Sunday, July 20

After our traditional Sunday pizza, Mama and I took a walk around the village to deliver the last of the sewing supplies donated by her friends.  The Kosco had just arrived from Honiara (earlier than we expected!), so many of the people we hoped to see were dropping off kids on the Kosco to go to school.

 

As we walked around, my mom's fresh eyes perceived things to which I had grown dull.  Boys working with big bush knives is a normal part of my day, but to my mom, the boys should be a little bit bigger and the knives a little bit smaller!

 



We ended up over at my friend Ofoaen's house.  Everybody we saw boosted my mom's ego with comments like, "You two look like sisters!" or "Your mom is so young!"  Ofoaen is a young grandmother herself, beautiful inside and out, never complaining no matter how hard the work gets.

 

Home in Honiara

We're safely back in Honiara after a tummy-jarring ride on rough seas in the Kosco.  Thanks for your prayers!

Ship Update

We were told that the ship might come any time from midnight to 3 a.m., but it's 6:20 and the ship still isn't here yet.  Aaron and I kept one ear open all night long, and we woke up a little before 3:00 hearing somebody shouting, "Koscooooo, Koscooooo."  So, we sprang into action!  Aaron started stripping the sheets of our bed; I started shutting windows and pulled on my skirt.  I even turned on a light.  But then we realized that we didn't actually hear the ship's engines coming around the corner of our island.  And the more we listened to the voice, the more we realized he was drunk.  So, we lay back down and tried to go back to sleep.  So, now we get to make a press of coffee and eat some banana bread and hard-boiled eggs while we wait for daylight.  At least we get a day trip :-)

Saturday, July 19

While Aaron was busy teaching a language development workshop (because what good is a Bible in Lavukaleve if nobody is around who can read it?!?), the rest of us worked at the house, making lelenga (cassava pudding).

Since Mama has been here before, we are trying to find new things to teach her.  She already knew how to scrape cassava and coconuts, but she had never husked a coconut before.  She was a great sport!

After lunch, Mama and I walked around to distribute the bags of sewing supplies to two of Marulaon's groups, and to talk about the pictures of my family that she had brought.  My neighbors really enjoy looking at pictures, and I had fun showing them a picture of four generations: my grandmother, my mom, me, and Sarah.  Most of my friends have already lost their moms, so it blows their minds that my mom's mom is still alive.  Sweet toddlers were often afraid of my mom, but she soon won them over with her "grandmotherly" ways.  When we got back home, I took advantage of my mom's hair cutting skills and put her to work on Benjamin's mop of hair.  She had him trimmed up in no time!

Friday, July 18

Last night, we celebrated Olivia and Mama's birthdays with a beautiful chocolate cake that Sarah made for the occasion.  

Today's plans included work in the garden, so Sarah, Katherine, Mama, and I, along with about ten village girls and young women (all members of the Girls' Friendly Society), all went to the garden to plant uvikola, umalau, and pau, three roots crops and over one hundred heaps dug.  I also planted some leafy greens alongside a few green bean seeds.  God gave us a lovely overcast morning for our work, and we only needed about three hours to clear, weed, and plant.  We came back and served them grape Kool-aid (my personal favorite!) and popcorn as a thank you to go alongside the money they had earned for their organization.  I'm so thankful for their help! 

After the girls left, the rain began to fall.  And it fell all afternoon long!  Our rain tanks slowly filled up, and I'm sure my garden was very, very happy for it's big drink.  My mom brought out some sewing supplies donated by several of her friends, many of them ladies that knew me when I was small.  So, while the rain fell and walking around the village would have been difficult, Olivia and I sorted the thread, elastic, and notions into three piles to match the three groups in our village.  I'm looking forward to distributing the goodies tomorrow to my friends around the village.

Packing and Sailing

The Choates learned that Kosco is coming through sooner than expected, so packing and preparing is pretty crazy right now! Please pray as they prepare to leave, probably within the next couple of hours (3:00 or 4:00 AM Marulaon time, 11:00 AM or noon CDT).

-Ann

Thursday, July 17

She's here!  After many delays on both sides of the world, my Mama has finally arrived.  The canoe occupants were soaking wet from rough seas by the time they pulled into Marulaon, but they got to see flying fish, dolphins, and a baby orca on the their trip across the ocean.

Shortly after Mama arrived, rain began falling and continued all afternoon.  A huge thanks to everyone who has been praying.  Our neighbors  know that people all over the world are praying for a good balance of rain and sun for our village.  The next few days will be busy as we pack and clean in preparation for returning to Honiara on the Kosco next week.

Wednesday, July 16

The kids have really been having fun with our current science experiment.  I don't know whether to be excited or disappointed that our well water grew bacteria well but failed to produce very many protozoa!

Tuesday, July 15

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

Things we like about Olivia:
-Her compassion for everything and everyone
-The funny faces she makes that send all of us into convulsions of laughter
-Listening to my aural learner read her Bible out loud and sing songs to Jesus during her "Jesus Time" in the early morning
-Her contagious laughter

Monday, July 14

We got a good rain for 10-15? minutes (I wasn't really counting at 3 a.m.) last night. Aaron got up to check and make sure that the water was actually going into the tanks. It was :-) And I was thankful that the taps were off. I've often found them open and just dripping, dripping, dripping...So while I was on the porch with a flashlight reading my Bible, I saw people sneaking to the big rain tank by the church holding big buckets. And right now, girls are lined up at the church tank with tons of water bottles. So thankful! And Aaron said our tank is up two inches.  I feel like it's our "manna" for the day.
Kosco came this morning around 6:00. They made some garbled announcements which I couldn't understand, so I walked down to the shore to find friends who heard the announcement. The gist of it was that, depending on cargo, they might come back "next week" on a long trip out West via the Russells. That would be perfect timing for us! But holding it VERY loosely.

While I was down on the shore, I found a friend cleaning two sharks. Here's the story, a different family got word that their daughter, in Form 3 (9th grade) at a good school, made straight A's. She's always been a good student. So the grandfather killed a pig! And traveled back with the pig on the Kosco to deliver the "congratulations" to his granddaughter.

They discarded the innards of the pig, and when the shark family heard about it, they rescued the innards because they make great bait. Result: two sharks.

I discovered they eat the liver, too.  There's not much iron in my neighbors' diets, so I was excited that this sweet family will get an extra boost of iron today.

I watched as several little girls scraped the skin off the shark with shells. And I got two big slabs.

This will be my first time to cook shark. My friend, Sylvester, suggested I cut it up and boil it with lime leaves. So, I asked Aaron to get some leaves from our lime trees in the garden.  He takes "brain breaks" from time to time and looks for something to get him out of the house for a few minutes to rest his brain.

And we will be eating shark for lunch today :-) I love it how God provided when I didn't have a clue what I was going to cook to feed my family!

Sunday, July 13

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."  Colossians 3:23

After attending church and sharing several plates of lelenga with our neighbors, it was time for laundry.  Our clothes are really sweaty and REALLY stinky by the end of the day, so we don't like to skip a day of washing clothes.  Katherine and Olivia did a great job of singing and pretending to be a washing machine while they worked. 

Katherine really enjoys playing in the water, although most people around here don't use the ocean for a playground.  It's more useful as a toilet and trash removal system.  Therefore, we carefully follow the tides and only swim at low tide when the water is pulling away from the shore!

While she swam, Aaron sat on the shore and studied.  He kept an eye on Katherine while getting in some good introvert time.

Olivia helped watch a little one (one of Marulaon's many twins) while his mama worked.  Olivia's big heart is compassionate toward all living things:  babies, plants, and especially animals.

Sarah has joined Marulaon's young ladies' soccer team.  They practiced for several hours today, and I went out and cheered them on for a little while.  I've been appointed the team mom, so I brought out some cold kool-aid to give them a little bit of refreshment in the heat of the day.

When I returned to the house, I found Katherine and Olivia playing with a group of girls in the shade of our house.  They were smart to find shade on this blazing hot and sunny day!

These girls are spunky and all in between Katherine and Olivia's age.  I love watching the girls, my own and my neighbor's girls, blossom as their personalities pop!

They played game after game until it was time for my children to come in and shower before church. 

What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, working and playing wholeheartedly for the Lord!

Rain & Sunshine

Good afternoon, Choate friends!

Thanks to your prayers, Marulaon saw two afternoons of really good rain. Of course, there is always that struggle between rain and sunshine. Much rain means full tanks but low batteries due to lack of sunshine. So, while you are thanking God for the rain, please continue to pray for that good balance between rain and sunshine that will keep the tanks full and the batteries charged!

~Ann

Saturday, July 12

The Kosco came on Thursday morning, and we experienced Christmas in July.  Not only did we receive our much needed gas cylinder (yay for a tiny emergency backup cylinder!), but several of our colleagues included sweet notes and treats, and Gayly sent new copra bags to replace the ones that caught on fire while she was here.

Yesterday, we got about five minutes of light rain, so we moved the clothes underneath the house to dry.  But the rest of the day was hot and sunny.  I was thankful to see a small parcel of green beans at market this morning, as well as some tiny capsicum (bell pepper), bananas, and papaya.  As an extra treat, one of the ladies brought peanuts!

As soon as the kids started eating the peanuts, Katherine broke one apart and started looking at it to find all that parts.  She's become very interested in all things seeds and flowers since she started reading about them in science.  I pulled out a couple of extra books, "A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds" by Jean Richards and "How a Seed Grows" by Helene J. Jordan.

Then she found several seeds that had already sprouted, and she was even more delighted!  Now we have four peanuts planted in an old ice cream container on our porch waiting to grow and be transplanted after we get some rain.