going down to Chichester to hang out with out them, but our car broke down and I could not drive it. What did my beautiful friend do? She drove 1,5 hours to pick me, the boys and Kate up and have us overnight and then her husband drove us home today. The boys were so happy that they cried when they heard that we were going to be picked up by them (happy tears!!!!). Before Sarah told us the boys spent time praying and asking God to help us come down there and when they heard that Sarah was coming it was a huge answer for prayer. They have such childlike faith, it is so simple – We pray, God listens and we get the answer.  

To go down to Chichester always means a lot for us, especially for 2 reasons.   

1. It is the first place we came to when we moved here in 2019 so it has a special place in our heart. That is also the place where we learn more about the culture in England, the language and so on. We have many different memories down there. It is all from walks, dinners, laughter, tears and friends. When we drive through Bosham and Fishbourne it feels so dear to us.    

2. It is where we have some of our much loved friends.  

Sarah is a woman of God and has meant and mean a lot to me. Her friendship is so uplifting and refreshing so when I meet up with her my heart is so full of joy and my faith is strengthened.
The boys are so dear friends with Sarah and Ed’s children also and it is so amazing. They are also home schooled so it is very good because we can spend time together that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise, it also gives me and Sarah so much to talk about. The children have been playing so nicely for 2 days: inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs. None stop.   

The children went to bed late yesterday evening. It was so much to talk about, so much to laugh and joke about. It is a beautiful friendship. They even put an alarm for 6 am this morning so that they would have more time to play. I was so surprised that even Gabriel came up, he is usually so hard to wake up and the one who sleeps the longest. However, they were all up and ready for the day. Sarah cooked pancakes for breakfast and then we went for a wonderful walk by the sea and the cows.

It was other children that had a field day with their school at the place we were and our children played next to them. I was so grateful for the freedom that homeschooling is providing.  It gives us the freedom to just go and do these things whenever we want and not only on set days.

~ I do not take that freedom for granted. ~

After the wonderful walk we went home and ate lunch together.
Me and Sarah just talked, prayed, worshipped, drank tea and talked about deep things for two days. What an awesome time together.

We are already planning our next meetup!  

After a day of laughter, cooking, driving, out for a walk, worshipping, baking sweets and reading books, it is quiet in my house.  

In the morning before the boys goes up and in the evening, after they got to bed, it is this quietness. It is like the moment before and after a great storm and it is all still. Everything I can hear is the clock ticking, my dog breathing next to me and me writing on the computer.  

It’s the moment when all the washing is done. The kitchen is clean, and the blankets are folded. The dog had been out one last time and now all the chores are done for today. The storms that passed through the day is settled down and at sleep. As a storm that change places of things, that moves it up to the surface, that makes a beautiful mess in the house and make so much noise that you know that you are alive.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Today we have been out for a walk, a long walk between the rain and the sunshine. To be honest, I don’t mind walking in the rain. The rain is a blessing from God. However, it is also good when you can come home and not be wet to your core. I do not like looking at weather as bad or good weather. If I complain about the rain I will miss jumping in the puddle. If I complain over the cold and the snow, I will miss the beauty in breathing in fresh air and doing snow angels. If I would complain over the heat, I would miss the wonderful feeling to take a cold dip in the sea. It’s no reason to complain. My complains won’t change anything. Breath in and breath out and enjoy. (If you absolutely don’t like the weather, don’t complain but speak to it in Jesus’ name)  

We are soon leaving England (will write more of that another time) so lately I have been thinking about how much I have come to love this land and people. I will really miss the simplicity of talking to people. Almost everyone is up for a chat, and I love that. My thoughts are wandering and pondering upon the great adventure that is ahead of us. 

The boys have been playing on their computer and speaking to their friends in Sweden today. It is amazing what technology can do and how easy it is to be in contact with the world around you from your home. I have heard them laugh and talk in their room. Changing from Swedish to English and have so much fun. Meanwhile I was reading Charles Finney, studying revivals. I am thankful for the people that have gone before and lived a life of faith. Now it is our turn to do the same! Not living in the past but realising that now it’s time for Gods people to step up.  

Again, I get reminded about the quietness and I am thankful to the Lord for my two whirlwinds that are asleep. They are resting to be able to grasp hold of tomorrow, and all the things God has for us.

I try to make the childhood special, with memory and laughter. This is something that I think about a lot, that the childhood goes so quickly. Just look, I have an 11 years old and soon 10 years old at home! Where have the time gone!? And what have I done with their childhood…  

I’m not saying that I make every day special in any stretch, but I am trying to make things special that they can remember and that we can talk about later.  

Some special moments from this week: 

Two days ago, we went out for a walk in the evening, and it was dark, and cold. We walked to the park and Kate had a red-light collar on her, so we saw her so clearly. The boys started to run around playing and having so much fun. Breathing like dragons and chasing each other. Then we saw the Northern Lights. I did not know we were going to see them that early, but we saw them and spent time just looking at the sky and loving the Lord. After a while we walked home, and Gabriel took out his telescope and looked at the moon. It was so quiet. Then we went in and watched on YouTube what Northern Lights really was and ate cake as the last meal of the day. Such a special evening!  

Yesterday we bought sweets and looked at a movie together. Maybe you think that this is something normal in your family, but not in ours. We do not really buy sweets often or look at a movie. So, this was so special for us. We looked at “national treasure” and the boys really loved it!  

This morning Daniel made pancakes, and we ate that as a nice Saturday breakfast. On the weekends I am trying to do some special breakfast like pancakes, home baked bread or something similar. Just to have a tradition that the boys will remember. 

Traditions  

I want the boys to remember things that was different from the normal day to day. Like surprises that comes but also traditions that they are looking forward to. 

We also have traditions that we are doing every day that I know they will remember. Here is some: 

• We always thank the Lord for the food we are eating and all the blessings.  

• We read the bible every morning and evening.  

• We take Kate on walks together almost every day and that is a time where we are just talking, laughing with no disturbance.  

• The boys play the computer every Monday for two hours.

• We almost always have worship on in the background or as a time for worship.  

• If its autumn, we pick in leaves and pumpkins to have on the table. We bake pumpkins pie and drink tea. The same with summer and spring, we take in flowers. In the winter, we have candles and nuts on the table. 

• Every week we go out on the street to talk to people about the gospel. We do that by giving out leaflets, street preaching, praying for people or something similar. The boys are with on this and they do really like doing it.   

If you think about it. You remember those days, the beautiful traditions, or the surprises.  

Childhood goes so quick, and we want to enjoy and size it.  

The reason I started this blog was so Swedish people could see and read about our journey. Homeschooling is not possible in Sweden and that is why we left.

I have had a lot of emails from different Swedish people that have said that they have read my blog and that that got them to take the step to leave Sweden. Or that they were really encouraged, or that they have already decided but it was good to hear from someone who actually gone before.

I don’t know most of the people that are reading this and sending me the email so because it has been some years now since I did a text (except the 2 recency) I will explain a bit about our journey.

I have known for almost my entire life that I shall be a missionary, travel the world and preaching the gospel, start orphanages and helping people. After getting children I started to realise that I couldn’t put them in school and travel the world in the way I knew I should. I was thinking about this a lot.. Then we went on a missionary conference and we listen to a man that was a missionary in Papua Nya Guinea and he had children. I asked him after the meeting, “how did you do with your children? Did you send them away to a school?”. He looked at me and said that he and his wife home schooled them. My world stopped and I asked him what that was. He explained it to me and I just KNEW that this is what I will need to do!

I went home, overjoyed over this and we decided that that was the way forward. Unfortunately very quickly we learned that it was not possible in Sweden since 2011. I started to write to the government and write to the counsel, but it didn’t work… The newspaper came and did a interview with us and it went in to the newspaper shortly after.

However, no matter what, we were not allowed to do it. So I started this blog so that people would see who I am and what we are doing.

We landed in that we needed to move. We read the stories and what the consequences was if you home schooled in Sweden. We did not want that… The world opened up for us and we started to think about where to move. Then one day in the dark December I got a letter that said that now we needed to decide what school Daniel was going to start in the fall (we lived between two schools so we needed to decide.) I took my phone and called Leo because he was away for work. I said, crying, “We need to decide NOW where we are moving!”. There and then we said that we will move to England. 2 months later, we left Sweden. Only the closest ones knew it because we didn’t want to make it public until we left.

So this blog is about our journey. It will be about homeschooling, but also just how we live our day to day life. As I said in the beginning, this blog is mainly to open up the eyes on the Swedish people.

It is possible to do school differently then what it is done in Sweden now.

It is time to step up, it is time to change!

Pictures below from when we drove over

I am grown up with the school system, and I have had a hard time thinking on other ways to learn until I found homeschooling and unschooling. I looked and researched how children learn and how to show them how to learn instead of spoon-feeding them.  

To be honest, I didn’t sit down with the kids and forced them to start reading. Daniel started when he was 4 and Gabriel when he was 6, all by themselves. I made it fun and did it when they wanted to. I did games, we read books, we went to the library. We had books everywhere in the beginning, in the kitchen, toilet, car, living room, beds, floor, yes, all the places we could think about. We also had books that they liked, stories that they would like, books with a lot of facts so they could learn about all kinds of things. I sat down with them many times throughout the day just to read. I made it a time where we could connect, laugh and cry at different things.  

Now, they are really readers! They read books with 500 pages in 1,5 days, then they start the next book and the next. They are above their age in reading. The books that are for their age, they read a couple of years ago. At this moment when I’m writing, Daniel have been reading in his bed for soon 2 hours. (Gabriel have been drawing for the same amount of time) Before they go to sleep they read for 1-2 hours and their beds are filled with books.

(BEWARE: With reading comes also a lot of knowledge and understanding. They correct my English… and my Swedish a lot…. )

Another thing was that I did not sit with the phone when they were close, and if I did, I did what I needed to do quick and then I took it away and took a book. I showed them that I thought it was important to read and when they saw that it was important for me and that I prioritised it, they started doing the same. I still do this. I tend to write on my computer or sit with my phone when they are not around so that when they are with me, I can focus upon them.  

Going back to the system. I went to swimming class for years and years when I was younger and that was the way I thought that children learned. I wouldn’t dare to think that I could teach them. But now I have taught the boys to swim without any teacher and it has been so much fun!  

Maths? Oh dear, not a subject I like at all. But again, I made it fun for the boys and they started counting and multiplying when they were small. It was a game, some fun thing to do and they learned it. Never pushed it, just fun.  

Don’t let a system take away your role as a parent. You can raise your children! In a country where it is school duty as in Sweden, it can be hard to think that you as a parent is enough. I get it, I have been there. However, if homeschooling is a way you want to go, you hopefully love spending time with your children and see them grow. Create a space for them to learn and do it through play and connection. 

As I said before, now the boys have a curriculum that they are working from and that works very well, and they like it. However, I am a strong believer that you do not need to have a formal school setting for a child to learn. 

You are counting maths when you are building, shopping or baking. You are doing science when you are cooking or baking, you are reading when you are studying to get a driving license. LIVE LIFE. Learn, play, do experiments, go to museum, watch YouTube, play in the sea, go to the forest. Make the most of it.   

They need to have present parents that are supporting them in their learning journey. Let that be you!  

From an art gallery

We often talk about the importance of standing up for what we believe in, even if that means that people will get upset or that other people think differently. To not be the fish that just float around but to take a stand and stand up for what we really believe in. I have tried to show this in my life to the boys.  

Recently we have spoken about our reason to leave the country we all were born in and move to a place where everything was new. The reason for the move was to homeschool which I knew that God told us to do. And with the homeschooling it would be possible to do what God called us to do, to be missionaries.  

I know that when we did this, many people thought that we did a wrong thing. That we went against God, that we went against the system, that our children would never manage in life and so on. It has felt like this is a pioneering journey and that we walked on a path that were completely new for the people in Sweden. I knew other families that had moved but I found them through research, so our family, friends and extended family in Sweden didn’t understand. This was a hard thing to do, and I know that it has been many many tears through nights and days throughout the process.  

We didn’t have anyone to talk to. We didn’t have anyone close that could tell us and show us how to do it. I needed to search it all up and stand up for the decision that we had taken. Learn about homeschooling, what curriculum, and books to use and make that path possible as a family, with the help of God.

When we decided that we needed to move we were sad to leave it all behind and we went on untrodden ground. Now, I know that we can help other people do the same journey, to take the steps. I can tell them the hard things, I can tell them about the tears and the struggles, but also the beauty in being the first one to take the step: to make the move and the excitement to step out from the Swedish system.  

As I look at our boys now, I know we did the right decision.  

I wish I could go back in time and tell the past me that it was going to be worth it. It is always worth to follow the Lord.  

Let me tell you now mothers and fathers: It is worth it. Your children grow so quickly and before you know it childhood will be over. You will not regret that you did the move for their sake. It’s not worth the years in school that they are struggling and all the tears you will have to dry and all the things they need to fight through.  

It is worth you take a decision to stand up, to stand up for your children and your family!  

Picture from last year