At last...

This is it, I finally took the plunge of having a blog. I've been reading friends' blog for a while now and contemplated the idea of doing the same in order to update families and friends about our situation. However, I've always been concerned that our blog wouldn't be as fun and interesting as my friends and that I don't have much time to consecrate to the blog. Then I decided that I'll just have to do my best. I really hope that you'll be satisfied with it.

To start off, we're a family of 4 now. Ilyah Hauarii Kalanikau joined us on May 29th, 2006. We now have the pair, a girl Taiamani, and a boy Ilyah. Not long after his birth, we came here in Belgium for Juri's Master degree in EU Public Policies. The Master was for a year so he finished in August and graduates this month of November in Cantebury, England. However, due to lack of finances, we won't attend the graduation. So we've been living in cold (especially for me) and rainy ( it rains 300 days a year here) Belgium. I'll skip the details on our first and trying year here. Let's just say we've been battling between car issues, sicknesses (cold and islanders don't go together very well), and having no income until just recently.

Our original plan was to stay here for a year, until Juri graduates then go for PhD. However, as you can notice, we're still here... for hopefully just a year ( I just have a hard time with the cold). For some positive aspects, well, they have really great waffles... not the type you find in the freezer section in Costco. Belgium chocolates are a hit too and fries. Our friends got us hooked on a place outside of brussels where they sell the best fries ever ( quality and quantity ratio wise).

This is when we arrived in September 2006

This is us just over a year later ( you can notice that my skin is fading)