hi! i'm amy in peru! i am the voice of fisher academy international. here is where i blog mostly about how we do homeschool. and for that, we love charlotte mason and ambleside online.
we live in peru because we love Jesus and we want others to know and love Him too. as close as this is to my heart and day-to-day life, i don't blog here much about that. because for one thing, i'm afraid the people we live and work with might find it weird to overhear me talking about them (thank you google translate). and two, i'd feel kinda weird thinking they might feel weird. are you with me? and the third thing is, if i were to blog about daily personal or spiritual stuff, i'd do that over here. so there.
once upon a time, i had to write a little biography for somebody or other. that, grew up into this page. normally though, since i write down my thoughts, without much 'about me', i thought i'd take advantage and get it all right out there. or here... or whatever.
oh, and i know it's a little weird on a homeschool blog, that this here page is all about ME and not about all about the homeschooled. however, if it were the other way round, it'd be WAY longer (and it's long already), and... well, try back in another eight years and we'll see! 'cause that's 'bout how long i've made due without an 'about me' page. ;)
sorry, no digital pictures of me when i was young outdoors, so this will have to do.
as far back as i can remember, i have always loved to be outside the best. i reveled in summers spent in the woods, at the beach or in the pool. as far as i was concerned, fall and winter were best spent playing soccer; and spring, was for hiking as many waterfalls as possible (i grew up in the enviable pacific nw).
as the pacific nw is particularly fond of raining, indoors, i became especially fond of reading, and it might be a good thing i wasn't introduced to many living books early, as I probably would have determined right then and there to be a bibliophilic hermit when i grew up. i have always envied the librarian. either way, i suppose things have come out alright.
after the kids are grown, however, you may hear that i have taken up housekeeping at a remote cabin in the woods, with my beloved, on the mountain, near a stream, to think up more prepositional phrases. well, as long as there were many, many books. and coffee. and authentic mexican food.
this is me alone in the mountains.
okay, okay, i'm alone in the picture,
in a city in the Andes Mtns.
i had always been known as a kid and animal person. that is, until i had my own kids. i don't know what that tells you about me… or them... {ahem} but extra specially, i have always loved doggie and people babies. still do. but i don't consider me a 'people person'. i prefer semi-solitude to just about anything. though in my ideal world, i would have ONE good friend within arm's reach at all times and we could sit and read or paint or just enjoy the view together... wanna come visit?!
ever since forever i've wanted to be a mommy. so, while i waited, i decided that becoming a professional and getting paid for it, was the next best thing. so, i studied in an exclusive & intensive institute to become a full-time nanny. which is what i ended up being for two years before beginning my own brood. it was during this time that i learned so much about early child development, and right there and then i decided wholeheartedly homeschooling was for me and my future family. no offense to all the professionals and hired nannies out there, but this childraising thing was just too intensely interesting an occupation to be missed, i wanted to know and enjoy my own kids as much as possible! :)
this was taken on the same day as the one above of me at the beach.
we were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary!
when my husband and i were newly married, overseas missions was not yet on the radar, but kids popped up on the screen right away. matter of fact, scarcely half a year had past when we detected that first heartbeat. and within about two years we were already a family of four! yep. you betcha. i could write a variety of quick-start guides. while those first two boys were still teeny-weeny, we sallied forth to live by faith, savings & prayers for a little more than a year in peru, south america. we've pretty much been here since and that's been 13 years ago now this month! which is truly amazing. you can find out more about that side of things and what we do here at this site (browse missionaries) or subscribe to our ministry blog.
unfortunately, i have almost zero pictures of me with a junglish background,
as i'm always the one taking the pictures. seriously, must i hand over my camera?!
so, one of us on furlough at the top of seattle's space needle will have to suffice. :)
today, in a town in the jungle, while my husband makes friends with every living thing, does all nature of pastoral stuff, incorporating as much action-packed adventure as is practically possible; i teach, study, write, gracefully hold down the fort (sometimes not so full of grace), and make my best attempt to keep things sane. my success rate varies. ;)
i am certain this is how my children will remember me.
though happiest walking somewhere green or upstream 'til reaching the base of a high waterfall, or creating something beautiful, or soaking in things eternal, or inventing something useful, i can often be found at my computer working out lists and schedules or reading up on whatever we're hot on the trail of studying at the moment. and though quite content to read les miserables or jane eyre all day long, i usually find the taming of my wild household an enjoyable necessity. some of my favorite regular occurrences are nature study with camera in hand or, reading aloud with my kids (there are five of them, now, ages 5-15), every once in a while getting caught in the gleam of someone's just having been lit up by some idea that's come to life… especially, but not limited to, when that has come as a result of really hard work. :)
my favorite kid photo of all time.
i discovered Charlotte Mason as a primary source for education pretty early on, and pretty much everything i heard her say sunk in way down deep, almost as if it had already been there. i was at home. of course, the daily working out is never finished, and everyday i find there is still SO much to learn. so much to improve. my kids could tell you… :) and as my daughter just said yesterday, it's a good thing we have God's grace; it's like the light of life. and she's right. without it, i'd be a withered up, broken and useless thing.
i have SO much to be thankful for.
please enjoy your time here, but don't forget to keep it real.
what you see here are glimpses, not the whole picture. we have plenty of times of chaos, and we're trying to limit the ugliness that happens. but it still shows up more often than we'd like it to. life can be really challenging. in between every line written above there have been trials of various kinds, survived only by grace, grace and more grace. God is so very, very good. all the time. and forever. praise His name the loudest and the mostest. :)
you can contact me personally via the comments of this blog (which come directly to my e-mail).
keep up with us by subscribing in a reader or to the fisher academy facebook page which you should find linked in the sidebar :)
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