We combined business with pleasure yesterday afternoon. An hour to get our new fancy-dancy Solomon Islands drivers licenses..

 

and some time drinking coffee, reconnecting, and contemplating calendars.  A very productive afternoon!

Sela Kokonat

After work today, SITAG continued our good habit of playing together.

Sela Kokonat, or coconut shells, is a game that village kids play all of the time, and playing with grown-ups and kids of several different nationalities provided lots of laughs this afternoon.

 



My children thought I looked like I was trying to use "the force" to make the coconut shells fall down!

 



I love our SITAG family!

 



SITAG is a great place to work, but it is also a great place to play.  One of our colleagues has an almost-daily "uniform" of a pink shirt and a denim skirt.  So, today, we surprised her, and everybody dressed up in pink shirts and denim, men, women, ex-pats, and nationals all together.

Airport Run and Birthday Surprises

 

I love our little airport here in Honiara.  Visitors can still climb the steps to the top of the airport to greet new arrivals and to wave good-bye to departing passengers.  So we always climb to the top to watch our colleagues arrive as we yell and scream our welcome.

Then we run downstairs and peek through the windows to find our friends in the custom line so we know when they are coming out the door to be greeted with hugs and squeals.  On the way home, I was reminded that our colleague's birthday was coming up in a few weeks, so I asked our new friend, Heather (also in the car) when her birthday was.  She quickly replied, "Today!"  I though she was pulling my leg.

 



But really and truly, it was her birthday!  So we quickly made plans for her to come over and eat supper with us and added a birthday cake to the meal plan.  My Mama's chocolate cinnamon cake made a great birthday cake.

 



So glad Heather was willing to share her special day with our crazy family!

 



Honiara Woman's Daybook

 

Just for today...Monday, August 11

 

On my bookshelf..."Much Depends on Dinner" by Margaret Visser.  I'm learning so much about the history of food!

 

From the kitchen...Sarah made a lovely chicken pot pie for supper tonight.

From the learning rooms...the eggshells Katherine filled with beans last week have almost all produced beautiful bean sprouts.  She and Sarah have transplanted them to Sarah's little patch of ground.  The kids are all loving Rosetta Stone's French program, but the computer usage of my students (French, research, writing papers, etc.) means that Mama hardly has any time to be on the computer!

 

A few plans for the rest of the week...airport runs on Tuesday and Thursday and renewing our drivers licenses on Friday.

 

A peek into my corner of the world...the amazing sunset tonight.

Triple Layer Brownies

We found a fabulous new recipe this weekend, Triple-Layer Brownies from an old issue of Tea Time Magazine.  A little goes a long way!

 

 

2 1/2 cups dark chocolate morsels, divided

3/4 cup butter, softened and divided

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Line a 9-inch square pan with heavy-duty foil.  Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray.  Set aside.  In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups chocolate morsels and 1/2 cup butter.  Heat in the microwave at 1-minute intervals at 50 percent power, stirring to combine, until mixture is smooth.

 

Add sugar, stirring to combine.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, stirring well after each addition.  Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, stirring well.  Set aside.

 

In a small bowl, combine flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt, whisking to combine.  Add to chocolate mixture, stirring to incorporate.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 33 minutes.  Let cool until slightly warm, approximately 15 minutes.

 

In a medium bowl, combine peanut butter, remaining 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, remaining 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, stirring until blended.  While brownie is slightly warm, use an offset spatula to spread peanut butter mixture over top in a smooth layer.  Set aside.

 

In a small saucepan, heat cream until almost boiling.  Remove from heat, and add remaining 1 cup chocolate morsels, stirring until smooth.  Pour over peanut butter layer, spreading into a smooth layer.  Refrigerate until chocolate layer becomes firm, 2 to 4 hours (or if you can't wait that long, stick it in the freezer, like we did!).

 

Using edges of foil as handles, lift whole brownie from pan.  Carefully remove foil, and place brownie on a cutting board.  Using a long chef's knife, score chocolate ganache into 1-inch squares.  To cut into individual brownies, line knife up with scored lines, pressing down firmly in one motion.  Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.



Shakespeare in the Kitchen

 

"Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers; therefore he that cannot lick his own fingers goes not with me."  Act Four, Scene 2, "Romeo and Juliet"

 

As Sarah whipped up a batch of gingersnaps to share with the SITAG guards, she reminded me of her new favorite line from Shakespeare.



72nd Anniversary of US landing on Guadalcanal

Our family left the house as the sun came up this morning to attend a ceremony remembering the 72nd Anniversary of the American Marines landing on Guadalcanal.

A SITAG auntie helped Sarah tie red, white, and blue stars to the wreath.

On the stars we wrote names of men who had fought in WWII, including Aaron's grandfather who fought in the Pacific.

And the SITAG auntie had the great idea to include John 15:13 on one of the stars, too.

The Solomon Islands police band played beautiful and appropriate songs for the occasion - everything from the United States' and Solomon Islands' national anthems to "Abide With Me" while the wreaths were being laid at the foot of the monument.

During the speeches we learned that one of the men who rescued John F. Kennedy died last week at the ripe age of 93.

 

After the dignitaries laid their wreaths, our kids laid the wreath on behalf of SITAG and Bible translation in the Solomon Island.

 

 

We even got to meet the American Ambassador to the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu!

 

 

Ebola Virus

Sonlight Curriculum suggests that the students follow current events.  Today's assignment was to follow the ebola virus epidemic, and one of the articles really grabbed our attention.

 

From CNN's website:

 

There are two epidemics in the world today. The first is a troubling spread of the Ebola virus in poor countries in Africa, an outbreak that is the result of poverty, inattention by those countries' political leaders, and a general lack of concern by the wealthier nations about epidemics that don't yet seem to directly affect them.

 

But the second epidemic is a more dangerous one. It is a spreading lack of compassion, characterized by disaster fatigue, helplessness in the face of war refugees, intolerance for immigration, and now, the desire to ban even American citizens who are sick and need our help. The second epidemic seems harder to contain than the first, but it is every bit as important.

Warning:  much silliness ahead.

 

 

Friday night, we started watching Rossini's "La Cenerentola" with a friend, and last night we finished up Act 2, with a little twist.

Our friend suggested a BYOB night - Bring Your Own Bustle, in honor of the step-sisters and their outrageous bustles.

 



And then Aaron added his own version, "Bustles and Muscles". 

 

"A cheerful heart is good medicine..."  Prov. 17:22 NLT

 



Honiara Woman's Daybook

Just for today...Monday, August 4

 

Outside my window...the sea is "smiling".  That's how our Solomon Islands friends describe the ocean when the wind is creating whitecaps on the water.  Glad I'm on land today.

 

On my bookshelf..."Pale Horse" by Agatha Christie.  Every once in a while, I just need a light read!

One of my favorite things...Katherine's construction paper version of when God created the earth, complete with mountains, flowers, and the ocean.

 

From the school rooms...starting back today after a nice visit with my mom.  The kids were supposed to be starting French, but we can't get the Rosetta Stone program to work on our computer.  So, today, a 3D Eiffel Tower puzzle from my mom had to suffice.

Crafting in the kitchen...I inadvertently scheduled a "Meatless Monday".  Meat is really expensive here, so we rarely eat it.  Granola for breakfast, dilly spread & crackers for lunch, and tamale pie from "Laurel's Kitchen" for supper.
 

Around the house...Sarah has been keeping us supplied with beautiful little bouquet of frangipanis.  I love her eye for beauty.

 

 

A few plans for the rest of the week...various meetings throughout the week, but we're also planning to attend a wreath laying ceremony early Thursday morning to commemorate the landing of American troops on Guadalcanal, and hoping to enjoy the "supermoon" weekend

A peek into my corner of the world...Benjamin helped install a new washing machine this afternoon.

And then he helped carry the old one away.  Proud of his hard work and willingness to help out!

 

Choosing our garden's weather

My mom brought lovely cooler weather and some rain with her.  But now that she's gone, the heat and sunshine has returned.  Great laundry weather!  We attended the 6:00 a.m. service at church this morning, partially to escape the heat.  When we went to the wharf around 8:00 to deliver a box to the Kosco, the sun was already beating down and heating the morning air.  This afternoon, Honiara's power went off.  And SITAG's generator wouldn't start.  I had forgotten how spoiled rotten we are in town to our ceiling fans.  As we sweated, I was reminded of a passage I recently read in "Sometimes I Prefer to Fuss" by Verda Peet:

 

 

Once, wondering if people who say they feel the heat just make more fuss about it than others who complain less and get on with the job, I consulted one of our mission doctors.  She gave me a long and impressive list of things that can happen to you in the heat; circulatory instability, heat edema and salt depletion, ending with chronic tropical fatigue.  Then she spoiled it by adding "Heat reduces the willingness to work rather than the capacity for work."  This confirmed my suspicion that intolerance of heat is related to love of comfort.  The more I want to be at ease the harder I find it to live in the tropics.  It is extremely easy to be lazy and cantankerous in the heat, and it is a rare missionary who stays completely sanctified while the thermometer lingers in the 90's.  How much we need what Evelyn Underhill calls "an established temperature of God-given peace and joy, a climate of eternity at our center."...When I fussed about the rain or wished it were cooler I would quote to myself Amy Carmichael's poem, which is really about something more important than weather:

 

     "We do not ask to choose our garden's weather,

     Too ignorant are we.

     Only that we, Thy gardeners together,

     May pleasure Thee."

One Last...

Green coconut...

 



Katherine kiss...

 



Olivia squeeze...

 



Benjamin dimple...

 



Sarah smile...

 

 

Thanks, Mama, for traipsing around the world and enduring our heat, humidity, rough boat rides, and mosquitoes.  We're so glad you came!