Been a while since I have blogged. Internet connection can be very frustrating here.

Where to begin....

after 5 months we have real electricity in our home! (Before we were running an extension cord from the neighbors)

House is finished, small details left to do, but as we are on island time, it will gone done... eventually.

John and I snorkeling at 'Enio beach. this beach is beautiful! They also have a botanical gardens there as well, we have not yet gone to the gardens.

Kids are now officially on summer break - weird that it is December and it is hot and sunny here! Although I am very much enjoying it.

Kids could kind of swim when we came.. but are really turning into fish now! Josie wouldn't go into the water by herself, and she is now snorkeling! So proud of her.

My goal is to start blogging more, so you should see some more posts from me!

Dancing and Singing

Most weekends at the market a village will come out or church group and sing and dance to entertain and "preach" at the people visiting the market.
This past week was our villages' week. So the kids at the village spent most nights up at the local hall so that they would all be ready for the big day of dancing. John, Josie and Detrix got asked to go!

Can you find them in the picture?

Wedding Tongan style

We were invited to the minister's wedding in our village. The minister has only been in the village for 1 1/2 and is marrying a lady from the next village over. We were very happy to be invited to the wedding and feast. The night before the wedding the women decorated the church with beautiful flowers, and white clothes.The bride is in front, the man in white is the minister... don't know who the man in blue is!
Note: Behind the couple is a cement water tank it hold approx 10,000 Liters of rain water. The church has 3 of them and they are public water. Right now are village has no well water - the well was contaminated with salt water when the cyclone hit last year. The entire village is dependent on rain water.


The weddings here take place on Tue or Thursday, there is a party after the ceremony. Then the bride and groom go back to their seperate homes until Sunday when they present the bride at church and have a small ceremony. Sunday after the feast and ceremony the bride and groom then go to the house they will live in together.

Due to this wedding being the minister - nearly every family in the two villages prepared a table... In Tonga the more you have on your table the bigger status you have so the people literally spend an entire weeks salary or more preparing a table for others to eat at! The picture at the right is Maka, with the pig he killed for the feast. This was his own pig, and one of the bigger pigs he has.



The villagers also collected money over the past couple of months and purchased a couple of cows to eat at the feast. The following pictures are of the cows hanging from the trees after they were killed, and then the umu (underground oven) that they cook all the meat and vegetables in. The vegetables here are mainly sweet potatoes and taro leaves. Taro leaves are close to tasting like spinach.
I went up with Derrick to where they were preparing the meat. They were very happy to have me take pictures, I then realized there were no women at all near the umu or any of the slaughtered pigs and cows. I was quick and taking pictures then I left the men to cut up the meat and prepare the pigs and cow for the feast the next day! Derrick was invited to stay and he sat and drank kava (local plant root) and cut up cow.
The picture is of some of the men in the village who dug the umu. It was atleast 6' deep and 10' long! I think a total of 2 cows, 5 pigs, other various animals and all the sweet potatoes went into the umu to cook overnight.

The amount of food on each table was over whelming! Each table had on it; of oti ika (oh-tie-ee-ka) it is a raw fish in coconut juice with tomatoes and lime juice. Sweet and sour chicken, deep fried chicken, lu (corned beef wrapped in taro leaves) regular fish, chicken chow mein, mussels, clams, lobster and then in front of us was a whole cooked pig. I would guess there was over 300 people there from both villages. I must say my favorite thing to eat is the oti ika.... before coming here I had never tried raw fish, no sushi, nothing, but I wanted to try eveything when we moved here.. now it is one of my favorite things to eat!

We had a great time at the wedding and feast, I might still be full from all the food!

The last picture is of just one side of all the tables, there was a whole other group of tables set up to the right.

What a beautiful view we get to look at every day!



Yesterday was the King's birthday. Because it is a royal holiday everything was closed, after a brief trip into town, then realizing everything was closed, we did what anyone does on an island, piled everyone in the car and went snorkeling at the beach!

The kids played for a few hours in the water - it was perfect!




What do you get at the end of a rainbow? We got three wonderful children! We had a really nice wind and rain storm on Saturday night, right before the rain storm we looked off of the back porch and saw a rainbow. There are people in the background collecting mussels, they must not have known to dig under the rainbow to find the pot of Gold! We have already found the pot of gold, with the three kids!

The "torch is coming"

So I while back we had big news in town that the Olympic Torch was coming through town. All kids went to town (instead of school) and lined the streets waiting for the torch to arrive. We had a few conversations about why the Olympic Torch would be touring around the world now, didn't the Olympics just take place?

We arrive at 9am and we purchase the country's flag for each child... The teachers then begin instructing the children that they are to stand on the sidewalk and proudly wave the flag when the torch comes by.


At 9:30 am we hear the plane fly over, this will be a while... the torch is coming from the airport to town a 15 minute drive. They will be running, ok we figure give them an hour, hour and a half... we will then see the torch. Over the next 3 hours we would continually go through a drill every 20 minutes or so of someone yelling, "here it comes!" All kids would then run to their designated spot and proudly hold out the flag. Minutes later we would be told, it was a false alarm. Pretty comical really. After 3 1/2 hours we finally see the torch coming. We were standing next to a gal from Austria and some other Americans we all wanted to know what torch was coming, it was not the Olympic Torch!

We found out it was the Common Wealth games torch! The next half hour the people from England, and Canada had to explain that the Common Wealth games take place with countries associated with England. (This is what was explained to me... if it is different, sorry I still don't know much about the Common Wealth Games!)
Can you see the torch? Definitely not the Olympic Torch!

The funniest part of the whole day: When the torch finally came - all kids ran from the sidewalk and crowded in the street. The people holding the torch (not an actual torch at all) were walking not even trying to run! Too funny.

We have arrived! - In Tonga

Well hello there, blogging world! It has been a while. Most of you already know that we have moved to another country. We have moved to the South Pacific to the Kingdom of Tonga. Look it up on a map, it is near Fiji. We have been here for almost 3 months. For the first month we were living in an apartment, or what we like to call, “the oven” it was ridiculously hot at all times. We have since moved into our house that we finished while we were living in the apartment.

I wanted to start from the beginning and go through our lives as we arrived in Tonga, it has been quite a journey for us. Due to the length of the time we have now been here – I have decided that I will just tell you some of things that have happened in no particular order.

Josie and John arriving in Fiji - after our 10.5 hour flight!

So from the US, it is a bit of a journey to get to Tonga. If up in the Northwest area, it is a hop skip and a jump: First get to LAX, then LAX to Fiji (10.5 hour flight) , we spent the night in Fiji (wanted to give the kids some time to play) had a great time, there is a hotel literally right next to the airport that has a water slide we all had a great time. From Fiji to Tongatapu (main island group in Tonga) then finally from Tongatapu to Vava’u(the island group we live on)This is John at Tongatapu apon arrival! Why he is not smiling I don't know!

Whew… it was long trip especially with two kids in tow and 12 suitcases! The kids did amazingly well, I was jealous of them on the airplane when I looked over and they were sleeping, they looked so comfy all cozied up in the seats. We were fortunate and could sprawl out over 3 rows of seats! Little Josie finally conked out on the long LAX to Fiji flight, John was so excited to be on a BIG airlplane that he watched every movie on the movie channels, he finally fell asleep with only 3 hours left on the flight. So when we arrived in Fiji he was a bit tired.

We stayed one night at the resort across the street from the house we were finishing, and then moved into the apartment. The first night in the apartment we got all settled and put some rice on to start dinner. Then the lights went out. No power. Hmmm, I know I have a candle in one of the suitcases, search through 12 suitcases and finally find the candle – get it lit and then realize that the rice is completely burned! The stoves are all powered with butane gas so it kept cooking even when we had no power. Pretty funny, the kids were troopers and ate just rice for dinner. We were all so tired, we crawled into bed, and were out in no time.

Josie and John in Vava'u. First day at the beach in Tonga!

Tonga adventures

This a plantation on the small island of Tapana. If I remember correctly the island has 6 people, 2 dogs, and a goat.... Pretty cool.

There is a couple on the island that own the "Paella" resteraunt. The experience of going to this resteraunt, is not like any other I have ever had! Those of you that come and visit will want to venture out to this gem of a place. It is expensive, but worth it.

You drive to Ano beach at the end of the road on the island of Vavau. You then take a small dingy to the island. To get on the dingy you wade into the water (oh, I loved this!! It was great - warm beautiful water) It is about a 4 minute boat ride - unless you have 5 people on this tiny boat, then it is a bit longer! The bay you cross is absolutlely amazing! Yachts are anchored off in the distance, and sky is the clearest blue you can imagine. We left at 5:00 with the sky bright blue. It is very quiet and calm as you cross the bay.

(Picture on right is leaving Ano Beach)

As we arrive on Tapana island you are greeted by a small but nice beach.

The restaurant is only open by reservations when it is not tourist season. So when we arrived we were told to go explore the island. This was a wonderful way for us to see the beauty of Tonga. The first thing we came upon was rows and rows of pineapple plants. Now call me stupid, but I didn't know that pineapple does not grow on trees. Nope it is more like a "bush" it grows very low to the ground. The picture below is of the pineapple rows.

After "getting lost" trying to find the other beach - we made our way back to the restaurant. The restaurant and bungalows (you can spend the night) are very rustic, the views however are amazing. The bathroom is outdoor - very cool to see. Yes there was a toilet, and it flushed!

The two people that own the restaurant made everything by hand. The restaurant itself is made of coconut tree. The chairs and tables are all made from trees off the island. To see what one man put together was incredible.

Water is gathered from the rainfall. It is safe to drink the water, as we did not get sick! Yeah. that was good news.

As sun set we started to dine on traditional Spanish cuisine. The food was good, but I think the experience of being on the island was just special.

After the meal our hosts started to sing and play guitar, Eduardo was very quite all day, and then he came out of his shell as he started to play his guitar and serenade us with a traditional Spanish song. A "yachtie" - (person that travel around on yachts) joined in the fun too!

What made the whole experience extra special was the attitude of the owners.... "come take a look around, take your time" As we spoke with our hosts at the end of the evening she told us this story.....

Tonga is a different way of life, you are not in a hurry when living in Tonga. They see many tourists come and go all year long, they can always tell the difference between a tourist and person that lives in Vavau. Not necessarily by how they look but by how they react to situations. She said when foreigners get "stuck in the bay" if the boat breaks down or something goes wrong they hear the foreigners yelling and cursing. On the other hand if a boat breaks down, or stops and it is a local, you hear laughing. What else can they do? There is no point to yelling and screaming, someone will be by and pull them to shore.

We didn't know that we would have our own story to tell.....

As we left the island and got a ride back on the dingy. (It was dark out- nothing but the bright stars in the sky. We waded in the water and got in the boat) As we waited for Eduardo to start the engine..... we waited and waited..... and waited..... and waited..... he couldn't get the engine (it was a pull start motor) to cooperate. We sat uneasily at first... apprehensive to why the motor didn't start. Then as if we all remembered the story at once and we started to chuckle... really what could we do? We were still pretty close in about ten minutes into this Eduardo got the motor started. Derrick had been holding onto a rope to keep us from going back into shore, so Eduardo said let go of the rope. As Derrick let go, the engine stopped. It was. well really funny. So we sat and took in the night sky as Eduardo pulled the engine rope to get the boat to go! We finally got going and thoroughly enjoyed the ride across the bay.

If anyone comes to visit us, I highly recommend going on this adventure! It was a wonderful experience. Glitches and all - made it a memorable trip!

Tonga

I wanted to get the photos up..... it has been many many months and way too long! I have some wonderful stories that will soon accompany these. Enjoy. Last year we took a trip to Tonga! Tonga is located in the South Pacific near Fiji. It was a wonderful trip, we had an amazing time. We went to Tonga to check out real estate and business opportunities. What we found was amazing people living in paradise! We are getting our ducks in a row so we can move to Tonga and start a business.

View from our hotel room in Vava'u, Tonga. An outer island in the Tonga group.

Derrick and I on our first day - putting our feet in the sand in Tongatapu. This is the main island.

these are kids playing along the water front in Neaifu, Vava'u. They play in the water after school. What fun they were having.

Stopping for some beers in the Mango cafe. Right on the water in Neiafu, Vava'u. This is located in the Port of refuge. The local 'yachties' hang out here. Great cold beer and wonderful pizza. Foster and Derrick.

This is at the Kaleti resort on the main island of Tonga. The city is Tongatapu. Beautiful white sand beaches.

Sunset

One of our bungalows at the resort. Two rooms with an adjoining bathroom.






Derrick and I on tapa island. We went to a paella restaurant there.

Muttin Bustin!

Josie and John both rode sheep at the Puyallup fair last Friday. They call it Muttin Bustin... I knew John would want to do it but wasn't so sure of Josie being all gung-ho. Ofcourse she wanted to do it too. So away they both went, it was so fun to watch and the kids had a blast. We purchased the video so I will put it up soon. However we found out that Josie was on Komo 4 news here in Seattle! Quick clip of her - but oh so cute @ 4 years old.

Here is a link, if the video doesn't work.

http://www.komonews.com/home/video/59406407.html
More pics to follow!

Hopefully the video is below.

Sekui 2009

We have had a pretty busy and crazy summer. This so I haven't posted since after the fiasco surgery in June. I am all healed and doing well. Here are some pictures from our fishing trip in Sekui, WA. We have gone with Grandma and Grandpa Cotton for the past 7 years... out of all the years, this was the best year for "fish caught!"

John Isaac caught his first fish, all by himself! Then he kept going, he limited on his fish when ever he went out on the boat! (Of course every fish that we got a bite on was then his!)

Detrix became a wonderful navigator this year, he drove the boat in and out of all the other boats and in and out of the kelp beds. He tended to fall asleep if he was watching the rods! (hmmmm, teens sure can sleep alot) I am sure it had nothing to do with getting up at 4:30 am to go fishing!

Here is the crew after a great trip out!

We had many great outings this year, we learned many new things about the boat. I have successfully learned how to backlash a down rigger, no one else can seem to do this! (this is a rare and finally tuned skill - Grandpa would not like me to teach to anyone!)

We also learned that "balls up!" is a new boating term!

Josie and I hanging on the boat.... funny story. We put the crab pots out to see if we could get any crab. They haven't gotten many up in Sekui in the last few years but we thought we try and it would be fun for the kids to see how it works. So we put in the fish head and all the other fun stuff, off we go to drop the pots. we go out fishing and then later go find the pots and raise them up to see if we got crabs. Well we load up the kids, Grandpa and I on the boat to go find the pots... we search and search .... and search some more and go all over the area where we think we left the pot. But we can't fidn the pot! 1/2 hour later still can't find the pot! Now we are thinking maybe someone hit the crab pot line and the pot is gone forever. We find every other pot out in the area, but still not ours. We head back in after an hour of searching. Grandma meets us on the dock, saying, "well did you get any?" Our response was, no we couldn't find the pot! "You drove right by it!" she says. Grandpa and I are less then pleased with her at this moment. "Fine then, show me where the pot is, we searched everywhere and couldn't find it!"Grandpa said (ever so kindly). Grandma jumps in the boat and heads right to the pot! Grrrrrr. We had driven around the pot for an hour and never did see it! Grandma knew right where it was. So we get the pot up and......

WE GOT ABSOLUTELY NO CRABS!!

We did have a very nice ride!

Josie and I hanging on the boat!
We have no pics of Grandma this year... and here is one of the only ones we have of Grandpa..... great isn't it?

New Goals

I had goals for this summer of running another half marathon, a few sprint triathlons thrown in there too... no big deal I thought. I am in pretty good shape. Then I find myself in the hospital for 8 days wondering how I will be able to get out of bed and make it to the bathroom. Things change, goals change in a blink of an eye. I am okay with that. So now my summer goals are redrawn... maybe a sprint triathlon in Sept. last of the race season. 1/2 marathon in Oct. A little rushed for a goal? maybe. Doable? I think so. Considering I now can't do anything for 4 weeks after surgery. The fact I can now walk to the bathroom, I am well very pleased about that! It is all in the perspective.

Our family has had our share of trials. crap, sh#$. what ever you want to call it. I call it life. With this last set of things we have gone through, our 16 year old in the hosp. and then me in the hosp. there has been some grumblings from other people as to why this happens. Here are the scenerios.

A) Things happen to you because you have done something to deserve them.
B) God doesn't give you more than you can handle
C) You have been attacked by the (enter here what ever the word you like) demons, devil, evil.

A. So the ideais that things keep happening to us because of something we are doing. OK If that is the theory, just how does that play out? In the "organized religion" thinking there must be a door left open or a window for bad things to be let in so that these bad things keep happening. What the heck does that even mean? This line of thinking makes no sense to me at all. In this theory maybe I didn't pray enough therefor these bad things are happening? My response. Are you kidding me? So everything bad that happens in the world only happens to people that believe in God because they have something in their lives they need to pray against? What about the people that don't believe in God or a higher power, what if something bad happens to them? Does the theory still hold up? Nope.

B. Ah the ever popular God doesn't give you more than you can handle thought. I get the theory. I take much pride in what our family has been through. We know pain, we have depth. This wasn't our first rodeo ride, it didn't shake us. We stand strong. So OK I get that. But what of the people that have never had anything major happen in their lives? What about them? You have never been given anything difficult, because you can't handle it. What does that say of that persons character? Do they have any? How would we define it? We can't because they have never been through anything. God doesn't trust you can handle it?
Pretty slippery slope if we go down that route isn't it?

C. The last one that has come up is you keep being attacked by (whatever you want to call it) Again this is more in the "organized religion". If this is the case well, I smile from the inside out, I smile from ear to ear like a chester cat. I smile and a I smirk and I laugh out loud! I say then I must be doing something right in the kingdom of God to have the devil worried about little ol' me. Why aren't you being attacked? Shouldn't you be?

No matter the scenario or what you want to call it, I like to just say life happens. Life is messy. There are good times and bad times, and things you do that hurt yourself, and things that others do to you that hurt you. And well, sometimes just .... things happen for no reason at all. They just happen. For me I just do my best to get up everyday and press on. What ever comes into my life today I will worry about it then. Forthe "religious people" out there, the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. Let's get through the rain together.

So I am counting down the 4 weeks until I can start working out again... nothing for sure for two weeks, then I can start walking and possbily biking. I will take it slow one day at a time.

A new addition to the power show!

Derrick and Jimmy did an awesome powershow tonight. They were talking to a group of at risk teens about focusing on positive things instead of negative things. They also talked about steering away from drugs, and what road that can lead you on... They came in with a bang and shocked the kids as they jumped up on the tables and popped pop cans, and sprayed the pop all over! It is a great attention grabber.

Derrick called little John up and gave him a small phone book, and little John worked with all he had, and really ripped the phone book! When he was done, he threw the pages in the air, and yelled, just like Dad and Jimmy did! It was really cool to watch little John up there with all the big guys - John will change this world, just watch!

Both Jimmy and Derrick have hearts for helping people, and this show really had them at their best. Even in trying times, you can still help others... after all if you can't share with others what is the point of going through all of this crap? Here are some of the pictures from this evening.

Derrick talking about obstacles.

Jimmy after breaking the bricks (I missed the shot, Jimmy was too quick! -but I like this picture)

The kids tried to pull Jimmy and Derrick apart, but they couldn't do it!

Derrick broke 2 sets of handcuffs tonight! The first pair he did, he just did as part of the show. Then at the end of the show, he told the kids that we had been going through some things with our son, Detrix and he was in the hospital. He told the kids he was breaking the cuffs for Detrix, as Derrick broke the cuffs everyone in the room shouted out Detrix' name. It was a powerful moment. We will overcome. (This is Derrick right after he broke the cuffs)

New Blog - Go ahead read it, great news ahead!

I know my posts haven't been as frequent recently, I think I needed a little break from blogging. I am beginning to miss it, so I am sure my ramblings of life will be frequent - very soon! Great news for you I am sure! I am not running the full marathon in June, just didn't get started at the proper time to give myself enough training. But I am going to do a 1/2 marathon in October. Then maybe the Seattle full we will take it day by day. Triathlon season is fast approaching and I am getting pretty excited. I don't know how many races I will be in, but I am just happy to start some more outside training. The last couple of weeks have been rough trying to get outside with sideways rain, well isn't exactly making me get all gung ho to run or ride. I have not stopped riding all winter - so I am happy about that! That is my update for now.





...... for the other news... the new blog! My hubby who is a chaplain has decided to start a blog. He has always been the most positive person I know and has helped me to become an optimistic person as well. Let's just say I was the "It will never work" person growing up. My husband on the other hand has always had a very positive attitude. So he has decided to write down his thoughts on various things including his understanding of God.

Those of you who know us personally know that Derrick suffered a stroke on June 24th of 2006.(Press here to view the first post after the stroke) It left him paralyzed on his left side. On July 7,2006 he was miraculously healed and walked out of the hospital to the amazement and disbelief of his doctors. (Press here to view the post after he was healed) To say that event has changed our lives is well an understatement. It changes how you view people and circumstances.

So, go take a look at his new blog and let him know what you think!! Blog is: www.chaplainyoung.blogspot.com Have a great day!!

Easter fun

I have got to get pictures of Josie in her ballet class up - but here are some new photos of the kids that Grandma Mary took when they spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Lou's house this past weekend.

This last photo is of John "helping" Grandpa Lou dig up the septic, the funny thing is they were at there other granparents last week, with Granpa John and Grandma Priscilla doing the same digging! Too funny.

Judo- chop!

Little John is taking Judo. He is learning all the moves and working hard. His favorite part is wearing his Gi, or as he calls it - his costume! Got to love it.

You can imagine what happened when little John did his first kick against this little boy ~ oops right in the privates~...... I didn't mean to.... he felt really bad. *on a side note* don't mess with little John!

Very happy wearing his Gi.

I fought Joe Rogan!

For those of you that watch the UFC fights, you are familiar with the announcer Joe Rogan (used to be of Fear Factor Fame) He announces all the fights, and with our group of fight watchers - annoys the day lights out of them with his comments. He says he has fought, or uses the words, when I was in that position... it is a hard position to get out of..... however if you google him - nothing comes up with fighting.... (he claims on his bio he is a black belt, yada yada yada but no footage on you tube.......rumor is he fought once with BJ Penn in Hawaii, years ago in a sparring match... anyway no footage of such fight exists currently on the internet......if you have seen footage of Joe Rogan fighting send me the link!

So we had to get these shirts done!

Detrix. Derrick and Uncle JohnThis is the UFC crew that comes to watch all the PPV fights

Uncle John and Detrix

They couldn't quite get Bill..... you would think they could get him?? wouldn't ya?

The next day we had a Super Bowl party!!

It's a crazy buch for Superbowl!