A Night With the Stars....

Tonight was the annual fifth grade field trip to the University constellation department. It is up on the mountain where we went with mom and dad and it was a beautiful view at night time. There were fancy huge powered telescopes and we saw several stars and planets. I only looked through one and saw Saturn. Great view! We had a crazy day because a friend was having surgery and are keeping two of their kids AND we had three other girls who came home with SAvannah to ride up the mountain with us AND the water was off! So, a house full of kiddo's and NO water! But, we made it through dinner and through the field trip. Malia babysat the boys while the rest of us went up the mountain. Everything was still intact when we got home. :>

My highlights turned out really blonde. Of course, my kids don't have any qualms about telling me (in front of all their friends) how much they hate it! Their dad seems to like it, though, and so do I. Savannah said, "Mom you look, older...I mean younger...well, different..." They don't like me to change my looks!

Counting down....only about 32 hours until our rendezvous! Can't wait!

Honeymoon weekend

Don't even ask me if the pesky flies were here this morning....I don't want to talk about it! :>

This week will be spent getting ready for our weekend get-away in which we leave on Wed. and return on Sat. to celebrate our anniversary. We have several folks who are coming over to eat with the kids, play games, take them to a movie while we are away and three adults couples lined up if there is a major issue where more farang (westerner) supervision is needed. Our helper and her daughter will be staying here with the kids. But, I have to get all the extras lined up...who will take who to basketball practice, the chess tournament and those kinds of things. I think I've got everything arranged I just need to communicate it to everyone!

Wed. is a half day at school and we will leave around noon to go to Chiangrai to a five star resort that has been given excellent reviews. Chiangrai is about a 3 hour drive from here. We picked a "city" so we could still enjoy western food---we've heard there is a Mexican restaurant nearby. I don't quite know what we will do with all that time but I'm sure we will figure out something!

Today, I'm getting my hair highlighted because that is how Kelly really likes it. I've also had some new outfits made and they will be ready at the tailor. Then, I've got to get the cupboards full of groceries and snacks.

Please pray for our friends, the Black's in V. His mother passed away and tomorrow their whole family will be heading back to the States for the funeral. He was just there a few weeks ago and was able to stop in and see her since she was not doing very well.

Please also pray for us and our get-away and the children while we are gone.

Blessings!

The Fruit Fly Brigade

Kelly and I nearly rolled on the floor we were laughing so hard. We were taking turns aiming the vacuum cleaner hose at the little bitty flying creatures. Every time, I would move something, a new flock would charge. Where are they coming from? There is no open food in the kitchen...it is in what we call here an ant cabinet. The fruit is in the dining room. For the most part, they aren't in there, although they have been so bad lately, they have been sneaking into the dining area. They are also in the downstairs bathroom...which is kind of a damp place. My helper says they are there because of the water. I don't know why they are there....or really care...I just want them to go away. Kel says if we figure out why they are there, it will help eliminate them. In the meantime....we are armed with our heavy duty silent (yes, it's new!) vacuum cleaner where several times a day we go down there taking turns sucking up those dreadful creatures. The ants are gone. We've had our own battles with them, but now it's the dreaded fruit flies...that swarm where there is no fruit. It's amazing what that vacuum cleaner will suck up! There was one sitting on a paper towel Kelly was using as a napkin. Shoosh....up went the whole paper towel! :> Our plan is to be diligent today and see if they are still hanging around tomorrow!

We are getting ready for Savannah's basketball practice. Sage will also go and finish up his last session of Interactive Metronome with the speech therapist.

He has made some improvements in his thought processes and we are rejoicing. For example....he had a list of about 20 words and he had to read them and mark if they were a person, place or thing. They were not easy words....words like Ballerina. He got them all correct. I still see a tendency at times for him not to want to think--but hey, I think we all have moments like that, don't we? He is still behind but at least it seems like his brain is turning. Now he is involved in an auditory processing program called Earobics. We have used it previously with some of the other children. We are grateful for Grace School because they are pouring all they have into him to keep him from "drowning."

Please pray for a friend for Noah. There aren't any other boys in the neighborhood his age and he has been experiencing great frustration with just playing with girls and his brother (who usually goes along and wants to play whatever the girls want to play). I'm going to make this my prayer focus these next few months and ask you when you pray for us to pray for this also.

Well, have a great Sat!

Where do the weeks go? It is Thursday night....next thing I know I turn around and it is Friday again. Tomorrow is a half day at school for the kids. There are lots of half days this semester do to some curriculum updating the teachers are doing.

I had unexpected "free" time this morning so I was able to go to the store and buy the toilet paper that we disparately needed! :> Then I met Erin and Carolyn for lunch--they are getting ready to take a trip in country for about three weeks. Then my friend, Kim, and I went to get a massage....something we like to do weekly, but don't always get the chance. What a treat to be able to get a Thai massage every week. Some of you might not consider it such a treat....it can be kind of like a workout but I always feel so good when we're finished. Then, I rushed home to check on Sav and Malia and then pick up Sage from a friends house and Noah from school (he stayed for chess club). After supper tonight (we had breakfast!), we went to the Dr. to get immunizations for Malia, Savannah and Sage. They were not going to be allowed to go to school Mar. 1 if they did not get them updated. Then we stopped by the Shaklee store on the way home to get some more Nutralite vitamins. It seems like there is major illness going around the school, but since the kids started the supplements they have not been sick...PRAISE GOD! Malia has even been feeling pretty good. Kelly said a major OUCH! since he was with me and heard the price of the supplements. I'm working hard to convince him that good health is worth the sacrifice!

He's reading the kids right now. They are reading Earagon. (I'm not sure how you spell that)

We recently received a listing with staff needs at Grace for next year. I'm going to post it here in case you know anyone that might be interested in working here. I was talking to the music teacher the other day --who has only been here one semester and she was talking about how she wished there was a school like this where she could teach in the U.S. It's a one of a kind special place!

Staff needs for school year 2007-2008

Elementary

Ø Kindergarten – one teacher

Ø Grade 1 – two teachers

Ø Grade 3 – one teacher

Ø Grade 6 – one teacher (preferably someone willing to teach math, science, and computers)

Ø Music – one teacher



Secondary

Ø Foreign Language teacher (French and German) – two teachers

Ø Middle School Science – one teacher

Ø 8th grade core (includes language arts, religious studies, and social studies) – one or two teachers

Ø Biology/Science – one teacher

Ø Art – one teacher

Ø English – one teacher

Ø Social Studies – one teacher

Ø P.E./Health



Special Needs Department

Ø Special Education teachers – four

Ø NILD Therapist – one teacher

Ø Occupational Therapist – one teacher

Ø Speech and Language Pathologist – two



Computer Services Department



Ø Engineer/Network Specialist

Ø MIS support

Ø Computer Services Dept. Manager



Miscellaneous (but very important)



Ø Curriculum Director to be responsible for professional development and curriculum leadership K-12

Ø Nurse –one full time or part time

Ø Assistant principal or middle school principal – someone who either helps with discipline or takes on middle school

Ø K-12 School Counselor – one

Ø K0-12 Spiritual Life Director

Thai seminar

We spent the day attending a seminar to help us understand how to share more effectively with Thai's. It is two day seminar so we will also go tomorrow. It was a very interesting day. Gave us lots of things to talk about. I will try to type up my notes when it's over and I'll post them so you can get an idea of some of the things we are learning.

We are watching the movie "Defeating the Giants," with the kids. Kel and I watched it last night and thought the kids would like to watch it. I don't know if you've seen it or not but it was made in Albany, GA, so we find it very interesting...esp. the accents! I don't know if it was on at the theatres in the U.S. or not.

I've posted a picture of our family that mom took when they were here.

Sunday

Last Sunday we went to the mall and had Thai pictures made. I will post these here for all to see.

We started having our home church on Sat. night. Our group multiplied into three groups. It was a hard process but the Lord directed us to join two other families. It's kind of strange because if one of the families is out of town, it's just two! We have one other family that will probably join us in March and another one that we are inviting and praying will decide to join us.

That means Sunday's are pretty laid back days! Today we lazed around here in the morning and then went out to lunch and ran some errands. The boys were excited because they bought MP-3 Players! They thought they would have to put their money together and share one but they had enough that they each could get their own. The girls got MP-3 players for Christmas. We didn't have a clue that the boys would also want one. Now they have one, too. I got my bangs trimmed and went down to the market to try to find fabric to finish off curtains in our LR. The store was closed and it was a zoo at the market because of Chinese New Year. Kel and the kids went to the computer plaza to pick up my computer that has been in the shop. The shop was closed, so we weren't totaly successful in getting everything accomplished.

Yesterday before church we went to see the 2nd movie in a series of Thai fiction historical films. The children enjoy it even though the movie is in Thai with English subtitles. I wish many of you could watch these movies and get a feel for the Thai culture. Here is more info if you are interested:
http://www.kingnaresuanmovie.com/history_eng.php