stuff from my garden, Hibiscus and peppers.

Taken before Christmas, Alec in the front at his Christmas Meke in school. Yes, he's wearing a 'sulu' .No, he's not wearing a skirt!

shopping

Gerry and Elias as the local "MH" grocery store. You can't see the thick layer of dust and the cochroaches hiding under the shelves, but believe me, it, and they are there!

Me, on my verandah.

typhoid

As is destined to happen, I’ve been blogging many times but my server and I have had several disagreements and he gets the last word or, lack of it by dumping mine!

We are dealing with Typhoid in Fiji. There have been several cases in various other islands (over 300 Fijian Islands) and I believe 1 death directly related to Typhoid. Before we left Canada, we did get vaccinated against this beast but Elias was too little to deal with it. He is vulnerable. Also, being pregnant makes me wonder if the unborn is susceptible too. Will have to look into that. It has been raining, not cats and dogs, but cows and cars. We get close to being flooded at our place and in low lying areas they are flooded. There has been 1 drowning due to the floods. With all the rain, and not a lot of drying time, the mosquitoes have moved in and they carry the Dengue Fever. Not a good combo. Dengue and Typhoid. We will try to avoid both. The radios are warning people to boil water unless you are sure that your water is ok. Yesterday our water turned brown, so now we boil too.
On another note, baby related, one of the major hospitals lost 5 babies in one weekend. All due to exposure of disease within the hospital itself. All exposed to the same respiratory/ventilator machine that was heavily drenched in bacteria. The very machine that was being used to resuscitate these newborns actually killed them. The other major hospital in Lautoka has a 40% death rate in newborns. And this is the “maternity” hospital.
So, I pray to make the right decision about where to have my last baby. Or guidance or a lighting bolt from Heaven, I’ll take them all or just one. It seems like an obvious choice when you read what I’ve typed but at the same time there are plenty of other factors that make this a nice place to have a baby. I live here for one, my home is here, and there is one good hospital 3 hours away. I’m not eager to get on a plane with a swollen tummy and fly for up to 15 hours. More than likely that trip would be me and the boys alone as Gerry would not be able to get that much time off and we couldn’t afford it anyway. He may not be even able to make it for the birth as these things are not exact science. (due dates) I don’t have the dial-up time to go into all the pros and cons. But I am open to all the prayers we can get. 24-7.

no spanking in Heaven.

Last night at bedtime, Alec told me that at “HIS” church, (the one where God is at, he adds) It’s called “Kids Church” they don’t let Mommys in to that church, who spank their boys. And Jesus doesn’t let the mommys’ into his beautiful house that’s he’s preparing for us if they spank their boys.
So, Mommy, YOU’RE NOT going to Heaven!
Crystal clear Ali!

a brief view of this past week.

This past week we had our first ultrasound. It was so exciting to share it with Alec and Elias. They could only say “cool” and were thrilled when they saw (and recognized) their new siblings kicking movements and arm and hands. The comment was made by Alec that “it looks kinda like a skeleton!” Try and explain that and U/S technology etcetcetc to a 4 year old! I was thinking to just say that the skin comes later. That should really mess him up for several years to come!
Another day this week, we hopped on a flight to Malolo Island Resort for about 3 hours. Enjoyed some beach and ocean time and then some pool time as our boys “HATE THE BEACH!” whatever, get over it boys, we live in Fiji. We were really excited to share this trip with Edward, one of Alecs best friends from school. He was over for the afternoon and Gerry called to see if we could make it, I checked with Ed’s Mom and we were set! This was his first Plane ride and so He was totally stoked.
Today, we braved the elements again and went out to the local beach. Brown sand, kinda ucky water but the kids had such a great time. After a bit we started clamming and found a bazillion about the size of Canadian dimes. Not much good for supper though. Fun while it lasted.
Tomorrow we start the week all over. School, peanut butter and honey sammies and visits with Edward. Elias has 2 playgroups that we attend and have just recently met a new family from NZ that have relocated here. Their daughter, Grace is a few months younger than Elias, she’s blonde too and they are little peas in a pod giggling together.