"While we'd never ask for calamity, it is the moments of crisis that shape our hearts, strengthen our resolve, fine-tune our perspective, and grow our empathy for others."  

~Lauren Casper, "Loving Well in a Broken World:  Discover the Hidden Power of Empathy"

I can't empathize with the ways that my friends around the world are impacted by COVID-19, because we feel the shock waves coming from different directions.  Aaron has been trying to contact our translation committee chairman for over a week, but he has received no response to his texts and phone calls.  When it's hard to find that precious phone signal, you only turn the phone on when you are ready to use it.  We're not surprised at the lack of communication.  

So we're asking God to "fine-tune our perspective and grow in empathy for others", no matter where those others might live.  Would you be willing to pray that for us, too?

Marriage Monday

"Marriage, even though it will introduce us to some of life's most arduous moments, has brilliant intentions in mind.  It's unapologetically interested in chipping away at our dysfunctional thoughts, patterns, and postures in life and inviting us - and our spouses - to become the best version of ourselves." ~Tyler Ward, "Marriage Rebranded"

We got caught in the rain during our morning walk.  But we didn't quit.  

The vital habit of not giving up?  We're still honing our skills:

-Don't bail on a hard conversation, do stick around and be present both physically and emotionally.  

-Don't stop at the surface level, do dig down and continue to focus on the heart.  

-Don't build a wall, brick by brick by heavy brick, instead do allow intimate access into thoughts and feelings.  

Sounds like the stuff that superheroes are made of, and we are definitely NOT superheroes.  These proficiencies, the "sandpaper" that smooths our rough edges and helps us become the "best version of ourselves", are totally impossible without a loving Heavenly Father who provides His Word for guidance, the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, and friends along the way who provide sage advice and encouragement.  Don't quit.  Marriage is worth the hard work.

School Update

And POOF, just like that, I have a 7th and a 12th grader under my roof.  I'm choosing to not think about how lonely Katherine and I will be next year when Olivia goes to college and I only have one left at home.  I'm noticing just how lovely my girls are growing, both in body and mind.  We're in Honiara indefinitely, so we're chugging along on school.  We just wrapped up Week 2, and with the uncertainty of the rest of the year, we're being as faithful as we can to complete as much school as possible.

One of my favorite things about school at home is the opportunity to discuss all kinds of things.  Just a few days ago, when talking with Katherine about the fact that Aaron and I shared a locker our senior year and also had five classes together, she commented, "Didn't you ever get tired of looking at his face?!?"

We're still using the amazing Sonlight Curriculum that has been steadfast for the last sixteen years of our homeschool experience.  Olivia is exploring American Government and Economics, Advanced Biology (what I would have called Anatomy and Physiology), Bible, American Literature, Psychology, Rosetta Stone French, Piano, and Violin.  Katherine is continuing her world history studies alongside Apologia's General Science, Teaching Textbook's Pre-Algebra, Bible, Rosetta Stone French, Literature, Piano, and Cello.

Honiara Woman's Daybook

Just for today...Monday, April 20

On my bookshelf..."Making Peace With Change: Navigating Life's Messy Transitions With Honesty and Grace" by Gina Brenna Butz.  Although the book is written specifically to cross cultural workers, I think most people on the planet currently feel like life is in transition.  I highly recommend this book!  I've been slowly chewing my way through for the last couple of months.

Outside my window...this is my view when I mosey home each morning from my "walky talky" with the hubby .  You can't tell that the gray, flat ocean is just behind those trees or that the house where we are currently living is just on the right on top of the ridge.  We truly live in a beautiful place.

Tickling my eardrums..."Vermeer: Art and Music of His Times".  Katherine and I are in the 1600s for school, and I LOVE this series of music!!!  If you have the hard copy of the CD, the liner includes lovely art as well as information about the connections between the art and music.  For anybody who likes to see how the tapestry of history weaves together, you need this in your life.

I am wearing...my new favorite socks!  They are so soft and comfy for exercise (but it's too hot to wear them any other time).

Pondering these words..."It is a gift to be brought to this place, where God knocks down our house of cards, where we are at the end of our resources.  Beyond our resources, really.  God doesn't take us to places of need so we can prove how strong we are; He takes us through them so we can discover greater depths of His strength."  ~Gina Brenna Butz

Sweet Sabbath

"We all say we want to grow.  We want to grow more Christlike, more dependent on God.  We just would rather not go through the pain it takes to get there.  We want the kind of fairy-tale growth that comes with long prayer walks in the woods, after which we emerge deeper and more mature.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.  Instead, God cultivates our growth through times of weakness, need, and humility.  And transition is a powerful catalyst to those places." 

 ~Gina Brenna Butz, 

"Making Peace With Change:  Navigating Life's Messy Transitions With Honesty and Grace"

People all over the world are still trying to figure out what a "new normal" looks like.  In the midst of the changes and the weakness and the growth and the prayers for discernment, I find joy in discovering some of those gifts God sends my way:

-Delicious and funny looking "Hulk Muffins" to go alongside melon papaya and get our Sunday started off well

-Learning a new game, Dixit, during an impromptu rainy Saturday afternoon game session with another SITAG family

-Creative words flowing from our pens...

To the tune of "These are a Few of my Favorite Things":

Mama's version:

FaceTime with Sarah and fresh cups of coffee,

Sunrise and sermons and scripture to fill me,

Hugs from my hubby and family "couch sings",

These are a few of my favorite things!

Olivia's version:
Dancing and singing with friends in the village,
Chocolate and coffee with infrequent spillage,
The joy that reading lots and lots of books brings,
These are a few of my favorite things!

Eye Health

I should have gone to the eye doctor in December.  It had been a year, and my aging eyes were sending me distress signals.  But we decided to wait until May when we planned for the whole family to go to Brisbane for all of our routine medical exams.  My eye doctor in Brisbane has been taking care of Benjamin and me for many years, and we really like the work they do!  But then the Corona virus hit, and our plans to spend time in Brisbane wilted.  So my eye health has been on my mind a lot lately.

All of the pondering about my physical eyes and how to take good care of them makes me think about my spiritual eyes, and their development.  All throughout scripture, God is at work.  Sometimes people had eyes to see, sometimes they were blind.

And Elisha prayed, "Open his eyes, Lord, so that we may see."  Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.  

2 Kings 6:17

Then their eyes were open and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 

 Luke 24: 31

God is still at work, and sometimes I'm blind, too.  Open my eyes, Lord, to see situations and people with Your clear focus.

Marriage Monday - Everyday Miracle

In marriage's middle years we have to find joy in the everyday miracle of keeping our promises.  We must keep at the repetitive, routine work of I do.  As C.S. Lewis has written, every marriage must, as it matures, "submit to the loss of the thrill...[which] will be compensated...by a quieter and more lasting kind of interest." 

 ~Jen Pollock Michel, "Keeping Place:  Reflections on the Meaning of Home"

When I first read this quote, I disagreed violently with Lewis about submitting to the "loss of the thrill", but as I ponder his words, I think maybe he meant that the thrill changes and matures.  The experiences that initially cause the thrill, still do.  But now the thrill is deeper, sweeter. 

We still bump up against challenges in our marriage, even though we no longer have crying babies in the middle of the night. Trust has grown over the years because of the hard work that has been invested in the relationship.  God gives us grace to persevere.  And we more easily discover the "joy in the everyday miracle of keeping our promises."

Easter Sunday

You know it's going to be a good day when a vivid rainbow shoots across Honiara's harbor and when the Resurrection Cookies turn out better than they ever have before.  We did accidently leave the oven on when the cookies went in, so they got a little bit extra heat.  We may do that on purpose every year from now on!

After home church, we gathered as a SITAG family for a lunch potluck.  The Solomon Islands still doesn't have any cases of COVID-19, so we are doing our best to be wise and cautious, but not fearful.  Olivia picked up the mantle of making the coconut cake,

Aaron made his traditional cross biscuits, and we feasted and celebrated with our adopted, overseas family.

I really like the list that Velvet Ashes made of ways to flourish during this unprecedented time:

-Gather together (virtually)

-Do something productive

-Eat really good food

-Be together

-Maintain traditions and customs that are meaningful to you

-Find beauty

-Feel free to cry

-Share good news with people you love

Sweet and Simple

Over the years, our family has maintained some traditions despite calling three different locations home.  We've never had a lot of money to spend, and we have often been unable to locate fancy ingredients or decorations.  So, we've learned to keep it sweet and simple.

Somehow, that category fits us.  Sweet and simple.  Those kinds of traditions also mean that food is often the center of the celebration.  I'm okay with that!  On Good Friday, we made enough hot cross buns to share with our SITAG family.

Olivia began the coconut cake for tomorrow, thankfully without any mishaps or extra cake making! And tonight we made Resurrection Cookies.  This is the first time we've been missing both Sarah and Benjamin in our Easter preparations, and I have to admit this mama shed a few tears.  We are thankful for the JBU professors who are hosting our college kids right now.  We are thankful for technology to help us stay in touch.

We thought we would still be in the village to celebrate Easter and that Olivia would be decorating the church, singing and dancing with her peers.  She has shed a few tears over that, too.  In the midst of these simple preparations, our foundation remains the same.  Christ died.  Christ was buried.  Christ rose again.

Tortilla Cups

Most of my memories from growing up center around food.  I thought my mom could conjure up good times with just a few minutes in the kitchen.

And one of my favorite things was taco salad in tortilla cups.  I had no idea how she created the puffy, amazing, crunchy holders for the taco filling, but I was mesmerized.  Not realizing how easy this transformation took place, I never tried it in my own home.  Until now.

With my trusty side-kick, Katherine, we followed the directions in my well worn Better Homes and Garden cookbook.  Here is how the magic happens:

In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, heat 2 inches of cooking oil to 375 degrees.  Place one 7-inch flour tortilla on top of hot oil.  Using a metal ladle, press tortilla into fat, forming the tortilla into a cup.  Fry for 40-60 seconds or till golden.  Remove with tongs.  Drain on paper towels.  Repeat with five more tortillas.

And there you have it.  Delight on a plate.

Getting Ready for Easter

Many people depend on their churches and corporate worship to celebrate Holy Week and Easter, and the current virus situation swats away many of those forms of support.  

If you are looking for some extra resources to help your family turn your hearts and minds towards Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross, Wycliffe USA developed "Easter Around the World" and an "Easter Countdown" using the loveable characters, Kate and Mack.

Hurricane Harold Havoc

What began as a low pressure system in the Solomon Islands on Thursday morning quickly zoomed past a tropical depression and a tropical storm and developed into a Category 1 Cyclone named Harold.  Harold has continued its growth spurt, and currently the storm is battering Vanuatu.

SITAG only sustained minor damages: a few trees down, loss of power for about 15 hours, and a flying chicken coop roof that resulted in escaped chickens and a little bit of a fiasco with dogs.  The hubby and me, wind and rain, scared chickens, excited dogs.  Memory making for sure.

Other areas in the Solomon Islands received major flooding with roads, gardens and bridges washed away.  And unfortunately, a ship went out in the midst of the storm and some people were swept overboard.  Add the chaos of the current COVID-19 situation, and I'm grateful for the surefootedness that the Lord gives us each day.

We made it!

Yesterday's trip across was one of the smoothest we've ever made.  We appreciate the prayers of people around the world!  Seas were smooth, our driver, Belza, was amazing as always. We made good time across the ocean to Komibo, and one of our SITAG colleagues picked us up for the truck portion of our trip.

Not only did God provide a ship exactly when and where we needed it to get our cargo into Honiara, but He also provided the perfect weather yesterday.  Now, we are sitting underneath a low pressure system that is dumping tons of rain and wind and churning up waves.  If we had waited until today, we would be stuck in the village because of the weather.  

I'm so thankful for Aaron's ears that are open to the Holy Spirit, for his quick thinking and TONS of hard work to get us packed up in 36 hours.  We usually schedule a week for a move back to Honiara. I would not want to do it this way again!  Today, our bodies are sore from the bouncing of the motor boat, and our hearts are also tender from the quick evacuation.  So we are intentionally being gentle with both our bodies and our hearts as we transition back to SITAG.