It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

By this time of year, music teachers everywhere have been assigning and practicing Christmas music for weeks, if not months.



Katherine's Christmas music makes me smile especially big this year.  In part, because she has a "real" piano teacher, not just me.  But mostly I'm smiling because Katherine's music is a pretty to gaze upon as it is to listen to (please, don't stone me, all you grammarians!).

 

 

Published in 1937, Christmas Carols to Play and Sing contains beautiful illustrations and some unique harmonies.  This book is "eye candy" as well as "ear candy"!

Praying, Planning, Playing

When each of our mothers asked what Aaron wanted for his birthday, the quick answer was money and time toward a marriage retreat.  Both of those thoughtful ladies committed to helping finance our time away and to looking after our children while we were gone as a gift to celebrate Aaron's special day.

But that gift benefits more than just my amazing husband.  It benefits our marriage.  It benefits our family.  And it benefits our ministry with the Lavukal.  For forty-six hours, we are pulling away to beautiful Mt. Nebo (our favorite place to be still and quiet and listen to the Lord) to do some:

-Praying

-Planning

-Playing

We covet prayers during this time as we seek the Lord's face about how to proceed into the next weeks, months, & years.  And we're so grateful for our mothers who were willing to sacrifice to make this time possible.

Cemetaries and Birthdays

 

Last Tuesday would have been my grandfather's birthday.  So we gathered my dad and his mom and drove over to the beautiful Oak Grove Cemetery.

 

 

This was the first time we had been to the cemetery since my grandfather died.  My dad's younger brother is buried next to my grandparent's plot.

The day was absolutely beautiful with bright blue skies and leaves beginning to shed their summer green, and we wandered around the historic cemetery for a little while.



Somehow I had missed the historic significance of this cemetery.



Beautiful graves mark the remains of some of Conway's most prominent citizens since the city's founding in 1872.

 

 

And even though my hometown wasn't founded until after the Civil War, broken relationships were healed years later in Oak Grove Cemetery.

 

After we visited the cemetery, we celebrated Grandpa's birthday by enjoying chili that had been simmering in the crockpot while we were gone.

 

Of course, we had birthday cake and ice cream!  Sarah made the same birthday cake (chocolate cherry) that I made for Grandpa the last time we celebrated his birthday together in 2012.



So we celebrated life today, not death.  We celebrated by laughing and hanging out with Grandma and my daddy.  We celebrated all the good things we remembered about Grandpa and the ways he humbly poured himself out for the Lord and for his family.



 

And it was a good day.

Autumnblings

 

 

 A little bit of autumn around here, highlighted by poems from the book, "Autumnblings" by Douglas Florian:

 

"Tree-tice"

 

One leaf fell,

Then two,

Then three.

Such is autumn industree.

Four leaves fell,

Then five,

Then six.

A tree-tice on

Arithmetics.



 

"Awe-tumn"

 

When summer's seams

Have come undone,

Then greens to reds

And purples run.

A palette falls

To forest floor,

And autumn leaves

Leave me in awe.

Weekend in Dallas

 We were super excited that Aaron was able to attend the Bible Translation conference in Dallas last weekend!  The first thing we saw when we pulled into the International Linguistics Center was the Solomon Islands' flag flying.

 

 

God's perfect timing always leaves me amazed.  Friday night, that included a Missionary Kid (MK) game night for students in grades 7-12.  That's three of my kids!  So while Aaron was in his first professional development session, my big three were playing messy games with MKs like themselves, and Katherine and I were enjoying being in the apartment reading books, playing with George and Martha Washington paper dolls, and sending selfies to Aaron.

 

 

Saturday morning, Aaron headed out early for more fun and exciting meetings.  Really.  He loves this linguistic stuff, I love seeing him get so fired up as he sits in seminars and rubs shoulders with men and women from all over the world who are also working in linguistics.

 

The rest of us drove down to visit Edi and Brennen at the very cute coffee shop where Edi works.  Sarah got her first lesson on how to be a good barista.  (You can watch Edi make that very loud and amazingly delicious ice cream here.)  Those two are some of our favorite people!  And that's saying a lot since they survived living with us in the village last year.

 

 

Since Aaron was in meetings all day long, we just hopped to the next coffee shop:  White Rhino.  I got to talking and catching up with some sweet and encouraging ladies, but Olivia remembered to grab the phone and take a selfie with her buddy. 

 

When we pulled into the driveway of the apartment, we found a very cute chalk welcome message.  I was puzzled.  Who knew where we were staying and who would have taken the time and effort to let us know they were glad we were in Dallas?  I felt so loved, even if I didn't know who left the message.  I soon found out.  Aaron had informed me that a woman saw his nametag during the conference and said she was a bloggy friend.  He thought she was the secret "chalker", and he was right!  After we finished supper, we saw her outside.  She and her sweet family lived two doors down!  I finally got to meet Barbara - what a thoughtful lady who is serving the Lord in all kinds of ways.

 

Sunday morning, we attended Hillcrest Baptist Church again.  So nice to walk in and see lots of familiar faces and feel like we were home.  And to sit next to my friend Margaret in Sunday School, too!

 

And after church, Barbara and some of her sweet family joined us for lunch.  Both my soul and my tummy were full when they went home!
 

 

Team SITAG had almost as many people in Dallas as there were in Honiara this weekend.  We hung out together Sunday afternoon at the precious Gebauer household.  Lots of catching up, football, kids noise, and checking fantasy football scores throughout the afternoon.  Just the kind of downtime we all needed in the midst of the busy conference schedule.

 

 

And tonight, while I was sitting in on the kids' choir rehearsal, Aaron sent me this picture from Dallas: past and present representatives of the Solomon Islands at the closing banquet.  How I love the people in this photo!  God has drawn our hearts and our paths together.  We're looking forward to getting Aaron home tomorrow and having a few days at home together with a little bit of "normal", but how grateful we are to have this weekend in Dallas with so many people we love.



On the way home...

 

...from a fabulous weekend in Dallas for Aaron to attend a Bible Translation Conference.  He's rubbing shoulders with people from all over the world for a few more days, and the kids and I are headed back home.  So thankful for school on the road!

Ten years of friendship

 

Ten years ago, we met a precious mother and daughter combo at our church in Memphis.  The first picture we have of our girls together is from the fall festival at church - October 2005.

 

 

Those lovely ladies look a bit different now, and many miles and years have separated them.

 

But that didn't stop Katie from grabbing a chauffeur and travelling the few hours from Memphis to our house for a quick visit during her fall break.



The girls whipped up some yummy mocha walnut oatmeal muffins in our kitchen,

 

photo credit to Katie

 

and then we traipsed over to the park on the gorgeous October afternoon to burn off some of the amazing pizza we'd had for lunch at Larry's.



 

God gave us a gorgeous day to walk around, play on the playground, visit, and soak up His amazing creation all around us. 

 

 

Thanks a bunch, Katie and Jenny, for taking the time and effort to drive over and visit for the afternoon!

 

Nightstand Rhymes

 

I looked down at my nightstand and smiled when I noticed that the two book titles rhymed:  Cooked and Booked.

"Bloggy" becomes IRL in Little Rock

 

Sunday, we slowed down a little bit and worshipped together at East End Baptist Church, where Ann's husband is pastor.  Enjoying a potluck after church, watching some very exciting football on TV, and playing games together gave us the perfect Sabbath afternoon.

 

 

For supper, our Chinese fortune made us bust out laughing and disturb the restaurant.  Benjamin couldn't even keep a straight face, and we actually thought we was making it up when we announced, "Save the cookies!"

 

Monday morning, the three families met at the Little Rock Central High School visitors' center, one of America's national parks.  This part of history is extra special to me because two of my grandparents were teaching school in Little Rock 1957.

 

 

My grandfather taught at East Side Junior High School, and he received threatening phone calls meant to keep him from showing up to work.

My grandmother, who had just graduated with a degree in elementary education and had two young boys at home, intended to stay at home and nourish her family.  Instead, the overflowing Pulaski County schools asked her to come teach high school English at Mabelvale High School.

 

Both of my grandparents fully supported desegregation and courageously lived out their choices in the face of threats.  So this field trip made me angry, sad, & proud as I pondered what life must have been like for those grandparents I love so much.

 

Aren't these ladies on either side of me absolutely precious?!?  We had such a great time talking in the car or while we picnicked yet again.  Every conversation left me encouraged and energized.

 



All too soon, it was time to take Julie and Tate to the airport.





 

Katherine adopted Tate as another big brother, and he was such a good sport.  (She cried Monday night at bedtime, because she missed our wonderful guests so much!)



 

One last blurry selfie of my new IRL friend, and we sent the two travelers up the escalator to go through security.  Thank you so much, Julie, for being adventurous and taking the plunge to move from a "bloggy" friend to a real one.  I'm so glad you did!

 

"Bloggy" becomes IRL at Pinnacle Mountain

 

Since we took Julie and Tate underground on Friday, we decided to take them mountain climbing on Saturday.

Of course, mountain climbing in Arkansas is quite different from mountain climbing in their home state of Washington.

 

 

We chose Pinnacle Mountain to fit all ages and stages of our climbers. 

 

 

God gave us an absolutely gorgeous day, too!

 

After a snack break and lots of picture taking,

 

 

 

 

 

Aaron and the guys headed down the east side

 

while all of the girls chose to return the way we came, the west side of the mountain.

 

The guys said their side was more challenging.

 

 

But we enjoyed our route, the lovely view, and the cheerful company just fine without the extra challenge.

 

 

Once again, I'm amazed at how well this bunch of kids got along.  They chose to have a great time together.

 

 

The prize at the end of the hike was another picnic with more chocolate chip cookies!