One steadfast moment 🩷

Kinohi…(part 1)
It’s October 2022 and I’m in love with my newest bundle of sweet baby joy. *big happy sigh* My number 9 baby who will be our forever baby because we (Lovie and I) decided she would be our last coming from this puanani. LOL (only for playtime now)

Days later my sister approaches me (like 3 days later) and says “so…can you make MO’O a nonprofit and you be the president?”….*insert raised eyebrows, big eyes and a very shocked look!* And my exact reply was, “umm SERIOUSLY! CAN I JUST HAVE A BABY FIRST?” (Cause I literally just had a baby lol) Mo‘O: manaia organization ‘ohana www.manaiaohana.org

Present day and it’s sinking in. Three years later!!!   I’M THE PRESIDENT! The pressure, the stress, the money, the crazy paperwork, the MONEY, and learning and researching and and and all the sleepless nights of pushing myself to the edge only to find out….

Creating a nonprofit ALONE from NOTHING and knowing NOTHING means I create the mold and fill it with all good things.

I had such a crazy high expectation what I was suppose to produce and do because of what I saw around me not even realizing these who I see around me operating in a nonprofit did not start a nonprofit from the beginning, on their own… They were handed it! Majority that I know or have seen or am in relationship with, they did not start it! Most were kind of grandfathered (or grandmothered) in.

So what was I doing expecting myself to be great from the get go? A nonprofit that basis it’s funding off of grants?! Crazy me!

It’s because I didn’t want MO’O to fail. I didn’t want to fail MO’O.

October 23rd, 2023 Mo’o is INCORPORATED. We are officially a nonprofit with an official 501(c)(3) status and our own EIN number. HULO!HULO!

OH GOOD LORD! I thought I was stressing then, but once official, the real stress of getting us funded was causing another type of stress. Showing Grantors that we have been operating in the indigenous community for over 30 years now, we just saw a need and an opportunity in the 501c3 realm.

OK… so present day (after the last present day)

I take a deep breath *inhale-*-*-*-*-*-*-* exhale->->->->->->-> and then my typing fingers get to work.

“Hoʻokahi hanu, hoʻokahi manawa kū, hoʻokahi kapuaʻi, hoʻokahi puʻuwai i kēlā me kēia manawa.” -P.H.A.T.

Meaning layered in:

• Hoʻokahi hanu – “One breath,” the sacred life force (ha, hā) that begins everything.

• Hoʻokahi manawa Kūpuna – “One moment,” the present time gifted to us.

• Hoʻokahi kapuaʻi – “One step,” the journey forward, steady and humble.

• Hoʻokahi puʻuwai – “One heartbeat,” the rhythm of life, carrying love and strength.

• i kēlā me kēia manawa – “at a time, in each moment,” the reminder to move with patience and presence.

This reads as my life teaching: With one breath we begin, with one moment we stand firmly, with one step we move, with one heartbeat we live — all in their time.