Jolene LeBeau's Story

Escondido, California

CEIVA helped me get back in touch with family members I hadn't seen in years. Now, it's as if we see each other all the time as we constantly send pictures of birthday parties, trips, holidays, etc.

My name is Jolene LaBeau and I have a husband (Aaron) and a brand new baby boy (James). We have quite the unique Ceiva family – my grandma got us started on CEIVA because of her brother. My uncle and all of his family use Ceiva as a way of keeping in touch with one another as we are scattered all over – Hawaii, California, and Canada. Now our "family" includes my aunt and uncle in HI, grandma, aunt, mom, 2 sets of cousins in CA, cousins in Canada, and my sister in AZ.

In addition to this, last year, one of my cousins was sent to Iraq for an 18 month deployment. Through his efforts of keeping in touch with my aunt, they have worked out a system where she uploads pictures he sends her and we have been able to see him and "keep in touch" with him this whole time as well.

This has been a wonderful experience for me, personally. Ceiva helped me get back in touch with family members I hadn't seen in years. Now, it's as if we see each other all the time as we constantly send pictures of birthday parties, trips, holidays, etc. It makes me feel like we can be a part of these special events even though we may not be able to physically attend.