Monday, December 12, 2011

Honiara Woman's Daybook

For today...Monday, December 12

Outside my window...morning sunshine about to overtake the clothesline

I am thankful for...my fridge.  It is a luxury to have one, and I am so, very grateful.

I am praying for...a friend leaving PNG today and heading back to the States, as we say here "go finish"

I am going...to get some snail mail ready.  I will make the time.  I must!

I am reading..."Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling" by Ross King, some grownup reading to complement our studies in history

I am hoping...to put a major dent in village shopping this week.  Honiara will begin to shut down next week for Christmas, and it will stay shut down until after New Year's Day.

I am hearing...the washing machine (what a glorious sound!), the morning birds, the funny way the bathroom sink drains quite loudly right by our bedroom window

I am remembering...my brother.  He turns 30 today back in Georgia.  And I used to change his diapers.

From the learning rooms...Christopher Columbus, Botticelli, Medici family, can you tell we are in the early Renaissance and LOVING it!

From the kitchen...breakfast burritos, leftovers, and stir fry (got to use up those green beans wilting in the fridge)

Around the house...coloring pages of great explorers adorn the walls, Christmas cookies are piling up on the cabinet and dough is accumulating in the fridge, including a fabulous new recipe we found in a ten year old magazine left in our Marulaon house by the previous owners


Something I want to remember...my kids singing Christmas carols as they work together to clean up the kitchen.  Their voices blend together so well.

On my mind...four and a half months till furlough

Noticing that...my lower back, really, REALLY hurts.  Time to call in the ibuprofen and a back massage from my husband.

Pondering these words...
"Arise, and shine with borrow'd rays,
Bright in reflected lustre shine,
Thy Light is come, the Sun of grace
Appears in majesty divine..."
--Charles Wesley

...we do not generate light from anything we are or do.  In fact, we can neither arise nor shine apart from God's previous action on our behalf.  Rather, we shine with the luster of "borrowed rays."  Because the Light has come, we are able to glow with a glory that is not our own.  We reflect back to God what God offers to us as a gift.  --Paul Wesley Chilcote

One of my favorite things...snuggling with my kids early in the morning, especially if the ceiling fan is on and we can burrow underneath the covers

A few plans for the rest of the week...make lots of Christmas cookies to take to the hospital, send cargo out Tuesday to our friends who just went to the village, host a birthday supper Thursday night for a SITAG friend and her family

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...my little brother's birthday 27 years ago (I love that yellow checked wallpaper we had in the breakfast room!)

5 comments:

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Love the pic of you and your brother!

And that cookie and cocoa sure look good:D

Julie

Choate Family said...

Julie,

Guess I should have labeled the girl in the picture - it's my sister. I'm the oldest (my siblings would probably tell you I still act like the bossy big sister!).

Joanna

no spring chicken said...

..."we shine with the luster of borrowed rays"

I love that, and how true it is. Tonight after prayer, a young friend said, I really need God's love to fill me because love is not what I feel in this situation. She is a wise young woman. She needs borrowed rays!

Blessings, Debbie

Anonymous said...

I love that your kids sing as they clean up; remember doing that with Mom in the kitchen after dinner, almost every night? And I love that picture of "Nonny" and me, too. I can't believe he's 30! Not possible that we're all so OLD.

Can't wait to celebrate YOUR birthday, WITH YOU!

Love,
Liss

The dB family said...

I have to confess that I am glad to read that you're behind on the snail mail. I am too. Hopefully tomorrow I will get at it.

Haha! Love that photo! I do believe I have a place mat in that exact pattern. (Yes, only one place mat).

Blessings!
Deborah