thursday throw-out (to you)

so, yesterday, some "older" ladies from the United Church came to our house to discuss Friday's World Day of Prayer (Papua New Guinea) with me. at least I thought it was "with me"

as it turns out, oldest sat through the whole meeting, incredibly eager to share all he knew and personally experienced in the rain forest. ok, cool, but I kept giving him the "mama big eyes" when I was in the middle of a perfectly great sentence/story and he insisted on jumping in.
I know it is partly excitement on his part because, well, he was there in the heat and humidity, but, you know ...

so, the afternoon progresses with the United ladies asking us for much advice, like "here is a recipe we would like to make and serve to the people who attend the service. it is for banana sour cream cake."

... do I tell them that in order to have sour cream in papua, you would have to be willing to make your own, from scratch?

yes.

"how about this recipe for sparkling ginger ale pineapple, orange, lemonade?"

ummmm. sure. that would taste really good. (it's ok. they have never lived in the rain forest. they don't have to) I ask son "did we have ginger ale while we were there?"

ladies continue. they bring out two library books, from our wee town library, all about papua new guinea. some of the pictures look familiar, but the majority were taken in the highlands ... the place most visitors go because it is cool there, and you can get fresh vegetables and there isn't any malaria. we enjoyed looking at them together and drawing some comparisons/contrasts.
son decides now would be the perfect time to show that he can read tok pisin.

I dutifully sit back and listen as son speaks this "second" language of ours.

son: "this sentence here is saying what hours the bar is open, and when they serve beer."

huh? what is he reading? I find myself clasping my hands together in my lap and sitting up a little straighter.

one of the church ladies mentions to the other that "these boys are homeschooled".

more: "you can drink beer here, outside on the patio part, but they will only sell you this many. oh, and it tells you how much it will cost to drink the beer."

United church ladies smile, nod and express their thrill at his ability to read and translate to them.

I am simply sitting and smiling, my head cocked to the side. "mama big eyes" kind of goin' on, blinking a little quickly, and praying this meeting is over.

another proud moment in the homeschool annals.