Stories of life. About everything and nothing; as told by a Chamolinaole on Saipan.
Thanks, Missy, for reminding me about the baby tickers. When I was pregnant with Katelyn I was addicted to this about.com pregnancy message board and had a ticker in my signature. I have since forgotten about tickers. So today I decided to go nuts!
But I think three may be too many….
It’s Hard Without A Card. Last Wednesday James borrowed my ATM card. And we think he may have left it in the machine. It’s no big deal – I just cancelled it and asked for a new one. But, man, I forgot what life is like without one. Many places (probably most places) on island don’t accept checks and I couldn’t get any cash until Friday (as Thursday was Thanksgiving) So Friday came around and I had to GO IN TO WITHDRAW. But it’s ok, see, because I saw my friend Brooke! (I rarely see Brooke.)
More Time. James and I haven’t been to church in a long time. On Friday evening we went to a Thanksgiving get-together/service at church. It was great! The people were great, the pastors were great, the food was great. Most of the people there had been praying for James when he was in the hospital.
James was given the opportunity to share his story. And you could just feel the love and share in the thankfulness that God had spared James. There was a woman who also spoke. Her husband had collapsed one day and he was pronounced dead on arrival at CHC. He was technically dead for 10 minutes. But God spared him too and gave him back his life. As close to death as James was, I’m so thankful that it didn’t go that far. But despite what happened in both of our families, we won’t stop praising God. He allowed it to happen to both of them but he spared them both and gave them more time on earth.
We also went back to church on Sunday. And James was invited to attend and speak again on Sunday evening.
“Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.” ~Psalm 39:6-7 (NIV)
Four Seasons. On Saipan there are two main weather seasons: rainy season and dry season. Rainy season is also known as typhoon season. But I’ve added two more seasons: Termite Season and Rollie Pollie Season.
Rides.James went back to work today so he took our car. My mom’s car is in the shop today so I couldn’t borrow it. My brother-in-law’s truck is temporarily out of service so he took my sister’s Montero (the one with the nice rims) to work so she couldn’t get me for lunch or bring me food. I couldn’t get a hold of my cousin who works nearby so I couldn’t catch a ride with him. And I missed my opportunity to tag-along with a coworker friend. But for some reason I just wasn’t worried – you’d think I would be worried about making sure I get lunch at 5 months pregnant. Anyway, at the last minute my friend, let’s call her Merced, had lunch delievered to her. But a friend asked her to go to lunch so they could talk. So she ended up giving me her lunch! How nice was that?
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ~Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)
The other day when James and I were stopped at a red light I thought I heard the car in the next lane playing a song I recognized. It wasn’t the song I was thinking of.
This is what I heard in my head:
“blaahhh, blahhh,
down to gonkey park….
blahhh, blahhh,
the magic of the moment
sail away”
I asked James, “what’s that song about (singing this part) gonkeyyy paaarrk?”
James: “…..”
Me: “I know you know what song I’m talking about. You probably played it when you were in high school.” (James is an awsome bass player, but he sometimes played some lame songs for gigs.)
James: “I did not play the song. And it’s Gorky Park. What is gonkey park? It sounds like you’re talking about a park full of donkeys.”
He then proceeded to tell me that the song was about something-or-other and that Gorky Park is a park in Moscow.
Here are the real lyrics:
“I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change”
My friend, let’s call her Merced, has a friend who is about 15 years her senior and she turns to him for information on things that are “old” – particularly “old” songs. My husband is only 2 years younger than this “old” friend of hers. And everytime I need to find out about “old” things, particularly “old” songs – I turn to James.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” ~Romans 3:23-24 (NIV)
Every evening when I go home after work, Katelyn and I watch an episode of Take Home Chef. But when six o’ clock rolls around I switch to the Food Network, while I, myself, am not a big fan of Rachel Ray and her EVOO, once my daughter sees the intro she yells with excitement, “Rachel Ray!, Rachel Ray!” So I sacrifice (because that’s what mommy’s do) and I watch 30 Minute Meals so my daughter can be happy while she eats her dinner.
My mom has conditioned Katelyn so that whenever Little People, Big World is on, Katelyn calls out, “nanu”. (English translation: “midget” or the more politically correct term, “little person”.)
If you know me, you know that I hate potatoes and I hate, with a capital H, beans. But James is a great cook and he made this portugese sausage stew thing yestderday, and it was mmm, mmm good! And I ate all the potatoes in it! And most of the red beans!
Katelyn is a lot like James, physically. She has broad shoulders, perfectly straight teeth with lots of room for her adult teeth, she has great vision and hearing, she’s really strong, and she’s got a high metabolism. But her personality is a lot like mine – I know I’ve mentioned this before. In addition, she loves cereal, she loves to sing, she loves to dance, she gets scared easily, and she’s quite dainty (now, I’m not necessarily saying that I’m dainty, but I don’t think I’ve been a tomboy since I was in elementary school). But one area where we differ a bit is with food – she likes bread, potatoes, and beans. Yuck!
I don’t know what I’m doing….I’m playing around with my blog, so for my three readers – expect some changes over the next few days.
“And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almightly was with him.” ~2 Samuel 5:10
Because the 15th is my birthday. Shh…don’t tell anyone that I just turned 25.
I’m happy and thankful on my birthday because I have my husband with me – he was discharged from the hospital on Sunday – and my sister bought me The Little Mermaid on DVD.
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
~2 Corinthians 9:15
I’ve never taken any local herbal medicines – I’ve never not believed that they’d work, I just never needed to take any. There are lots of medicines that the Suruhanos and Suruhanas (local witch doctors) make – but from what I’ve heard, a lot of them also think they can create spell-like potions or other such nonesene. So sometimes it’s hard for me to seperate their ability to make legitimate herbal remedies from their nonsene. But really, anyone who knows how to make a medicine can make it just as well as any Suruhano can.
Nana (my cousins’ grandmother who is from Fiji) has been making various herbal remedies since nineteen-tinaki. I don’t know much about what she does, but she can make medicine for gaut, ulcers and general stomach/bowel problems, asthma, and lots of other ailments. I’ve always believed that what she makes always helps people – but again, I’ve never needed to take her medicine.
James went to the ER on Tuesday. They pumped him up with morphine to stop the pain and gave him some other medicie. They ran a battery of tests – blood tests, ultrasound, x-ray, EKG – they all turned up negative. All I could do was pray for him. The doctor sent us home. James had been nauseas on and off since. Then yesterday (Sunday) it happened again – but way worse. I took him to the ER. They did some blood work and ran a CT scan. NOTHING!!!! They had him on and IV again with some meds. They sent us home with some perscription meds, but James was still in horrible condition. We had gotten to the ER around 10am – we got home around 2pm. Nothing worked! It was so bad that my mom had to help me take care of him and Katelyn’s nanny came back to work on her day off. We were all so scared and were constantly praying for him. Finally, my aunt called my mom, my mom told her what was happening, she told my mom to try the medicine that Nana had. I called my cousin (cousin’s wife, but same thing right) and she had the Lailai plant (I’m not sure if I spelled that correctly) in her garden so she taught me how to make medicine from it. I rushed it back to James. He took his first “dose” at 8:35 pm and for the first time it started helping. It’s a long story that I’m not going to get into, but he took it the first time at 8:35 pm and by 4:00 am his pain and nausea started to subside. At 7:30 am the color in his skin was fully restored. He’s at home resting. He’s going to take more of the medicine and he’s going to a clinic in the morning.
So, thank God for Lailai. When conventional medicine did nothing and conventional testing showed nothing, God led us to the right remedy – the root of a little plant he had growing in my cousin’s garden. I just pray that it was all cleared out of his body and that he never has to go through that again.
This post is lame. Post, how lame is this? Lame, this post is. Is this post lame? Post, this is lame. Post how lame this is.
~~~~~~
I have nothing to post about anymore.
~~~~~~
I thought my husband was going to pass out in the ER yesterday morning and then maybe go into some kind of coma or something. It was awful. It was scary. Praise the Lord that it’s over and James is ok.
~~~~~~
It’s all saints day. James and I are taking off early – not to go to mass or the cemetary or anything (remember, we both aren’t Catholic – and I’m not allowed at cemeteries while pregnant), but because we have to take Katelyn in for her shots. My poor baby! I never go in with her to get the shots…that’s Jame’s job. I just wish that I could receive the shots then nurse her and miraculously send over all the vaccines through my milk.
~~~~~~
Hopefully Katelyn won’t get a fever or anything from her shots and will be ok to go swimming at World Resort on Friday. James and I and my sister have been wanting to take the babies to World Resort on an austerity Friday, but because of funerals and sicknesses we have not been able to.
~~~~~~
Melia thinks we are having a boy. So far, everyone who has guessed said we are having a boy.
~~~~~~
Reece’s Pieces are good! When I was younger, my cousin Jesse would make me do the finger touch ET phone home thing and then he’d give me m&m’s.
~~~~~~
My birthday is coming up. I’ll be 25. While I enjoy watching Laguna Beach, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Made, and other such nonesense, I’ve found that I can no longer relate to 17 year olds.
~~~~~~
I’d like to get my hair cut and my nails done next payday.
~~~~~~
I had Sushi Land for lunch and it was OISHII!
|
