Today my heart broke. I said goodbye to adopted sisters I might never see again. I said goodbye to a little rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that has been a piece of heaven for four years. The beauty of both the land and the people surpassed all my imaginings.
When your heart breaks you must take care not to sew the seams too tight lest your heart shrink. I must remember to keep my stitches loose, so once my heart has healed I can fit more inside.
The pain is deep because the joy was exquisite and for that I will always be grateful. Farewell my sweet friends on Kwajalein. Farewell my sun toasted, nut-brown, beautiful people of the Marshall Islands. I will miss your giving hearts and will carry you in mine forever.
Atrina has been a sister to me and a second mother to my babies. I wanted to give her a party to thank her for all she has done for me.
Visiting Atrina's family on Ebeye
Atrina's family sings us farewell while giving us gifts. A rain storm abruptly ends the song, which saved me from becoming a blubbering mess.
Seeking cover from the rain...
Rachel inside
Atrina cutting cake
Atrina's home with some of her children
Atrina's beautiful daughter, Bina
Atrina lives with about 40 people and we took new shoes for everyone, except the men.
Shoes for Judy's little toddler.
I love Atrina's face in this set…
Giving Spider Man shoes to Atrina's adorable, youngest son, Runi.
Telling him my husband, Peter Parker, is also Spider Man
Saving the best for last. Giving Atrina her shoes.
Atrina, Florence, Judy
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these two!!
After Atrina's Farewell, we went to the LDS church on Ebeye for a Yokwe (means hello and love in Marshallese), which is another farewell.
As we faced the crowd of over 60 in our seats of honor, Rachel asked, "Why are we sitting up here?"
After the leaders shared their thoughts, Peter and I shared ours
Isaac and Caleb were brave enough to speak
Rachel too tired for words
After a few people shared their thoughts, including us, they sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" in Marshallese, while bidding us farewell and giving us gifts.
Some of the sweet members on Ebeye.
Saying Goodbye to Ebeye and Atrina
Asher waving goodbye
The gifts we were given. I was overwhelmed by their generosity and kindness.
I love this coconut monkey. It could also pass for a fierce, pregnant woman. Take your pick.
The Beckers, the senior LDS missionary couple on Ebeye and our adopted grandparents, stopped by on Kwajalein for one final farewell.
Braving the downpour to bid us goodbye. We love you, Beckers!
Our neighbors, the Sovas, joined us for one last dip at Emon. She has been a sister to me, too.
I wish I could post pictures of all the people on Kwajalein that have impacted my life, but that would be impossibly long. Know that you are all fabulous and I am so blessed to have met you. Thank you for your kindness.
We are a day ahead of the USA, so we celebrated our 16th anniversary on the same day as my parent's 51st anniversary. I don't know what my parent's celebration entailed (I accidentally wrote entrailed, which is fitting because mine started at midnight with diarrhea), but I thought it was a neat coincidence. Thankfully, my day got much better and Peter and I went to the beach to watch the sunset. When Eva asked where we were going we didn't want to say beach or sunset because those would all be trigger words for her to exclaim, "I want to come, too!" So Peter told her we were going on a date. She asked, "Are you going to eat?" We had finished eating two minutes prior, so Peter responded, "No, we are going to sit together and talk." She knit her brow and said, "Oh, girl-talk?" If girl-talk means talking about real life and true love, then yes, sweet baby girl.
Birthday Season has arrived. It goes Mom in June, Dad & Eva in July, Asher & Caleb in August, Josiah in September, Isaac in October. Rachel is all by herself in February, but she can claim the honor of the first birthday of the year. At least, that is how I try to console her.
I celebrated my birthday the Marshallese way. Well, sort of. You see the true custom is as follows:
Women come and while they serenade you... They give you a dollar You give them candy They take anything of yours that they want
That is not a typo. When my Marshallese helper told me about her birthday a few months ago, I was aghast. When I asked her how her birthday went, she said, "Great. Some ladies came to sing to me. They each gave me a dollar and started taking stuff, but," she added with a sneaky grin, "they didn't find my favorite glass pan, because I hid it really well."
The other time of year you are looted is on New Year's Eve. She lost a TV that way, but it would never be considered stealing in this culture. Just sharing, except you never see it again. This doesn't only occur on these days, because stealing sharing happens on a daily basis. The list of items she has shared is endless.
Well, when Atrina hinted that I might have some birthday visitors I jokingly reminded her that I don't participate in the part of their culture where I share anything they want, but that I would provide food and candy.
I had nine Marshallese women stop by to celebrate and it was wonderful. While the women sang, they each gave me a dollar and my kids passed out candy. They pulled me up to dance with them and then gathered in a circle on the floor and told me nice things about me and then I told them nice things about them. It was a special experience and made me cry.
Isaac took the video and I was originally going to trim it down, but I'm just posting the raw footage. They sang to me a long time. When Peter commented on the length, Isaac chimed in, "Of course, the song needs be long so they have plenty of time to take stuff." Joking aside, it was really beautiful and even though I couldn't understand what they said, I felt their love.
After the singing and dancing, I fed them lunch and some gave me other gifts. Judy attempted to give me a dress and with no warning she started to put it on me, but it was a medium. I am not a medium, but it was a gift in-and-of-itself that she thought I was a medium. I was able to squeeze myself in, but sitting would have been another matter. We all had a good laugh over it.
After the festivities, I decided I wanted birthday donuts rather than cake. We had four extra kids during the donut-making and they found it fascinating. See my little audience...
After gorging on donuts, we spent some time frolicking in the yard. Well, they frolicked, I relaxed.
I'm often given a flower to wear in my hair by the children.
This particular one was given to me by Hayden.
After their long, muddy romp outside the girls had to have a quick bath and rush off to dance. When they got back, they both looked so sweet in their matching outfits that I snapped some more pictures of them.
The girls would throw grass in the air and call it their party.
The older boys were off playing soccer, but Asher & Peter enjoyed the show, too.
It was a wonderful day with surprise visits from friends and unexpected gifts. One gift I even got to open twice, because her children each wanted a turn to give it to me. Another gift spilled into the next day, when Neilan stopped by the next morning because she wasn't able to make it to the celebration the previous day. Some of my gifts are on-going and I've already cashed in 30 minutes of foot massages with many more to come. The only gift that hasn't happened, yet, is that Peter is going to hang a hammock up at the beach for me, so I can relax child-free for an hour. I'm saving that for a day when I actually want a break from everyone. For now, I'm happy to bask in everyone's love, even if that love sometimes sounds like a cacophony.
