Fiji Gratitude #8

I am grateful for the way this place, these people, this project, has touched & changed the hearts of each member of my family. Jimmy presented our tatau (formal goodbye) yest. Very hard 2 do. So many people from Mali came 2 drink grog w/ us one last time. Very sad day, but also joyful. So today is the day we leave the island & start long journey back home, but all 5 of us believe we'll be back.
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Fiji Gratitude #9

I am grateful. For everything. I'm without words tonight. Emotionally spent. The Fijians held a feast in our honor today. Beautiful speeches were made to us. Beautiful gifts were given. Tui Mali cried. We cried. Even the kids. Such open-hearted people Fijians are-much we can learn from them. Last full day on island tomorrow. More goodbyes. Farewells are so important in Fijian culture, but so hard on our hearts...
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Fiji Gratitude #10

I am grateful for boat rides-flying across the waves, sun on my shoulders & wind in my face, beautiful islands all around me. Everytime I go to town, I think,"Man, this is the best commute to work, EVER! I love being in the boat, even when the sea is like an angry bull-I feel safe in the hands of our boat captains. Being in the boat @ night is prob my fav - full moon, calm sea, no mozzies. Ahh.
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Fiji Gratitude # 11

I am grateful for TIME. Time to think, time to grow, time to heal, time to flow... One of my favorite aspects of living here is the slooower pace of life. It's not that we don't have plenty to do - we do! But the pace is such that we seldom lose our breath or connection to each other - big contrast for us from what we've been used to back in the States. This new way of being we WILL carry w/ us, wherever we live.
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Fiji Gratitude #12

I am grateful for the lessons in good old fashioned belly laughter I've learned from living with playful Fijians. Best. Medicine. Ever. They laugh & play like children, something I think most Americans could use a healthy dose of. I'm going to miss the sound of each of their distinctive laughs. If you've been here, you know exactly what I'm talking about!
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Fiji Gratitude #12

I am grateful for the lessons in good old fashioned belly laughter I've learned from living with playful Fijians. Best. Medicine. Ever. They laugh & play like children, something I think most Americans could use a healthy dose of. I'm going to miss the sound of each of their distinctive laughs. If you've been here, you know exactly what I'm talking about!
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Fiji Gratitude #13

I am grateful for Fijian healing ways, which affirms for me my faith in natural medicine. In our time here, we've seen fractures, sprains, headaches, rashes, burns, boils, ear/eye problems, & lots more treated thru massage & herbal medicine. Everyone has their healing specialty which is passed down. Massaging each other is a way of life here - one of many ways they take care of one another.
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Fiji Gratitude #14

I am grateful for having the beautiful blue sea at my side, all day, everyday. I'm really, really gonna miss it. Today we has a wonderful picnic on her beach, swam in her shallows, watched the sun set on her horizon, fished her deep waters, enjoyed a beautiful moonlit boatride on her surface. Now her waves crashing are my lullabye as I end my day. What a lucky girl I am.
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Fiji Gratitude #15

I am grateful for bright sunny days, which create solar energy, which power the laptop for a movie night! Now if only I could actually stay awake for the movie - all 3 kids outlasted me tonight!
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Fiji Gratitude #16

I am grateful for the ways that living together on a tiny island has changed and enriched our family. We are united in a way we've never been before. Through challenging moments, the undercurrent of cooperation, love, & respect is always close to the surface & is a powerful guiding force. I love that I can say not only do I love each member of my family, but I really truly like them!!
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Fiji Gratitude #17 - I am grateful for community living. I *love* having people around as I go about my day - joking, laughing, singing, talking - so much fun and so many opportunities for connection. Feels like the way it's supposed to be...
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Fiji Gratitude #18

I am grateful for Fijian traditions that bring comfort & strengthen community. Today was a heavy day for Jimmy - mourning the recent death of his grandpa & also 7th anniversary of his dad's death. When a death happens in Fiji, the men gather around the tanoa, drink grog, & tell stories. So this eve, Tui Mali (chief), Jone,Tale, & Marau joined Jimmy in honoring his dad & grandpa in this way.
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Fiji Gratitude #19

I am grateful for the broadened perspective living here has given my children. Living among an international tribe has taught them to be comfortable & respectful of many cultures & personalities. I love that they have a united view of the world - they are World citizens, not just US citizens.The people we've lived w/ are amazing role models - people of all ages who travel the world, seeking, learning, & sharing.
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Fiji Gratitude #20

I am grateful for the sound of the heavy rain all around me, cocooning me as I drift off to sleep tonight all snug, dry, and cozy in my bed. After a couple weeks of teasing sprinkles and light showers, we now have the first substantial rainfall since early July. Means water tanks will be full and waterfall shower wil be running. So happy to have the waterfall once again before we leave!
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Fiji Gratitude #21

I am grateful for the warmth of friendship and love we have found in our Fijian family. Their open hearted affection, love of laughter, & love of family have changed me - those things are now a part of me. As days inch closer to our leaving, the sadness gets heavier & tears have started to flow from both sides - I'm really gonna miss them. Hoping it's not really goodbye, but just see ya later...
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Fiji Gratitude #22

I am grateful for the beauty of the sea and it's creatures. This past year I've swam with countless amazingly colorful fish, eels, squid, octopus, jellyfish, sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, & more. Also seen whales & pod of dolphins up close. Today, I lead most amazing reef trip yet-water so warm and clear, amazing coral formations, sharks, rays, eel, new to me fish. Blessed am I...
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Today is a very special day...

...celebrating 12 years of being a mama and the birth of one very remarkable kid! Happy 12th, Lucas - I am grateful for you and all the lessons being your mama has taught me. Your open heart, inquisitive mind, and determined spirit touch and inspire me in ways I struggle to express w/ just words. You should be pround of the young man you are growing up to be - I am! I love you, more!
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Fiji Gratitude #23

I am grateful for magical, beautiful shooting stars. Each time I see one, I get a thrill of excitement that I only remember ever feeling before when I was very young. If you watch the night sky here for more than 15 minutes, you will most likely see at least one. I saw two tonight, just by chance. I want at least one more eve lying on the table on the beach stargazing before I go...
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Fiji Gratitude #24

I am grateful for lack of lights to tempt me into staying up late being productive. True! Living in synch w/ the natural cycles of the day has made me into an "early 2 bed, early 2 rise" kinda girl. Rising time is still sometimes a killer - don't think I'll ever be what you'd call a perky morning person, but I am more rested & more A.M. productive than I remember ever being in my adult life.
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Fiji Gratitude #25

I am grateful for lullabyes of laughter. I chose to sit out the campfire music party tonight, but am enjoying it all the more lying here in bed, listening to people who were strangers to one another a week ago, laughing their asses off together and cutting loose. Good stuff!
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Fiji Gratitude #26

I am grateful for inky black night skies that hold more stars than seem possible. The night sky here is indescribable. Truly indescribable. I love to get lost among the stars and the Milky Way and be reminded how vast this Universe really is.
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Fiji Gratitude #27

I am grateful for now. Just being here, right now, this day, this minute, in this place and with these people I love so very much. May I remember this as the days ahead fill with preparations for going home and heart-wrenching goodbyes. When the future is uncertain, the present is a consistant anchor by which I can ground myself...
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Fiji Gratitude #28

I am deeply grateful for rain, in a way I've never experienced before. The sound, smell, sight of it is pure joy and goodness. Hard brittle ground turned softer; dying plants, crispy-leaved and limp, look optimistic now. During this morning's rain shower, I swear I could hear the earth breathe a grateful sigh...
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Fiji Gratitude #29

I am grateful for beautiful Fijian voices, joined in effortless harmony, that are my lullaby so very often...
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Fiji Gratitude # 30

I am grateful for vibrant rainbows, so amazingly colorful that they look painted in the sky, that I can see entirely from beginning to end. Though many times I've been tempted, I've yet to swim out to the end of the rainbow and claim the pot 'o gold I know is waiting for me...
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Fiji Gratitude #31

I am grateful for cool, breezy nights after hot, humid days. There are few things that I enjoy more than lying in my bed at the end of a sticky hot day, feeling the cool rushes of the breeze wash over me as I listen to it dance in the coconut leaves outside. Aaaah!
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Fiji gratitude #32

I am grateful for the frequent sounds of laughter and joking that erupt throughout the village everyday - such good medicine! Reminds me to take pause and keep it light - life is not to be taken seriously!
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