Easter Sunday - The Final Blog

Easter Sunday 2016!

 Happy Easter - Hallelujah - It's our Final Blog!!!

Hello everyone and first of all, a really big thank you for visiting our blog. We have loved making all the videos - it's been hard at times - but we've learned a lot along the way.

The first attempt at making the video for tonight took us over 10 minutes because really we'd love to talk about all the things we've learned by going on our lent adventure!                              

The main thing we'd like to say is that we discovered how important it is to have a Growth Mindset - to keep on learning and be determined to keep on learning and understand that no-one has all the answers. 

We've learned things we had no idea about, like Palm Oil destroying the rainforests, that factory farming of rabbits even exists (!!!) and that there are lots of things you can do to help causes you care about - like signing petitions, not buying certain products and just spreading the word about important topics, like we have with our blog. We've  learned  that some things are very complicated, like the refugee crisis and that some people would rather not help other people - but that made us more determined to keep going because there are so many people who need help.

There are lots of things we have changed about how we live our lives. We eat less meat, read labels more carefully and think twice about some of the stuff we throw out and how we can save energy.

We hope we've been able to make a difference and that by doing lots of small things, working together, we can change the world and save our planet. Here is a list of some of the things we've tackled on the Blog:

Day 1 - Litter
Day 2 - Sock Apples (recycling!)
Day 3 - Switch it Off
Day 4 - It's About Love
Day 5 - If it's not Dirty was at.... (think about our habits!)
Day 6 - END THE CAGE AGE!!!!!
Day 7 - We're Talking Rubbish
Day 8 - Stay Safe Online (and be Kind!!!)
Day 10 & 11 - Helping Refugees
Day 13 - Helping the Birds
Day 14 - Fight Against Cancer
Day 16 - Saving Our Libraries
Day 18 - Fairtrade Sunday & Thinking Beyond Fairtrade
Day ??? World Book Day - help the world love reading
Meat Free Monday - cutting down to save the planet!!!
Going Organic & Ending Factory Farming
Recycling helps others too
Animal Rescue - our story
Say No to Palm Oil
Cleaning up for Earth Hour
M'on the Bees - Saving our environment - we can all help

It's quite a list and we could have done so much more. If there is one thing we hope though, it's that everyone in the world adopts a Growth Mindset. If we learn every day and we are willing to change our minds about little things, maybe we will change our habits and work together for change.

We did this blog as part of Lent, rather than giving up something, we wanted to do something positive for the planet. We aren't experts about the Bible but we think Jesus would have learned a lot about himself by going into the dessert and fasting for all that time. He had to find the strength to face what he knew was coming because even if he believed he was the son of God, it must have been really hard.

No-one knows for sure if Jesus was the son of God or even if there is a God - that is for everyone to decide for themsleves what they believe. We think though, that the important thing is that he is someone who wanted to make the world a better place for everyone and that he wanted to teach people how to be good and kind to each other and have more love in the world.

We hope that by doing our blog we have tried to follow Jesus' example and play a small part in making the world a better place.

Wherever you are in the world and whatever religion you follow or whether you don't follow one at all, we hope you have enjoyed our blogs and we thank you for visiting our site.

Happy Easter to you all and many many Easter Blessings to everyone,

Amelie and Erin xxxx

Day 16: Celebrate Libraries

Day 16 : February 26th 2016

Celebrate Libraries 

It's a late blog and I've just finished putting the girls to bed after a few fairytales on National: Tell a Fairytale Day.

They wanted to talk about their love of books and their love of libraries in particular. Libraries are always coming under pressure when it comes to cuts in local government and the girls (particularly Amelie!) are genuinely shocked when they hear that some people don't see the value in libraries.

For them, they have been a place of wonderful discoveries, of excitement and adventure, where they entered new worlds and took them home too. Since they were babies they have raided them, attended events, heard stories, gone on treasure hunts, sang songs and met authors. For children, Libraries are a place of fun.

Hand on heart, I can honestly say that without those experiences, I don't think the girls would love books so much or be such talented readers (and writers!). Having somewhere inviting, where you can grow your mind and explore from the earliest age, surely fosters a love of books which may last a lifetime.

At the moment we couldn't do without the book ordering service because Amelie finishes box sets within days of receiving them and we would never be able to afford to feed her appetite (neither would the rainforests!) When she goes on a raid, she discovers new authors and won't stop until she has read everything. She's a little mad but it's inspiring, and of course, she wants to be an author.

Erin is enjoying the huge selection of early reader titles which means that learning to read is not monotonous and boring. Having a choice over what to read and discovering these new worlds for the first time, makes reading more exciting, and surely that's a buzz we want to encourage.

The girls' message is simply to support your local library, just by using it more and letting local

government know that you value that service if cuts come up in your area.

An educated world is surely one of the most important things we need to make the world a better place. Without Libraries, that task becomes much harder. We need to celebrate them more.

On behalf of the girls....have a great weekend!

http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/
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p.s. Since the girls are in bed and not able to tell me what to write...here is a wee story from Amelie, my very favourite author ever.

The Centipede with No Legs

Callum was a centipede, but you wouldn’t have thought that if ever you’d met. ‘For what is a centipede with no legs?’ the other centipedes would ask him. ‘You are no better than those common, good-for-nothing earthworms!’

Callum took this very seriously and continued to listen to the constant taunting of the other centipedes with great sorrow pulsing through his miserable, legless body. One day he got so depressed that he found he couldn’t take it anymore and decided to visit Earth Worm Town to see if he would be happier there. It was, like he expected, covered in unpleasant grumpy earthworms. They had shouted at him, “You don’t belonghere” and “Go back home”. Callum felt desperately disappointed and distraught that no one would accept him for who he was. He simply wanted to find a friend.

A fly who was passing by saw the sadness welling in Callum’s eyes and went to comfort him. He told Callum about someone who could help him and suddenly the bitterness inside his heart melted into hope.

At once he set off to see Wise Old Worm (the only earthworm ever known of without a temper). He spoke kindly to Callum and said, “You are neither a centipede, nor an earthworm, but a mix. You see your mother was a centipede and your father was an earthworm, they fell in love and then they had you. You are one of a kind. You are the special chosen one we have been waiting for.”

The wise old worm told everyone the good news and soon Callum became King. The centipedes and the earthworms bowed down and reunited with each other.

They learned not to judge others by what they looked like and felt disappointed in themselves for

how they had treated Callum. From then on, they were always friendly and thought twice before saying nasty things to others. Everyone lived much happier lives, especially Callum, who was a tremendously kind king. He ruled the kingdom with understanding and fairness, made of lots of friends and was loved by all.

Copyright - Amelie Purdon 2016