It’s a Boy! (Written 8/1/07)

Today was a busy day to say the least. It all began with a sea of chaos and kind of became calmer (and a lot more fun) during the course of the day. The chaos began during the school day in which a lot of the year 13 students had to finish typing their major projects for their accounting and economics classes. Now, what a lot of the students do is that they come in to my class to type during their option (meaning non-major subject) classes – but today, it seemed like every teacher was letting them out of their subjects to finish two papers. This would not have been such a problem had it only been like 2 or 3 students, but it was over 15 kids constant bugging me to use the computer labs. What compounded my annoyance with this situation was the thought that these kids have had weeks to finish their assignment – but they ALL wait until the last minute to turn it in (and unlike in the states where teachers set a deadline and students HAVE to stick to it, it seems that here a lot of deadlines are really just 'suggestions' for the students). Unfortunately, for my students I come from the school of thinking that says when you're in school you are taught – you do your assignments and stuff on your own time. So I was dealing with a constant onslaught of last minute typing and printing (since students have to print in the computer lab instead of going to the office) and by the end of the day – with students wanting to skip MY class in order to do their IA on the computers…that was almost the straw that broke the camel's back. I wasn't going to let them ditch my work (which leads to a test they will have in a week's time that I have to get them ready for – but that's apparently to far in the future for them) to do someone else's work. It started off as one of those days when you just want to go bang your head up against a wall. But then I got some great/surprising news which brought happiness back to me.

The family that I spend a lot of time with, The Phillips, got a new addition to the family today. Vivienne gave birth to a healthy baby boy at 11:55am this morning but I only found out about it around 1:30pm when Viv was scheduled to come pick me up for the Faatuatua kids tutoring session. I was in the middle of class when I received a call from Tiffany Pati (Teuila's daughter) telling me that Teuila was going to pick me up instead of Viv because she had just given birth to the baby. I was a bit taken aback because just the night before I had dinner with Paul/Viv and the family and we were joking about her having the baby NEXT week (when the baby was scheduled to be delivered) and she goes and has the baby the next day. Apparently Viv started having contractions at around 1am this morning and Paul took her to the hospital at around 10am and at 11:55am, the baby boy was born. Now the coolest thing about this situation is that Paul/Viv have been praying and proclaiming that this baby was going to be a boy from the time of conception until now – they never got a x-ray to see what the sex of the baby was, they just believed that God would provide them with a baby boy. They held onto that faith for 9 months…and God provided them with a baby boy – now that's a great testimony about having faith in God. Now you may notice that I keep calling it 'a baby boy', the reason for  that is because they don't have a name for the baby yet. So once I know the name of this new addition to the Phillips family, I'll let you know. The craziest thing about the whole situation was that Viv was able to come home the same day she gave birth – so she gave birth at around 12pm and was home (with the baby) by 5pm. I was quite surprised because in the states the hospital usually keeps the baby and mother for at least a complete day, but since both the baby and Viv were healthy (and their home is cleaner then the National hospital) she was allowed to bring the baby home. So I first saw the baby when she brought him home – and he's amazingly small. Now of course all the women say that he's the cutest thing but to me he just looks like a baby – nothing really unique about him right now. Maybe in a few months he'll start to develop his features and THEN he could be called cute…but right now, he just looks like a baby (and yes, when I get the chance I will post pictures for you – no worries). After bringing him home, Viv gave the baby a nice washing, fed him and then put him down for a nap. During this process the baby cried a few times and Paul stated that it had been a while since he heard that sound (their last child – before this one – was born 6 years ago) and it's going to take some getting use to. It'll definitely take some getting use to having a 5^th child in the Phillips family, but it's cool because now while I have been in Samoa I have experienced 2 of lifes biggest events: A Samoan funeral (The Archbishop & Head of State), a birth (Paul/Viv's boy) and come December I will experience a Samoan wedding.

Now before Viv gave birth to the baby, our home group/bible study was originally planning to do a photo scavenger hunt around downtown Apia – Viv was suppose to be the coordinator for it, but she was kind of indisposed. So Jewell (her eldest daughter) became the organizer instead – it was a scavenger hunt with our home group and the Next Generation home group (which is a new homegroup that split from my current homegroup and has grown a lot in only a few months). We broke up into teams (each one had at least one kid under 8) and had to take various pictures of the team doing things around downtown Apia. It involved a lot of walking but it was a lot of fun – the kids especially liked it because they got to be out in town at night, which they don't usually get to do. After the scavenger hunt, we all met at a Samoan fast food place called Penati's and had our meal their – we talked about all the photos we took and how we got them. It just showed what a creative bunch we are and provided a lot of good stories, exercise and fellowship. But in a way, it was good for Viv because this hunt got all the kids out of the house for a few hours – so she had time to get some good shut eye in before the baby starts crying throughout the night. It's the start of a new chapter in the Phillips family and I'm glad that I was there to be a part of it. It was just another part of feeling like being part of the family and it's definitely an experience I'll cherish from my time here. I'm just glad to be able to say "It's a boy!" and be genuinely surprised not only by the birth but the faith as well. Now all we need is a name! He already has a middle name (which is Samoan) and a last name (which is Phillips) but we need that oh so critical first name. Everyone is anxiously awaiting it!