What I wouldn't give to just sit down and eat a sald without fear that I'll ingest a life debiliating amoeba in the process! Nathan and I are recovering from a week-long bout with some type of nasty amoeba we collected recently. I have tried to recall every meal I've eaten in recent weeks and I still can't pinpoint where the little sucker made it's entrance. *sigh*  Salads and lima beans, these are the things I dream about these days..oh and of course Sonic. Other than being infested with this little microscopic enemy, life is good.

An older lady from Colorado who was a missionary to the Phillipines for 18 years is starting a school for MK's on our base. She and her husband had a school in the Phillipines for many years and she has a beautiful heart for education. So, Nathan and I went to the teacher orientation (because he will be teaching an 8th grade English class) and imagine my suprise when Faith (the teacher lady) starts sharing her vision for a school for missionary kids based on the educational philosphy of Charlotte Mason! My jaw dropped! How awesome is that?  (I'm speaking homeschool lingo here, so most likely only my other homeschool cronies will understand) sorry..

Anyway, she went on to describe how each month there will be a focus on of the "habits" as outlined by Charlotte Mason, short classes, etc. So cool! Will my kids be going to this school? No..I love homeschooling too much..but we will be walking down to the school building (on base) in the mornings to join with the other students in having a devotion, saying the Pledge of Allegiance and conversing about the current "habit" and how to make it a part of our daily lives. We will also take at least our morning break at the same time so the boys can go to the swings with the others.

In other news, I met my first potential "Mommy of young children" friend last week! Her name is Heather and she is an American, married to a Mexican and she has two boys ages 4 and 7. I am so excited to have another Mommy to chat with and boys (so hard to find these days) for my boys to play with. We also think we've found our church and that is a good feeling! This area of Mexico is swarming with Americans, and there were several Texans there as well. They even had a pot-luck by-golly! We are suckers for a pot-luck...maybe this is why we always end up at a Baptisit church :)

In other, other news..we are using a program called "Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory" this year for school. I want a CM approach with some structure that teaches American history first and fully integrates the Bible into history and science, and "Beyond" met all my requirements..so we'll see how it goes. I'm looking forward to this year! Benjamin is starting to bring me books now and read phrases to me which amazes me every time. I am always so nervous that I will fail him somehow and not be able to teach him to read. I'll be glad when he's fully fluent and reading and then I can relax a bit with the confidence that I will indeed be able to teach my other children how to read!

Well, Deacon is climbing up my chair, so I'm gonna go kiss his cute face..I will try to be better about blogging here. I blog ministry stuff and there are lots of photos on our family website if anyone wants to visit. I will come here for more personal reflection. Til then..

Amey    oops..familyafair.com is our family website

How the yahoo does a girl change her background in Xanga-land? This is beyond me, so maybe I am stuck with the Christmas motif..hey, I like Christmas as much as the next person, but I mean really.  My other beef: Why does it keep asking me if I want to make my "FIRST post"? Hello, this is not my first post..I made my first post the first time!Well, the reason I'm really writing this afternoon is to discuss a book that Nathan and I are reading together in the evenings. Don't let me fool you into thinking we are super-spiritual, we spend most evenings in the living room on our respective lap-tops..but this is the problem! So, I borrowed this book (actually it found it's way to me because I didn't even know it existed until the lovely Jeni Bateman brought it to our homeschool co-op on Tuesday) I thumbed through it and ended up coming home with it and Nathan and I decided to be more focused on together time in the evenings..thus we began reading this book.

So the title of the book is : Keeping Our Children's Hearts by Steve and Teri Maxwell

Wow. I feel like someone is reading my mail and I'm only 2 chapters in!  I was convicted within the first chapter and heard lots of "hmmms" from my husband as I read aloud. Good stuff. I am challenged in some very significant ways to invest not just my time, but my heart into my children. I am also being challenged to confront some cultural norms in our society and look at wether these things are actually Biblical or beneficial to my family. Yikes! But again, good stuff! When we switched off the lights the other night my husband said "We have alot of praying to do about alot of things..going against the culture in some of these ways will not be easy and we need to ask the Lord to speak clearly to us about what we are to do." My heart was contemplative as I drifted off to sleep.

So, have I made you want to read this book? ;) It is the best thing I have picked up in a long time in that it is not just another fluffy Christian read. I am so sick of those types of books. I am looking forward to the re-evaluation of our family dynamics that this book is certain to bring about. I am looking forward to having a "plan" with my husband about how we operate our family and to the closeness that will ensue as we turn our hearts more towards our children. Malachi 4:6 "And He shall turn the heart of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

Okay, it took a long time, and much coersion from my friend Angie, but alas, I have arrived in Xanga-land. I thought I was on top of things with having a Myspace page, but *apparently* some people are Myspace resistant.

So, here I am, 12 days away from my due date with baby boy #3 and feeling ripe. I am also nursing my upteenth cold in this pregnancy with some kind of laryngitis and feeling annoyed by it. Nathan  returns home today from a four day leader's conference in Guadalajara where we will be moving around the end of March or early April to serve with YWAM. I am lookng forward to having him home as it's very hard to parent when you have no voice, and I kinda like him too, so it will just be good to have him back. :)

I always let the boys sleep with me when Daddy's out of town, so we had a good cuddle time this morning and then Benjamin played reading games on PBS.org while I started some laundry, got everyone's breakfast and showered. The boys spent most of the morning in the backyard problem solving how to get their ball out of the tree which was fun to watch and now they are smushing play-doh into my formerly clean kitchen table. :)

Ben and I will do school this afternoon as the mornings are kicking my pregnant/sick booty right now. Kindergarten is going great and both Ben and I are having lots of fun using the Sonlight curriculum. We started school a month early so that we could take some time off when Deacon arrives. I am planning on schooling year round so that we can take breaks as needed for outreaches and furlough months when we renew our visas each year. I think this will help with retainment too. We have just started using "Window On The World" by Voice of The Martyrs for part of our prayer/Bible times and we are both learning so much. Each day highlights a new country and people group, shares basic facts about the country and some background on their religion, has a fictional story about what life might be like for a child there, and then has prayer points. It's perfect for kids, but interesting enough and beautifully illustrated for adults. We color in the country on our markable map and then pray for the people there..so it's like Geography and prayer time all in one! 

Averic attends preschool at our church two mornings a week and is loving it. He has done well minus a little biting incident. Did I mention that my second son is a wild monkey beast? His antics are enough to keep the whole family entertained! But to temper that wildness it seems the Lord has given him an incredible sensitivity. Last night I overheard this from his room: "God?...Go-od?....GOOOOD?! I want you to speak to me! I want to hear your real voice!" Wow. He is always saying things like this..how much he wants God to speak to him, asking about people who live in heaven, etc. It blows me away sometimes. And more than anything else that's what I want for my kids..for them to hear HIS voice and to know HIM.

I can only wonder who Deacon will be, I am so excited about meeting him! Well, I better get off of here and on to our day. And Angie...I better get a big fat thank you for joining your little Xanga club!! ;)
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