I am a stay-at-home mom, although I rarely "stay-at-home." ;)
I homeschool all three of our children with a Christian-based curriculum called: "My Father's World" and we love it! We school about 2 hours a day in the mornings for one child (in 1st grade) and about 2 hours in the afternoons for the other child (in kindergarten). Both are boys. Our little girl is almost 4. All the kids follow along in each other's programs for the most part. We are in schooling sessions for 6 weeks, then off for 4 and repeat that process for about 26 weeks. We are also "off" on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Thursdays we go on field trips. Every week we go to the library for fun books to read, stuff to learn about and for schooling lesson-related books. I love teaching our kids and being a mom! I wouldn't have my life any other way and am so thankful for the life God has given me, the children He has blessed me with, and the supportive, nurturing, domestic and hard-working husband that I have! We are counting down the days til baby #4 is due and also til Daddy comes home from the war in Iraq. We surprisingly found out we were expecting on Mother's Day and my husband left for Al Asad Marine Corps base in Iraq on Father's Day. This was his FIRST deployment in his whole Navy career. He says he won the lottery. We've only been apart 8 weeks two times, so this is a tough time for us all for sure! I've never been a single parent before, nor even really lived on my own! WHOA! Talk about culture shock. Not sure which of us has it worse.... me here pregnant with 3 kids, or him over there stressing and worrying about us while managing a crew and doing all the other G14 classified stuff he does daily! He returns on 4 January, THANK GOD!!!! Hopefully the baby comes shortly thereafter. ;)

Anyways, moving on....

I homeschooled myself for high school for 3 years and then got my GED. I went to college a year earlier than my peers and put myself through college for 5 years while working full time, sometimes with an additional part time job. I have an AS degree in Paralegal Studies, a BA degree in Business Administration, and I went to Bible College for one year also. I have mostly worked in the legal, finance, and restaurant businesses as a Legal Assistant, Mortgage Broker and Hostess. I stopped working outside the home about 8 weeks before our first child was born as I was put on modified bedrest. I have dabbled some since then in home-based businesses such as The Pampered Chef. Of course, I am a Navy Wife and Mother.... 24/7!

We have 2 boys: Vince Edward (almost 7 DOB 12/21/00) and Roman Edward (5 DOB 8/10/02), a girl: Carmen DeLaMaria (means: "Song of the wished-for child"). She will be 4 in February )DOB 2/12/04). We are having another girl due to arrive soon: Ciera Grace. My due date is January 23rd. They set a c-section for January 16th. Carmen had to be a c-section due to preterm labor and non-reassuring NST's (her heartrate kept dropping with each contraction and coming back up too slowly). She came 3 1/2 weeks early. We are kinda hoping Ciera comes early, too so we can get back to our command in FL at Naval Air Station Jacksonville without having to use up too much (or all) of his leave time.

My husband is an Air Traffic Controller in The Navy. (We have a kid at every port---- VA, CA, FL and now NY!) We have been married for over 11 years and my husband, Kevin has been in The Navy for 19 years. He is an E-7 (Navy Chief) and I couldn't be more proud of him and happy to be his wife. He is 11 years older than I am. We met on a blind date in the summer of 1996 and were married in 3 months that September! It took us 5 years to have our first child. We had 5 miscarriages. I have hypothyroidism, have had endometriosis and surgery for it twice (hence babies #1 and #4) and a magic daily dose of progesterone the first 12 weeks of each pregnancy has made us able to conceive and carry full term 3 times in a row (we went without this fourth time and have done just fine). I also battle fibromyalgia (chronic pain) and chronic fatigue (but who doesn't?) LOL! We all are a loving, Godly family, but SO far from perfect. We all have some traits of OCD and ADHD (well, okay... a lot of traits)! We jokingly sing the Barney theme song, changing the words to "I love you, you love me, we're a dysfunctional family" - etc. You get the idea! We have a lot of fun raising our "little" family. If you wanna know more about us, our family website is http://www.myspace.com/navy_family. Or search under the first name: "The" and last name "Casteels" - hope to hear from you soon! ~Melanie

><> "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines His steps." ~Proverbs 16:9
><> "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen." ~Hebrews 11:1
><> "Cast ALL your cares on HIM for He cares for YOU!" ~1 Peter 5:7
><> "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me." ~Philippians 4:13
><> "In EVERYTHING give thanks!" ~1Thessalonians 5:18
><> "To everything there is a season, a time, a purpose under heaven." ~Ecclesiastes 3:10