Making Out

Today I was getting ready to leave from work. Sipola's teacher came in and said, "you have to hear this story." So I asked her what was up. She said, "there is a boy in my class that is really girl crazy so we were having a talk. And there is this one student that says, "my mommy says it is a good thing to make out when you are married!" I blushed and started laughing. She said, "Sipola then turned red as we were all looking at her and she said, "what, my mommy said it is good to make out when you are married but NEVER before!" Her teacher said, "guess we all know what you are doing at your house, Jodi!" Ha ha. What could I say? It is true. I did say that. But I was trying to make a point to my older kids that they should definitely not be making out!! Oh Sipola, you always tell the truth! I love you Bear!

A long time

Wow! I can't believe how long it has been since I updated my blog! I totally blame it on Facebook and Pinterest! It is so easy to just take a picture on my phone and quickly post it to facebook. I have gotten so bad that I hardly every take my camera with me, I just always take pictures on my phone. I need to get better because this is like my journal but life is just so crazy!! I did want to post, however, that we just took Sipola back up to Primary Children's last week and we received great news! All of the doctors were so happy to see her and gave her big hugs! They said she is doing so well and is such a miracle! Her numbers when she first went in to the hospital were in the thousands. Friday the doctor called and was amazed that her number was now 21. I was so happy to hear all the good news. She said that all her labs are normal and that she doesn't have to go back until May! I am so thankful for all the prayers that were said on her behalf. I know that is why she is here today! In other news, Alani finally made it into school and is playing on the basketball team. Braton (that letter doesn't work on my laptop) made the all star basketball team. Such a change for him, he was a State Champion wrestler last year and chose to only do one wrestling tournament this year and has done really well in basketball. He has also made the high honor roll every quarter this year! Lia played jr. jazz basketball and loved it! She wasn't supposed to play until she is a 5th grader but luckily for her they let her in as a 4th grader. She did really well and is now looking forward to volleyball. Sipola is doing really well. She was able to start dancing in January and has loved every minute of it. She is also taking piano lessons and her teacher says she is a natural. Halamehi started this year not knowing any of the alphabet and is now reading books to us. She is loving kindergarten and loves her best friend, Laken. She is such a little social bug and is doing well also. Tevon is our little cowboy. He goes to his babysitter and they watch hunting movies. He also feeds the sheep, gathers eggs from the chickens, and plays with the horses. The other day we were driving to Richfield and he said, "Mommy, can I be a cowboy?" I said, "don't you want to be a football player?" and he said, "Nope, I want to be a cowboy!" Tevita is working at the middle school working with troubled youth and I am still at the elementary school working with special needs. Time is going by so quickly and we are just trying to get everything done. I didn't ever think about how hard it was going to be doing all the homework, church activities, outside activities with all these kids. I wouldn't change it for the world though! I love them so much and I love supporting them in all they do! I'm going to try to get better at updating the blog!

Fall Pictures

Just a few of my favorites. We went on the mountain one Saturday afternoon and took a few pictures.

Annie Bangs

It is a tradition for the kids in the 3rd grade to go on a field trip to Gooseberry every year. Annie Bangs lives at Gooseberry and she always pays a visit to the 3rd graders. It is so fun for the kids to prepare for this field trip. Well, this year Sipola's field trip was to Primary Children's instead of going to Gooseberry. She was so upset about missing the field trip. She told everybody about Annie Bangs and even had quite a few nurses come back the next shift and tell her that they had looked Annie up on the internet. Mrs. Bringhurst (Sipola's teacher) was so good and sent pictures and took video of the whole field trip so that Sipola could kind of experience it. Then she was so excited that Sipola was able to attend the Gooseberry assembly! She told me that she had never had a child so nervous about the assembly before. The reason for it was because all the other kids had got to see Annie on the mountain but Sipola didn't so she was nervous to see her at the assembly. It was so cute. They sang a bunch of songs and then Annie came and made her appearance. Sipola was so excited to see her! It was pretty fun. Mrs. Bringhurst even said that if Sipola wants to go next year she will let her. We will see if Pola will even want to!

Pumpkin Patch

In October Halamehi was able to go to the pumpkin patch with her class. She had a great time. Her teacher even let her hang out with her best friend! (usually she separates them so they don't talk)They picked out their pumpkins and then got to go on a train ride. She had a great time!

Football Season

Well, it is sad, but this football season has come to an end. Braxton's team had a great season. They didn't take the championship but they did play a good hard season! Tevita helped coach again and had a great time also. It is always bitter sweet when the season ends. We love football! Congrats on a well played season Brax!! Ofa atu

Thoughts

Sipola and I are sitting in the parents center at Primary Children's Hospital. She has been very sad this morning and so I just had to get her out of her room. She received an email this morning from her class so I thought I would bring her down to the computers so she could email them back. When we got here, we ran into a lady that I had met last week in the ICU. I still don't know her name. Her daughter was brought to the hospital last week the same day as Sipola. She was having seizures and was not doing well. When I talked to her she said they had put her daughter into a coma to see if they could stop the seizures. She said they are trying everything they can do but nothing seems to work. She said there is little hope for her daughter. As I sat and talked with this mom last week I thought how lucky I am to have a little bit of hope. Something that I didn't have any of last week. Last Tuesday or Wednesday (I can't remember) when I looked at the doctor and said, "please tell me my daughter will be coming home with me." and the doctor said, "we aren't sure that is possible right now. It is not looking good for her to ever make it out of the icu." I never thought I would be sitting next to her while she is emailing her class. I have a sister and sister-in-law that thought it would be helpful if they would put Sipola's name in every single temple in the United States and then called my sister-in-law and had her put it in the New Zealand and Tongan temples. I am not kidding you when I tell you that the very next day Sipola started to feel a little bit better. The doctors were dumbfounded. They had no idea what happened and how she was starting to get a little better. They went from talking about the mortality rate to saying, "maybe there is hope for this little one to go home." Oh, how blessed we are to have all these people praying for us. How blessed we are to have all these people fasting for us. Tevita told me that I really need to be strong and have faith. It is so hard when you look at your daughter and there is no life there. When she is struggling with every breath she takes. When she can't keep her eyes open for more than a minute. But the words of her blessing kept coming to me. Uncle Raymond told her in that blessing that her body would be made whole again. So after a couple days of hopelessness I decided that I would no longer feel like that and all I would do is think positive thoughts. I would only talk about her getting better and coming home. I wish that I could send some of those positive vibes to my ICU friend. As I sit and talk to her I just cry. She just cries. Today she said she will be clinging on to the hope that electric shock therapy will help her daughter. I asked her if she was LDS and she said yes. I asked if her daughter's name was in the temple. She said yes. So I told her to have faith and stay strong and we would continue to pray for her. She gave Sipola a hug and I told her that I hope one of these days soon she will be hugging her little one. Sipola is 8, her daughter is 9. I felt bad for running into her because my little girl is doing so much better and hers isn't. But I am SO THANKFUL that my little one is sitting here by me and not stuck in a bed. Today is sad for her but at least we have today. At least we have progress. At least she will be coming home sometime. I will NOT give up hope. I will NOT think negatively about her recovery. She has come so far and I KNOW that she will continue to fight so that she can go home soon. This morning she started crying and saying that she doesn't want to go on a mission. I told her she doesn't have to if she doesn't want to. She said, "well, I don't want Braxton to go either." I said, "why?" and she said, "I am going to miss him so much and I don't want to be away from him for that long." I said, "Sis, don't worry about it now. Brax is only 12." She said, "yeah, but soon he will be 13 and that is a teenager which then turns out to be 19 and then he will leave." This little girl has a heart of gold and I am so thankful that she is ok. We have a long road ahead of us and it is going to be hard. But we have a road and for that I am so grateful. To all our friends and family, I'm not sure how we will ever be able to repay you for all you have done. We will try though. Please keep praying for this little girl. I love you all and can't wait to see everybody again! p.s. If this doesn't make sense, I'm sorry. I just have so much stuff going on in my head and I just need to get some of it out!