Portales, New Mexico

We drove to Portales, New Mexico, to spend the weekend with some old friends.  Or, as Aaron says, not "old" friends, just friends that we've known for a long time. 

 

 

Both of our friends are professors at Eastern New Mexico University, and the choir is preparing for a performance of Mozart's Requiem next weekend.  They let us help set up the risers and sing along (Olivia even got to turn pages!).

 

Friday evening, Aaron accompanied a piece on a vocal recital. 

 

 

He and I both reveled in the chance to be a part of the world of music again.  We know that God created both of us to be musicians, and furlough offered us a beautiful chance to be involved again.

 



Our kids have been bitten by the music bug, too!

 



Saturday, the gorgeous weather called us all to go outside, and the turtles in our friends' backyard agreed.  

 

They began to emerge from their winter slumber, and our kids had a great time looking for turtles in all the nooks and crannies of the yard.

We also spent many hours at the ping pong table in the garage.

 



The gorgeous afternoon lured us out to play Frisbee golf at a park in nearby Clovis.  Aaron was the only one in our family that had ever played, so the rest of us had fun learning.

 



When the girls tired of playing Frisbee golf, we headed over to the playground while the boys played several more holes.



Saturday evening, we pulled out our cellos and filled the house with beautiful music.  Kayla accompanied both Aaron and me while we worked on our music degrees, and it was such a joy to make music together again.

 



Our friends have such sweet, encouraging spirits, and they welcomed our family as if we really were part of their family.  They accepted the chaos of four kids in the house and folded us into their home like the extra cooking and noise were a normal part of their days!  Even their basset hound, Bartok, joined the fun.

 



Sunday after church, we enjoyed one last pocket of time together.  Katherine gave a finger crochet lesson.



And we all got last minute hugs.



 

So thankful that God sent us this refreshing time of encouragement!



The Finish Line

If you spend much time on Wycliffe's website, you may be familiar with "The Finish Line", a special publication which highlights the needs and struggles of scripture project nearing completion.  The 2013 edition has just been published, with the Pacific edition having special interest to our family on pages 21-22.  Three projects in the Solomon Islands are SO close! 

These funny sounding names:

 

Kwaio (New Testament),

 

 

North Malaita cluster (New Testament - Baeggu & Baelelea)

 

 

and Roviana (Whole Bible!)

 

 

all bring to our minds images of the beloved people involved.  Will you please pray with us?

When we live in the Solomon Islands, we are incredibly blessed to be surrounded by other "aunts", "uncles", and "grandparents".  Our children have a great circle of adults that influence their lives.

 

My very fun co-teacher on Wednesday night with our awesome group of 3rd graders

Between the many teachers at church and our colleagues who often come through Dallas, the circle has expanded by leaps and bounds since we moved back to the United States, and we will continue to learn from them and laugh with them and celebrate with them for the next ten weeks.

 



 

During the last few days, I've been overwhelmed at the people God has put in our lives, especially the adults that reinforce what our kids hear at home.

Celebrating the birthday of a Solomon Islands' colleague over the weekend

A big thank you to all of you who are willing to invest your time and energy in our family!

 



Church staff who invest their lives in so many people

 

As soon as the mowers finished on Friday, we hustled outside to set up our tent.  I think the tent was one of the best wedding presents we received!

 



 

 

Throughout the day, we could find a kid or two finishing schoolwork or just playing in the tent.

 



 

And Friday evening, we enjoyed some extra sweet kids who came to play with us while their parents spoke about Wycliffe Bible Translators.  Now that the weather is nice, I expect the tent will be set up quite often!

Packing

We've started shopping to fill up the big shipment that three SITAG families will be sharing.  What, you might ask, do you put in a crate that will be shipped across the Pacific Ocean?  Here's just a tiny sample of the contents:

 

 

Deodorant...for sure!

 



 

 Our favorite seasickness medicine for those bumpy ship rides on the Kosko or the Bikoi

 

Medicine for the little ones in Marulaon Vilage...

 



...and colored hair bands for the little girls in the village.

 



 

And we've got hundreds of band-aids to give to the many, many people who come to our door in Marulaon.  I've also ordered powdered eggs for our village stay and our school curriculum for next year.  Thanks for your prayers as we continue to fill up the boxes that will soon be on their way to the Solomon Islands.

 

Aaron is working to build a library for each of the four Lavukal translators - Ezekiel, Matthew, Simon, and Albert.  Would any of you be willing to "sponsor" a translator?



Nana's Coconut Cake

Nana's (Ruby Rice Armbrust) Coconut Cake

 

2/3 cup Crisco shortening

2 1/2 cups flour

1 2/3 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

 

 

Mix for two minutes.  Add:

1/2 cup milk

5 egg whites

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

 

Beat for two minutes:  Pour into greased & floured eight-inch rounds and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.



 While cake is cooling, mix:

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

 

Cook until it reaches soft ball stage on a candy thermometer.

 

Beat 3 egg whites (room temperature) until almost stiff, then add (and keep beating):

sugar syrup, little by little

1 to 2 cups grated coconut

 

 

Split cake layers horizontally and sprinkle with coconut milk.  Spread icing between layers.  Make another batch of icing for the outside of the cake.  Pat grated coconut into wet icing.  Keep cool and covered until serving.

 

Easter Sunday

Since we can buy canned biscuits and marshmallows in this country, we made "tomb" biscuits for breakfast.  Just a jumbo marshmallow popped in between biscuit layers and sealed made a great visual reminder of our celebration.  The tomb is empty!!!



 

Our good friends showed up early to go to church with us and enjoy celebrating Christ's resurrection.  Last year, we spent Easter with them in Honiara, and next year we hope to be together again at Easter to celebrate the dedication of the Kwaio New Testament in the Solomon Islands.



The coconut cake was delicious!  I loved being able to serve my great-grandmother's recipe on her cake stand.  Soon, Sarah will be able to make it by herself, but she and I both think cooking is more fun when you have company in the kitchen.

 

 

Katherine and our little friend helped make lots of biscuits for lunch, too. 

 



 

When our friends pulled out of the driveway late in the afternoon, our kids all wondered why our friends couldn't stay longer.  So thankful for friends like that!

Holy Saturday

 

After the birthday party Saturday morning, we enjoyed a drop-in visitor (you know we love it!) who stayed for a little while.  She played games, visited, and helped us begin to prepare food for Easter.  She had to leave too soon, and next time I'll get pictures. 

 

 

Sarah and I planned to make some things that would be a little more difficult if we were trying to make them in the Solomon Islands.  I made the dill-deviled eggs, and Sarah piped them.

I love that food can be pleasing to the mouth, nourish the body, and look nice, too!  Sarah and I also made my great-grandmother's coconut cake.  Having a good candy thermometer made a big difference in getting the icing just right.  I did miss my fresh coconut, though!  I only played sous-chef to Sarah's head chef, and she did a great job with the cake.

 



Of course, we had to dye Easter eggs, even if we weren't planning to hide them.  My kids creative juices came pouring out.

 



No matter where we live, we always make resurrection cookies.  It's just quicker to beat the egg whites with a mixer here in the States than by hand in the village!



 Each of the ingredients helps us focus on Christ's suffering and death. 

 

 

The kids took turns reading the passages of scripture to go along with the ingredients.

 

And they each added a piece of bright orange tape (because that's what we had available) to seal the "tomb" before we went to bed.

Adopted Family

God always puts people in our lives to substitute for the families we've left so far away.  Saturday, we invited some of our SITAG (Solomon Island Translation Advisory Group) "family" over to celebrate a 16th birthday with brunch.



 

Hanging out with people who fall into the "encourage one another, and build each other up" category fills me right up!

 

Of the seventeen of us, six were kindergarten-age or younger.



 

"Real" brothers are pretty great, too!