Talofa Lava Fam ❤️ I wanted to give a quick update to thank those who had reached out regarding Tishys stolen bike & offered to help fund a new one. We were waiting for an update on whether it could be fixed, and as it turns out it was broken beyond repair. However our landlords generously offered to buy her a new one, so after 6+ weeks of not leaving the house, I finally ventured outside today 😬 It was a bit strange driving again & wearing a mask out & about. I met our landlord in town today and we drove around in search of one. We found a perfect replacement & surprised Tishy with it this afternoon. She was BESIDE herself ☺️

Bike riding has been such a wonderful outlet for Tishy, so to get another bike after hers was stolen is very special. We cannot thank our landlords enough – they have been such a blessing to us. They go above & beyond to ensure we are safe & our girls are well taken care of. It truly is amazing to have landlords that care, not only for us, but for our girls in a deep way 🥰

We are grateful that God continues to show His goodness day after day. Children under 12 are still not allowed in public so we continue to make the most of our time at home where we are safe & healthy ❤️

Talofa everyone. I’ve been slacking on this, so sorry. It’s been a blur these last 2 weeks in lockdown. We’ve been battling sickness and the cabin fever started to hit as we have not left our home since forever it feels. Regardless of what level we are at in terms of lockdown, children under 12 are to stay home anyway so until they are allowed out, we will be safe at home 🏠 Kopo is our designated grocery shopper and do anything in town person & has seen children out and about, but I actually like being home, even if I am longing for a beach day 🏝

Kopo’s uncle died a few weeks ago, we had seen him a while back at a family get together. He was only in his 50s so that was sad of course. He was able to attend the funeral last week & the girls and i streamed it online. While it was a time of sorrow, it was also a time that Kopo got to see many family members he hadn’t seen in a long time, some since he left in 1995! Funerals always remind me that life is short, tomorrow is never promised and to reconnect with others and love on the people you have now bc they won’t be around forever.

This weekend we had a very unfortunate incident where someone snuck onto our property and stole Tishy’s bike from right in front of our house. It was 2:15pm and we were in the living room, we did not see or hear anything. It wasn’t until Tishy went outside to ride again (she had come in for a water break that turned into a talking laughing watching videos of her baby self break) that she said her bike was gone. I was shocked and completely sideswiped, what do you mean gone? We live on a completely fenced property at the end of a small unpaved street, our property is up against the valley so one whole side of the property is completely neighbor-free.

We started looking around immediately bc it just didn’t make sense that someone could steal it. I’m not sure why we were walking around searching for it under bushes and random places, initial shock and denial I suppose. I contacted our next door neighbor who lives on the property with us, I wanted to inform him in case he had anything missing. I also contacted our landlord who called the police immediately. The police were at our place within 30min and since our landlords have had issues (unbeknownst to us) with back neighbors that’s the part of the fence where the police checked first. And 5min later they came back with the bike. It was taken apart as you can see below.

Turns out it was a teenage neighbor who waited for the right opportunity to take it. They found an area of the fence where he has used to climb over several times. They think he had been scoping out the place and our stuff for a while and had hidden and watched for the right time – which is so creepy. I thought the bike could be put together but alas he had bent the metal in many places & it is broken beyond what we can repair. We may try and see if we can get someone to fix it but it isn’t likely 😔 This bike my mum had sent from the US & Tishy rode all day every day, we are super bummed. I am thankful that he did not try to take it from her while she was riding it and that he didn’t try and take anything else. It still was so unsettling and something we are still processing through. More so the violation of our privacy and the safety we felt at home. We don’t feel comfortable letting the girls play outside while I do dishes or something else inside, and we are much more careful about what we have outside. There’s still more to be done to be sure this family and their son will be held accountable, things that the village council will deal with. And for us, our hope is that this is a turning point for him. If he continues down the path he’s on, it will only end up badly for him. So maybe this is a wake up call for him. Perhaps this will spark something in his family. I’m not sure but my prayer is that this will be his last time stealing from anyone and that other families will not have to deal with this behavior from anyone in the family.

And that’s the latest in the life of the Tapelus. Still seeking the Lord on clarity in the next season. Still waiting. Still doing our best not to lean on our own understanding. We can get antsy at times, wanting to know what to do where to go and what is next, but ultimately we trust in the Lord. We trust in His timing and His plan. We remember His goodness when we’re tempted to give in to self pity and frustration. Yes it happens, we get discouraged and confused, we do our best not to lean on our own understanding but we do and then confess when we have. He is good and faithful regardless of our circumstance & He carries us & sustains us when we don’t feel like continuing on the path He has for us ❤️

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations‬ ‭3:21-24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This morning I woke up and was all ready to conquer the day – until I wasn’t and it all went downhill rather quickly. I was trying to get outside to workout and it was just painstaking to try and get it to happen. I was cranky. The girls were cranky. Kopo put on headphones and tuned it all out 🙄 I was desperately searching for my AirPods so I could tune it out too 🤣 unfortunately I couldn’t find them, still haven’t found them and I’m sure I’ll find them sometime this week when I don’t need them.

By the time I FINALLY made it outside and strapped Angelita Joy in the stroller to walk around, she was over it and I knew I wouldn’t enjoy a screeching 2yo while trying to walk and clear my head 😆 decided on a HIIT workout on YouTube, which was great until I couldn’t take being eaten alive by the mosquitos and decided to head inside and workout in the playroom/storage/hide all the clothes if people come over room 😂 I know I know, I should start a homemakers blog for more great tips yea??

Anyway, Angelita Joy has been in a screaming stage & I almost stopped my workout to go deal with it. Instead, I locked the door and continued despite everything in me wanting to just give in and throw myself a pity party while being resentful I didn’t get my workout in. Whew, I don’t want to do that. Have I done that before? I’m embarrassed to admit I have. I’ve let my emotions decide my day and it’s exhausting. Learning to feel it all and process through my emotions instead of shutting down or numbing has been such a journey – filled with many victories and days I’d rather not live again. I haven’t mastered it, yet my bad days haven’t stopped me from starting fresh again, even if I call for a do-over in the middle of the day.

It can be tempting to write only on days I’m feeling good or to only share the highlight reel of my life and out family, but that’s not reality. All of it matters & all of it is real and every day I screw up and get a chance (or multiple chances) to get it right or at least get it better than the last time. And isn’t that the beauty of life? Especially life as a Christian. We are forgiven. We are loved. We are accepted. It’s easy to share those truths with others, yet so much harder for me to accept for myself. I am so undeserving of the love & grace that God lavishes on me daily, yet He does it and continues to despite my cranky moods. I want to show my girls the grace that God shows me, I want them to see redemption in our home. I don’t want them to ever feel like I demand perfection, that they need to clean up before I’ll help them – that’s not realistic and the opposite of how God deals with me. I pray that I will always be willing to admit my mistakes and never think I could live this life – marriage, parenting, any area without the leading of the Holy Spirit. That I’d be quick to repent and ask forgiveness for my sin, that no matter how many times I mess up with my girls that they see I’ll never be too proud to admit my mistakes and ask their forgiveness.

Today’s post was kinda all over the place but I’m not gonna try and clean it up – I want to remember these days. These lessons. These messy, imperfect entries. I’m grateful that not only are His mercies new every morning, but all throughout the day. I don’t have to wait til tomorrow to begin again – it starts now, just before noon. Plenty of day still left to rejoice in the Lord & in ALL He is. He is so good 🙌🏾 Cheers to Monday – or whatever day it is in your part of the world 🌍

18 years ago, in 2004, Kopo & I met for the first time. I had just gotten back from doing a DTS(Discipleship Training School) in Samoa. I was 19 & decided to volunteer at Acquire the Fire, this was a 2-day Christian youth event of about 10k people. I went yearly with my youth group but now that I was 19, I volunteered for a free weekend! I knew the guy organizing it in Sacramento so I got a much coveted volunteer spot on the floor (the event was at the Arco Arena). When it came to assigning volunteers to the nosebleeds, no one would volunteer. I knew that my spot could be easily filled so I offered up my floor spot and headed to the tippy top of the arena for my new assignment. Good thing I did bc little did I know that Kopo was up there with his youth group. Well not exactly, it was the English speaking service’s youth group(His dad is a pastor at a Nazarene church that has services in different languages, His dad pastors the Samoan congregation). Anyway, I didn’t know all this info then obviously, Kopo filled me in later. Anyway, Kopo was forced to go w/his younger sister so that’s why he was there. I saw him & immediately knew he was Samoan but didn’t want to totally creep him out so I just asked if he was Polynesian 🤣 we talked for a min or two then his elevator came and he headed out to lunch. I didn’t think much about it as I talk to everyone so I went about my day manning the elevator – that was my job along with usher and random stuff throughout the weekend. Later that evening during offering I was passing the bucket and i heard “hey girl, girl!” I turned to see Kopo (or the nameless guy from earlier as we never exchanged names) trying to get my attention. He introduced himself as James 😆 and asked about my time in Samoa. I told him how much I loved his country & people & how I’d been wanting to find a Samoan church to go to because I missed it. He then shared that his dad was a pastor of a Samoan speaking church & I was excited at the thought of going but then realized we were 2hrs away from where I lived and i had no idea where he lived. Turned out his church was only about 20min away from me so I told him I’d go visit the next day. He wrote his home number down on a gum wrapper (we didn’t have cell phones 👵🏽) and said, “but if you call the house, ask for Kopo” 😂😂😂

I ended up writing a bit about meeting him and going to his church on my xanga page, and I found the post. Enjoy this deep dive in the archives from 19yo Crystal:

Anyway, let’s move on to a better subject, like..sunday!! Soo…this weekend as i volunteered at ATF i met a 19 year old kid from SAMOA!! oh my goodness i was SOO excited. So, his dad pastors a samoan church not that far from my house and me and lynette went on sunday!!i got up and gave a testimony too..lol..classic. YAY!! then afterwards we went to their house and i swear it was like i was in samoa..oh it was wonderful. their family is so very sweet and the food was SOOO yummy. So yummy in fact that my puletasi got kinda tight..lol..i can’t believe i am sharing this, but man with the information people post on their sites, i got no shame!! anyway- back to my tight puletasi, so Kopo(the kid i met)’s mom gave me a muumuu to wear..good times..then it was on to dessert!!! then it was onto the gym this morning at 5:45am for the ab class…. alright, that is about it. have a sunshine day, even though the weather here is crap! boo!

So there you have it, part one of a very long story with many twists and turns. I’ll write a part 2 and 3 in the coming months. We’ve been through a lot since that day and it’s incredible to see the hand of God all throughout our relationship, from our early days as best friends to losing touch to reconnecting to dating then breaking up and getting back together, engagement, marriage and now with 2 kids. What a journey! The Lord has been so kind to us & we love looking back to see all the details He has woven together to create the beautiful story that is ours ❤️

Talofa lava from Samoa. I’ll be updating about the latest with covid restrictions – sans my personal feelings for the most part 🤣 However I do need to be real & most of you know me well enough to know this is not written with a “woe is me” attitude. I normally I wouldn’t give a disclaimer on my own blog, however more people than I expected have been reading it (even if you don’t leave a comment or say anything – I see the stats 👀😆 )

So, following the discovery of a community case in Samoa, which happened to be a total fluke as it was someone leaving the country, not anyone who had just arrived, Samoa has gone into overdrive regarding covid. Now, the entire country is on full lockdown, as in cannot go anywhere, walking or driving. The only time someone can leave their house is when stores are open on Tuesday & Saturday 8am-2pm to stock up on essentials. To enter a store or hospital, you must show your vax card & wear a mask, this is also true for when you are stopped at a police checkpoint while driving. The island has been divided into 8 districts & you are assigned a hospital and/or medical clinic to go to if needed. Children under 12 are not allowed in public, which means we will be completely locked down at home for at least the next 2 weeks.

Now, having already been through a lockdown in the US (not as intense but close enough) we understand the affect in can have emotionally and mentally. We know how important it is to get outside & get fresh air and keep your body moving even when we would rather binge 10hrs of Netflix and stuff our faces with chocolate (I mean I might still do that too 😆) Thankfully we live on a fairly large piece of land that we refer to as our compound. It’s about 1/4 acre with 3 houses, 2 of which are occupied, our one neighbor is a sweet guy from Chicago who lives alone with his cat Augie (or “The Augsta” as I like to call her) This morning we were woken up by neighbors having a family boot camp at 6:30am, blasting music and counting out their reps loudly 🥴 I mean I get it, it’s too hot to workout later but it did catch me off guard. It did push us to wake up early and have our own workout sesh so that’s a plus! We enjoyed a walk around the compound with some squats, lunges and dance breaks in between. Here’s some shots of our morning.

Yesterday, before lockdown began, we got to spend time with some friends and our neighbor, talking outside and enjoying company & it was so very refreshing. It wasn’t til after everyone was gone that I realized how much I needed that people fill up. My friend came over with a bunch of fruit: (mango steen, sasalapa (sour sip I think it’s called), esi (papaya), star fruit (I dunno the Samoan name 😂 and I don’t even know if that’s the English name but we’ll go with it for now) guava and some vi (I don’t know the English word for it) also chicken and other essentials – seriously she’s a lifesaver. We were able to give her some stuff too and as a bonus she brought some guys to help us harvest our avocado tree and lemon tree, so we could split it between us, them & our neighbor. Here’s a pic of some goodies brought over.

Anyway, while yesterday felt a bit overwhelming with the restrictions and what not, it was also such a blessing to be reminded of how love & cared for we are. God has blessed us with the best of friends and has surrounded us with such a loving, generous, godly, encouraging community. What a gift that being so far from immediate family, we are blessed with friends who love us and care for us like family – we cannot praise God enough for His kindness to us in this area.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll update with our latest lockdown tales & any other prayer points.

Prayer Points:

◦ For us to stay rooted in the Word of God individually & as a family. That we would be consistent in spending time with Him daily.

◦ That we would make working out a priority as well. No matter how tired we are, that we would take time to walk or dance or move our bodies somehow outside.

◦ That we would reflect Christ in our parenting. I feel like I’ve been failing lately in this area. I want to give more grace to my girls. More of God and less of my grumpy flesh 😩

◦ For our marriage. That we would make our Mami & Papi time a priority daily. To spend time in the word, in prayer and just talking ans enjoying each other. While also giving each other space when needed

◦ Wisdom on our next steps & decisions we are weighing out. That we would be led by the Spirit of God and not our own wants & desires. That our will would be aligned with the Lord’s

◦ Financial provision. We would be good stewards of our money & our food and everything we have. That we would be mindful of waste & disciplined to maximize all we have.

If you would like to support us financially the easiest way is thru Venmo: @Crystal-Tapelu (profile pic is us at the beach) 💗

Thanks for keeping up with us 🌴 ❤️ We enjoy sharing a bit of our life with you. I wanted to have this as a kinda family journal for us to remember this season, but having others take a peek in as well is an added bonus.