Happy Birthday, Alison

Okay, so we are here at the airport in Vava'u waiting for a plane. As a reminder, last year we waited for 5 days in Vava'u for a plane. Not at the airport, though. Five of the girls got to leave earlier on a little plane. Supposedly we were leaving not long after on a bigger plane. That was two hours ago. A bigger plane came and went, but no, that was not our plane--that was a charter plane. Ours isn't here yet. We will see if it comes tonight.

So the weird thing is that this little TEENY airport out in the middle of a little island on the Pacific, an airport with no available food and no working bathroom, HAS INTERNET!! We are sitting on a cement floor here in the corner just to keep connected. Opportunity in this waiting period.

With this opportunity, I am going to be the first to wish Alison a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! It has already been Alison's birthday for 19 hours here in Tonga, and I know it is almost her birthday there. 25 years ago today we had the opportunity of her coming into our family. She is amazingly creative and talented, has a lot of energy and good ideas, and has been a blessing to us. It has been a good 25 years since all 4 pounds 11 ounces of her came into the world. Happy Birthday, Alison!

We had a great day here in Tonga yesterday. We went out on a Tongan "Speed Boat" (maybe 25 miles per hour at top speed) to one of the farthest islands, Hunga, to see patients and do immunizations. We then stopped at the island of Nuapapu, where we hiked in and did blood pressure and glucose screening in the town hall by the women who were weaving their mats. We then stopped at Matamaka, where the town hall was not open, so we did our screening on a mat on the beach. Finally, we went to Nuku beach, and just swam and played in the water with the Tongan nurses who came with us. It was really fun--the beach was white sand, with little sand crabs that would bury themselves in the sand when you got too close to them. On the way back to Neiafu, we stopped at the magical Ana Pekipeka cave, where if you jump in the water, it glows. Several students did jump in the water, and it did magically glow.

Today was our last day at clinical. On Tuesday, when I stayed 24 hours at the hospital, we saw four births, a c-section, twins, and a vaginal birth. I found out that I got to name the twins today. I thought they looked like Jacob and Esau when they came out and called them that for fun. Lo and behold, I found out today that those were the names their parents had given them!! I don't know if the family overheard me, but they must have--the mother was very medicated, so I know it did not come from her. I also found out that the first girl was named after us when I went and talked to her parents this morning. HER name is Toa BYU and then her Tongan last name. I will have to put it down on the post once I get the full name. Another BYU baby!! I told her parents I knew a cute one year old boy named Brigham that she needed to meet in about 20 years.

Speaking of Baby Brigham--I took presents to him a few days ago. Well, his birthday is today. They came in town with Brigham to find me, and we had a great time eating birthday cake and ice cream by the pool at our hotel. He is a cutie, with beautiful dark eyes an long eye lashes. I will post a picture when I get home. He is a little guy, and does not like cake or ice cream. He was dressed in the "Brigham Young" shirt I gave him the other day.

Well, the plane just landed, and it appears we are actually going. Happy Birthday Alison, AND baby Brigham!