Thursday, November 12, 2009

ordinary time

Friday, November 13
Life is just trucking along here in Marulaon.  Our oven is still not behaving, but if we crank it up to broil and wait for it to heat up, we can usually manage to get about 300 degrees.  So, today I loaded up the oven with 3 dozen banana muffins (for market in the morning), a loaf of bread, and some rolls (for sloppy Joes tonight).  Oh, the house smelled good!  Pogo finished up her week with us today.  She has such a beautiful flower garden, so whenever she works for me I ask her to plant more flowers.  Today, she added some beautiful red hibiscus that I hope will thrive on the Eastern border of our yard.  I'm still amazed that they just hack off a branch and stick it in the ground to grow.
 
Yesterday, the kids stayed out and played with the neighbors until the bell for prayer rang.  Watching them all play together puts a smile on my face.  The older kids should all come home from school for the weekend within the next hour.  I spent some time yesterday trying to again translate some of the hymns and liturgy.  Over and over, we are finding that our neighbors do not know what they are saying and singing because it was translated word for word instead of for its meaning.  Starting with poorly translated words is almost harder than starting without anything written down!
 
Feathers are beginning to appear on our Thankful Turkey.  It's fun to see the things my kids choose to write on the feathers ("our family being helthy" and "getting to know nibors family and frenids in our village" both from Olivia).  We're saving our books to read aloud while Aaron is gone to Honiara next week for a meeting.  Louisa May Alcott's "An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving" remains on the top of our favorites list.  Pulling out good books each year is like pulling out old friends!  We love "Molly's Pilgrim" by Barbara Cohen, "Thank You, Thanksgiving" by David Milgrim, "This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story" by Laura Krauss Melmed, "Thanks for Thanksgiving" by Julie Markes, and "My Book of Thanks" by B.B. Hennessy.

2 comments:

Nahna said...

Sounds like a pretty happy life to me. It will be a different experience with you and the kids in the village and Aaron is Honiara????

Prayers and hugs all 'round.

We love you.

The dB family said...

I am discovering that you really need to like seafood :o)! That wouldn't be a problem for us, but for some families, I'm sure it would take some getting used to it.

Blessings!
Deborah