Recently life has been pretty busy, but in the midst of all the business you still have the normal things that you have to do. You also find some things to do that aren’t so common like making coconut oil. Making the oil is fairly simple, but it does take some time. First you have to take the shell off the coconut so that you can cut it open. Doing it to one doesn’t take very long, but if you have a pile of 40 coconuts you are definitely really glad for everybody that is helping.

After you have  pealed the coconut you need to cut it open and pry the meat from the shell. We had  15 kilo of just coconut meat from the forty coconuts.

Next you need to blend the coconut adding enough water to get it to grind it easily.

When you strain this it gives you the coconut milk.

Once you have the coconut milk you let it set over night for the cream to separate.

Then you take a dipper and scoop the cream off the top.

Next you cook it, and that’s about all there is to it…while it is simple to do it is time consuming.

Another thing that we have been wishing for ever since we came was a better grill something that will put the smoke flavor in the meat like our green egg at home used to. Well Dad got the bright idea of making one himself. He bought two cement flower pots, and made a tray for the fire in the bottom. He needed it raised off of the bottom of the pot so the air could get under the fire so he made a form with sand and put the cement in this.

He cut a hole in the side of the pot and put a metal slide over it to control airflow/temperature, and cemented a can over a hole in the top for a chimney this also helps with controlling the temperature. Right at first we had problems opening the lid since there are no hinges on it but soon we rigged up a pulley system so all you have to do is pull the rope and the lid comes up. While this might not all make sense to you, I’m sure you would agree that the meat that comes off of it is delicious and that is what is important.

Another thing that we’ve been having to do for ourselves is getting the truck unstuck…Usually it’s not to bad but sometimes it takes quit a bit of digging and pushing before it will come unstuck.

No matter how much stuff like this we do for ourselves it is still not even close to what the natives do…Take planting rice for example. First they till the ground and spread the rice fairly thick across the field. Then they go pull the rice all out and tie it in small bundles. Next they poke holes in the ground at even spaces, and poke two or three plants in each hole. A very time consuming process if you do it by yourself.

Recently we had a team come down from IGO for a week and a half. They helped us out with various jobs. They did some teaching, helped clean up a soccer field, put water sealer on desks, passed out some 25 Bible Story books. It was a lot of fun having them around, not just because they helped with the work either!!

Forrest started kindergarden and is learning how to read. He is loving it.

Franks little girl is growing up, and it seems like she gets cuter every day. To the girls chagrin and us boys’ delight she definitely prefers us boys.

The rest are just pictures that I thought you might enjoy.