Chapter 1

Ok. We, have a blog. Now I just have to be consistent with updating people on our lives here in Laie. :]


I was recently made aware that my mom refers to my husband, Rodney, as "That stranger my daughter lives with." Then she told me that soon enough he'll be "That stranger who got my daughter pregnant." :] All in good fun of course, but it made me realize that if my own mother hardly knows the wonderful man I married, then I should do my best to keep her (and our entire family, both his and mine) updated with our everyday lives as much as I can. :]

For all of those reading this who know little or nothing about my husband (which I'm assuming is most of you), let me intro
duce him to you. :]

Rodney was born and raised on the biggest island of Tonga, called Tongatapu, in the village Nakolo. This island is still smaller than the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, which is roughly 600 square miles. He is the seventh, and youngest, child of Melane and 'Isileli Sopu and was born on April 6th. (Some of you know why that date is a special one, apart from Rodney's birth :])

He went to the church school in Tonga and after he graduated from Liahona High School in 2004, he prepared to go on his mission. He received his call to the New Jersey, Morristown mission in August of 2006. He often tells me stories of companions he had, (he loved every one of them) and the people that he and his companions taught. [I'm so glad I married a man who looks back fondly on his mission and looks forward to the day when we can travel there so he can show me the places where his stories took place.] I'll have to have him write out some of his stories on here sometime. He has some pretty great ones!

He went back to Tonga after his mission in August of 2008 and soon after started taking college courses there. (During his mission he applied for BYU Hawaii but was denied.) Several months after he had been taking classes he received a letter saying that Rodney was now accepted to BYU Hawaii. (I told him it was inspired because I was in Hawaii ;]) In April of 2010, Rodney came to Laie Hawaii and prepared to start the Spring Term at BYUH. Several weeks later was our first meeting, (I'll tell that story in my next post) and several months later was when we started dating.

He has worked at the Polynesian Cultural Center since he arrived and is a dancer at the evening show there, Ha: Breath of Life. It is tiring for he and the rest of the dancers, and gets repetitive for them. However I have seen the show many many times and every time the cheers and absolute delight coming from the tourists proves to me that their hard work pays off and the thousands of people that come through everyday have a great experience!

Rodney is currently majoring in Computer Science but he may change his mind, who knows! :] He loves rugby, although I have yet to get to see him in action other than touch rugby which doesn't even compare! He is a loving and incredibly thoughtful man to me and he is the strong foundation of the Priesthood that makes our house a home. There is vast amounts of love between my man and me and I enjoy everyday with him! He is my real-life Prince Charming...

For all of Rodney's family that may be reading this, I'll introduce myself a little. :]

I was born and raised in Spokane Washington and I am the oldest child of a family of five. I love every memory I have growing up in my home with my younger siblings. I am close to all of them and try to keep contact with them as much as I can so the younger ones don't forget about me. It frequently surprises me how much they remind me of myself at their different ages and to see them transform into even more beautiful people every week. I love music and often immerse myself in it as well as my drawings. I am currently an Art Major at BYU Hawaii but may also change to something else :]

I worked at a daycare for the last years of high school and loved every minute of it. People often asked, when they found out I worked there, if the job made me not want to have children, but it did the complete opposite for me. I loved working there, and even with the challenges of spending hours on end with restless children who had individual challenges in their lives that made them so unique in personality and in emotional need. I miss working there and having that daily goal to get a child to warm up to me a little so I could understand their perspectives on life.

I am fascinated by a child's determination at every stage of their childhood to achieve and to learn new things. If only we could all retain that determination and feel that overwhelming feeling of excitement in accomplishing the things we set out to conquer. My youngest sibling is 1 1/3 years old and while he and I have to bond in different ways than I did with his 3 older siblings because of the distance between us, I still feel so blessed to be able to jibber jabber with him on the phone and hear the new words and sounds that he learns everyday.

I keep getting the question about when we will have our first little bundle of joy arriving, and while we haven't received answers that it is time yet, I can feel that the time is not far off at all. :]

We love you all and are sending prayers up for you all the time. We miss our families and look forward to being done with school so we can travel to see and hug all of you again. :]

ALL our love,
RodRiel