Weather, work and more friends!

Well, another week has flown by! I can't believe how fast the time goes! In my last post, a friend of ours, a former resident of Hawaii, reminded me that winter is the dry season and summer is the wet season in Hawaii. While I did know that, I think Mother Nature is a bit confused! We have had a lot of rain lately! Some of the roads up the mountain from us have had to be closed due to flash flooding. Jenna and I saw sides of roads filled with water Friday on the way home from school. On Tuesday of this week, the road to the top of Mauna Kea (ma-naw kay-a) was closed because of snow! Also this week, there was a TORNADO on Oahu!! That is very, very rare as far as I know! There was some great footage on the news and quite a bit of damage! I guess you never know what kind of weather you might get over here! Kind of reminds me of the midwest! :-)

I have just completed my second week of work and things are going very well. I have been seeing a few patients on my own and I am beginning to feel comfortable with the computer system. Next week I will go with a different nurse and meet a whole different set of patients. I think I am going to be given "my own" patient (vs. sharing with another nurse) next week too so I can learn how to manage all aspects of their care by myself. I think it will be OK. Learning the policies and procedures is the hard part and hopefully being more on my own will help with that process.

AJ continues to be busy with Kona Queen, although he hasn't been working quite as long most days. He has been able to be home on the weekends, which is nice and he gets home a little earlier in the evening. We can dinner together as a family again!

Jenna is doing great in school. She made the honor roll again for 2nd quarter. We're very proud of her. She works very hard. She has started to go to the after school program now that I am working. She likes it. She has been able to get most of her homework done before I pick her up. That is a huge help!! She continues to take hula lessons and she likes that a lot.

We had a great time with our friends Dick and Jody. It was so great to have them here!! It worked out great and I think they had a good time. We went to a luau last Friday night. That was great! Last Saturday we went to South Point, the Black Sand Beach and the volcano. We saw several turtles at Black Sand Beach. We only had to walk about 3/4 of a mile to see the volcanic activity. There was a huge plume of smoke rising into the sky. The lava was flowing right into the ocean and occasionally you could see red hot lava flying into the air! It was quite a sight! I've posted some pictures of this too. On Sunday, we went kayaking across the Bay to the Captain Cook Monument to go snorkeling. The dolpohins were out in full force and they put on a fantastic show for us!! There were several pods of 10-20 dolphins (at least) swimming very close to us. They were jumping in the air, doing flips, spinning in the air, and slapping their tails against the water! It was SO COOL!!! I tried to get pictures, but it's hard to know when they are going to jump! AJ tried to get a few underwater pictures. They turned out OK. I posted the best ones. I never tire of seeing the dolphins! It is my favorite thing to do in Hawaii. After the dolphin show, we had the pleasure of seeing all of the beautiful fish while we snorkeled! What a treat! After we got back from snorkeling, we went to the beach and cooked burgers on the grill. We were hoping to see a few whales, but...no luck! Oh well, we had aleady had a fantastic day!!

We were sad to see Dick and Jody leave us on Thursday. We were very happy that they could come and spend some time with us! We have more visitors coming to see us in the next few weeks. Some for a night or two and some a little longer. We look forward to everyone's arrival! We are praying for safe flights and good weather!! That's the latest update, so until next time...aloha!

Work, weather & friends

I have officially worked 2 days plus a few extra hours. On Monday, I just did paperwork and orientation stuff. Not as boring as I thought it would be. There was another gal that started the same day as me. She is also an RN that will be working per diem (as needed). She and I are the same age and have a lot in common. We hit it off right away! It will be fun to work with her...hopefully I will be able to see her once we are done with orientation. On Wednesday, I met again with the nursing supervisor and went over policies and hospice Medicare criteria. That was a little dry. Thankfully I had heard most of it before at the Health Department, so it wasn't all foreign! After meeting with the supervisor, we went to a staff meeting where we did chart audits. Not a fun job at all! But it helps me to see what needs to be done. Then we attended another meeting! This one was with the whole team (nurses, CNAs, social worker, counselor, and MD) We discussed how the patients are doing and what needs they have. That was pretty interesting. Another nurse and I left this meeting early to go and admit a patient. That was a good experience. The process is basically the same as what I did in Darlington. I just have to learn their paperwork. They do most of their charting on computer, so I have to learn that program too. I was supposed to be off today (Thursday) but I went in for a couple of hours so that I could see how to enter all of the data into the computer and see how to finish the admission paperwork. Tomorrow I am going on 2 visits with a nurse and then I am going on two visits by myself! That's pretty quick, but I think I am comfortable with the visits. The paperwork and computer will be the biggest challenge.

We have our first visitors of 2009 here now. Dick and Jody Tuescher are here for 9 days. They have been pretty much on their own since they got here since I started working this week, but I think they are having fun. Last night we took them to Huggos on the Rocks, the restaurant by the water that we like to go to. Friday night we are going to a luau, Saturday to Volcano and Sunday kayaking and snorkeling. It should be fun! I'm looking forward to going to Volcano. We haven't been there yet since we moved and I'm curious to see what the lava is doing. When we were here in 2007, the lava was running on top of the ground and we were able to hike to it. We got some really great pictures! I hope we are as lucky this time!

I'm going to talk about the weather now, so if you don't want to hear about it, quit reading now!! As you are well aware, it is winter. Winter in Hawaii is hardly winter! The ocean gets quite a bit rougher and it rains a bit more, but that's about it. If you ask someone who has lived here for a while, especially those who have lived here all their life, it gets darn right cold in the winter!! AJ and I have laughed several times seeing how people react to the weather! It might get down to 66 or 68 degrees at night, maybe even 62 farther up the mountain, but that's about as cold as it gets. You'd think it was 30 the way people dress over here! I have seen so many people wearing sweaters, coats, sweatshirts, and even stocking caps in the morning!! It's so funny to us! These people have no idea what cold weather really is! Actually some people have said to us, "How do you live in that kind of weather?" When I tell people that I am from WI, sometimes all they say is ooohhhh. Like they feel sorry for me or something! It's pretty funny. Anyway, I hope winter is being a little nicer to all of you enduring it! We'll try and send some warm weather that way!!

That's the latest update. I'll let you know how work is going and how our weekend went next week. So until next time...aloha!

GOOD NEWS!!

I got the job!!! I was notified yesterday that I was hired. I'm so happy! The job is with Hospice of Kona. It will be a part time job. I will be responsible for case managing 4 or 5 patients. I start on Monday, Feb. 2. I'm really looking forward to working with Hospice. I was able to work in Hospice a little when I worked at the Health Departmetn and I really liked it. I have heard wonderful things about this organization, so I am happy to be a part of it.

The other really great thing about this job is that because it is part time, I will still be able to go into Jenna's classroom and help with projects. I went in today to help and the next two weeks will be Valentine's Day projects. It should be fun!

That's all I know for now. I will keep you posted on how the job is going. So, until next time...aloha!

No word yet!

Hello! I'm sorry that it has been a while since I have written. There hasn't been too much to report. I'm still waiting to hear from Hospice of Kona. I thought that I would hear last week since I told them when I interviewed that they could contact my references and do a background check. I even offered to sign the paperwork, but the gal that interviewed me wanted to wait to talk to the director. I guess I can understand that. So last week on Tuesday I got an email asking me to sign for permission to do a background check. It wouldn't work online so I had to print it off and fax it back to them on Wednesday. On Thursday, I got another email asking for permission to contact my former employers. I had to print that off and sign it and AJ faxed that back on Friday! So, now it's Wednesday again and I am still waiting to hear from them! I know that they are busy, but I really thought that I would know by now! I am learning that things operate a little slower in Hawaii!! That's not all bad...I think we could all use a slower pace sometimes!

AJ has continued to be very busy at work. Hopefully this will be the last week of really long days. He actually had last Saturday off! Jenna and I were really happy about that! AJ wanted to do something so we decided to go explore a place called the Wiapi'o Valley (why-pee-o). It's a place in the northern part of the Island. There is a lookout over the valley and you can see along the coast for a long way! It's very beautiful! It was a little cloudy when we were there, but that's normal this time of year. Also, it rains a lot in this part of the Island, so we were actually lucky that we didn't get rained on! You can go down into the valley, but only if you walk or have 4-wheel drive. The road is at a 25% grade! It drops 900 feet in less than a mile! We took AJ's truck down VERY slowly!! It was ok, but a little scary. The road is not very wide and in places there is only room for one vehicle at a time, so they have "wide spots" in the road for you to pull over and let the trucks coming up the hill go first. Very interesting! Once you get to the bottom there is a really rough road to drive on to get to the beach. It's a black sand beach and the area is very pretty. Since it is winter, the ocean is really rough and the waves were huge! It's fun to watch them come crashing into shore. Jenna had a ball playing in the sand! She found a big stick that she used to write her name in the sand make a trail for me to follow. After we played in the sand for a while, we drove back into the valley. Again, the road was very rough and it had about 4 stream crossings to go through. I've posted a few pictures of how deep the water was. When you get back far enough into the valley there are HUGE, beautiful waterfalls!! The biggest one is 1450 feet, with 1200 feet of it being free falling! There are trails that you can take to hike back to the waterfall. That is something that we want to do in the future. Anyone that comes to visit and wants to do something adventurous and "non-tourist-y," this is for you! There are actually several places to hike in this valley. One of the other ones that we are interested in would probably take most of the day and we would camp overnight. Jenna is not big enough for this hike yet, so we will wait a couple of years.

Jenna is doing great! She has been invited to a couple of birthday parties. Both of the places had pools, so she got to swim for a whole day at both parties! She loved that! She is doing great in school. I have been fortunate enough to be able to go into her classroom on Thursday afternoons to help with art projects. I think that I will be able to continue doing this after I start working too. I think the job will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday with an occasional weekend on call. That's if I get hired, of course!! I hope to hear soon, so I will let you know! So, until next time...aloha!

Still waiting

Hello! I had a second interview with Hospice of Kona, the company I am hopefully going to start working for soon. I interviewed on Friday afternoon and I think it went well. They are now checking references and doing a background check on me. That should all turn out OK (at least I hope it does!) :-) I am hoping to get a call this week one way or the other. I will hopefully start working next week. I'm excited about it! I liked working in hospice when I was at the Health Department. I find it very rewarding.

The big storm that I told you about in the last post never came. If you remember, all of the schools on Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and Lanai were cancelled because of this big storm that was predicted. They were expecting winds up to 60mph, but I think the worst it got was 40mph. I guess winds at 70mph are "lower hurricane force" winds. So the kids got a 4-day weekend because they didn't have school today either in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. day.

AJ continues to be very busy, working very long days, six days a week. This is the busiest time of the year. Hopefully things will start to slow down in a couple of weeks.

That's all that's new for now, so until next time...aloha!

Jenna's 8th Birthday and MORE

I'm baaaaack!! Yes, I know...finally!!! We have been busy, but honestly, I just haven't felt like taking the time to write. I needed a little break, I guess. Well, because I've taken so much time off, I have a lot to say so be prepared! On January 6 our little Jenna turned 8 years old!! I can't believe it!! Time goes sooooo fast!! We had a great day. She invited 2 friends over and I took them to the beach. They had lunch, played in the water and played in the sand. They had a great time. I've posted a few pictures. Her two friends are Enjolique (0n-jo-leek) and Eunjean (oon-jean). She had to pick the two girls with the most difficult names to pronounce! :-) I kept getting them mixed up all day! We stayed at the beach for several hours and then headed back to the house. It was also Sandy's birthday (Gus's wife). We had planned to have dinner with Gus and Sandy so that the "birthday sisters" could celebrate together. Sandy's parents were in town and so was a friend of Gus's, so they all came too! We ended up with 7 adults and 3 kids for dinner. It was kind of busy, but it all worked out great. Jenna kept telling me all day that it didn't feel like her birthday, but I think by the time she opened her gifts and had birthday cake, it felt like her birthday. She said she had a great day! Mission accomplished! She is such a blessing to us! She is a great kid (I'm a little biased, I know, but I'm the Mom, I can do that!) :-)

Last Sunday we had a nasty storm blow through (nothing like the midwest is getting, I realize that, but humor me here, OK?) We were watching it come across the ocean. You could actually see the line of rain. All of the sudden the winds picked up and it started pouring down rain!! Thank goodness we were still home! We were just getting ready to leave for church when the storm hit. We were able to get all of the windows shut before everything got wet. We moved the patio furniture on the lanai (deck) against the house, and good thing because the wind blew the rain half way across it!! I heard later that the winds at the airport were about 33 miles per hour! There were trees and branches and leaves everywhere! There was some flash flooding too I guess. Some people actually missed church because it was "too bad" to go out! AJ and I thought that was kind of funny! If they only knew how bad a "winter storm" could really be!! We were told that this was a winter storm for Hawaii. I can handle a little wind and rain! But, I guess when it rains really hard there can be mud slides and flash flooding, so people stay home to make sure everything is OK. On top of the mountain (Mauna Kea) they got 6 inches of snow. They actually had to close the roads leading up to the mountain. Now that's something you don't hear of too often in Hawaii!!

While we were watching the storm on the ocean, we could see whales coming out of the water and slapping their flippers on the water. We could see them with the "naked" eye, but we could see them a lot better with the biloculars. It was pretty cool to see!

AJ has been really busy at work. They are busy starting the process of filling the 26,000 little hives for raising queen bees. He has been gone at least 12+ hours a day, and working Saturdays too. Fortunately this process will last only a couple more weeks. After that, he should be back to regular hours. Jenna and I will be glad to have him back with us for dinner at night!

I have good news! I have applied for a position as a Hospice nurse and have had one interview. I think it went really well. I have another interview on Friday afternoon. Hopefully after that I will be offered the job! It would be part time. I really hope that I get it. It sounds like a great company.

AJ and I are watching the news right now. There is more bad weather on the way! They are talking about winds from 30-50 miles per hour with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour!! They have already cancelled school on the entire islands of Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Lani'i!! The Big Island is supposedly going to be OK. I hope so! The waves have been crashing really hard lately! We can easily hear them from our house.

Hawaii switched to digital TV today. It sounds like everything went OK. I'm glad the switch is over. I'm getting tired of hearing about it!! Well, I think I have finally gotten everyone up to date. I'm sorry again for the delay. I'll try to write sooner the next time, so until then...aloha!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are getting the new year off to a good start! We had a great time in Wisconsin over Christmas. The time went way too fast but we really enjoyed seeing so many people. The weather of course, was typically Wisconsin weather. We saw everything from above zero to below zero to nasty wind chills, to rain, ice, fog, and sunshine!! It was crazy! We certainly don't miss that kind of weather! We have different kinds of weather to aware of in Hawaii. Believe it or not, it's not always sunny! Shocking, I know! Hawaii has had a lot of rain lately, causing severe flooding and mud slides. Fortunately, it has not affected us as much as the islands north of us. While we were in Wisconsin there was a power outage on Oahu (where Honolulu is) that lasted anywhere from 6-17 hours! The whole island was affected! Barack Obama happened to be in Honolulu at the time, vacationing with his family. He was offered a generator, but declined.

Speaking of Obama, our realtor was telling me about someone she knows who was visiting Honolulu. This gal was walking on the beach when all of the sudden these guys in black suits, black shoes (in the sand!) and dark sunglasses came up and told her she needed to turn around. Appearently, she was getting too close to where Obama and his family were playing on the beach!! You'd think the Secret Service would try and disguise themselves a little better! Or at least wear something a little more relaxing! They are on the beach afterall!!

We had a very boring, relaxing New Years Eve. We were still a little jet lagged, so we were pretty tired. Jenna wanted to stay up until midnight so bad! But she only made it until 9:00. The night before she and AJ were both alseep by 7:00! We're on track much better now!

We are in the process on planning Jenna's birthday. She has big plans and AJ and I are trying to downsize those plans a bit! Gus's wife Sandy has the same birthday as Jenna, so we will probably do something with them. Jenna likes getting together with her "birthday sister." I'll let you know what we end up doing, so until next time...aloha!