Honiara Woman's Daybook

Just for today...Easter Monday, April 6

Outside my window...a new view!  Every time we return to SITAG, we have to stay in whatever house is available.  This time we are staying in the newest accommodations, a big building built and dedicated by Wycliffe Associates in 2010.  It' made to house three families.  We have the largest unit with a huge fridge!  I'm going to be spoiled rotten in the next few weeks.

From the learning rooms...Week 34!  Three more weeks of school left.  I'm so proud of my hard working kids who have hardly had a break (except to move back and forth from village to Honiara).  We will certainly enjoy our summer break!

On my bookshelf..."The Teenage Brain:  A Neuroscientist's Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults"  by Frances E. Jensen.  I saw this book in the Brisbane airport on the way down to the wedding a couple of weeks ago and really wanted to buy it.  When I finished the book I brought and found that I still thought that Jensen's book was a good idea, I purchased it as we walked through the Brisbane airport on the way home.  So far, it's great!  And Jensen seems to have some great parenting skills as well.

Crafting in the kitchen...for our family, Easter means coconut cake.  I've been making my great-grandmother's coconut cake for every Easter since I got married.  That is, I used to.  Until Sarah took over.  This year, she decided to compare recipes:  my great-grandmother's vs. Willow Bird Baking's coconut cake.

Nana's cake is more meringue and sweet, Willow Bird's cake is more custardy and creamy.  I have to admit, I like creamy better than whipped egg whites.  Maybe making two cakes every year will become our new tradition!

Pondering these words..."He could, if He chose, repair our bodies miraculously without food; or give us food without the aid of farmers, bakers, and butchers; or knowledge without the aid of learned men; or convert the heathen without missionaries.  Instead, He allows soil and weather and animals, an the muscles, minds and wills of men to co-operate in the execution of His will."  ~C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things..."pick your own" farms.  I've already got a list of places I want to visit when we return to the States.

A few plans for the rest of the week...we have an Easter Monday meal at the SITAG director's house today.  Both Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays here.  I think this will be our last somewhat "normal" week because Aaron will leave for Marulaon on Sunday and the packing will intensify as we near our departure date.

A peek into my corner of the world...the lunar eclipse occurred on Saturday night for us.  We didn't stay up for the whole thing, because midnight is way too late for our crew.  But we enjoyed hanging out on the porch and watching the fun begin.