Maya and I hit our first milestone here at GIAL finishing session one of the "MOD-20" certificate of linguistics coursework.  We start back up again on Monday morning continuing the phonetics class we have been in, but the grammar class takes a break for four weeks while I (Rich) start a course in phonology - the study of sound, and Second Language and Culture Acquisition.  In four weeks we will be finished with the phonetics course, and I will pick up grammar again while Maya takes a four week break.  Fun stuff!  Texas has a no sales tax weekend this weekend, so we got the kids' school uniforms purchased, they are all registered and ready to go.  Katherine is going into third grade and Matt is going into Kindergarten at Hyman Elementary just up the road a bit.  Josh and Becca will continue at preschool in the SIL Child Center on campus, and Chris is going into 6th grade working on a homeschool program that I have modified to focus on building skills in math facts, reading, and especially writing.  We will be focusing on US history from the ancient native Americans to just prior to the Civil War.  For those of you interested in homeschooling, we are using the Sonlight Core 3, which I have modified to emphasize the things his IEP from school last year indicated as goals for this year.  http://www.sonlight.com

Continue to pray for our house sale in Dayton, for my mom as she works with doctors to remove the cancer found in her body, for my three little kiddos as they get over pink eye and allergy junk, and for Maya and I as we ramp back up for four more intense weeks of study.

Peace be with you.

Rich for the rest of the crew