go planet!! June 29, 2008

mikey, jared, heidi, me, and julie think
of ourselves as the

planteers

when hiking together we often shout
out the elements making it a game.
whomever gets stuck saying
“heart”
is the rotten egg. 

heart?  how is that an elemet?
we don’t know, but we do know
that we DO NOT want to be the
rotten egg. 

p.s. jared usually gets stuck saying
“heart”…unless he starts the game.

e a r t h

w a t e r

w i n d

f i r e

h e a r t

we also enjoy making combos of
the elements

tornado=earth+wind
hurricane=water+wind
mud slide=earth+water
volcano=fire+earth
rainbow=water+heart

julie and i (really julie did most of the
work.  she’s the t-shirt master) made
t-shirts with our element on it.  as
our last outing all together we gave the
gift.  a picture book with photos from
our hikes together is in production.

         

left to right: jared, josh (j’s little bro), julie, mikey,
john, gilbert, heidi, me, matt.

“captain planet, he’s our hero!
gonna take pollution down to
zero!”

jared is pointing to his heart. 
how sweet!!

i’m pretty sure i have the theme
song on my ipod and listen to
it with a child’s delight. 
it takes me back.

i know this is the end credits, 
i thought you might like to hear
the theme song.

your welcome!

it’s so hard to say goodbye June 29, 2008

are you humming the
boys to men song?

good.  keep that rolling through
your brain as you read.

our last couple of weeks in hawaii
were filled with lots of goodbyes…
(aka: parties) 

saying goodbye is never enjoyable,
but the initial pain is diminished
when you make a party of it. 

dinner with john rush:
mr. john rush is a student at
the uni here and has become our
friend.  he claims both california
and new zeland as home.  he is
a good guy.  he took me, julie,
and jared out for dinner.
pf chang’s is a favorite of mine.
we ate and talked and laughed
a lot.  it was great.  john is a
big time treky  (i’m talkin’ watches
star trek movies every week with
other star trek lovers).  we had to
keep the star trek talk at a minimum
due to jared and julie’s intense
dislike of it all.
thanks, john!

“surprise” goodbye party:
juile is quick…so quick.  you can’t
pull a fast one on her.  her friend
and boss, joy turner, tried to have
a surprise party for julie.  i didn’t
know about it, but julie figured
it out.  our last monday in town
many friends and church family
members came to the center above
out apartment for a party.  julie was
showered with lei, cards, hugs, and
kisses.  we ate and talked.  all were
full of well wishes and aloha for
both of us.

    

       

lunch with angel:
(remember angel from the graduation
post?)  he wanted to take me and julie
to lunch.  the three of us met diego
and ecaterina in the cafeteria closest
to angel’s office.  i haven’t been in a
cafeteria since i was in college (over
7 years ago!!   shhhhh) i forgot how many
options there are.  julie and i decided
we’d get angel’s money’s worth, so we
ate as much as we could fit in us:
bbq sandwich
cereal
fries
salad
ice cream
and more

what fun those friends are!
we are going to miss them!

    

 

work party:
have i told you that the nurses i
work with are great? 
well, they are.  this unit is the
most caring, friendly, family-like
floor i have ever worked on.  everyone
goes to everyone’s baby showers,
kid’s birthdays, wedding showers,
and birthday dinners.  my goodbye
party was no different.  there were
over 25 people there; husbands,
children, girlfriends. 

we went to dave and busters for
food, games, and FUN!!

they gave me a card that everyone
signed and a gold necklace!!!
a plumeria blossom.  it’s beautiful!
others also gave me small gifts and
cards.  it was such a surprise. 
we ate and played our hearts out. 
its fun to be with work friends
outside of the hospital. 

i loved working on the carter unit
at kapi’olani hospital, and will
miss it there.  we will surely get
together next time i am on oahu.

thanks so much!!!

        

off to the airport:
julie and i were not the only ones
leaving. mike, heidi, james, julie,
diana, jared, and me are all leaving
the island.  heidi will return after the
summer and jared does not leave
until the end of the summer.

we took mike to the airport to
send him off with a hug and a
smile.  he’s moving back to
louiville, ky to go to cemetery
seminary.  he’s been a great
friend to us this past year.
i am thankful for him!

happy studying mikey,
we love you!!!

     

just a few days later we sent
heidi to cambodia for the
summer.  we met her early that
morning for a quick bite to eat
in our neighborhood and then
drove her to the airport.  with
her bags checked and plenty of
time to go through security we
sat together, talked about all the
great memories we made over the
last year, and had coffee.  it was a
sweet restful time at the airport.

happy days to you in cambodia,
heidi.  we are praying for you!!
and we love you a lot!!

i just love this picture!

p.s. good thing heidi is from
oklahoma!!!  we are already
planning a reunion at christmas
time!!!!

this is just a small portion of
all the goodbyes from the end
of my time in hawaii.

sea life park June 27, 2008

let’s scroll back a few weeks…
this is the first of many installments
from before i left hawaii.

julie and i decided that we had
to go to sea life park before we
left hawaii.  slp is like a small
seaworld…
very small
with less animals, but a better
view.

we called rob, our friend who is a
registered nurse in the army, and
surprisingly enough, he was
already planning on going that
day.

so we joined forces and went
together! 

he has the better ride, so we
took his yellow jeep with the
top down. 

    

to the east side of the island
we went, only after stopping
at 711 for an icy and some
junk snack food. riding in
rob’s jeep is SO fun!
clear view of the trees and
flowers and waves as we took
my favorite rout on the island. 
it was a perfect, clear, warm,
breezy day.

sunscreen                                   check
pizza box coupons                      check
previously mentioned snacks       check
camera                                     check
sunglasses                              check
child-like excitement                check

…and in we went!!!

we followed the event schedule
closely to assure that we missed
nothing.

*seal feeding
*ocean petting zoo
*stingray feeding
*dolphin show
*educational talk on sea lions
*educational talk on penguins
*turtle feeding
*and more!!

              
        

the dolphin show had an 80s
rock theme.  julie loved it!

we perused the gift shop and
stopped by to see a
walphin

    

what is that you might ask.
it is a rare mix between a whale
and a dolphin.  don’t ask me
how this happened, but it
did and we saw it. 

it is darker and bigger than a
normal dolphin with a shorter
nose.

after a few hours of the park
and taking in the fantastic view
we went to a local place for a
late lunch and shave ice.

F

U

N

everyone should visit sea life park

SOON

rob and julie think that it could go
down at any minute, so go while
you still have the chance!

welcome back to me! June 23, 2008

iiiiiiiiii’m baaaaaaaack

i arrived in nyc yesterday at 3pm.
with help from my dear friends,
meg and brianne, i lugged my things
into their apartment, changed clothes,
and headed off to redeemer an hour
later.

what a way to start my time in
new york, right?

i am now residing on the bottom
bunk in the cates’ girl’s room. 
i have several shelves all to myself.

i love the shelves.  (picture to follow)

so, i’m here in the cates’ house until
early august. 

so far my time in nyc has been
good.

no adjustment needed.

fast walking
quick business deals
edgy fashion
big buildings
yummy food
the constant hum of city life

it’s all good to me!

i am working on several
blog entries.  there is much
to fill you in on from my last
two weeks in hawaii as well
as the past two weeks in
oklahoma and texas. 

it will be worth the wait

could you please hold? June 5, 2008

that’s my request of you.
just think of it as a short
pause before you are connected
to the office you’re trying to call.

one short pause.

you see, my life is a little
bit crazy right now.

i’m trying to close things up
here in hawaii.  i fly out monday,
june 9th at 8:15am.  i will be at
home with my family in okc for
several days and then take
myself home to nyc on
june 22nd.

pack
play
pack
spend good time with friends
pack
play
and so on
and so forth

there is MUCH to tell you about,
(and i promise it is coming)
but you must wait for a few days
while i try my best to finish well.

i am still waiting for the love
offering i hope is coming from
someone out there to pay for
the
ginormous
extra baggage fees
that are unavoidable as i fly
out of here. 
it’s my own fault!
i’m not a light packer.
unless i’m going on a short trip,
but to move my whole life
from one place to another is not
so light.

to give you a small idea of what
i’m trying to say, as far as the
craziness goes, here is a pic of
our living room.

     

yeah.

we took some boxes to the
post today.  our good friend, rob
helped us.  man, are we thankful
for men!  i’m glad he lives close
and can come in a flash.  i have
a sweet community of friends i
have to leave behind here. 

the father has been so good to
me!!

okay, i have to go fold some
laundry,
pack some more clothes,
and do some dishes.

question 1 June 5, 2008

each week at trinity we declare
together a question from the
westminster catechism.  we
finished it two weeks ago, so
we are now on the heidelberg
catechism.

oh, do i love this part of the service
each week!!  a time to say aloud
together
this is what we believe.

over a year and a half ago
kair jo wrote out this first
question of the heidelberg
catechism for me and i kept
in my wallet until it crumbled
and fell apart. 

now i have a new copy.

heidelberg catechism question 1:

question: christian, what is your only comfort in life and in death?

answer: that i am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.  Christ has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil.  he watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.  because i belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

wow!! 
isn’t that such good news!!!
i couldn’t read it on sunday
without fighting back the
tears. i depend on that last
line.

it’s so beautiful
and SO TRUE!!!