{A birthday celebration a little early...}

Abigayl's birthday is this week and with Thanksgiving, we knew having friends for a party might be hard later in the week. So spur of the moment, we put together a little party with a twist! Abigayl loves to Geocache and she wanted to take her friends. We dressed warm, packed in the car and headed out for a couple of hours. THe girls were very successful finding "treasures..."

4 out of 5 finds was awesome!

We stopped for dessert to celebrate along the way...

 After dessert, we hit one last cache before we called it an afternoon!

 Thanks friends for spending the afternoon with us!

Happy Early Birthday Abigayl!!!

{Would you help us build a library?}

In June, while I was visiting the Choate Family in the Solomon Islands, I had the opportunity to visit Fly Harbor School. 

 We got up early and walked the 2 mile trek across the island in time for the end of the semester ceremony. Though the distance isn't that great, it takes awhile to get there through the coconut groves and bush.

 This school serves the Lavukel kids from 7 villages among the islands where the Choates live.

This is one of the villages across the harbor that the school serves.

The school is a boarding school for grades 1 to 4. 

 After you graduate from this school, if you want to continue your schooling, then you must go to a boarding school further away (like Yandina which is about a 45 minute to hour motor canoe ride or in the capital of Honiara.) 

 The school grounds consist of 2 boarding houses (boys & girls), classrooms, a chapel and housing for the teachers. Below is the girls dorm, it is very basic and the condition is not that great. They have started building a new one.

 This is the chapel in the center of the school grounds.

There are both traditional classrooms-

and some built years ago as part of a partnership with Australia and the people of the Russell Islands.

One of the things I noticed right away in the classroom was things written and posted on the walls, science information, government information, etc.

When everything was over, Aaron & Joanna introduced me to the headmaster of the school. He is Lavukal and from the village where they live. He is working hard to improve the education for the children there. One of his desires is to have books that the kids can learn to read and enjoy. Being a book lover, I was surprised that the school doesn't really have any books. From this conversation came the dream of creating a small library for the school.

This is where you come in! We would like to raise a total of $3000 over the next year to start a small library at Fly Harbor School! The money will go towards purchasing books, buying materials to build some shelves to hold the books and eventually, we would love to raise funds to build a small Library building similar to the little green house in the picture above.

The Headmaster hopes to have 3 sections of books; those in English which school is taught in (this is the official language but only about 2% of the people speak it), those in Pijin which is common and understood across the different people groups and Lavukal, the heart language of the students at this school (currently, there aren't many stories available in Lavukal but they hope to translate some of the books into it for the kids.

Here is where you come in, we are kicking off PHASE 1 of this project.
We want to get books into the hands of the Head Master as soon as possible. There is an elementary Science series that he would like to have. The cost of all the books in Level 1 & 2 in this series is about $500. We would also like to provide materials to build books shelves for these books, which will cost about $100 for supplies. The extra funds will be used to purchase Pijin books in Honiara. We are hoping to raise the funds to order these books in the next week as we have someone traveling to the Solomon Islands to visit the Choates that can transport them.

Joanna has sent 20 pairs of beautiful earrings that are hand crafted in the Solomon Islands. The first 20 donations of $15 or more will receive a pair of these beautiful earrings- styles vary greatly but all are very beautiful! (Please email me your address if you donate.)

 Would you be willing to share about this project?
Leave me a comment if you shared on your blog, facebook, etc. and I will put your name in the hat for one of these beautiful hand carved doves made from a shell, also crafted in the Solomons!

{moments caught...}

Eli was up early and made me breakfast all by himself!

 Our favorite chocolate chip pancakes!

 

snuggling with 2 of my girls watching old episodes of "The Lone Ranger..."

 

Here is where my hubby has been... that is Mount St. Helen's in the background. He said it was beautiful, I am only a little jealous! Thanks for the picture Dave!

more cute kiddos taking selfies...

 

Home made pizza for supper that we shared with a friend...

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

How did you spend your day?

{This Mama's Daybook}

For Tonight

Nov. 12, 2014

Outside my window... it's dark out but I can hear the wind is blowing and it is a freezing 14 degrees (real feel temp of -5.) As I drove home from the gym tonight, there was snow flakes in the air and snow skittering back and forth across the highway.Our first snow of the season.

I am hearing... Rich Mullins, listening to old albums that I still love to worship to. Kids are snuggled down in their beds.

I am praying for...my family this Thanksgiving Season, that we would take the time each day to count our blessings and and have grateful hearts.

One of my favorite things... the quietness of the house late at night when everyone is in bed and I can sit with a cup of hot apple cider and read a book or study His word. I also love my pile of pumpkins and squash in from the garden and waiting to be baked...

On my book shelf... Every Bitter Thing is Sweet by Sara Hagerty.

I am creating... A small blanket as a gift for a special little boy. The kids are trying their hands at wool needle felting, they are having fun creating pictures. We are also starting on our fleece blankets for Haiti, my mom is traveling back again in March along with my niece. We are hoping to load them down with fleece blankets!

From the kitchen... tonight, life was running late it seemed and Nate had ask earlier for Chili Frito Pie, so we had Wendy's chili for supper with cheese and Fritos when we got home form practice. Yummy, perfect for a cold night.

Christmas Lima Beans- when I was a little girl, my grandma always grew them and I loved them! I haven't seen them in years but my mom found me some seed, then my uncle told me he had some and shared this seed that he has saved over the years from grandma's original seed. They were a tasty treat with lunch yesterday!

Moments caught on camera...

enjoying some time reading outside while the weather was still warm and beautiful...

 From the learning rooms... we are working our way through ancient history studying the Minoans yesterday we tried our hand at "Fresco" painting after reading about the paintings on the walls of King Minos Palace remains in Crete.

I am pondering these words...

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul. ~Horatio Spafford

Plans for the rest of the week... to catch up, I am so far behind in many things that I hope these next few days can remedy that!

A peek into my world... smiles from this week...

Stay warm friends...

{what to do with all those green tomatoes...}

Cold weather is coming fast according to the weather man, so we went out and picked the last of the tomatoes that were still in the garden. Since our fall has been mild over all, I still had a lot of green ones growing on the vine.

 I hated to see them go to waste but I wanted something besides fried green tomatoes!

Lenna and I started looking and found this recipe- green tomato bread!

 Sounds weird, but Lenna decided to try it.

Yummy! Think zucchini bread and it's about the same!

We will be using a lot of tomatoes and sharing with friends this week.

 I did make a few adjustments to the recipe .

We chopped the tomatoes in the food processor and then drained off the juice, I think there would be way too much liquid in the batter if you didn't.

We used 1 1/2 c. sugar instead of the full 2 cups. I think the next loaf we may adjust it a little more and use 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup honey.

The recipe calls for 1 c. of oil- we used 1/2 cup of oil and 1/2 cup applesauce.

Lastly, we upped the cinnamon- we tend to like the spice flavors so we also added about 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg and next time, we will add a little clove too!

{Eric Carle Art Project}

Our home school group meets every two weeks for Art Class. This year, we are studying different artists then completing a project that is tied to that artist or their style.

This past week, we studied Eric Carle.

We started with by painting pages with tempera paint and using different items to add texture to the painted pages. We used tooth brushes, pine cones, bags, cardboard, combs, etc.

 

While the paintings dried, we learned about Eric Carle and then the older kids read some of his books to the younger kids...

The kids then shared their painted paper, picked a template of one of Carle's pictures and created a piece of their own...

They turned out awesome!

I think we may make a few more at home.