Happy Birthday to the Porter Triplets.

Happy Birthday guys. May the Lord grant you many more happy days to share together!

With 2 of the Porter Triplets Michael (left) Ron (right)Patrick @ home in Hawaii.








Malolo with Ron and Michael inside the Millenium Hall before the Indonesian-Malay Fashion Show the boys were a part of.

Happy Birthday Shiori chan.

Shiori Hatsuda with sis Palentina Langa'oi from Tonga.
May life continue to be good to you, as you are to all the people in your life. God Bless you and your future endeavors. May he grant you much love and happiness.Thank you for being such a great friend and a fabulous significant other to our boy Felise.Together may you discover the many secrets of life.

Manuia tele lou Aso Fanau ma ia toe maua nisi aso faapenei.

When You Are Feeling Down

Not every day is easy, definately some weeks will have more difficult days than others but we should take solace in the knowledge that things can and will get better (eventually)
There are times even when you are in the midst of a group you still feel lonely.
There are moments when you just want to scream your head off due to frustration but know that it will not make things better.
There are even moments when you wish your life could be different but no matter how alone we feel at times rest assured that God is always there.
He will help us along, for some who knows the words of this banner from Sparkletags may hold true for you.


For me usually a big hug and kiss from my baby gurl will do.
So if you are feelin' the blues today here's a couple of
from me and Elsa for you. Take it easy and God Bless.

Finally....

After being in the country for almost 2 years plus a thousand pleas to use chop sticks.... my husband has finally relented to using them. Though not proficient but he is able to feed himself without help..lol!
It is not that he dislikes them, he claims that the problem lies in the fact that he can not eat as comfortably or as fast as he would like to and therefore unable to fully enjoy his meal as he would with a spoon or fork.
Despite his initial reluctance, he is becoming familiar with using hashi and no longer dreads going to a restraunt and seeing no spoons on the table. This takes care of the embarrasment of having to ask for a spoon or fook and gets given a baby one (Japan you gotta love it!)
Elsa on the other hand has been trying on lipstick that she finds around the house. Not mine of course as I don't wear any, wouldn't know how to put one on without having them smeared all over muh face and maybe even get some on muh teeth (eek not a pretty picture) At two and half she still has a lot of growing up to do so the lipstick has to be put away for now..let's start with the Alphabet first and our numerals before we hit the grown up stuff 'k babes.

Kids they grow up way too fast. One minute they are crawlin' around the house the next they wanna look like the latest teen queen on tv..hell no!
but I guess it's still a lot better than havin Jessica Simpson as a role model (Heaven forbid)

Deck of Cards.

It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard.

The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week.

As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.

Just then an army sergeant came in and said, "Why aren't you with the rest of the platoon?"

The soldier replied, "I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord."

The sergeant said, "Looks to me like you're going to play cards."
The soldier said, "No, sir. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards."

The sergeant asked in disbelief, "How will you do that?"

"You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God.

The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments.

The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Five is for the five virgins there were ten but only five of them were glorified.

The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.

The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.

The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives -- the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth.

The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy. He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him.

The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.

The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.

The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary.

The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all Kings.

When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year.

There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year.

The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Each suit has thirteen cards -- there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.

"So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for."
The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, "Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?"

A Forward from friend Keith Rose. Author: Anon


Lord, let your peace be upon this earth. So we can live our lives free from fear and worry. Let your peace reign so that many lives can be spared. Though those in the military are called to serve, taking lives and giving up one's life is never an easy task.
Father Bless all those who are away from their families. May they return home safe and sound.
Dear God take care of the elderly, the children, women and the infirm who are living in places where there is war and strife. May they come to know peace and happiness once again.

I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Amen.

Jesus Take The Wheel.

Today I attended our latest "Research in Progress Seminar." Four are conducted per academic year or twice per semester. This is a forum where we get to present or share our proposals, methodologies/theoretical frameworks, hypothesis/thesis statements/research problems, our findings/conclusions & recommendations and any other relevant information pertaining to our research with our collegues, in the presence of our supervisors and other professors.

Two of my brothers presented this morning Indra and Emil. I take my hat off to these two guys. They put in a lot of hard work, poured their hearts n soul into their research and it was evident in their presentations. Clear and concise it was certainly one of our more productive gatherings. I am very proud of what they have already achieved. Most of the feedback during the Q & A time was positive and useful. I am sure the guys will make any adjustments and editions if thought necessary but so far, I firmly believe that they have done a bang up job!

Indra and Emil plus a couple of other people will submit their final drafts end of September and after that we can only hope and pray for positive results. I gained a lot of insight and encouragement from the seminar. It was also a wake up call for me to evaluate my own progress. The boys enthusiastic and thorough preparations provided not only motivation and inspiration for me but also a clear guideline of what I need to do in order to get my dissertation up to par.

Lord I will do the best I can, but I know that I will need your help to reach that finish line successfully. So please Jesus Take the Wheel! With you at the helm I know that I stand a good chance of getting there, for through you anything is possible even for someone as lowly as myself.

I will continue to depend on you Lord for all and everything. I trust in your faithfulness O God. Look kindly upon your unworthy servant Father, for my strength comes from you and on your love and grace I pin all my hopes and dreams.

Mind Over Tummy.

I am not much of a breakfast person but if someone were to make it for me I will not refuse (hope ur reading this honey..lol) Though I am more partial to than bread (pei a e masagi, ISA!)

I am more a lunch-dinner type of person, though growing up I've had "the breakast is the most important meal of the day" message drilled into my head not only @ home but also in school. I know this is true, it can start out your day really well. Good for your digestive system, you won't have to pig out so much during lunch or dinner rah rah rah but old habits die hard. Especially if you don't want to give 'em up.
Sometimes I play mind games with myself. In my head I envision what I want to eat (nothing extravagant) and then pretend that it is exactly what I will have, just to get my taste buds going.
The down part is that usually what I end up eating is a far cry from what I imagined but still the process was fun (or not!)

Today however, I thought about what I want to eat as compared to what my husband would prefer (but isn't getting) just to vary my routine. So here we go.
I am hungry and this is what's on my mind.


My husband is hungry and this is probably what's on his mind.

I'd settle for a hot dog with all the yummy fillings, smothered in lots of mustard and ketchup.

I'm sure he'll be just right, eating a super sized pizza by himself.

Wouldn't mind spaghetti and meatballs.


He'd flip for some of that local sausage we have back in Samoa.


I'd be ok with a big whooper and fries from Mac D's

He'd rather chow down on some KFC.

Would love some seafood. Sushi and Sashimi over at Meiji.

Malolo would forgo all that for a juicy grilled steak
I'd eat anything (well almost anything) and wash it down with some cold and refreshing iced tea. Malolo would eat just about everything and
finish it off with some fresh OJ
Now that's out of my system, I will now proceed to the kitchen, check the fridge and see what we have and whip up whatever, coz now I am no longer hungry I am starving. Maybe this game is not so great after all the mind is definately being taken over by the tummy. This is what happens when the weather plays up everything else goes haywire.
Gotta jet..laterrrrrrrrrrrr

Here's one for the ladies.

I don't usually post jokes but it's raining cats n dogs outside which is a great relief from the suffocating rays of the sun but I can't go anywhere, am stuck in the house, hungry but is too lazy to cook and there are no constructive thoughts in my tired brain so I'm putting this up for the ladies. Many a time women have had to put up with silly, insensitive & in- appropriate questions/coments from men. Most of the time women do not give men the satisfaction by dignifying their queries with a response. Some who do not favor confrontation just turn the other cheek. Then there are those who are able to hold their own, those who stand their ground and are able to dish out just as good as they've been given. To those brave magnificent souls this post is dedicated to YOU!
A young woman was packing her husband's lunch early one morning.

As he walked into the room he told her she was putting on weight.

The woman ignored the remark and turned to walk out of the room.

He then said. "Your behind is as big as a four burner barbecue".

Again she ignored him.

That night, when he came to bed and cuddled up to her, she rolled over and

wrapped the sheet around herself.

Stunned he asked "What's wrong with you?"

She replied, "Why fire up a four burner barbecue to cook half a

sausage!"

PS/ There are also a lot of great men in the world so don't be too hard. Give credit where credit is due. Over and out!