The Blessing

We're settling back into Honiara again, the girls are back in school, and we've found our routine.  Now I can catch up on the blog!  Last Friday, we wanted to be ready as soon as Mik and Lyn showed up with the boat.  So we began to take our cargo down to the shore in the early afternoon.  As always, we had friends who realized what we were doing, so they offered their muscles to move boxes to the loading area.  The sailboat showed up, and Mik came ashore in the dingy just as we finished with the last bit of cargo. 

I asked my friend Skita to make a wreath of flowers for the boat as a small thank you, and they were absolutely beautiful.  Saturday morning, we loaded the sailboat at 6 a.m. and watched the sunrise as the captain made everything ready for our departure.  I was extra proud of Olivia because she had been out late the night before singing Christmas carols in other villages.  Not a word of complaint when the alarm went off, just hard work to get everything ready.

As you think about my spunky Olivia, would you please pray for her?  She fits in so well with the other young adults in our village.  But many of them will be going back to the schools around the Solomons, so Olivia won't have as many peers when we return.  And at SITAG she has no peers.  She is doing a great job of processing everything and doing the best she can to be an integral part of wherever she lives.

We're so thankful for the Blessing.  Our trip took about twelve hours because of great winds blowing in the right direction.  But the sea is still rough in between the Russells and Guadalcanal (yay for candied ginger and Bonine).  And packing and moving is still a very difficult transition that zaps us.  Mik and Lyn gave us a soft place to land, fed us yummy food, and totally allowed us to relax during the trip back to SITAG.  Much smoother than the ride on a copra boat!