Brochure photo

Our friend Joy took this photo from our front yard.  Now you can see how close the ocean is to our house.  How 'bout planning a trip to the Solomon Islands?

 

Tomorrow morning (Tuesday, Jan 5), we will hop on the Bikoi and head back to Honiara.  I'll continue to post and update you on our very fun New Year's celebrations when we get back.  Plans change, but right now the ship is scheduled to come to Marulaon at 10:00 a.m. (5 p.m. Monday night, CST).  We appreciate your prayers for an uncrowded and calm trip.

More Baison pictures

Our family stopped for a picnic of trail mix on top of a hill overlooking Fly Harbour.

 

Aaron carrying the bag of umalau to give to our friends in Baison.

Pictures from Baison

Notice the canoes paddling into the oncoming rain on the left

 

The two Olivias - both of them firecrackers!

 

Katherine and her best village friend, Doris

 

Aaron storying with Olivia's oldest son

Marulaon Woman's Daybook

For Today...Thursday, December 31

Outside my window...magnificent sun rising, breeze blowing, the village is waking up, small children collecting molokita that fell to the ground with the wind during the night

I am thinking...about how much we need prayer for wise living and making the most of every opportunity as we try to understand what the Lord's will is in each situation we encounter here in Marulaon (Eph. 5:15-17)

From the learning rooms...Christmas break from school, but we're still learning how to cook foods like our neighbors and use our outdoor kitchen

I am thankful for...our sweet friend, Joy, who has tackled every new challenge with gusto in spite of a cold.  She has been such a blessing to our family:  celebrating Christmas, playing with the kids, mending stacks of clothes, encouraging us and making us laugh.

From the kitchen...lemon poppyseed muffins and yogurt pops for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, and chili with cornbread for supper

I am wearing...cotton pajamas and a ponytail as I sit on our porch

I am reading...still absorbing E.M. Bounds thoughts on prayer and being convicted on every page

I am hoping...and praying for calm seas and an uncrowded "Bikoi" next Tuesday

Around the house...Christmas decorations coming down a little bit early, packing up and cleaning in preparation for leaving Marulaon on January 5

 

Pondering these words..."The Word of God is the fulcrum upon which the lever of prayer is placed, and by which things are mightily moved."  E.M. Bounds

One of my favorite things...hearing the rain fall and fill up the rain tanks - we like to think of it as "give us this day our daily rain"

A few plans for the rest of the week...packing, big New Year's celebration with feasting and dancing on Friday, lots of cleaning as we prepare the house to be closed for seven weeks

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Joy and one of my favorite babies in Marulaon.  Rockleaf (that really is his name) always has a smile and lets me cart him around on my hip.

 

Kora

Monday, December 28

Today, Pogo helped Joy and me make kora.  It's a type of lelenga very similar to scalloped potatoes.  You prepare the "rumit" (thick coconut milk - about ten coconut's worth) like you do for lelenga, but instead of scraping the obikola, you slice the umalau very thinly.  Tonight, the village had a going away party for the bamboo band that came for Christmas.  So after prayer the bell rang to let everyone know that the party was starting and Joy and I took the kora down.

 

Several of our family and friends have asked why we wanted an outside kitchen.  We wanted to be able to cook some of the same dishes that our friends cook, and they can only be cooked in the motu - hot stones surrounding the food.  However, I don't cook in the outside kitchen everyday.  We have a stove inside the house for everyday cooking.  When we were in Papua New Guinea, we cooked over an open fire every day.  Although I know how to use the outdoor kitchen, it's much easier and faster not to have to split firewood, make a fire, and cook everything outside.

 

Tuesday, December 29

This morning we walked a little more than two miles over to show Joy Fly Harbour school where the kids from Marulaon go to school.  Then we walked a little bit more to Baison, the village at the end of Marulaon island.  We've recently befriended a cousin of Felta's who lives at the very tip of the island, so we walked over to her house and took a bag of umalau from our garden.  We sat and storied for a while, then we noticed rain coming from the east.  It crossed Marulaon (I had left my laundry on the line), then it came toward us as it showered four small canoes paddling against the wind.  We scurried underneath the house to wait out the quick shower.  Felta has been staying with this cousin and helping in the garden.  Doris was there even though Felta had paddled away to the mainland for the day.  Katherine was thrilled to see her!  The cousin sent us home with a papaya and two breadfruit.  We headed back for the long walk and finally arrived back home around 3:00 p.m.  Katherine fell asleep in her Daddy's arms on the way home.  When we arrived, I found that Eileen had asked her daughter to move our clothes underneath the house.  What a great friend!

Another Christmas

 

Saturday, December 26th

Today, we celebrated Christmas American style and Thomas finished our kitchen.  After morning prayer and market, we enjoyed gingerbread waffles, hot apple cider and hot chocolate while Aaron read from our Advent book.  Then, he read some more from Dickens' "Christmas Carol".  The kids then handed out their presents.  Sweet things like:  Benjamin connected three handmade potholders to make a coffee cup cozy for Aaron's favorite mug, Sarah sewed a cover for Aaron's computer using squares of material, Olivia drew lots of pretty pictures as gifts.  Each child has worked for weeks to make just the right gift for each of their family members (including Joy).  Joy surprised us by bringing gifts from our POC friends in Papua New Guinea!  We were humbled that people we hadn't seen in over a year would take the time to send such thoughtful gifts.  We were abundantly blessed by the amount of gifts under the tree, and we still have several boxes waiting for us in Honiara.  A big thanks to those of you who cared about us and showed us with your generous care packages. 
 

 

The biggest gift of all came at dusk when the Lord brought the rain!  Sarah ran to tell our neighbors to bring buckets, pots, whatever they had.  We filled the washing machine and all of our buckets and still filled every container that our friends brought to hold underneath the downspout.  When we were finished, kids lined up to take a shower!  Thank you for your prayers for rain.  Our big tank is now about 2/3 full, and we are still being very careful with our water usage. 
 

 

Our kitchen is finally finished, and everyone around us keeps telling us how nice it is.  Melissa and Pogo even said they wanted to come sleep in it.  Aaron worked on sewing the leaf earlier this week, and the kids loved to climb around inside before it was all finished.  We're planning to use it at least a couple of times each week as we hone our culinary skills here in Marulaon.
 

Christmas Day

 

Friday, December 25

Christmas Day began early with the bells ringing in the dark to awaken everyone for prayer.  The service was a long one with all of the bells and whistles, and the girls and I were ushered up to the front where the leaders of the community were seated.  Extra boards had been laid on the floor in the back and along the sides of the building so everyone could have a place to sit in the very full church.  Katherine and I ended up leaving the service to join the other mothers with small children who were standing outside to watch the service.  She loves everyone she meets and chatted away with some of the other children her age.

 

After church, Melissa and Pogo came back again to help us remove our parcels of lelenga from the motu.  We loaded them into a basket and took them over the area for feasting and dancing.  Sticks had been cut and lumber laid on top of them to form tables all around the edges of the square.  Banana leaves were laid on top of the tables.  All of the food was sorted into piles of lelenga parcels and fish parcels and a small amount of rice parcels.  Then it was distributed evenly around the tables.  The women and girls from Marulaon (including Sarah) spaced themselves around the tables and waved the flies away until it was time to eat.  We were asked to come join the table where the village chiefs were eating.  After the prayer, everyone stood and ate with their fingers.  Again the cleanup was easy, just throw away your leaf!

When everyone was finished eating, the speeches began.  One of the leaders asked Aaron to make a speech to introduce our family and let everyone know why we were here.  Each of the leaders made a speech, then the dancing began.  It was beautiful and fun and joyous!  Each village had group of men, a group of married women, and a group of young girls dance.  Everything finally finished up around 4:30 that afternoon.

 

 

Our water supply is very low in Marulon.  The big tank at the clinic was emptied today, and only one other tank in the village besides ours still holds water.  The chief is keeping tank locked.  We've had a few friends come and ask for water this evening, how can we say no?  We are continuing to pray for rain, lots of it.

 

More Christmas Eve

Thursday, December 24...continued

We finally got a little bit of rain today, so we quickly grabbed buckets and held them underneath our one downspout with no rain tank.  We filled enough buckets for one load of clothes, but we still need lots more rain.  Aaron has started locking the big rain tank because people are coming at night while we are asleep and taking water.

 

After we finished putting the lelenga and umalau in the motu, I took a quick shower (I had coconut milk all over me) and headed down with the family to welcome the other villages.  We watched the canoes accumulate in the ocean just off the shore and everyone from Marulaon began dancing and singing along with the PVC pipe band.  It was a beautiful and joyful noise!  While everyone was still singing, the canoes began to come ashore.  Suddenly, four young men wearing traditional dress and holding bamboo poles came running down to the shore.  They shouted at the people in the canoe and slapped the water with their poles.  I asked one of the ladies what was going on, and she said it was a traditional welcome.  I'm glad they didn't welcome us this way!  One of the village leaders asked if he could borrow our woven mat that we had purchased from his sister to provide a place to sleep for a guest, so he followed us home to grab the mat.

 

After everyone was distributed to their host houses, we all attended the Christmas Eve services at church around 6:00.  Then Pogo and Melissa came by to help us take our umalau out of the motu and deliver it to the visitors.  We're part of Group 2, the middle section of the village, so we took our 9 x 13 pan overflowing with umalau and watched as our food was distributed evenly across the table covered with leaves.  Eventually, all of the food was set out and everyone was able to get a leaf plate with a little bit of everything on it.  Talk about easy cleanup!

 

About 9:00 p.m. the bell rang again, and all of us walked down the hill to listen to the Christmas caroling.  Aaron is part of Marulaon's choir, and they sang first.  We sat on our mat and listened as a group from each village sang several Christmas carols.  While each group sang, those in the audience walked up to small table and laid down small gifts for the members of the choir.  Thanks to our sweet neighbors, we knew to expect this, so we brought bags with sugar, tea, and coffee mix inside.  Everybody finished a little before 11:00, and we dragged ourselves back up to hill to await the early bell for Christmas morning.

Even more lelenga

Each family was supposed to bring 30 parcels of lelenga and 30 parcels of fish.  Since we didn't have any fish, we prepared almost 60 parcels of lelenga.

more lelenga

 

Christmas Eve and Lelenga

Thursday, December 24

Today we began our preparations for the big Christmas dinner tomorrow.  Just after breakfast, we began scraping coconut (we ended up scraping 24 in all) and obikola and peeling umalau.  We'll cook our parcels of lelenga on the bottom of the motu and put our umalau on top.  Then, we'll share the umalau for supper tonight and save the lelenga for tomorrow.

 

Melissa came about 9 a.m. to help, and Pogo showed up soon afterward.  Our porch was full of scraping and peeling and laughing!  To prepare the umalau, we took spoon  handles and carved out holes in the umalu.  Then we filled the holes with the "rumit" (coconut milk) that we had boiled and then put the scraped out umalau back in the hole.  When we put the umalau in the trays, we poured the leftover rumit on top.  We've made lelenga several times, and we're beginning to become familiar with how to make it.  But we've never made it in small parcels.  So, Pogo taught us how to take two leaves, pour in two spoonfuls, fold the leaves and tear a little bit of leaf to wrap around and tie the parcel.  We took a popcorn break (see the picture with Pogo and Melissa show off their bowls), and Joy played with some of the neighbor kids.  They loved the stickers she brought! 

 

We took the stones to our new kitchen and set up the oven while the guys worked around us.  Melissa made all of the small children leave while the stones heated.  Because this was the first time the stones were heated, they popped and broke and threw small pieces of hot rock around the kitchen.  When the coconut husks and wood were reduced to ashes, the stones glowed with heat and we put the lelenga in the "oven".  It was mid-afternoon, about time for the other villages to arrive, so Melissa and Pogo quickly cleaned the porch while we cleaned up the dishes.

More gardening

The tall bushes in the back are obikola.  When the leaves turn yellow and fall off, they are ripe.  We were told to leave the other ones to get really big while we are in Honiara.

Fishing and gardening

Tuesday, December 22

Melissa took Joy and me fishing today while my sweet husband stayed home and taught the kids again.  I had asked Grace if we could borrow her big canoe, so around 8 a.m. Melissa came by the house to get us.  She showed me how to tie my fishing line, and we grabbed the paddles and headed over to Grace's.  When we got there, we learned that Chief Leonard had borrowed the canoe that morning.  While we waited, Melissa showed us how to crush the shells to get to the kokovan (hermit crabs) inside.  We found lots of mama crabs with eggs - I didn't like that too much.  After we took off the shells, we ripped off each leg to leave the body for bait.  I didn't like that either.   After we finished preparing the bait, we began to fish from the shore.  Lots of laughter rang through the air as we tried to keep from tangling our line.  The wind was brisk, so we went to fish around the corner of the point (where the water becomes Fly Harbour instead of the Pacific Ocean).  Melissa caught two small squid.  One of them inked her as she yanked it out of the water!

 

Melissa decided to get her small canoe since the big canoe was still gone, so Joy and I continued to practice our casting.  About the time Melissa came back with her canoe, the chief showed up with his big canoe.  So, we all loaded up into the big one and paddled out into the harbour.  I had never sat with the board on top of the canoe.  Last time I went, we put the board down inside the canoe.  It was a whole new balancing act and oblique workout!  I was in front this time as lead paddler and anchor mover.  Joy sat in the middle, and Melissa steered from the back.  The first place we tried, the fish didn't like our bait.  So, we hoisted anchor (a challenge to my balancing) and tried another spot.  In the second spot, the fish liked our "all you can eat buffet".  We watched the fish through the very clear water.  They knew how to nibble the bait without taking the hook - it was so frustrating!  But we ended up with 17 small fish.  Joy caught 2, I caught 3, and Melissa caught the rest. 

 

We headed back toward shore, but about 20 yards from shore we finally lost the battle of the balancing and turned over the canoe.  Thankfully, the three of us were the only things that fell out of the canoe - our fish and equipment stayed in.  I hung on to the front of the canoe and kicked while Joy and Melissa (the expert swimmers) pushed the canoe from behind.  We soon touched bottom and pulled the canoe up to shore.  As I dripped my way back to the house to fetch the knife, many women asked "Did you catch lots of fish?".  We soon had the fish cleaned and headed back home to eat a very late lunch and take a shower.

 

Wednesday, December 23

Melissa helped us harvest one patch of umalau and some of our obikola today.  The ground was really dry (still no rain), so the root crops were difficult to extract from the ground.  For the obikola (cassava), you just hack off the trunk, then pull out the roots (it's harder than it looks).  We only needed two obikola to make lelenga tomorrow, but we had LOTS of umalau.  After we finished harvesting, the kids and I finished school and Melissa weeded.  Christmas break starts tomorrow, and we'll celebrate by making lelenga!