AUGUST & SEPTEMBER

It's almost October as I am writing this. Our family has been sprinting since the beginning of August. The past two months have been hectic on so many levels. God has strengthened our backs and carried us (and continues to carry us) through it. So let's get started shall we....

First Full week of August---
  • Aug 6 - Mom & Dad Arrive. They Rest and Recover from Traveling.
  • Aug 7 - Dad is admitted to the ER
  • Aug 8 - Dad has surgery to amputate two toes and the infected parts of his foot. 

Backstory---

End of July we found out that Dad had an infection in his toe. It was so painful that he ended up bedridden. When he went to the hospital, they only gave him Tylenol with codeine, so he just tried to manage at home. But the pain kept getting worse until he couldn’t even stand on his foot. At his follow-up appointment, they finally gave him antibiotics, but by then his toe was clearly gangrenous.

My siblings and I pushed for him to come to Utah, since there aren’t any surgeons in American Samoa. Tui flew back to bring both Mom and Dad here, which was no easy task. The trip was rough—both of them needed wheelchairs and help even just getting to the bathroom. They hadn’t been eating much and were really weak from malnutrition.

When they arrived in Utah on Wednesday, I gave Dad one day to rest before taking him to the ER. By Thursday he was checked in, and on Friday he went into surgery. They ended up removing two toes—the pinky and the one next to it—along with some of the infected tissue.

After a week in the hospital, Dad was transferred to Stonehenge of Orem for rehab. He stayed there for 20 days, doing both occupational and physical therapy. It was tough on him, but so needed. The staff took such good care of him—he had a big private room, round-the-clock attention, and we could visit any time of day.

Tui took Mom to visit every day and we took the kids as often as we could. 

Household Shifts--
We're officially a household of 6 adults and 6 kids now-- yeah, it's a full house! With that many people under one room, we had to rethink our room setup to make things work. 

Mom and Dad are now settled in the master suite on the main floor. The boys took over the upstairs liveing room. Tui moved into their old room, Leila stayed put in her bedroom, Brittany decided to board with the little girls (will probably move her eventually to Leila's room), and Aljay and I moved into Britt's old room. 

It's a bit of a puzzle, but we do what we can and just make it work. That's family life right?


Second Week of August---

  • Freshman orientation for Sefa
  • New Student orientation for Leila
  • Fall sports practices for Leila, Sefa, and Viiga
  • Viiga's youth football season games begin as well 
  • Kids have their first day of school 
  • Papa Joe moves to A Skilled Nursing Facility for Recovery

Third Week of August---

  • Salani starts Kindergarten
  • High School kids have their first seasonal high school games
  • Papa Viiga arrives in Utah

8/20 - Papa Viiga Makes it to Utah

Dad arrived early in the morning, right in the middle of our usual chaos of getting kids ready and out the door for school. I walked into the living room and Lahvjal and Dad were sitting there—such a fun surprise in the middle of the morning rush!

With our house already full, Dad will be staying with Uncle Gaugau and Aunty Palagi for now. Brittany is also staying there since she’ll been Dad’s main ride to appointments and errands.

8/21 - Sefa's First JV Game & Leila's First Volleyball Injury

Timpview’s JV football team had their first game of the season against American Fork—and it was a rough one. The boys lost 47–0. Sefa was pretty frustrated; the o-line just wasn’t holding, which made it hard for the offense to get anything going. Definitely a tough start to the season.

Aljay was able to make it to the game with Brittany, Dad (Viiga), and the younger kids cheering from the sidelines.

Meanwhile, back at the school, Leila was at volleyball practice when she ended up with an injury. Another middle came down on her foot during a drill, and she walked away with a severely sprained ankle. That night she experienced her very first Samoan fofo (intense massage). She said it was the worst pain—but it really does help with the healing!

She'll be out for about 3 weeks and then slowly get back into regular practice by the end of September. 

Last Week of August---

  • Papa Joe last week at Stonehenge Rehab Facility
  • Timpview Teens (Leila and Sefa) in the swing of school and sports
  • Viiga's 6th Grade Youth Football season kicks off

September Happenings---

  • Papa Joe makes it home (Sept 1st)
  • Charlie Kirk's Assassination (Sept 10th) 
    • I wrote a journal entry in my physical journal. It was a scary day. The adrenaline rush was real! Getting back to work after all of it was a weird feeling as well. 
  • Grandma Salei'a turns 71 (Sept 12)
  • Afele Family To'ona'i (Sept 14th)
    • We celebrated Mom's 71st birthday with all the Afele cousins. It's always good when the family is together. 
  • Kaelin's Baby Shower (Sept 20th)
    • Teuila, Omi, and I did a one-night trip out to Colorado for my our niece's baby shower. It was Teuila's first solo trip, no kids or husband lol It was fun having a quick girl's trip with the cousins! Aside from the wonderful baby shower, we got to cruise around Denver. It's a fun city!


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