da beeg tree-ohhh

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!!!!!!!! oh my goodness....30!!??!?!?!...
hooooo. old man now. don't forget fo stretch before you go in da water, k? =)

i am so grateful that after too many years, i reconnected with my good friend brian. we ate lunch at gina's (mini chicken...nuf said about that), then went to ross' with joanne. after about 30 minutes at ross', brian called me and said, "i'm going to starbucks across the street..." what a great guy to put up with us two shopping crazed women. i don't know many guys other than my james that would *voluntarily* go to ross' with me and jo. after spending the next hour and a half shopping, we picked up brian across the street, then james from work, and the rest of the dwyers joined us for dinner at ward bucca de beppo's. the night ended with hanging out at... where else but ward starbucks? good times. sorry i don't have pics (see brian's blog).

brian, i appreciate you.
you love Jesus. you love others. it is evident in all that you do and say. God bless you this coming year my big brother.

my friend is so smart

amber, you are da bestest est est esssstttt. i love you and miss you!!!!!!! =)

home church

we (finally) decided on faith christian fellowship as our home church. it's good to go "home".

we will be helping out with 'the outlet' (jr high/high school) group lead by the tamaoka's. this past week, there were 40+ students there! i was reminded of the good old days with jon and amy. the ministry room adjacent to the office looks a little different, but smells really bad...like toe jams. i'm not kidding; according to steph, it stinks because the boy's play soccer (indoors) there.

visit from the dwyers

tonight james and i went to kanawai park with the dwyers. they are visiting hawaii before they move to mexico next month. we bbq'd boneless rib-eyes and had rice and corn. mmmmmm. the boys played on the playground. then we went back to our place and had bubbie's mochi ice cream and hung out.

i also found ally (loveless) through jo's myspace account. ally was one of my best friends in high school.

tomorrow jo and i are going to the swap meet so we can go SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)

i am running on 3 hours of sleep after working an almost 13 hour shift last night.... it's worth it though to hang out with friends you haven't seen for forever.

Back home for good

Well, I moved back home about 2 months ago, and yes, it has taken me that long to post an update. I don't even know if anyone reads this anyways...except for you Amber... =)

We are renting a house in town, bought a used car, and started my new job. I am purposely not including the name of my hospital because I plan to continue writing about work on this blog and doing so would violate HIPAA (patient privacy) laws that I am bound to as a health care worker. So please do not mention it on this blog if you know.

Yesterday was a crazy day in the unit. The day shift nurses came on and it had been less than 15 minutes before we were doing running a code and doing chest compressions on a kid that had come up from CT. I think that was the first time I had actually seen a full, blown-out code. The air was so tense as the nurses and the the team stayed calm giving meds, doing compressions, and other interventions. It was not on my patient, so I helped by calling pharmacy, being a runner, and stayed with the patient's mom. We had let the parents in to let them watch us run the code (this is often done when it's towards the end - so the family can see that eveything is being done for their child). This mom was obviously in shock and I just kept my hand on her shoulders and back to let her know I was there. By the time we came in, the night shift had been coding the kid on and off for about 4 hours - and it went on for about another 45 minutes before the docs "called it"(let go/stop compressions/stop the code).

We had to get ourselves together and take care of the other kids. The unit was very tearful, and tense, as everyone could hear the sobbing of a mother who had just lost her child. It echoed throughout the unit for hours.

This is the second death that I have seen in the unit in less than 2 months. The other kid died a few weeks ago. He was on ECMO for heart failure, and his parents decided it was time to do discontinue care. I helped with his postmortem care, and somehow it helped me to deal with my dad's death. I was able to be there for this child right after he died, something I was not able to do for my dad as I was still in California.

Another two deaths - James B. (former KUC youth pastor/missionary) was killed in a hit-and-run car accident earlier this month in San Jose, CA. We had visited with James, his wife Brenda, and their kids last years in LA county. Also, my uncle's brother (Uncle Bill) died in his home last month from stomach cancer. I did not know Uncle Bill, but remembered that he was very kind to me and Nori during our elementary school days.

I have a heavy heart, but am refreshed that God has all things in control even though it does not seem like it to me. It's good to be home with family and friends. James comes home at the end of this month.

vegas trip

this past weekend, james and i went to vegas with jojo and hiromi (good friends from church). jojo drove, and they had uku-billion vouchers for our hotel rooms and for food. we stayed at caesar's palace the first night, then at the wynn the second night. we ate at the paris hotel's buffet. the key is to get in line and pay by around 10:30 am so you get in at the breakfast price, but also get to eat the lunch items. yum yum!

we also saw the blue man group show. i enjoyed watching and hearing 6 different drummers going at it at the same time.

we also went shopping!!!!!! oh yeah. we hit 3 different outlet's (fyi, this was jojo's idea) and went to fry's in vegas. of course they have a gambling theme - but their store is way nicer than what we have in ca.

highlights:
-buying nori a coach purse
-buying myself a coach purse
-eating at the paris
-the great view of the bellagio from our room at caesar's palace
-shopping!!!
-spending quality with james
-shopping!!...did i mention that already?
-getting out of OC for a couple of days
-shopping
-not thinking of work or school

i didn't gamble. i'm not really interested in it, more interested in shopping. james is undercontract through his job so he's not allowed to. he loves poker, but wouldn't play for real money even if he could.

nori said, "i can't believe you're going to vegas and you're not going to gamble. this is upsetting. not fair!" sorry nori-chan, next time we can take the girls and i can be your free babysitter. =)

the flight home

well, i missed my flight. i was up until about 3 am hanging out with my mom, packing, and feeding hiromi-chan. i woke up at 7:30 am, 40 minutes before my plane was scheduled to leave. just great. after rescheduled my flight for that afternoon, i slept in, fed and changed hiromi-chan, played with mia, and had gina's with mom, nori, and the girls.

i saw benjamin linus from "24" at the gate. even better-i sat next to him on the plane!

will write more later about the trip home; worked all day today and have two more shifts to go.

can't wait to read the PBD blog about dinner at sekiya's with the lau's and ohata's!