Easter Day

Having extras in our house again meant that our home is full of singing and laughter and life.  So appropriate for Easter weekend, when we celebrate the eternal life that Jesus' death and resurrection brings us.

After church, our family joined my sister-in-law's side of the family for lunch at her parents' beautiful home.

Our families have known each for four generations, and we love spending time together!

After lots of ham and coconut cake, we watched the kids hunt for eggs.  Then we ventured into the American cultural tradition of taking family pictures.  The first crazy light check got a veto.

But the second crazy light check got a thumbs up.

My brother and I are the bookends of the family.  He told me recently that when I got married (he was six years old) he was upset because our initials no longer matched.

I'm soaking up all of the opportunities to spend time with family.

After lunch, we came home with full bellies and full hearts.

I didn't think the day could get any better, but it did.

In the form of my cousin dropping by and an impromptu juggling school breaking out in the backyard!

Laughter rang out and echoed off the houses and bounced giddily right into my heart.

Then, the activity turned to stunts.  Hannah has been a cheerleader for years, so she knows lots of fun tricks.  

She and Benjamin are taking a stage combat class this semester, so bits and pieces of that instruction found their way into the afternoon, as well.

So much joy and laughter!  Finally, as it began to get dark, we loaded up the three who weren't spending the night with us, gave them lots of coconut cake and chocolate pudding, and sent them on their separate ways with prayers for safe travels.

Sad Saturday

We continued our tradition of making Resurrection Cookies (minus the hair and beaters incident).  Our Saturday had been full of cooking, even more than we had anticipated.  Since Sarah isn't here (she's still studying abroad in Uganda and recently wrote an article for the school newspaper), Olivia was making her very first cake.

No small undertaking, Olivia tackled our family's traditional coconut cake with gusto.  The only tricky part was that she was using five screen shots of the ingredients and the directions.  So when it came time to add the coconut milk (which should have been 1/2 cup) to the batter, Olivia added both cans without realizing her mistake.  After she inserted the cake pans into the oven, I heard a very distressed "OH NO!!!" as she checked the recipe for the next step and realized what she had done.

We quickly figured that the amount of coconut milk was seven times what she actually needed, so while Aaron went to the store to buy more ingredients, Olivia and I set about making more batter.  She ended up dividing forty-two eggs.  Since this cake only uses egg whites, I made a huge vat of chocolate pudding with half of the egg yolks.  (The pudding is delicious with the coconut cake and strawberries from the farmer's market - in case you were wondering.)

Good Friday Adventures

One of the most worshipful places we know is Mt. Nebo State Park.

So it should come as no surprise that we chose to spend our Good Friday afternoon traipsing around the trails 

and soaking up God's incredible creation that is bursting out in Spring right now.

Benjamin and his girlfriend didn't have classes on Good Friday, so they drove and met us on top of the mountain.

Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;

The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered.

For our atonement, while we nothing heeded,

God interceded.

For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,

Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life's oblation;

Thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,

for my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,

I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee,

Think on Thy pity, and Thy love unswerving,

not my deserving.

from "Ah, Holy Jesus"

Preparing for Easter with Pretzels

One of the more fun ways we prepared our hearts for Easter this year was by making pretzels.

Cooking is always more fun with friends.  We rolled and swung and shaped the dough.

We read "Brother Giovanni's Little Reward: How the Pretzel Was Born" by Anna Egan Smucker.

I had forgotten how much fun a spunky preschooler can be!

Watching the kids work together and help each other made my heart happy.

Talking about the shape of the pretzel and how it represents our folded arms and hands in prayers gave us something to think about while we pummeled the dough into submission.

And when the pretzels finally came out of the oven, and the house smelled like a bakery,

we listened to a sweet voice offered up in thanks for pretzels 

and living out "in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Phil. 4:6)

Weekend Wonders - Memphis

"Make the least of all that goes and the most of all that comes.  Don't regret what is past.  Cherish what you have.  Look forward to all that is to come.  And most important of all, rely moment by moment on Jesus."  ~Gigi Graham Tchividjian

Goodbyes never seem to get any easier.  So when sweet Edi  recently shared this quote with me, it was exactly the reminder that my weary soul needed.  Last weekend quickly filled up with goodbyes and thankfulness.  Christine and I were pregnant at the same time, waddling around library story time in Olive Branch.  Now we are sharing a different life stage, getting kids off to college and finding more wrinkles and gray hair every day.  

But over the years, one thing has stayed consistent, time with this thoughtful and wise friend makes my heart happy.

Sunday morning, Aaron got to preach and say thank you to Highland Heights Baptist Church.

And then we did what all good church folks do, we had a potluck.  

Good food, good fellowship.

Sometimes I forget (even looking in the mirror), that time is passing.  When we've been away for a while, I guess I think that time will freeze and everybody will look and act the same.

But this time I remembered that some of our best buddies from HHBC were now living in a retirement center, so we swung by and hugged some more necks.  Bettye was one of my spunky alto choir buddies.  She and a couple of other ladies gave us the gift of their Sunday afternoon and showed us around their lovely center.

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We're grateful that we also got to spend some time with Oma and Opa.  They are always so gracious to open up their home to our crazy crew.  

Aaron looks more and more like his daddy every day.

The last stop on our whirlwind trip of goodbyes was a hole-in-the-wall deliciousness with Elizabeth, a friend from our linguistic school days in Dallas.  She is now doing good work in Memphis in the very area that holds our hearts.  So as we make the most of each moment, we are relying on Jesus to hold our hearts amidst the goodbyes and to give us the strength we need as we prepare to return to the Solomon Islands.

Weekend Wonders - Race Day

For Olivia's PE final this year, we signed up for the Rockin' the Cradle 5K sponsored by Conway Cradle Care.  We've been working to bring our times down little by little since last summer's race. 

 Sometimes seeing progress in any area of our lives can be difficult, but we've found that if we look back over the long haul, God uses the mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical bits and pieces of faithfulness to add up to big change!

This particular race was super small, which meant trophies were abundant, and each member of the Choate family ranked high in his or her category.  One of my favorite things about the race was that a friend from our favorite class at the gym ran along with us.  

She was the fastest woman running that day, so she cheered the rest of us on as we crossed the finish line.  What a beautiful picture of the Body of Christ.

Getting ready

Four weeks from today, we will sleeping our first night back in the Solomon Islands.  In the meantime, the girls are doing a little extra school each day on the weekends so we don't have to lug this year's school books back overseas.

Another part of getting ready to go is preparing the house for renters.  We've been trying to find the perfect "white" for the kitchen and, after buying many samples with great names like Alabaster, Greek Villa, and Snowbound, we've finally settled on one with a boring name:
Neutral White.

The trips back and forth across the Pacific Ocean have taken a toll on our suitcases, so we've been utilizing every coupon and sale we can find to buy some new ones.  And the trans-pacific flight has different regulations than the flights in America, so my amazing husband is making sure that our new bags fit all four flights.

The best part of getting ready is the people around us who are helping.

They are helping with things like sewing repairs and adjustments, which is huge for me since I have no fondness for my sewing machine.

They are helping with things like pulling all of the teeny-tiny nails from our old kitchen walls.  And squirting wood putty into cracks.  Very unglamorous.  But this team of people that God has assembled around us is also helping our hearts get ready for the transition.

The friends and family supporting Team Choate sooth and encourage and nourish and hug and cry.  We don't have to do it alone.  We have a heavenly Father who goes ahead of us on the path, and He gives us kindred spirits to help us get ready.

Reading and Eating our way through West Africa

We found so many books in our library about countries in West Africa!  If Katherine gets really quiet, I can usually find her in the book nook reading through the many picture books we checked out.  The other place I can often find her is in the kitchen creating.  I like getting to be her sous chef!  Tonight, she made African Onion Sauce for supper, and it was delicious.

I Lost My Tooth in Africa by Penda Diakite
A Story, A Story by Gail E. Haley (this book won the Caldecott Award)

Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa by Don Brown

The Water Princess by Susan Verde

Why the Sky is Far Away: A Nigerian Folktale by Mary Joan Gerson

The Name of the Tree: A Bantu Folktale retold by Celia Barker Lottridge

The Iroko-Man: A Yoruba Folktale retold by Phillis Gershator

Master Man: A Tall Tale of Nigeria by Aaron Shepard

The Magic Tree: A Folktale from Nigeria by T. Obinkaram Echewa

The Magic Gourd by Baba Wague Diakite

Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile by Won-Ldy Paye &  Margaret H. Lippert
My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa M. Mollel
The Spider Weaver: A Legend of Kente Cloth by Margaret Musgrove
Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott (another Caldecott winner)

Aunt Kadja's Djaba Dji (African Onion Sauce)

from "I Lost My Tooth in Africa"

Peanut oil for sautéing onions and meat

1 cut up chicken, or stew beef (optional)

6-10 medium onions, sliced

5 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 tsp. dried onion

1 tsp. curry

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh gingerroot, grated

3 tbsp. tomato paste

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

1/2 head of cabbage, cut into 2 pieces

5 small potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 medium eggplant, cut into 8 pieces

1 cup green beans

3 medium carrots, halved

1 cup of the tiniest noodles you can find

4 cups uncooked rice

Heat oil.  Sauté meat (if you are using meat) then, onions.  Crush garlic in a garlic press, then add along with dried onion, curry, salt, and pepper.  Add grated ginger, tomato paste,, and stir.  Reduce flame and close lid for 3-10 minutes, until meat and onions are covered with a thick paste.  Pour in 2 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of water, add potatoes, and bring to a boil.  Turn down heat and simmer with the lid off for at least 5-10 minutes, mixing from time to time.  Then add vegetables and uncooked noodles and simmer 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables have softened.  Taste and add salt, if needed.  Pour over cooked long grain rice.  This will taste even better the second day!  Feeds a family of 6,