Apia, Samoa
Samoa is such a little country and yet has made itself known in the world. Can you find it...
It's beautiful (not just beautiful, but I'm-living-in-a-postcard beautiful) and produces amazing athletes including a WWF wrestler turned actor (not
much of a change in job description, if you ask me). It is the final
resting place of a famous author and has a uniquely identifiable tradition of song
and dance that makes it almost impossible to hold still when listening/watching. Samoans are known as the "Happy People" (at least by the
Polynesian Culture Center's Samoan village guy), they are friendly and forgiving
to a fault. Samoa is also currently home to Brett & Tufa Macdonald
and their 3 beautiful children. It is the final fact that brought us to Samoa.
Brett is my oldest brother. I have written and erased at least a dozen sentences trying to introduce him. I will instead say this... I want to be better and work harder and appreciate goodness more because of him. He is one of my most-est favorite people in the world. I was so so excited to introducing my Matt to Brett, his sweet wife Tufa, and their three darling kids, Josiah, Tasi, and Sadie.
We arrived at some un-earthly hour and looked around anxiously for Brett. We wondered around a bit in the open-air airport before spotting him standing by the stairs with a book open in his hand, the lid to a highlighter held between his lips while he underlined some nugget he'd found. I called out, "Brettrick!" and he looked a little startled that we'd snuck up on him. How happy to have my Matt and Brett in the same place!
The drive to the airport is about 45 minutes. We chatted about our trip and about family and about plans for Samoa. Josiah and Tasi had made a poster for our bedroom door but were long since asleep. We went in to see them asleep... goodness they are beautiful. We chatted more at the kitchen table as we snacked on some cookies they'd made for us before realizing that Brett had to work in the morning. So we went to bed. Matt was introduced to Tufa and Sadie the next morning. We went to lunch with Brett and Tufa and had a great time beginning the "catch up" conversation that never really gets finished.
From lunch we went to get the kids on our way to go feed some sea turtles. Brett's family has been in Samoa for almost 2 years. That's a long time for little people. But I wasn't surprised when Josiah and Tasi came bursting out of the door when we got back to Brett & Tufa's home. They were all smiles and hugs. Matt is so good with kids and Josiah and Tasi are so friendly that I'm not sure there was even a moment of hesitation in greeting. We piled into the van and headed to see the turtles.
After throwing a few pieces of bread into the water it didn't take long for some turtles to appear. Here are Tasi, Faina (Tufa's niece) and Sadie feeding one of the turtles.
I'll admit, the turtles are pretty darn cute. We didn't get very many good looks at them. They'd come up and grab a piece of bread and then dive back down into the water. Here's one little guy (uh... or girl) that stayed at the surface for a bit.
It was pretty exciting when this turtle got close enough for Josiah to tickle.
After a while the Josiah, Alvin (Tufa's nephew) and Tasi figured out that if they threw some seed pods into an over hanging tree, they could knock more pods out and the wind would blow the pods right back at them. Kids can be so good at finding ways to be entertained.
Meanwhile, Matt was busy wooing miss Sadie. It didn't take long.
There was a goodness about the day and the people and the reality of how abundantly blessed we are that was overwhelming.
Here are a few other shots of the kids from our time with the turtles.
Sadie Letapu Macdonald
Josiah Taylor Sauniatu Macdonald.
Tasi Findley Carlos Macdonald.
We arrived on September 6, which also happened to be Tufa's birthday (hooray for Tufa's birthday!!). Before we left Utah, mom and dad had listed off a few things that they hoped we'd be able to do or see while in Samoa. One that they mentioned several times was to have a bonfire with Tufa's family. We were super excited to be able to do that on our first night there for Tufa's birthday.
The evening included some delicious food from an umu (ground oven) including some palusami... my very favorite! And music. And dancing (of course!). Aufia, Tufa's sweet mom joined the party and even danced a bit. I couldn't have enjoyed it more when Tufa bowed to Brett (an invitation to dance). Matt and I both heard him respond with something like "Since it's your birthday." There was also a haka performed by Josiah, Tasi, and Alvin. A haka is a war dance. This one was very manly and fearsome (well... that is as long as you didn't pay attention to Tasi's giggles or Joshiah and Alvin's smiles). We took a few pictures, but it was dark so they didn't turn out. This is the best we could do...
We ended the day at the Brett & Tufa's house where we gave Tufa some gifts, put the kids to bed, and continued chatting until late. Good, good day.
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