6 Months Later.... :D

I really enjoy writing.... it's just hard to find the time, but I have to make the time. Make the time Siana!!! :) Slowly but surely I am taking action and am so Happy about that. Little by little I will get to where I am meant to be. I just know it. I will realize my dreams.

Happy New Year from Mo Street! LOL

What a Wonderful Wonderful way to start off the new year!!! I love my neighbors LOL I love the excitement I feel about this upcoming year and I want to continue this momentum with gusto! I love my family. I look forward to building better and stronger bonds in our relationships. I am so grateful for all that I have and I know that as I learn and grow and strive to be better in goodness my life will only be more blessed. Happy New Year Everyone!!! May our Heavenly Father continue to bless and help us along our path to Eternal Life with our loved ones.

Service Sweet Service

Yesterday was such a beautiful day. Our primary class got together and performed their car wash service project. The child in charge picked out a couple of individual ward members whose homes we would go to to wash their cars on Saturday morning.

Basically we have six primary children in our Valiant 11 class. As primary teachers we feel that lessons of service and giving are extremely important in these young peoples' lives. It helps them to know what it means to serve, how they may go about serving, and cultivates a desire to serve others selflessly. This year rather then having the students vote on what service project they wanted to do for the month and then planning it out for them, we took our service projects to another level. Each child would pick a month, a Saturday within that month, choose a service project for our class to work on as a whole, and delegate refreshment and necessary equipment or material assignments for each individual class member.

Yesterday our class car wash service project was from 6:30 am to 7:30 am. We went as a class to the selected individuals' homes and washed and dried their car. It may seem that one hour is not much time to do a service project, and yes we were only able to reach the cars of two individuals, but it was the quality of the time that was spent. One individual was extremely grateful and touched that the children had thought of her. She provided water bottles, buttered Samoan bread, and pastries. I was touched by that. We came to serve her and she turned around and served us with much love and gratitude. I sort of felt that we should have done more because she gave us so much, but the important lesson learned here (hopefully the primary children got it :D) is that no matter how much we serve, we can always do more (also the late President Hinckley's message to us as well :D). And no matter how much we serve and try to give back, we are always blessed more so in return and are ever in debt to our Father in Heaven for His love, mercy, and kindness.

We moved on to another individual's vehicle who is still in the hospital, washed and wiped down his truck. After which we headed over to the home of the child in charge whose mother had prepared bacon and eggs, another child had provided fried pork sausage links, we brought a big bowl of rice, and another child provided two gallons of juice and styrofoam cups. We sat down at our host family's table and had a beautiful breakfast. It was a very successful service project and I enjoyed it immensely.

Our service project was coming to an end and my nephew and I went to drop off one of the children because he had a sport engagement he was participating in. While outside I had ran into one of our ward members whose family was in the process of moving to their new home a few villages away. This wonderful ward member and his family always opened their home to our service projects last year and they had a lot of heavy things to move using a U-Haul truck. I told him he could have us for a couple of hours before my nephew had to leave to usher for the temple open house.

I went in to our host family's house to have breakfast, told my sister what was going on next door and she went with our nephew and two of our primary kids who are also related to us and were a big help to our moving ward members. It was such a wonderful feeling to give back to a family who always gave to us; such a natural high I cannot describe! And what was even more wonderful was that we felt of their true and sincere gratitude and it was very very humbling.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the opportunities that come my way to serve. I know I miss so many of them with my pig headedness at times and my pride or maybe even because I create so much busy work for myself that I forget to take a moment and be aware of those in need around me, but when I am able to recognize someone else's need and be a tool for our Heavenly Father in assisting them on His behalf I cry inside with gratitude that I am able to do what I can do and impact someone else's life for good.

I am also eternally grateful to amazingly loving parents and grandparents who taught me this valuable lesson; that when I am in the service of my fellow beings, I am only in the service of my God. May I always be open to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, listen to those promptings, and be of service for my Heavenly Father on His behalf to all those in need around me.

Peaceful Joyful Day :D

Today we celebrated the life of Bishop Ernest P. Reid. What a wonderful, amazing, marvelous, loving, kind, and humble human being. I enjoyed his funeral services immensely. I loved listening to his immediate family, those who knew him best, tell us about the side of him few of us were blessed to witness.

I will always be thankful to Bishop Reid for making me feel that I am a person of value and worth. I know that I am of worth, but Bishop Reid made me believe in myself more and loved me unconditionally as a child of God. He was a great father figure in our ward. He always wanted the best for each of us and in his humble soft-spoken way he did his best for us and knit us closer as a ward family. He was truly Christ-like and loved each of us ward members as special and unique individuals.

He made me feel that no obstacle was too big to overcome with the help of the Lord and always encouraged me by example to strive for Christ-like perfection in all that I do. I miss him already. He was such a pillar of strength in our ward, a great light in our midst, and knowing that he has left this earthly existence has made this life a bit gloomy and dim. I know he would not want me or anyone else to feel this way. He would want us to rejoice in his happiness and move forward with joy.

I am thankful for the difference Bishop Reid has made in my life. I pray for the strength and determination to take what I have learned from him and use it to grow and be a better person; a more Christ-like person.

Traveling Addiction! :D

I love my job... the only problem is that it is not my true passion or dream. It is part of my dream and I really enjoy the empowerment I have to help and assist others, but at the end of the day it is not what I live for. So why am I still there and not pursuing my true dream? Because a great part of me LOVES to travel. Once you travel for free it is really hard to resign and walk away from a job that gives you wings around the world. I am still wondering how I can do it LOL and I am still there LOL I also work with a number of really really wonderful people who care about others and do their best to be of service to those in need. I know there are people like that in all walks of life, but that personality type seems very concentrated within the group of people I work with :D I am just taking things one day at a time. I am going on one more big trip and then I will focus on my true dream. That seems to be what I always say... but this time I really mean it! LOL Really!!! LOL I know I can always count on myself to crack myself up. But seriously, it is hard to put my feet down and just do the walk. I am currently working on doing just that.

Emosi Damuni Damuni II

I went to a funeral service today and it was very beautiful. I have known this man my whole life as I lived back and forth between American Samoa and Hawaii, but on the other hand I never really knew him. I have always had and do have love in my heart for the Damuni family because my grandparents and parents love them. Its the kind of love that is part me because I choose to love and the other part is like an inherited love because my family loves them. Although I have love in my heart for him I never really knew Brother Damuni and I was afraid of him because he was very fierce in appearance.

We are in the same ward, so this morning I went to help serve the morning refreshment. I really enjoyed doing that. I enjoyed sharing food which I feel also is a comfort to those who came to eat. When all the food for the morning had been served, I went into the chapel and waited for the service to start. I really really enjoyed everything about the service. It was about two hours long and I enjoyed it immensely. When I heard Brother Damuni had passed I actually looked forward to participating in his service because I wanted to learn more about who he was. It was very very nice and heartwarming to hear all that his family had to say in his honor and memory.

Although I was somewhat afraid of Brother Damuni when I was in my youth :D okay and into my adulthood :) I always have and still do admire him. I admired the pride and self-respect he had for who he was and where he came from. Even at a young age I felt his love for his people and his culture shine through all that he did. He was Fijian in every breath that he took and I have always looked up to him for that. I truly believe he was and still is a leader with great presence and strong leadership qualities and whats more is that I see those same qualities he has in his children and grandchildren. What an awesome legacy to leave behind.

I am really truly grateful to have witnessed his farewell from this earth. I admire the man even more and I look forward to his progeny perpetuating his legacy into the future and beyond. :)

I'm Exhausted! :D

Woke up early and baked some cookies I had promised a coworker who helped me out yesterday. I was kinda sad cause the cookies didn't come out how they usually do and I think its cause I didn't scrape off the excess baking power. The oatmeal cranberry cookies actually came out like scones and I like scones LOL but I was aiming for chewy cookie. I don't think I will bake tomorrow morning, but I am craving chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven with milk. Total breakfast of Champions! LOL I may still if I am dying for the flavor of deliciously warm milk chocolate baked to perfection in a rich cookie dough... oh yum! LOL I am so bad when it comes to baked goods. I love it hot and fresh.

Anyways, pulled a 12 hour day that feels more like 24! :) Ahhh gone are the good ole days when I could stay awake for a week and not bat an eyelash! LOL Now if I don't get at least five hours of sleep I am literally a zombie! A Zombie that is comatose! :D After work I had that nice hour long drive back home... :D It was a nice drive, it always is even in the dark. Got home and now I am vegetating in front of the computer before I go to bed.

Oh I have been really good about eating salad all week long. Yes the never ending battle of lifestyle change! I am really proud that I have gotten up early and prepped my salad for work all week, but I think all this salad is giving me gas. I could do without the gas but vegetables are what they are... gas inducers! :D Yeah I am really tired now! I better go get ready and hit the sack.

A New Background and a Fresh start to blogging again :D

I'm not really a fan of the color green but for some reason I like the way it makes my favorite color blue look :) Blue looks great on green, as well as orange, and brown is not too bad; so because we painted the bathroom blue I painted my room a very nice pea green. The colors of my favorite pictures pop right off the wall LOL ;) So as I was looking for a new background color... I found this wonderful little bit of blue sky with white dreams whispering on a lazy summer breeze over graceful green grass dancing. ;)

I am excited to start blogging again FOR REAL KINE now. Thats what life is all about, little pit stops, but we get up and keep going because its all about the journey leading to our final destination and hopefully for me that is up in the sky deep in the vast beauty of the universe with loved ones surrounding me and angels singing praises to Lord. Yes I just woke up and am feeling very happy refreshed. :)

I just wanted to get on and just do it! Just blog a little and put it out there. Here is a video I did of a wonderfully talented young woman named Chantilly. She wrote and composed these songs. When I sat there recording her I felt of her immense talent. Not just the talent you see on the video, but also the latent talent waiting to burst forth. This was the first time I met her and she was very pleasant, accommodating, and oozing with confidence. I look forward to seeing her talent and spirit grow throughout the years. I hope you enjoy her awesome music.

Chantilly

Patience

(photo by Leanne Hamilton)

I really wish that patience was a virtue I possess :) but it is not. I am such an impatient person and I really don't like that about myself. I don't know why I cannot just let some things slide. Just let it slide! But I am not wired that way and when something gets on my nerves I express myself loudly! I truly believe that I need to let things slide more than I do. I know I am not "super impatient," but I am "plenty impatient" and being impatient is a weakness in myself that I must turn into a strength. I know it is possible because being patient is a choice. It is just such a tough choice, but one very worth making. I guess that's why it is considered a virtue, because sometimes or maybe even "often" :) it definitely takes super human effort not to explode when things do not go as I envision they should. I am recommitting myself to being more patient in life period! I think this goal is one that takes a lot of time, thought, effort, and strength to develop as second nature and one that needs constant renewal. Here's to patience, from now to infinity and beyond!!!!

Summer Solstice! :)

I've wanted to blog again for the longest, but its hard when your computer has crashed and there are other more pressing matters to attend to. I finally couldn't take it any more and thought, "Today is the day! :) June 21st, Summer Solstice." I don't know why, but I am always fascinated by events such as the Summer Solstice. It just sounds and feels so mysterious and at the same time so Shakespearian LOL. I really enjoy reading fantasy novels and summer solstice is magical in the world of fantasy.

The word solstice is derived from the Latin language (yes I looked it up LOL) and is a combination of two words sol + stice meaning sun and to stand still. Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere of the earth marks the longest day and the shortest night of the year. The longest day and shortest night in the Southern Hemisphere falls on December 21 and is called the Winter Solstice. Early celebrations of these events often involved dancing and fires the night before to help increase the energy of the sun as it rose the next day and climbed to the top of the sky. I don't know why but the thought of all those mysterious and magical fires makes me want to go outside and build a camp fire, roast some marshmallows for smores, and insist that anyone with me please not tell any ghost stories! ;)



Summer Solstice also reminds me of Stonehenge. The druids of the past marked the Summer Solstice as the "Wedding of Heaven and Earth." I saw some videos online. Thousands of people flock the night before to Stonehenge to greet the sunrise. This year there were approximately 20,000 people there. I thought it was pretty cool and thought "Yeah! I'd love to do that!" Then I saw a video and it just reminded me of images I've seen of Woodstock in the sixties, crowded and filthy. There was trash everywhere, people being very loud, and bodies of those trying to get some sleep strewn about. It was cool that they were all there at Stonehenge and why they were there, but I didn't see any bathrooms in sight and the thought of needing to use one with no bush coverage for miles is not very appealing.

So yea for the Summer Solstice (as I enjoy it from the comforts of my home in Hawaii) and what I hope is the beginning of many more blog entries to come! :)

Like My Grandma Would Say....."Ili le Pu!" ;)

Sound the trumpets! Send out the Alarm! I walked two laps... Woohoooo! Yipppeeeee! ;) It is so out of the ordinary for me to do any form of exercise, that in my mind's eye I can totally see my grandma putting her hand to her lips in the motion of blowing a horn or a trumpet. That is what "Ili le pu" means, to blow a horn or a trumpet signifying some great event LOLOL It is usually said in jest or with playful sarcasm. My grandma had a funny sense of humor, and that was one of her favorite lines :)

I actually cannot believe I walked today. I am glad I did. It was two laps around the small circle at BYUH, but it felt like such a far distance to me. I was just going to do one lap, but Coach K's pamphlet about walking in Laie says that I should at least start off with 10 minutes a day for the first week and gradually increase the length and amount of my activity. I did not think it would take me 10 minutes to walk one lap, and I was right. It took me ten minutes to walk two laps. I'm happy with that. I am actually just happy that I did something! "Toot Tooooot!" :)

What a GREAT Day!

I love my nephew :) This is a picture that was sent to my phone the day he graduated from elementary :) But this post is not about him or that day :) This post is about today. I had a GREAT day! I tried to think back to figure out why it turned out so great. The only reason I can think of is because I prayed :) I know yeah! Hallelujah! I love the Lord. I love my Heavenly Father. Today I had my morning prayer and it felt wonderful and amazing! I am not good at praying. I have gratitude always in my heart, and I know that all I have is from Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father, but I know they need me to express it sincerely with love and humility out loud :) This morning I prayed, and throughout this day I have had such a great sense of peace and well being. It was wonderful. I have to challenge myself to keep it up. I love being prayerful. But I am not always. I should say I am not mostly :) I know the Lord knows me through and through, but I also know I still need to pray and humble myself before Him and my Heavenly Father.

Kahuku Graduation 2009

I had not planned on attending Kahuku High and Intermediate's graduation ceremony. I was just planning to make it on time to give leis to our family and ward members. I am glad I was able to witness the ceremony. It was so refreshing to see young people excited and exuberant with anticipation for a new chapter in their lives. The air was charged with so much "love energy" that I could not help but feel touched in my heart with joy and love for everyone there. It was just amazing to see so many people from different walks in life all gathered together to celebrate these young people and their accomplishment.

It was so awesome to hear cheers from groups here and there as graduates' names were called to accept each diploma. It was beautiful. Some people were so overjoyed that before the student's name could be properly announced air horns were going off. I understand the joy and excitement, but it was kind of sad because we could not hear the name that was announced.

One student really stood out for me. He was one of the 14 valedictorians. His last name is Roper. He expressed himself very well, but at the end of his speech he acknowledged and gave thanks to our Savior Jesus Christ for helping him and supporting him throughout his life. He acknowledged that it was through the love and support of his Savior that he is where he is today. In this day and age where it is taboo to acknowledge church within state it was so wonderful to hear this young man's heart felt gratitude for his Savior. I was so touched I had tears in my eyes. I felt so uplifted and grateful for the strength, love, and gratitude this young man expressed to and for Jesus Christ.

It was a good evening. I went to support others and left having received spiritual upliftment and joy.

Peace

Last week I had attended a peace benefit with dear family and friends. At a single adult conference on May 1 I had been moved by Ema Billings's work for peace with Israeli and Palestinian children. I felt I wanted to do something to help, so I volunteered to sell 11 tickets for a peace benefit she was helping to organize.

Eleven was the number of tickets she had on hand. I had excitedly thought, "Sure, no problem! Everyone will want to buy at least one ticket and support world peace!" (I totally felt like Miss America) LOLOL I was sadly mistaken. LOLOL She gave me the tickets on May 1, and by mid-May I had only sold four. Three for my sister and me and one for my cousin Lil. It was not that people did not want to help, but there was just too much going on in their lives at that time.

The benefit was on May 21 so I thought to myself, "Who can I turn to for support and understanding. Who would be interested in purchasing tickets for a peace benefit out in town?" I stopped by my good friend and sister's house Debbie (Crash Test Dummy Diaries) and told her about it. She said it sounded good and would get back to me. I thought, cool, hopefully she wants one :) Later she bought two just to support me because she would not be able to make the concert. I was so touched and thankful. I called my brother Eteru and told him about it. He bought two, one for him and one for his wife. Again I felt so thankful. I called my dear friend and sister Lisa and she bought one, and a good friend from work, Juliana, bought one. By the time I was done I had sold a total of 10! :D Yes I was beaming and bursting with gratitude!

We decided to make it an evening together. After the benefit, we would go to MAC 24-7 for dinner. The benefit was good fun. One of my most favorite if not the most favorite auntie in my life was performing with the Nani Laie Serenaders, my Auntie Tino.


Auntie Tino / Nani Laie Serenaders! :)

Other performances were very nice and a local man, Terry Moea'i, was the best emcee! An Israeli peace practitioner, Elad Vazana, spoke about peace. Basically, we all have walls and wear masks. When we strip these away and our true souls meet, we realize we can be friends and live in peace. I really enjoyed those thoughts.



What made the benefit even more fun is that we won like half of the door prizes :) Okay not half, more like one third :) Each of us got to take something home. It was pretty funny and cool. The emcee was like.... no more prizes for the first row! :) Oh yeah, we had good seats too! :) What was really funny was that the emcee was the one drawing the numbers. He is from Laie and everyone he was drawing seemed to be from Laie too :) It was hillarious!

After the benefit, we went to eat at MAC 24-7. I just have two words to say, "Never Again!" The food was mediocre, but the service was what clinched the "Never Again!" pledge. Very very poor poor service! The company on the other hand was superb! Despite the poor food and very bad service I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my dear family. We hadn't seen each other since November 2007 before Eteru went out to Iraq. At that time we had all met to have a farewell dinner for him, so it was really very nice to all meet up and share an evening together.



The ride home was long. We got home at 1:30 am and we had to get up and ready for work at 5:30 am. Phew! That was hard to do, but so worth it! I look forward to more opportunities in my life to promote Peace! For Everyone! :)

Mother's Day Dinner Night :)

Two of our friends who are mothers. L-R Frankie and Tammy

I had a wonderful evening with my sister and friends. We ate at the Polynesian Cultural Center Ambassador Buffet.
It was deeeeeelicious! LOLOL So many ono kine grinds and no where to put it all.



This was my first plate followed by prime rib, mahimahi, macademia nut chicken, and some tasty desserts :) While we were eating we decided to go and watch the new Star Trek movie. It was really good and very enjoyable.



Here we are striking a Spock pose :) to everyone... "Live long and prosper!"

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Poi Oh Poi!

Nope, its not gray goop! or some old paste! :) Its island goodness at its finest! It is especially good with;
lomilomi salmon, hot kalua pig, or a nice steaming laulau :)

Just another reason why I love Hawaii! :) Mmmmm Sooooo Good!

Only in Laie :)

Yesterday I was sitting in my living room talking with my Uncle Nifo and the next thing I see are the hulls of the Iosepa racing across my windows. It would have been such a cool indoor shot, but my camera was far away :( I got up grabbed it and tore outside as fast as I could to snap these shots :)

Where else in the "western civilized" world does a vessel of this size and type pass nonchalantly through narrow little neighborhood streets? :) I totally love it. I love being a part of this wonderful community where I never know from one day to another what marvelous miracle I am going to witness. That is what the community of Laie is like; a place of wonder and miracles.

P.S. What is cool is that our street is "Moana" street. In Samoa and throughout Polynesia, moana means ocean.

Moana in the Samoan language means blue. It also means ocean.

When a Samoan speaks of the ocean he or she says, "Moana tele" tele meaning vast and moana meaning ocean or water. :)

I Cannot Believe I Am Forty!

It's like... where did the time go?

It seems as if just the other day I was 21... okay maybe 27, and then... BAM!

I am 40!

It is so jarring! The impact of the realization is both physical and mental. My body is now 40 (actually it is probably older than 40 due to health conditions and poor care) and my mind is in denial. It is not as bad as I make it out to be. I know it is another chapter added to my life. Being 40 is part of the journey. It is not necessarily a welcome part, but a part of life's journey still the same, and I can either embrace it and move forward with joy or I can wallow in self pity and lose myself in denial. If I lose myself in self pity and denial, then I may eventually lose track of time, possibly miss a decade of my life, and skip straight to my 50's. I definitely do not want to do that!

Being 40 is not a bad thing, its just that I am not the fabulous 40 I envisioned myself to be. My personal vision is still possible and I am not giving up. Each day I will strive to do something to improve myself. I will not stay stuck in a rut and not progress. I will prevail and succeed in my righteous endeavors. With the Lord, any thing is possible. I believe that. The hope and faith I have in that belief helps me to move forward. It enables me to continue to strive to do the work to be the best person I know I can be.

April Fools Day

I wish I was a good prankster. I'm really not. These last couple of days at work I have been hiding behind walls and startling coworkers as they walk by. It has been hilarious, but I need to stop. I don't want to give someone a heart attack, and I think I almost did the first time I tried it. I don't know why, but it is so funny to see someones startled and shocked response. Better yet if I can get a good scream out of them LOLOL Horrible huh? I don't know why, but it makes me laugh... all in good fun of course.

Yesterday at work I offered my training instructor lemon peel. I have always been taught to be kind and giving :) which I am not always, but I like to share. Anyways, she took a good sized piece and stuck it all in her mouth and had a real sour reaction. I didn't think anything much of it cause she along with our class had been eating these sour candies, and I mean SUPER SOUR. Sour on the outside, but if you can suck for a bit you get to the sweet candy. Well, my poor instructor thought that was what would happen with the lemon peel. She plopped in a good sized piece and began chewing right away.

She was really gracious about it. Another coworker told her she was. The other coworker said she would have spit it out the minute she realized how sour it was. I feel bad because I hope she doesn't think I gave her something sour on purpose to give her discomfort. I LOVE lemon peel. I just wanted to share something with her that we enjoy here in the islands. As I drove home I thought to myself, my poor instructor is never going to forget me, and not because I am a genius! ;) but because I introduced her to lovely lemon peel!

I'm glad my lemon peel sharing happened yesterday and not today, otherwise my instructor would have really believed it was some sort of prank. What was funny was, upon hearing our instructor had just had a lemon peel experience, most of my coworkers would say... "Oh that's good for when you have a cold," or "That's good when you get sick," or "It's great in your tea." It was being classified as an island remedy and although my teacher didn't say anything, I am pretty sure she won't stock up on any lemon peel when she leaves the islands. :(