Often people ask me, "What does a normal day look like in the village?" There IS no typical day, but I wish I had taken lots of pictures today, because it was as close to normal as we get.
After morning prayer finished, the kids and I walked down to the little market that our friends hold for us twice a week. We bought pineapple, slippery cabbage, bananas, umalau (sweet potatoes), papaya, long beans, mangoes, a surprise watermelon (we almost never see them here) and eggplant. We're so grateful for the food that our neighbors bring to help keep us healthy and strong. Kiko mentioned that her neck was hurting from carrying heavy things on her head, so after we brought up all of the food, I took some Tylenol down to her and stayed to visit with her sisters for a few minutes.
When I walked back up the hill to the house, I finished laundry while the kids began school, and Aaron walked down the hill to find Barnabas, with whom he had set up a language learning session this morning. Aaron came back up the hill to say that he and Barnabas were going to meet under our house, a very culturally appropriate place to meet, about the same time that Eta showed up to weed our yard. So I spent the morning like this...
...go down and borrow a file to sharpen our bush knives, go back up to the house to check math, pop popcorn and take some down to the guys underneath the house for a snack, go with Eta to get some cuttings of a beautiful hibiscus in Ofoaen's yard, come up and listen to Katherine read, take popcorn and water down to Eta and check on her progress, come up and check science, go down and plant slippery cabbage stalks and marigold seeds, come up and ask history questions, chop veggies for lunch, go down and move clothes because it looked like rain, come back up and get money to pay Eta, get lunch on the table and kids to the table while Aaron continued his session under the house...
After lunch, we heard the bell ring for a community health meeting. A group came to talk about family planning, and we were quite surprised that the meeting was to be held in mixed company. Aaron attended while I finished school with the kids. When the kids went out to play, I walked down to see if I could help Naris as she prepared a light meal for the visitors. She needed a food cover, so I hustled back up to the house to grab the beautiful food cover that my friend, Margaret, made as a gift last year. When everything was ready, several of us ladies walked over to the meeting to hear the end of the discussion. I was really proud of my husband for standing up and reminding the group that the session was on FAMILY planning, married couples, not for young people who wanted to run around and still not get pregnant, and that God's plan really is the best way. After the program, we were able to spend a few minutes with the visitors and help serve them food before we needed to get back to the house for the 4:30 radio sched with SITAG.
Then it was time for a quick supper of leftovers, showers, evening prayer, and advent devotionals before we all headed to bed. And that's what a "normal" day looks like!
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