Regal Rider

We asked each of the kids what activity they would like to participate while we are on furlough and Kylah chose horseback riding.  She takes lessons from a neighboring family who offer Christian English Riding Lessons.  She has enjoyed it immensely!  She recently participated in a show where she demonstrated her newly learned skills and placed 1st, 2nd and 4th in walk patterns, trot patterns, and games.

(Not shown:  Cheering family around the paddocks!  Way to go Kylah!)

Austin Pitches

Wearing the number of his favorite Yankee, Austin has moved infield and is enjoying time on the mound.

(Not shown: Mom is behind the camera grinning from ear to ear.)

Walker Birthdays

One of the joys of living in Waxhaw, NC is the relativley close distance we are from my brother and his beautiful family.  They are living outside of Columbia, SC and are just a 1.5 hour drive away. 

It's fun to watch Jason fathering four kids.  He really lucked out in the birthday department.  14 year old twins, Kayla and Kaitlyn obviously share the same B-day, but he and Brenda gave birth to Kaden on October 14th, and, 5 years later gave birth to Khloe on October 14th.  4 kids, 2 birthdays!

We were able to spend a weekend with them as we celebrated the lives of Kaden and Khloe.  The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and we enjoyed some sweet time with the whole family.

Brenda's Mom with Sweet 1 year old Khloe

Crazy cousins Lucas and Kaden

(And this was before the cake!)

Lucas snuggles with Kaitlyn.

Austin hams it up with Kayla.

Kylah enjoyed bouncing in, on, and over the bouncehouse.

Weston peeks over the exteme bounce house.  He jumped and jumped and jumped for hours!

Chai Tea

Furlough has begun and I am home with Mom and Dad looking forward to sharing a long-awaited cup of tea with them.  I thought I'd share my favorite Chai tea recipe.

Hindustani (Chai) Tea

(adapted from More with Less cookbook)

3-4 servings

Heat together in a 2-3 qt. saucepan:
3 c. water
3 ½ t. loose tea
Boil 10 minutes. Add:
3 c. milk

When I add the milk, I also add approximately ¼ tsp ground cloves, ginger, cardamom, and 1/8 tsp black pepper. Sometimes I add ½ tsp. vanilla. **Season to taste.

Heat to near boiling. Add to taste:
5-7 t. sugar

Strain several times before serving.

Tastes best when prepared 2 or more hours in advance and set aside. Reheat during meal and serve with fresh fruit for dessert.

Best when shared with a kindred spirit…..

Greenhorn Gardening

I am not a very good gardener. I am a much better market shopper. Honestly, I don't like digging in the dirt. Dirty fingernails make me cringe. Patiently waiting for something to pop up out of the ground is not one of my better virtues. Picking off pesky bugs....well, I need not elaborate.

However, this past year, with great anticipation and fervor and a little inspiration from my favorite blogger Ann Voskamp, we decided to plant a garden. Kylah and I dirtied our hands quite well as we put tomato, green pepper, corn and cauliflower seeds into sprout containers (egg cartons). As the shoots emerged, I did experience the elation of anticipation. When we transfered the plants into the ground I had a deep sense of satisfaction knowing that I had sweated and blistered as we cleared the plot of land to ready it for a garden. Then, we waited. And waited.

As rain and sun fed our seedlings, we measured each day the amount of growth taking place in our garden. Unfortunately, we received lots of rain during this time and some of our plants didn't fare too well. The corn, however, continued to reach towards the sun.

There is something pleasant about seeing the fruits of your labor.  We would venture out each day to our corn garden to see the new growth excitedly anticipating the day when the crop would be ready.

Finally, the corn was ready for picking. It was a grand day as the kids pulled corn off the stalks and we shucked corn.

You can imagine our dismay, after all the labor, when we finally cooked, buttered and tasted our home-grown corn. It had the taste and texture of feedcorn. Oh, what a disappointment.

Thankfully, we had a good laugh and decided that next time we will stick to tomatoes. They seem to be the only thing we can grow.

***

This reminded me of how often we pour our hearts and souls into something only to have the results be less than what we expect. We labor and sacrifice expecting life to turn out perfect but find that it often doesn't. And yet, perhaps the blessing comes in the growth, not the end product.

Austin and Kylah

Sweet sibs and sweet friends

Loading New Testaments for the Gapapaiwa Dedication

Rossel Island trip (old pics from Dad and Austin's trip)

Bagi

In recent years, many of the islands of Milne Bay shared in a trade ring. One island, known for its clay pots would canoe over hand molded, fire-hardened red clay pots in exchange for shell necklaces made by the people of a different group. Both were used in bartering as well as in bride prices.

In Alotau, we have seen and even wear one of the famous red shell necklaces, known as the Bagi. However, it wasn't until Tim and Austin went to Rossell Island before we really appreciated the amount of work that went into these simple bilas (decorations).