the Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY... Monday, September 29

Outside My Window... pinapples, growing with wild abandon

I am thinking... that I do not seem to measure time by days or months, but by experiences and emotions

I am thankful for... Bikman

From the kitchen... chocolate chip banana muffins

I am wearing... a black skirt that I bought in town that everyone around here also bought and a ripped top that is, otherwise, quite nice

I am creating... memories to last a lifetime

I am going... to check and see if any pinapples are ripe

I am reading... the Blue Bottle Club (again) by Penelope J.Stokes

I am hoping... to actually write this novel I naively said I would write

I am hearing... the sounds of Lego being sorted by two boys, a red-eye cawing and a machete cutting through weeds

Around the house... Jonam, Evan, Mary Anne na mi

One of my favorite things... my EasyYo yogourt maker

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: finishing my planning for the next 10 week term and continuing to make it as much like homeschooling as possible

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

wordless wednesday

tuesday timetable

but really it is going to be Monday's musings because internet has been brutal to me since I last posted. so sad. today Neal started working in the joinery. he is working on a bathroom that has had a leaking toilet for some time. it seems the whole floor was fashioned out of particle board (can you believe it?) and has turned into wet Wheatbix. un.believable. also, why can I take the time to capitalize names but not beginnings of sentences? mi no save.


FOR TODAY... Monday, September 23

Outside My Window... liklik win

I am thinking... that I truly love being a wife and mother; there is nothing else I would rather be

I am thankful for... prayers

From the kitchen... a pot of pumpkin soup

I am wearing... a white and pink tank and green knee-length shorts

I am creating... a series of memories; some on paper, some in my mind alone

I am going... to "break in" to the school library

I am reading... The Blue Bottle Club, by Penelope J. Stokes and Shadow Spinner by Fletcher (for school)

I am hoping... to finish well

I am hearing... my neighbours, my fridge motor and my numba wun son on the other laptop

Around the house... three of us on skul malelo

One of my favorite things... second hand stores

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: finishing my Tom's Midnight Garden study guide, planning the next 9 week term and receiving some mail

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

friday freefall

this has been a strange week for me. wednesday morning I went to feed the bunny and noticed she was quite dead. I cried almost all morning. missy was the best bunny ever, even though we have had one in the past for a pet and had it for much longer. neal i plantim long graun sit i kam long banis. mi bel i hevi. mi tingting missy.

some other weird things happened but they can basically go without mention.

today we are going to a beach for a couple of hours as an end of school term trip. a significant number of students will fly home today to go bush with their parents that they have not seen now for almost 7 weeks.

(tete, ol i go long nambis long two pela hour long pinis skul term.)

~ for sarah, long basically covers any preposition. barb already had that lesson.

I hope I can see Nemo today in the reef!

wordless wednesday

tuesday timetable

today is PNG Independence Day, which also means getting online was more difficult than it normally is ... no school so everyone on the base trying to surf simultaneously. anyway, we went for a ride to a truly lovely beach today and I tried snorkeling sort of. I at least put the mask on periodically and stuck my head in the water. I think that counts. I saw a nemo fish ... looked like nemo, some brain coral, some black anemonies that I did not want to touch, some weird looking star fish that resembled rope and some other dead coral. this was maybe 20 feet out. amazing. I would love to see more ... maybe Friday, for the last day of school, term one, beach day. I also tried talking to some naked national kids but they were using their tok place and I could only understand half of what they said. we swam together and shared the mask anyway. sometimes words just don't matter.

this was for the school assembly yesterday.

friday freefall

Do you ever fall into the trap of thinking you have to earn God's love and acceptance?

yes. occasionally

Where do you think that faulty thinking comes from?

a lack of complete understanding of the truth of grace and an over-dependence on the law, which seems easier to grasp.
This or that, no "maybe" or "sometimes" involved.
Black and white is easy to judge.
Grace means thinking is involved and grace means judgement from others is more likely. Grace is subjective and leaves room for error.
Law does not.

What does "saved by grace" mean to you?

It means it isn't ME but, rather, BY - a substitution.

If BY were a verb, it would be a helping verb
If BY were a pronoun, it would take the place of a noun (read: me)
If BY is a preposition, it is an action word (read: HE died for me)

If God were to ask you why He should let you into heaven, what would you say?
~it's only by Your love and it's only through Your mercy, Lord, I come

wordless wednesday

the Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY... Monday, September 8 (my favourite number)

Outside My Window... one honking blow up pool, belonging to the missionaries who live upstairs

I am thinking... that the simple life in PNG is actually quite complex. Is that an oxymoron? Simple in some ways but in other ways, "simple" means it takes a lot more time and effort; everything is from scratch, assuming you can find all the parts/ingredients in the first place

I am thankful for... my work meri and the opportunity to teach her(lanim em)as well as the priviledge to be taught from her (skolim long em)

From the kitchen... brown beans, eggs and toast

I am wearing... a really pretty blue skirt, quite full, a small white tank and a short-sleeved white blouse with tiny blue flowers. It is kind of cool today, by PNG standards. Must only be in the 80's

I am creating... this post, then back to school

I am going... to model for Neal's art class

I am reading... Commodore Perry and the Bible

I am hoping... to be done with liklik pekpek wara

I am hearing... the buzzing of our wee fridge, the pool pump and the occasional Willy Wagtail

Around the house... just me and my man

One of my favorite things... cinnamon buns, fresh out of the oven just in time for malelo long 10 kilok

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: getting over whatever it was that was going around the dorm, thankful that I made killer pizza anyway

Here is picture thought I am sharing...


http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

sunday spiritual

good thing I had previously decided the title for sunday entries ... I am not at "church" this morning but at "home" on the internet instead. Let's just say that if you stay in the tropics for long enough, there are various diseases and, ahem, ailments one can catch which limit one's geographical movements for a time and, well, leave it at that.

a devotion I read online this week really started me thinking about my choice of words. mostly I hear my inner dialogue and stop myself before too much of it has spilled out into the outer realm and this is good. I try not to use sarcasm too frequently and only on those whom I belive can understand that I am merely joking. this sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. this is good.

the devo went on to talk about the importance of our words in the grand scheme of relationships, how we ought to only build up and not tear down. how if God, in his infinite power and might, could create everything that is with only words, we should think about the power of our own tongues and use our words very carefully. this is true. I was struck, once again, by the immenseness of my God and how cool it is that his word is final. what he says truly "goes".

so ... what about the words we tell ourselves; that ever-present inner dialogue? are we careful, also within, only to build up and not tear down? I think that's worth pondering ...

Friday Freefall

The nice thing about living in PNG is that you all are still in the wee hours of Saturday, so I can add a post that I wasn't able to get on yesterday, today. Em i swit.

You know you are a third culture kid when:

1. you consider a city 500km away to be 'very close'

2. you wince when people mispronounce foreign words

3. you bargain with the shopkeeper (though not here in PNG)

4. you sort your friends by continent

5. you speak with authority on the subject of airline travel

6. you can cut grass with a machete but can't start a lawnmower (yes, we do own a machete, as a matter of fact, along with three throwing knives. why not?)

7. you watch the latest film and miss the subtitles

8. you read National Geographic and recognise someone

9. you speak two languages but can't spell in either one

10.you have friends from or in twenty-nine different countries

thursday throwback

Shortly before heading to PNG, we spent a day at Uncle Tom's Cabin, in Chatham Ontario. It was a glorious day and I am so glad we took the time to see it. I love history ...





the box that a slave might try to mail himself to freedom in ...

Tuesday Timetable

Today is one of my full days as I begin teaching at 9, right after the students all shower (gym class is at 8) and I don't finish until 2:45. I know it's boring to read, but it IS a slice of my life, so I write it anyway:

9:00 am MAP 4/5 English
10:00 am Mid Morning Break
10:20 am MAP 3 Eastern Hemisphere
11:10 am MAP 3 Language (Poetry, Grammar, Spelling, Creative Writing etc)
11:50 am Lunch Break
12:30 pm MAP 3 Read Aloud (which Candy now does, in her Australian accent)
1:15 pm MAP 3 and MAP 4/5 Music (I so stink at this in my mind)
2:00 pm MAP 4/5 English

I do miss homeschooling more than I can adequately express, but there is solace in the fact that I am using exclusively homeschool curriculum ... I just became a Mom of 29 kids, tasol!

MAP 4/5 is burning through Step 3 of Learn to Write the Novel Way, so I need to slow them down a little (for the stragglers) with help on verb tenses. The exercise they did last week was way over their heads, and partly over mine, too. I seemed to "get" the right answers most of the time but I don't use the terms and, frankly, don't find them all that necessary. Learn to Write has a LOT of variations of verb tenses and the students were lost once we hit past perfect progressive ... um, yah!

the Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY... Monday, September 1 (Labour Day back "home")

Outside My Window... too dark to say (mwah, ha, ha)

I am thinking... remember dial-up? Yah. I'm living it.

I am thankful for... Gabby and Vincencia and their six children. Today they said Neal and I have good blood because we want to honour our parents.

From the kitchen... a crockpot full of curried "beef" juices I really should wash out.

I am wearing... striped pj bottoms, a couple of tank tops AND a sweatshirt because 82 is beginning to feel kind of on the chilly side. crazy.

I am creating... mini braids all over my head, in a zig-zag pattern.

I am going... to to bed when Neal gets back in. He is talkin to one of the guards.

I am reading... All the Small Poems, a novel by Ted Dekker and How to Prepare Him for the Other Woman.

I am hoping... to make good pizza for Gabby's family this Friday.

I am hearing... crickets and other assorted singing bugs, some of which are bigger than my hand (no kidding)

Around the house... all is quiet and calm. Bed time is now.

One of my favorite things... corn on the cob

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: not getting whatever it is that is going around at the school and making a great meal for the dorm on Sunday.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...



http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/