Escape to Aulani

Trying out my first Sketchy Thursday challenge!

The Motherland

It hits home to see images in Japan of all that's going on. My family lives in Okinawa, so I believe they are all okay.

Yes, the quake in Haiti and Chile broke my heart, but something about it being in Japan affects me more. We were actually planning a trip out there in October, but if things aren't cleared up by the time we need to book the flights, we won't be going.

For now, it's just prayers heading their way and donating to the Red Cross.

Tsunami Warning

And then some. The sirens going off once a hour... This will be a long night as the ETA is 3:07 a.m.

Cell phone charged - check.
iPad changed - in progress.
Wireless mobile router - in progress.
Non-perishable food - check.
Water - check.

Thankfully, our friends haven't moved to Japan just yet, they will be there next week. We have another friend in Japan is okay, and luckily our families live in Okinawa. Prayers still heading toward to Japan though... :( They are still having aftershocks.

Moving back to Hawaii has been very exciting a must say.

This whole earthquakes and whatnot, makes me wonder.... Is Jesus coming in my lifetime, cause signs sure are pointing that way....

Review: Martha Stewart Crafts Scoring Board

I picked this up this past weekend and tried it out this evening and loved it.

Martha Stewart Crafts Scoring Board



My review I posted on Amazon.com:

I was looking at this at a local scrapbook store and went home without buying it. I ended up going back and getting it because I couldn't get my mind off of it. I am glad I went back, because I love it!

I don't normally like to buy bulky objects and being that I already had a Fiskars paper trimmer with a scoring blade, I didn't think I needed this. Oh boy was I wrong! I haven't gotten around to making a box with it yet, but I did use it to make an envelope and it was quick and painless! It was 4 simple scores, some trimming away and apply adhesive, yes, it's that easy!

Like I stated earlier, I am not a fan of bulky things, this has to be bulky in order to work with larger sheets of paper. It's not at all heavy, so that makes up for it. I love that the envelope tool and the boning stick all goes right into the board itself. No lost boning tools!! It also comes with the directions right on the board itself and if you need it in Spanish, there is the instructions in Spanish.

It was worth the investment!

Holding My Horses

I've come to accept, our lives will be a series of waiting on others....



We started car shopping over the President's Day weekend. This is what I have my eyes and heart set on. Until we figure out this housing situation with BOA we can't buy a car. Even if we figure out the housing situation today, we need to still wait to put a good down payment on it so monthly will be low. We have our down payment for the house, so we need to save for the down on the car. Also, if we wait until next year, the pay for R's position could exponentially increase and that would make car payments less noticeable, well, I am hoping...

We walked into Lexus and the salesman pretty much turned hubby off. For one, he was really pushy and two, he kept saying, "You look good driving it". R didn't like that statement very much; he could care less about what he "looks" like driving it. He drove an old car (wasn't the greatest looking thing), in college, so looking good isn't a top priority, besides, this car would be for me. The salesman even then told me, you will look good driving it. Though we are Asian and Asians tend to "want" to look good, we aren't that type of people. R is a physician, but if you see him outside walking the dogs or hanging out at the mall, one would not believe him. T-shirt, slippers and shorts are his choice of clothing, likewise for me. Looking good, wearing the "in thing" isn't a priority of ours, and I am happy like that.

Well, as I stated earlier with BOA, yes, we are STILL waiting. Today makes it three (3) since we were supposed to close, but listening to the radio yesterday reminded me, where we are, is where we are meant to be. Like David, God has bigger plans, if we push until we get our way, things will not work out. If we are patient, wait on the Lord, it helps to avoid some sticky situations.

Though the one day we were excited about getting the quote on the carpeting, where we were that morning is where we needed to be. If we didn't go that morning, we would have not known about the neighbor ready to file litigation for damages we had nothing to do with. Now, it's just waiting on the Lord to sort this out....

Cancer: The Pathological Demon

Within a span of weeks, another loss has occurred. This time our condolences go to a good friend of ours as he too lost his Grandpa to cancer.

As dictionary.com defines cancer:

1. Pathology.

a. malignant and invasive growth or tumor, especially originating in epithelium, tending to recur after excision and to metastasize to other sites.

b. any disease characterized by such growths.

2. any evil condition or thing that spreads destructively; blight.

I find it interesting that it uses the adjective "evil". It is indeed evil. It has taken so many lives, and sometimes I find it so hard to accept. As a wife of a physician, and working in the medical field, you hear all kinds of stories (no names or identifying information is ever shared aka HIPAA) about cancer and it's horrible repercussions. Families are never the same and many of them struggle to gain acceptance of this pathological demon. This demon shreds my heart to pieces when the death takes away a parent, or when it involves a child.

About 10 years ago, my Grandpa was diagnosed with prostate cancer, though, it wasn't that, that took his life almost 7 years ago; instead, it was a simple fall. But, that doesn't mean that cancer has never affected my family or I. In fact, stomach cancer took my "Uncle" (actually my step-grandfather), and it also took my life of my Great Uncle, that was a span of a year. Then, there was my friend who recently passed away, he fought long and hard, but this demon, took what was supposed to be the best years of his life.

Today, on the way to getting the hubby to work, we saw an SUV with two girls in the car heading toward in the same direction and the license plate holder was representing JABSOM (John A. Burns School of Medicine). My husband chuckled. Medical school and residency, more so, is still fresh in our minds. Entering medical school is a fun time, your ego is at it's all time high you are one step to becoming a doctor, but not many realize how emotionally taxing med school and residency are; many do not finish both of them without shedding a tear, and if you do/did, well good for you.

When my husband was going through his first two years of non-clinical med school, he was a type of person that couldn't put himself in other another persons shoes. We fought about his lack of empathy, but you know, God would have it. The last two years was a different story, he became a different person, he learned to have empathy for others. He even actually became a softer person than me. It could be the sleep deprivation from long nights on call, or just he became a new person on his own, either way, he has empathy for his patients and their families. It still hurts him when he finds out his patients have gained custody of the demon (cancer) or when his patients pass away.

I'll end this.

Life is hard, pray harder. (Well said.)

Repeating

I feel like I am reliving last February 8th. I have one of the sickest feelings in my stomach, but what can I say, I brought it upon myself. I just need to stop doing this one thing around the same time, maybe hiding under a rock for the month of February sounds better.

Okay that's out. I can move on with the rest of my life now...

Lately, scrapbooking has been on my agenda. Catching up on big life events I, including things from when J was still a youngster. It's amazing how quickly time creeps up on us. Due to this I am going to try and document one happy/thankful thing a day....

Today I am happy for: a three (3) day weekend with my husband, son and daughter.