Marulaon Woman's Daybook

For Today...Monday, August 2

 

Outside my window...wilting Chinese cabbage and bell peppers, dying corn, and a hot sunny day

 

From the learning rooms...more studies of Russia

I am remembering...the great sales at Barnes and Noble and all of the new school supplies (like pencils with names on them) available this time of year.  I love the smell of new books, pencils, paper, and crayons!

 

I am thankful for...enough water left to share with our neighbors

 

From the kitchen...pumpkin bread and precious hard-boiled eggs (thanks to our friends who came last week), lots of fruit smoothies to keep us cool

 

I am reading...the "Just As You Remember Them" Nancy Drew books from Applewood Press that we bought Sarah for her birthday (and some sweet friends mailed them).  They are the originals from the 1930's, and I'm reading them with the big girls.

 

I am hoping...to have a little more strength and energy soon.

On my mind...the lack of communication we've had with our friends and family during our stay in Marulaon.  Aaron and I are both vividly dreaming of people back in the States and grieving the ability to keep in touch.  We feel so isolated.

 

Noticing that...the ants in the house haven't been quite so bad this time

 

Pondering these words..."A frantic stream of words flows from us because we are in a constant process of adjusting our public image.  We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us that we talk in order to straighten out their understanding....Silence is one of the deepest Disciplines of the Spirit simply because it puts the stopper on all self-justification.  One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let God be our justifier.  We don't need to straighten others out."  -- Richard Foster

 

I am hearing...the wind chimes furiously clanging on the front porch

 

Around the house...a great National Geographic map of Russia and the independent States of the former Soviet Union with lots of pictures and a timeline, very ripe bananas waiting to be made into banana cake to be shared with our neighbors

 

One of my favorite things...Katherine spontaneously telling me, "Mama, you have pretty brown eyes!"  I don't have brown eyes, but she does, and she has heard me tell her many times that I think she has pretty brown eyes.

 

A few plans for the rest of the week...beginning my new very small garden in the bush with Eileen, Aaron going with Hensi to get water from Pavuvu (the biggest island in the Russells) tomorrow, Wednesday is Election Day, & a picture dictionary workshop here in Marulaon next weekend

 

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...Katherine and her favorite baby in the village, Delcia