About eight o'clock yesterday morning, we learned that Aaron's grandmother had died.  We had been expecting the news, and we were so thankful that we had gotten to visit with her and see her on Skype video just a couple of weeks ago.

I left Aaron and the kids packing and went into town with our new SITAG colleague and an "old" SITAG colleague to help our new friend learn how things work in the Solomon Islands.  We had so much fun introducing her to people, sharing stories of our time in the Solomons, and trying to help her get her bearings.  The post office was full of Christmas cheer for our family - several Christmas boxes and Christmas cards arrived!

When I returned to the house, we opened boxes while we ate lunch, and it was Christmas morning and Benjamin's birthday all over again.  One of the fun things about living here is that you never know when mail will arrive, so special days last a long time.  Aaron left for a SITAG staff meeting, and in his absence I transplanted some of the flowers I bought last week (from my Lavukal friend, Mary) in preparation for their trip to Marulaon.  I'm so excited about my ixora, which is a new plant to me, and my layered hibiscus.  I also made some Oatmeal Scotchies and Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies (both with some of our newly arrived goodies) for one last care package for our friends out in the village and to share here at SITAG.  The oven was already on to cook the quiche from the freezer, so I wanted to use the heat well.  Any excuse to make cookies.  Plus, Aaron was cleaning out to pantry to pack it up, so I had to hustle.

We learned that the Kosko has a warehouse, so instead of loading the boat at supper time the night before we leave, we'll be able to take our boxes down to the warehouse on Friday afternoon.  Even though we lose some time for packing, I think it will make Saturday so much more relaxed as we clean and scrub our SITAG house.  So, today includes packing, packing, and more packing!  So back to work for me...