v/b v./f

OVERWHELMING LOVED AND HAPPY!!

That's how I want to respond to people that ask "how are you today"? In spite of our circumstances, I've been so happy and positively cheerful! LOL! I just woke up the other day and started smiling, and haven't stopped. My babies are happy, healthy and smart:) They're loving school, young women's, scouts, primary, cousins and grandparents. Fasi and I have time to actually miss each other now, which hasn't been the case in the last 2 years since we also worked together 24/7 outside of the home. My brother and nephew are here visiting from Samoa (so good to see them again)! My sister is on her way up from Samoa (can't wait to see her)!! Weather has been gorgeous! My tummy has been full! I'm a pretty dang blessed woman:) LOVE MY FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND LIFE!!!!!

AND THAT IS WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY CHURCH!!

Ray Ray gets a little air:)

Puks was Most Determined Player of the night! SWING SON!!

Since this past Sunday was the 5th one of the month, the RS and Priesthood were combined. We had a guest speaker for the 3rd hour and HE WAS BRILLIANT! He was entertaining, charismatic, passionate, hilarious, to the point and INSPIRING! He started out the class asking for reasons that we as members, may be hesitant to share the Gospel with others. The first 5 answers that members replied with, just happened to be the top 5 reasons! Through out the rest of the class he explained that instead of being fearful of rejection, not knowing how to answer specific questions about the Gospel, offending someone, losing a friend, or putting in the "time"...the best and easiest way to explain our love for the Gospel and it's teachings is to make a statement and then follow it up with "and that is what I love about my church".
Yesterday for FHE Fas and I took the kids to Monterey Park and played Badminton. IT WAS FUN! A bit frustrating for some of the kids in the beginning but we had a great time. Although we didn't have a lesson or refreshments (i know, blasphemy right;)), it brought so much joy to my heart to see my little family laugh and play and encourage and be silly with each other. After the first hour of playing I sat out and tried to capture the memories on camera. Don't you wish cameras could do more than snap a picture? If I could somehow capture and freeze the huge smiles, loud laughter, exchange of the loving words of encouragement and warm fuzzy feelings we were all experiencing I'd replay this moment in time over and over and over again! Family Home Evening is something we are encouraged to do with our families WEEKLY! Not once a month, once a quarter or once a year...but weekly! Scriptures and prayers are to take place in the home daily! We are to attend church as a family every Sunday! So if we as parent's are doing our job and taking heed to the Prophet's teachings and counsel...everyday in my home there should be smiles, laughter, love, encouragement, and warm fuzzies. AND THAT'S WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY CHURCH! The fact that the FAMILY is the focus of the Gospel. Not Joseph Smith, not the Bishop of my church, not how much money I put into tithing, not how great my church choir sings...the single MOST important focus is FAMILY! Mine isn't perfect..not by any means, but we're pretty darn cool;)

I HAVE BEEN BORN OF GOODLY PARENTS!

I can go on and on about how wonderfully amazing my parent's are. I love them so much and am so grateful I was sealed to them for all time and eternity! They make/made everything in my life possible...LITERALLY! I am so grateful for them instilling the Gospel standards into my life from day 1. For their strong testimonies and the example they set for me and my children. How blessed I am to have them as my earthly parent's!! This evening I gathered my chicks and had Family Counsel on my bed with them (Fasi's at work). We traditionally start off with scriptures, and then go around and have each child tell us what they learned in Primary/Sunday School, then the family calendar for the week, Fasi or I or both of us give what counsel we deem neccessary and then we give the floor to each child from the youngest to oldest to say, comment, express anything they want. My parent's did the same thing with us growing up. I'm grateful my parent's did this with us. It was a bonding moment for our family and quality time spent with each other, versus just sitting and watching t.v. together (we do that too). Anyway, my children look forward to FC. In fact, it keeps them on their toes at church as they know they will have to give a report when we meet later on in the evening. My favorite part of FC though is the end, when each child is given the opportunity to say whatever they want. Pinemua doesn't say much, Sunni goes on and on about her teachers and her homework and EVERYTHING that comes to mind. Puka ALWAYS says that he loves us all and that he's going to try to be a "gooder" boy:) This evening he expressed those same sentiments and then added "I like our house, and my school, and grandma brought us some goodies from Samoa, and I like Dad's job, and I want to be a missionary like "Vanguh"...I mean Elder Ili:) The older 3 are getting so smart and mature. This evening each of the 3 asked a question about something they were unsure of. Some was school related and some church. But it just made me smile to carry on conversations with my babies that gave me an opportunity to educate em a little and share that bonding moment with them and each other. They are all each other's best friends...and they're mine too! Anyway, I'm just grateful that my parent's have set the standard for me because I definitely want to be like them when I'm all growed up;) LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD!!

WE'RE BAAAACK...

Back in the desert, and back to the blogging world! Boy have we been busy. I need to go through and reread my lasts posts to see where I left off on our ever changing lives. Here's a real quick snippet for those of you that don't know....June 15th, the Taase Tribe boarded a plane at the Pago Pago International airport closing one chapter in our lives, and starting another. We arrived in AZ just before midnight on June 17th and have been here since burning in the dry heat...THAT WE LOVE! We all miss Samoa...LIKE MAJOR! But, we know that this is what and needs to be for now. We're looking for work, furthering our education and enjoying being closer to family and friends that we missed so dearly while back home. We've literally been living off of LOVE and FAITH and it's been more than humbling. I'm excited to be blogging again and for the most part journaling our "adventurous" lives:)

*picture of kids with Uncle Segi, the night we left:(

HURRICANE RENE'...

According to our local weather man, the eye of Rene' will be hitting us tonight at 9 p.m. This is what it looked like about an hour and a half ago when I was driving into work. HERE WE GO HURRICANE!!

'KETCHUP"-TOTALLY BACK TRACKING!

I cannot believe it's only been 7 months since I've blogged. It feels like it's been longer. Probably because of all the craziness that's happened in the last 7 months. Let's see...

-September 29th, American Samoa is hit by a TSUNAMI! I was 8 months pregnant and couldn't believe what was going on. We definitely felt the earthquake that caused the tsunami. At first I wasn't sure it was an earthquake though because our bed shakes pretty consistently through out the night, a result of Fasi's deep snoring (NOT KIDDING). It wasn't til Fasi got up and started saying...NO ONE move, it's an earthquake! It lasted for a while. It was just after 6:30 a.m. Naive as we were, we continued our morning preparing for school and work. Fasi's Grandma had stayed the night with us and so he was getting ready to drop her off at home after he dropped the kids at school. I was just about to start curling the last section of my hair, when I heard the car horn blaring as it got closer to the house. Seconds later Fasi was at the bathroom door telling me to hurry up and get in the car..."we're getting hit by a Tsunami. The radio DJ's are saying they were getting hit live on the air". HOLY CRUD! He was on his way home from dropping off his Grandma when he heard the DJ's crying on the radio saying the harbor was overflowing and that they can see cars and containers flowing near their building. He went right back to the kids school and picked them up and then stopped to pick up Puka, Sunni and myself. From there we went back to his Grandma's which was scary because she lives closer to the ocean than us. I couldn't help but feel for the people that were standing on the sides of the roads waiting for a bus or anyone to pick them up. You can tell that everyone was in panic mode. I cried quietly as we passed children and people of all ages walking somewhere...anywhere safe from the water. Traffic had ensued within seconds and then it was a waiting game. Were we going to get up a mountain fast enough? Which way should we go? Do all my children know how to swim? I wonder if anyone called Dad? Where was the rest of my family? Did my cousin pick up his children? Why do our telecommunication services suck so bad? How useful will I be in saving my children, with one still growing in me? WHY DID WE MOVE HERE? A ton of other questions and thoughts raced through my mind as well. We decided to drive up to Aloau to my cousin Va's home. It is VERY high up and we knew we'd be safe there. We were the first there. Within minutes though she had well over 30 people in her yard. She was such a gracious host! THANK YOU SOLOMONA'S! While there we heard a few stories of some villages being destroyed, but we had no idea if it was true and to what extent. From where we were the Ocean looked beautiful and calm. I managed to get onto my email and was chatting with my brother Gene, in Arizona. I asked him if he heard from any of my family here (our phone lines were not working at all this day) and he said they had. My family were all together on another mountain in our village Nu'uuli. I was happy to hear that since I couldn't get through to anyone. I cried while chatting with him, was thinking what if? what if? About 3 hours after we arrived at Va's we heard over the radio that the Tsunami advisory had been lifted and that it was safe to return to lower grounds. For the next few days and weeks we read in newspapers and watched on t.v. the damage caused by the tsunami that hit mainly the outer edges of our island. We heard sad story after sad story of death, injury, loss of home, missing persons, etc. But Samoans are a strong people, and so there was also an enormous sense of survival, harmony, and hope throughout the following weeks. How blessed our island home was also to receive aid from numerous organizations from the U.S. and other countries. American Samoa's one and only airport landing strip had never been so busy. Relief efforts and supplies arrived one plane after another!! Today, there are still villages without power, water, or any standing buildings. The only proof of life in them are the FEMA and RED CROSS tents that were distributed. You know in my Patriarchal blessing it states that I will witness many natural disasters and that as long as I live accordingly I need not fear. Hmmm...I've been through 2 hurricanes, an earthquake and a tsunami. I am not afraid of natural disasters, I'm afraid of losing my children and afraid of them losing me...

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