Birthday Girl

I love being a grandma. I have 8 grandchildren, 7 boys and 1 girl.
My grand daughter is a treasure a welcome touch of feminine sweetness among all that testosterone.
Cole is outside cutting off grasshopper heads with a bush knife as I write this.....

Today is Sierra Brianna's 10th birthday...
Sierra is a special little girl living in a special place.


She has a generous heart.
I took the kids on a grandma date while in Port Vila.
I gave each one 5 Vatu to spend.
The boys promptly spent theirs on pop and candy, but Sierra, after buying a small purse, saved the rest for a gift.
This month David got a new bush knife from Sierra. He was surprised and delighted.

Sierra is a worker bee....she lives in an environment that demands girls work hard.
I have seen her pluck a chicken, do a load of laundry by hand, babysit her brother or a baby in the village, make lap lap and usually without complaint.

One day I found laundry hung high in the rafters of the garage.
"How did that get up there?" I asked her.
"Oh, I climbed up there and hung it, I thought it would dry faster," she said.

Mama Ellen gave me a chicken, and Sierra agreed to pluck it with the help of her friends. The only condition was that they got all the insides. They wanted to cook and eat them.
No problem I assured her.
She got her gizzards and I got my plucked chicken.

Sierra has many village friends. They love to play games of chase and ball.

She can cross-stitch, knit, and make a skirt on the sewing machine. She likes to read and play card games. She likes to cook and bake.

Happy Birthday Sierra, We love you and miss you....



Sierra and baby Grace ....
turtle farm...
Plucking grandma's chicken....
waiting for the bus....Sierra brought her book...
Shopping in town...she decided not to buy anything but save her money.....

Sierra with her village friends.
Scrubbing pots with sand to get the black off them.....