Marriage Monday - Days 16 and 17 of 40

I Take Master Card (Charge Your Love to Me)

by Nikki Giovanni

I've heard all the stories

'bout how you don't deserve me

'cause I'm so strong and beautiful and wonderful and you could

never live up to what you know I should have but I just want to let you know:

I take Master Card

You can love me as much as your heart can stand

then put the rest on

account and pay the interest 

each month until we get this settled

You see we modern women do comprehend

that we deserve a whole lot more

than what is normally being offered but we are trying

to get aligned with the modern world

So baby you can love me all

you like 'cause you're pre-approved 

and you don't have to sign on 

the bottom line

Our hometown recently began a "coffee crawl" with cards to get stamped at each of the local coffee shops. This is the perfect way to give us some dating direction before Aaron goes back to the Solomon Islands next week. We are having so much fun on these little mini dates!

Pearl of Great Price

“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:46

One of the Advent tags we added when we returned to America was from Matthew 13, one of the parables Jesus told about the pearl of great price. Wearing the pearls throughout the year reminds us to invest in eternity. 

One year, Benjamin received mother-of-pearl cufflinks. Katherine requested this ring from Etsy for her pearl reminder this year, and our daughter-in-law Hannah requested this one.

I wear this necklace almost daily since I got it two years ago. But we give these "glittering toys of earth" to point us to the real treasure, Jesus.

The Pearl of Great Price

by Anne Steele

Ye glittering toys of earth adieu,
A nobler choice be mine;
A real prize attracts my view,
A treasure all divine.

Be gone, unworthy of my cares,
Ye specious baits of sense;
Ineflimable worth appears,
The pearl of price immense.

Jesus, to multitudes unknown,
O name divinely sweet!
Jesus, in thee, in thee alone,
Wealth, honor, pleasure meet.

Thanksgiving 2023

"Thou hast, with ever watchful eye,
   Looked down on us with holy care,

And from thy storehouse in the sky
   Hast scattered plenty everywhere.

Then lift we up our songs of praise
   To thee, O Father, good and kind;

To thee we consecrate our days;
   Be thine the temple of each mind.

With incense sweet our thanks ascend;
   Before thy works our powers pall;

Though we should strive years without end,
   We could not thank thee for them all."

From "A Thanksgiving Poem" by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Memorial Day

Dedicated to the men and women who serve our country, especially those in our family...

A Nation's Strength

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not gold, but only man can make

A people great and strong;

Men who, for truth and honor's sake,

Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,

Who dare while others fly -- 

They build a nation's pillars deep

And lift them to the sky.

Sweet Sabbath

“Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”  

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

National Popcorn Day

Maybe it's because we eat a ton of popcorn when we are in the village, but we haven't celebrated National Popcorn Day in way too long.  Three years ago, we were in midst of packing to go back to the Solomons on National Popcorn Day, and I find it a little funny that Aaron and I are sorting and packing in the frigid attic today in hopes of heading back overseas.

  

While the unexpected and beautiful snow flew outside, inside we were warm and cozy making popcorn cake.

1 (16 oz.) bag of marshmallows

1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter

2/3 cup raw popcorn, popped

1 (16 oz.) bag of plain M&Ms (we used peanut butter M&Ms this time, just because we can do that sort of thing in America)

1 (16 oz.) container of roasted peanuts

Melt butter and marshmallows over low heat.  Pour over popped popcorn (our family prefers the taste of popcorn made with coconut oil), M&Ms, and peanuts in a large bowl.  Stir quickly to coat.  Press into buttered bundt pan.  Set 1 1/2 hours in the fridge.

The girls danced and played and reveled in the snow.  Nothing is sticking because the ground is way too warm, but huge, wet flakes have been falling for hours.  For girls raised in the tropics (and for this mama raised in Arkansas), snow is a treat to be enjoyed.

It's a good time to make some hot chocolate or some coffee and raid the book basket while we eat our yummy popcorn cake.  I don't have affiliate links, so click away and enjoy adding to your book stash!

The Popcorn Dragon by Jane Thayer

The Huckabuck Family and How They Raised Popcorn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back by Carl Sandburg

Mercy Watson Something Wonky This Way Comes by Kate DiCamillo

The Popcorn Astronauts and Other Biteable Rhymes by Deborah Ruddell (with beautiful illustrations)

Popcorn - poems by James Stevenson

Popcorn! by Elaine Landau (very punny nonfiction) 

Sing a Song of Popcorn:  Every Child's Book of Poems (beautifully illustrated by nine Caldecott Medal artists)

Arrival of the Popcorn Astronauts

The daring popcorn astronauts

are brave beyond compare --

they scramble into puffy suits

and hurtle through the air.

And when they land, we say hooray

and crowd around the spot 

to salt the little astronauts

and eat them while they're hot.

Choate Family Christmas

This last Christmas as a family of six looked a little bit different than usual.  Fewer gifts, more time together.  More soaking up each other's company knowing that this is it.  Sarah is in Uganda studying abroad this semester, and Benjamin is on his way back to JBU already.  So time was the best gift.  And time together helped us to really focus on the sweet gift of Jesus.

On Christmas Day, we realized that the whipping cream I had bought to top our traditional gingerbread waffles had accidentally all gone into Benjamin's birthday gingerbread ice cream.  So we ate leftover ice cream on top of our waffles.  Delicious!  The day was unusually sunny and warm, so we tackled the easy trails at Cadron Settlement Park on the beautiful Arkansas River to make a new family tradition.

Advent Sunday

by Christina Rossetti

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh: go ye out

With lighted lamps and garlands round about

To meet him in a rapture with a shout.

It may be at the midnight, black as pitch,

Earth shall cast up her poor, cast up her rich.

It may be at the crowing of the cock

Earth shall upheave her depth, uproot her rock.

For lo, the Bridegroom fetcheth home the Bride:

His Hands are Hands she knows, she knows His side.

Like pure Rebekah at the appointed place,

Veiled, she unveils her face to meet His Face.

Like great Queen Esther in her triumphing, 

She triumphs in the Presence of her King.

His Eyes are as a Dove's, and she's Dove-eyed;

He knows his lovely mirror, sister, Bride.

He speaks with Dove voice of exceeding love,

And she with love-voice of an answering Dove.

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh:  go we out

With lighted lamps and garlands round about

To meet him in a rapture with a shout.

Friday, September 9

 

The Shell
by Amy Carmichael

 

Upon the sandy shore an empty shell,
Beyond the shell infinity of sea;
O Savior, I am like that empty shell,
Thou art the Sea to me.

 

A sweeping wave rides up the shore, and lo,
Each dim recess the coiled shell within
Is searched, is filled, is filled to overflow
By water crystalline.

 

 

Not to the shell is any glory then:
All glory give we to the glorious sea.
And not to me is any glory whenever
Thou overflowest me.

 

Sweep over me, Thy shell, as low I lie;
I yield me o the purpose of Thy will;
Sweep up, O conquering waves, and purify,
And with Thy fullness fill.

Saturday, August 20

Snapshots of a normal week in Marulaon Village

 

 

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By his love and pow'r controlling
All I do and say.

 

 

May the word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only thro' his pow'r.

 

 

May the peace of God, my Father,
Rule my life in ev'rything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.

 

May the love of Jesus fill me,
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing
This is victory.

 

 

May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe.
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.

 

May his beauty rest upon me
As I seek to lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only him.

 

 

~Kate B. Wilkinson, 1925
Tune: St. Leonards

Rain

 

Much needed rain fell in Honiara this afternoon and enlivened a basketball game as it filled up the rain tanks...

 

Rain

by Robert Louis Stevenson

 

 

The rain is falling all around,

It falls on field and tree,

 

It rains on the umbrellas here,

And on the ships at sea.

Epiphany

Reading "The Gift of the Magi" by T. S. Elliot,

watching Sarah try her new "flame thrower" as she put the finishing touches on our sweet potato Three Kings Cake,

 

 

sharing Gift of the Magi bread and sweet gum ball star ornaments lovingly made by my little girls,

 

 

eating cake gingerly because the ceramic baby Jesus is hidden inside one of those luscious pieces, and we want to keep our eyes open for Him,



 

being delighted when Sarah finds baby Jesus in her piece,

 

and watching the original Amahl and the Night Visitors,

 

 

that's how we celebrated our Epiphany.

Seeing Stars

"The Perfect Gift"

by Edmund Vance Cooke

 

It is not the weight of jewel or plate

Or the fondle of silk or fur,

But the spirit in which the gift is rich

As the gifts of the Wise Men were.

And we are not told whose gift was gold

Or whose was the gift of myrrh.

 

As in years past, our family is getting ready to celebrate Epiphany.  To continue to search for Jesus and to adore Him.  We are almost finished adding candles to our wooden wreath.  And books about the Magi have replaced Christmas books in the basket.

 

 

"The Story of the Three Wise Kings" by Tomie DePaola

"Amahl and the Night Visitors" by Gian Carlo Menotti

"The Fourth Wise Man" by Susan Summers

"Baboushka and the Three Kings" by Ruth Robbins

"The Little Boy's Christmas Gift" by John Speirs

"The Fourth King: The Story of the Other Wise Man" by Ted Sieger

My little girls are busy making star ornaments to share, with the reminder that when the wise men saw the star, "they rejoiced with great joy!"  Soon, Sarah will decide what kind of cake she wants to create so the ceramic baby Jesus can nestle deep inside while it bakes.  Once again, we bring the gift of ourselves, not the weight of jewel or plate or the fondle of silk or fur.  Once again, we keep our eyes on God's guidance in our lives.  And we follow hard.

 

Let the Stable Still Astonish

Let the stable still astonish:
Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain,
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?

Who would have said: "Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place"?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
of our hearts and says, "Yes,
let the God of Heaven and Earth
be born here--
in this place."
- Leslie Leyland Fields

According to Wikipedia,  "Advent is a season observed...as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. The term is a version of the Latin word meaning 'coming'."

Our household purposes to create spirits of waiting and preparation in the coming weeks, that the stable would still astonish us.  We pray the same will be true for you and yours.