stuff

Ponytails !! Her hair is soooooo long right now! ;)

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She adores him....

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Twisted-up Pigtails! Plus cheesy grin ;)

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Gun.

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The kids' homemade pizzas...

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And Rain in Peli's old Fiji shirt that he got when we were over there...

so... it's been a while since our little trip overseas!

Nau

We received the sad news Friday that Suka's Grandma

 had passed away.

This photo is from the first day we ever met...

We had just arrived in Fiji (my and Peli's first time),

and Nau was working on these mats

(we didn't yet know she was making

them for us!)

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Suka and Nau

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Me, Peli and Daphne the day we met Nau

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Because they were not able to come to the states

to attend our wedding, the family had planned

to throw us a wedding celebration

upon our arrival... (we had no idea)

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They'd made us all these Tapa and mats-

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Us at the wedding celebration AND

80th b-day party for Nau

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Nau with all her children

[except Suka's mom Loraini]

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With all the grandkids

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With the grandkids' spouses

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Waiting for Sunday dinner!  Suka, Peli, Nau in back

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Nau's house

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Suka climbing the stairs to her home

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Suka and his grandma, with one of just two known photos

of Loraini... which she graciously gave us...

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The cemetery where Loraini is buried,

and where Nau will be laid to rest.

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We are thinking of Suka's family back home...

and wishing we could be there...

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We are glad to know she is feeling no more pain,

and is in a better place...

but our hearts are aching.

We hope she knows how much we love her,

and from me- how grateful I am that she was able to spend

time with our son, and get to know us- if even for a moment.

The Rice Thing. aka How to Save Your Wet Phone

Two years ago upon arriving in Fiji,

after twenty-four hours of travel with a two-year-old,

including four airports, three airplanes,
 seven carry-ons and way too many security checkpoints,

we were exhausted, and happy to take a rest.

As we were sleeping, Suka's sweet aunt put Suka's clothes
into the washer.  When he went to retrieve them,
he realized that his iPod had been in his jeans pocket, and it was dead.

That was the first time I heard that whenever
 an electronic device like an iPod or cellphone gets wet,
you should put it into a bag or bowl of rice-
the rice sucks up the moisture and helps dry out the device.

Obviously, the iPod had been through a thorough washing
and drying cycle, so it was not to be saved-
but I remembered the Rice Thing.

Fast forward two years-
I'm telling my friend Ginny last Sunday how we've been so lucky
never to have had anything dropped- or thrown- into the toilet. 
Having grown up around four boys and all their friends/cousins/schoolmates,
I fully appreciate how much of an achievement that is.

Well, I should have knocked on wood.
Or something.
Because approximate 41 hours after proudly making
this grand announcement to Ginny,
Peli comes walking around the corner wearing no pants
and holding my cellphone with a hand that was wet up to his wrist.
[Translation: He'd had to go to the bathroom while holding my phone
and he ended up accidentally knocking it right into
the porcelain throne's great reservoir.]
Holy Freakout.

I have had that cellphone for exactly one year,
and have taken great care of it.
We don't have the extra money for things like new cellphones and such,
 so there's just no way I could replace it right now. 
I was SO excited to have gotten it last year, and my stomach just sank.

BUT

Peli had acted fast.
He'd gotten it out of the toilet water really quickly,
and I knew what to do- the Rice Thing! 
(I genuinely didn't know whether the whole Rice Thing
was just an urban legend, but in the moment figured I had nothing to lose!)
I yanked out the battery and smartcard,
dried off the phone as best as I could with a towel,
then stuffed a ziploc full of rice and shoved my phone inside.

And then...
waited.
And waited.
And waited.
[And cried a teeny bit, thinking of all the photos I hadn't saved to a disc...]

You're supposed to leave it in the rice for 24-48 hours
and I don't think you're supposed to put the battery in
and "check" it until after that, but I did. 
I checked it after about 8 hours and the screen came on-
but was completely white. 

The next morning, I checked again,
and this time my screensaver pic of my kiddies was there! 
And the time and all the other words/numbers/symbols on my screen.
Plus- about half the keys were working too.
So, back into the rice she goes.

Several hours later, more keys were working.

By that night, every button except one was working,
I could text and make calls!
Holy Freakout Again.

By the next morning, the screen had cleared up
(there had been the shadow of water spots in it)
and everything was working except the camera!
I couldn't believe it.

I'm still working on the camera,
but my lovely navy blue Samsung phone with Qwerty keyboard has been
SAVED! 

I told Peli how he had done the right thing
by grabbing the phone out of the water,
because I've since learned that a phone only has about
3-10 seconds in water before it is totally gone.
I also told him that it was the right thing to do
 to come and tell me right then,
even though I'm sure he was scared he'd be in trouble.

Yay Peli!
Yay Me!
Yay Rice Thing!

Here's to hoping we get back to our No Things in the Toilet streak!

another new addition

This is Lagiono, our baby niece on Suka's side,

she is the daughter of Suka's brother Iliesa.

And that's Suka's sister Salote holding her!

We don't get pix of Suka's fam very often, so we were stoked

when we got this one and finally got to see this little cutie!!

Below is the Proud Papa, Iliesa-
this is a pic from our trip to Fiji, Summer 2008.

Lagiono makes three grandkids-
with Peli and Raini.
Isn't she darling?!?!

You Know You're Fijian...

This is just a little sumthin'-sumthin' for any of you who are Fijian,

are friends with Fijians, are married to Fijians, know a Fijian...

you get the idea!

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Suka saw this last night and we were cracking up-

(we highlighted our favorites)

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YOU KNOW YOU'RE FIJIAN WHEN:

• There's an accident and you're the only one laughing.
• You ask for a dustpan and get handed a magazine or newspaper.
• Your Mother says that at 25, you're too young to have a boyfriend/girlfriend.
• You run into Grandma at the Shopping Centre wearing one white and one red sock...with jandals.
• Being whacked with a leather belt is considered discipline not child abuse.
• At any major function, instead of a plate, your food comes in a box that used to hold a 24-pack soft drink.
• You run into a mountain of shoes blocking the front door to the house.
• You've always been given a hiding with a rubber slippah but had to go fetch it first.
• You ask for some gel to put in your hair before you go out and your Mum throws you a bottle of Baby Oil instead.
• You can sprint barefoot on sharp stones and rocks. (what's up with this?!)
• You have an Aunty with a fully grown moustache.
• You go to an Island Social and the band members are wearing dark shades even though it's late in the evening.
• You have an Uncle who is always drunk and starts fights at family weddings. And at anybody else's.
• You call all hot chocolate Milo.
• You've been given a beat-down by your Father that lasted more than half and hour.
• Your sister has more muscular legs than your Father.
• You have sat in a 4-seater car with up to 12 other people.
• All cereals are called 'Gorn Flakes'. And all toothpaste is 'Golgate'.
• You're getting a beat down and your parents ask, "What are you crying for?"
• You've had your hair pulled by your Mother in front of schoolmates at the Supermarket.
• You think you're a pro at volleyball.
• You have a huge banquet on Sunday and live on Dhal and rice for the rest of the week.
• You bring your palagi friends over to watch "FRIENDS" and just as it starts, your Mum turns the TV off and says, "time for our family prayer."
• You've had an afro at some stage in your life (boys AND girls) and thought you looked cool.
• You almost drown at the beach and when the lifeguards return you to your parents, they kindly thank them, then wait till they've left before they both give you a good ole fashion beating.
• You know your mom is sneaking up on you 'cause you can hear her rubber slippahs on the linoleum floor.
• You need a sleep after every meal.
• A relation of yours drives a taxi.
• You know the difference between all the different types of corned beef!
• You go to the islands Rich and come back Poor.

Fiji Floods

Some of our friends have posted about the flooding in Fiji,

but we felt it was important to post as well.

In the last 10 days or so, Fiji has been overwhelmed by flooding.

There are more than 2,000 people who have been left homeless
and even more who have lost everything

It's hard to imagine so much damage, and so much lost,

especially for people who didn't have much to begin with

We spent time last summer in some of the hardest-hit places-

Nadi and Ba

Our prayers are with our family and friends in Fiji

We are faithful that they will be strong and that

Fiji will recover from this devastating time.

A Few Fave Pix from Fiji Trip '08

ALOT of things happened in our lives last year:

Suka graduated from BYU, we quit our jobs and moved away,

Suka started a new teaching career, Peli turned two,

we found out we're having another baby...

but we also had the unbelievable opportunity to take our first family trip to Fiji,

where Suka is from. It was an awesome experience.

I got to meet Suka's family for the first time

and see where he grew up. It was also a turning point for Peli.

He came back a different child- more open, a little more hyper and

jovial. Not to mention Suka- it was his first trip home in nearly six years!

So here's a look back at some of my fave shots from our trip:

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{Lavina & Peli, fast friends, right after we arrived,

in the car on the way to the house}

{Suka and I at a wedding ceremony the family held in our honor,

since they weren't able to be at our wedding}
{I love this pic of Peli because he spent almost the entire trip in his diaper like this-
also, look at his wet hair! It looked like that the entire time}

{Me and Peli at the beach}

{This is where Suka was raised-

pic was taken from the patio of his cousins' house}

{I love this shot- it's Suka sisters and cousins lovin' Peli}

{Don't mind my half-closed eyes- this was a very emotional experience-

this is Suka, his grandma and me. She was talking to us about Suka's

mom and showing us this photo, one of the only ones that exists!

Someone was translating for me, since Grandma doesn't speak English.

She has the coolest raspy voice and she told us that she wanted to

give us the photo to keep. It is of Suka's mother from when she was 19.

I was overwhelmed and was crying...}

{This is at the airport as we were preparing to leave.

Suka and Peli with Auntie Pei and her family, and Suka's brother Joji;

They were so wonderful to us and took care of us while we were there!}

{Peli was into making this face at that age (?),

here he is with Auntie Pei, Suka's mom's sister.

Isn't she beautiful?}

We had such an amazing time in Fiji!

Hopefully we'll be able to go back before too long...