Learning Tok Pisin

One of the things we would like to do before we leave the country is to learn a little Tok Pisin (the trade language of Papua New Guinea). Learning some language before we get to our Pacific Orientation Course will give us a head start, so we are playing number bingo and concentration games using animals and foods like those below.

Animals
mosquito-natnat
crocodile-pukpuk
cat-pusi
pig-pik

Foods
sweet potato-kaukau
cabbage-kapis
orange-switmuli
milk-susu

If you want to try and pronounce some of the words, remember that the orthography follows the International Phonetic Alphabet. So 'a' says 'ah', 'i' says 'ee', 'u' says 'oo', etc. For more information about Tok Pisin you can check out:

Radio Australia – Tok Pisin Service
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/tokpisin/

Thomas H. Slone's Homepage
http://members.tripod.com/~THSlone/index.html

Robert Eklund's Tok Pisin Homepage
http://roberteklund.info/

Tok Pisin
http://www.tok-pisin.com/

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tok_Pisin

Why am I allowed two?

"Here dies another day

During which I have had eyes, ears, hands,

And the great world around me;

And with tomorrow begins another.

Why am I allowed two?"

G.K. Chesterton

For the birds

We are enjoying learning to recognize some birds by sight and sound. God was so creative when he made animals! For snacks so far this week, we've made "worms and dirt" and "birds' nests" to immerse ourselves in bird study. Our days have been warm, so the window and doors are open allowing the bird song to drift through the house (although it is frequently drowned out by the sweet cacophony of children!). I find myself listening more to distinguish the sounds of the birds and encouraging the kids to do the same.

Teamwork

"Hear, O Lord, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.

You are my God;

save your servant who trusts in you.

Have mercy on me, O Lord,

for I call to you all day long.

Bring joy to your servant,

for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul."

Psalm 86:1-4

This prayer of David echoes the way I have felt during the last eight weeks of class. The Lord has been so faithful for the strength, energy, and grace I needed each day. He placed a team around our family: some people stepped in to watch our kids while Aaron and I were in class, some taught us in the classroom each day, some e-mailed or called with encouraging words, some people helped from on their knees from different states (or countries). Thank you to each one of you who have been a part of our team during the last few weeks while we were being equipped to share the Bible in the Solomon Islands.

The Week Ahead

Here's a look at the special days ahead:

Monday, April 7 - No Housework Day

Tuesday, April 8 - Illustrator Trina Schart Hyman's birthday (1939) She has illustrated many of Jean Fritz's books and many fairy tales as well -one of our favorite illustrators and a good excuse to check out lots of her books!

Wednesday, April 9 - Paul Bustill Robeson's birthday (1898) We will read the book "Paul Robeson: A Voice to Remember" by Patricia McKissack and Fredrick McKissack.

Thursday, April 10 - Safety Pin patented (1849)

Friday, April 11 - Edward Everett's birthday (1794) Who was Edward Everett you ask? It was Edward Everett who delivered the main address at the dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery, Nov. 19, 1863. President Abramham Lincoln also spoke at the dedication, and his brief speech (less than two minutes) is remembered while Everett's is not. Read "Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln" by Jean Fritz to find out more.

Saturday, April 12 - Author Beverly Cleary's birthday (1916)

Sunday, April 13 - Alfred M. Butts' birthday (1899) Alfred Butts was a jobless architect in the Depression when he invented the board game Scrabble. The game was just a fad for Butt's friends until a Macy's executive saw the game being played at a resort in 1952 and the world's largest store began carrying it. Manufacturing of the game was turned over to Selchow & Righter when 35 workers were producting 6,000 sets a week. Butts received three cents per set for years. He said, "One-third went to taxes. I gave one-third away, and the other third enabled me to have an enjoyable life." (information from "The Teacher's Calendar")

Celebration Campout!

To help celebrate the end of this class session, we all ate ice cream and Aaron set up the tent for the big kids to camp out. I wish you could have heard all of the sweet giggles and seen the kids bouncing off the walls in anticipation.

The girls were tickled to find that their hair responded to the static electricity in the tent!

Keeping up with the Solomons

If you are interested in learning culture along with us, check out the Solomon Star - one of the Solomon Islands' newspapers that is online. Here is an article about the Year of the Bible - 2008. Once a week, a Bible page is printed in Melanesian Pidgin, the first language we will learn when we move to the Solomons. We use this resource (and others like it) to give us a head start in language and culture learning. There are lots of online resources to learn more about the culture and language where we will be serving. If you are interested in finding out more, please let us know.

Tomorrow is my last language learning demo and my last day of class is next Tuesday! Aaron begins his last round of classes next Thursday. Thanks for all of your prayers during this stretching time for our family. Our focus will now turn to all of the paperwork and preparations needed to get our family overseas in August. I'm looking forward to being able to give my family my best again!

Lewis and Clark's Cinnamon Buns

This morning, the kids made the cinnamon buns from "The Food Journal of Lewis and Clark: Recipes for an Expedition". We are having so much fun with this book!

From the book, "Philadelphia bakers drew from English and German traditions to establish the city's reputation for bread baking....vendors sold hot Cinnamon Buns on the street." p. 24

Sarah was surprised at how long the buns took from start to finish (they have to rise twice), but she still wanted to make them three times a week to eat at our house!

Fun with Friends

We enjoyed a visit from some friends from Memphis last night. Russ and Crystal were in Dallas for a conference, and gave us some of their valuable time to share a meal and cheer the Memphis Tigers on to victory! Crystal embroiders beautiful baby clothes, so check out her ever expanding creativity.

Making Ugali with Mwalimu Alice

My Swahili teacher, Alice, held class in our kitchen this morning. She showed us how to make ugali (all in Swahili, of course), and the process is fascinating! The ugali puffs up while it is cooking, and you have to use a special stirring stick and strong muscles to make the ugali come out just right. Ugali (oo-gaw-lee) is a little like cornbread without any leavening, and you eat it with your stew. The consistancy of the ugali is like play-dough, and you break off a piece, mold it into a little scoop, and use the ugali almost like a spoon to eat the stew. I have really enjoyed learning Swahili with such a patient and kind instructor! Hard to believe that my Swahili evaluation is next Friday.

The Ladies' Room

On yesterday's post, I failed to include the treasure that the kids found on their hike with Aaron over the weekend. Sarah came in with her prize, and I asked her where she found it. "In the Ladies' Restroom," was her response. Visions of bones decorating the windowsills of the restrooms here on the center went flashing through my mind until I heard Sarah giggle. Then I realized she had taken an urgent squat behind a tree and discovered the bones while she was indisposed. What a great sense of humor! Any guesses as to the former life of Sarah's treasure?

Busy Easter Weekend

We have enjoyed a full Easter weekend of celebrating God's gift of life! Saturday, Aaron took the older children on a romp through the trails. We've had so much rain lately that the streams and creeks were full, and the kids had a blast exploring all of the waterfalls and mud.

Like many of you, we have lots of Easter traditions (most of which revolve around food). Saturday afternoon, we decorated eggs, and Saturday evening we made resurrection cookies. The kids' least favorite part is beating the nuts because it is representative of the soldiers beating Jesus's body. Notice Benjamin is holding his ears while Olivia beats the nuts. He actually asked if we could skip that part this year. We gave cookies away on Sunday morning along with jellybeans to color-coordinate with this poem.

God’s Jelly Bean Rainbow
Orange is the twilight night He prayed.
Black is our sin stain for which He paid.
Red is His own shed blood so bright.
Yellow is the Son’s warm, healing light.
Purple is His head crowned with thorns.
Pink is hope risen on Easter morn.
Brown is the ground where He was laid.
Gray is the stone that was rolled away.
White is God’s grace we freely receive.
Green our eternal life when we believe.
All of these colors represent something true:
Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, died for me
and died for you.

Breakfast on Sunday is always "Resurrection Rolls" and fruit salad along with some of the hard boiled eggs we died on Saturday. The rolls are just Grands biscuits (we like the wheat biscuits) stuffed with a big marshmallow before baking and dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar. When the biscuits are baking, the marshmallow dissolves leaving a empty hole - just like the tomb!

After a rough night with Katherine, this apple omelet was a lovely welcome to a beautiful day! Aaron is a master chef who enjoys making food pleasing to the eyes as well as pleasing to the palate.

Eighteen years ago tonight, Aaron and I were in a movie theater watching "Hunt for Red October" with a bunch of friends when he realized that "Joanna is a girl!". I am so thankful for my godly and servant hearted husband who is leading our family through this exciting journey of life.

March Madness (with apologies to the fans of K-State, the Razorbacks, and the Memphis Tigers)

Thanks to Aunt Rachel, we are ready for the games to begin tomorrow! The kids begged to wear their Jayhawks t-shirts to sleep in last night. Sarah wanted me to note that she fixed Olivia's hair.