Last Days at Hilo

With only one day left of my contract I thought I would write about Hilo:

Favorite Places to eat:
  -La Pan Magic: is a restaurant serving les crepe. Very good and any one who knows me knows I love anything French.
  -Kens house of Pancakes: I had some of the kids' pancakes with coconut syrup: yummy yummy. I ordered a Ahi Ahi loco moco. It is my new favorite dish! It was white rice, Ahi ahi fish, brown gravy, and an egg on top. I know it sounds weird, but it was really good.
  -Roadside BBQ's:  The road side BBQ 's are yummy and priced fair. Each dish is about 5-9 dollars we usually buy two. A typical plate comes with a half chicken, white rice and either macaroni salad or a vegetable. Two dishes fed our family of five lunch and Dinner!
 -Blanes Drive in: this is a great fast food place with lots of local favorites.
Favorite things to do:
  -From my balcony I could see the red glow from the volcano. I must say that was pretty awesome! I am sure the kids will never forget going to see Kilauea, the world's most active volcano. My husband also took them to see the lava fields. They thought that was pretty cool.
  -The first time I seen a sea turtle was at Richardson's beach. There also was some beautiful fish to look at there. You think of true paradise when you are there. It is an absolutely beautiful must-see place!

  -Akaka Falls will take your breath away, no one should miss seeing the falls. It is amazing.

  -If you happen to be here on a travel assignment for Halloween and your not sure where to trick or treat go to the mall. We had a blast!! The kids got a ton of candy and there was free ice cream sundaes.

If you are looking for a church while you are here, Christ Lutheran Church (christhilo.org) is a wonderful place to worship the Lord. Pastor Shawn Boylan is very good at preaching the Word. Pastor Shawn and his wife were missionaries in Sierra Leone, Africa and they have many interesting stories to tell. The music here is such a blessing to listen to. I feel truly blessed to have been a part of this congregation.

My condo: I will miss being on the beach and having paradise in my backyard. Looking out the window to a view of the ocean and the sound of the calming waves.

-Falling asleep to the song of the Coquis frogs and the nightly rain showers.
-Waking up to the beautiful view outside my bedroom window.
-My neighbor Gigi. She is so nice and thoughtful.
-The Italian property manager. He was always bubbly and full of smiles.

My work: My co-workers were very kind and helpful to me. They made my 1st assignment a great one. The doctors were very pleasant to work with. They are respectful of the nurses, not talking down to us, but treating us like we are a team. I learned so much here! Most of all, I became better at having confidence in my nursing skills. I still have much to learn and I am sure I will as I continue to travel.

Now on to my next assignment......

Waiting for word

Soooo after an anxiety-provoking, faith-testing few days I finally got the call I have been waiting for. It almost felt like when you are in high school and you're waiting for that cute guy to call. You keep checking your phone ...., nothing , darn ..... Nothing man..... and then the phone rings and the caller idea shows the number you have been waiting for, yes what a glorious feeling. Your heart begins to beat ... "We would love for you to work with us." I try to compose myself and not sound like a completely over excited loon as I cooly accept the offer. Though I am really jumping up and down with excitement. I finally get to work with midwives yay!

I am staying on the same island, but working in a smaller facility, which I have heard has more of a holistic natural approach to delivering babies. I keep toying with the idea of going back to school and becoming a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife). What a perfect opportunity to work along side CNM's and see how they like what they do. I am very lucky to get this position. I was told by my co-worker that they rarely have travelers at this facility. It just so happens a nurse has to go out on medical leave for a while so there is a need at the same time my current contract is ending. Also it was very nice of my co-worker to put in a good word for me over there. She told her manager I would be a great fit. I am very grateful to her.

What a roller coaster ride! Earlier today I was thinking again how crazy we were to start travel nursing. Every three months my husband and I have to make huge decisions. Do I extend?? No, I really want to move on and see new places and meet new people, but then I am down to the wire with only a little over a week with no job and no home.....

Almost Done

Wow! I cannot believe I am almost done with my first travel assignment. I am in the home stretch. Only two weeks to go. Nine actual working days to be exact. It has been a challenge and I have learned so much. The nurses at this hospital have been very kind to me and the doctors are nice and respectful to the nurses. Over all, it has been a good first time travel experience. My manager offered me an extension, but I am declining it. I am ready to move on. I may come back, but I really want to see different OB units and meet new people. I would like to continue exploring different areas this beautiful country. I may only go to the other side of the island or another island or back to the main land, but I want a change in surroundings. I must admit there is a certain position I would really like. At first it seemed a perfect fit. Everything looked like it was falling into place, but now they are not for sure when they will need a traveller so I cannot wait on them.  I must submit my resume to other facilities and if it is not meant to be it will not happen and I will accept another offer. 

I am praying for God to to help Danial and I with our decisions. This is one of the hard parts of travelling. I almost feel like I am playing chess and I must think very hard before my next move. What company to go with? Which will be the most honest?  Do I allow a company to submit me to a hospital that I only want if the other hospital position falls through? If I do and they offer a position I must take the offer and lose my chance at working with midwives. IF I don't I take a chance of being with out a job completely. When you have a family to support you can not take chances. This is where faith in God to lead us in good decision-making comes in. Lord, please direct our path.

Overcome by Rainbows (written by my husband)

Overcome by Rainbows

My family and I were blessed today by such an amazing display of nature- we were overcome by rainbows!  As we were enjoying a sunny drive along the Hamakua coast I caught sight of a little lone rain cloud out at sea- you could see it was raining underneath and a rainbow proceeded out in front of it.  I was fascinated by that little rain cloud with the rainbow out in front and wanted to find a place to watch it move along for a while, but everyplace I stopped had trees screening the view.   (Rainbows are really common at least on the area of the island where we live, and also much more brilliant than I ever remember seeing them in Michigan, but as you can tell, we still aren't used to them yet). 

  

We continued along the highway, which runs about 500 ft above the water, and we continued catching sight of rainbows out at sea.  Seeing a road marker for Laupahoehoe Point, I turned off the main road, hoping to find a safe vantage point of the ocean, but the road we turned down just wound us down a valley to about sea level and we emerged from jungle into a grassy park past which we could see great waves splashing high into the air as they crashed into the lava rock sea wall.  We drove to a parking area near a protected boat launch and rushed out of the car and the boys and I were naturally drawn to the waves to see how close we dared to get to the massive, reckless waves that were battering the sea wall.  From there we finally had a clear view of the rainbows out at sea. 

We were pretty satisfied with what we had already seen and started walking along the coast to see what the view was on the other side of the park when it started to mist, and when we looked up we could see there was the most brilliant double rainbow- it appeared to be springing out of the sea just offshore and we could see it all the way from one end to the other!  As the misty sprinkles thickened the ends of the rainbows grew and the ends appeared to bending toward us even to being almost in our hands!  We were all so thrilled and excited that God had put us here in Hawaii and at that place at that moment!  

The sprinkles intensified, but all the time the sun was still shining brightly above us, so that when we looked back over the park toward the ravine we had come down, we could see the sun lighting up all the raindrops as they fell on top of us and around us.  We could feel the rain starting to dampen our clothes and start dripping onto our faces and we all started dashing happily back toward the car. 

That unexpected trip to Laupahoehoe point is really what Hawaii has meant to me and my family.  The places we plan to take ourselves in our afternoon or in our lifetime are not nearly so extraordinary and exciting as the places God would take us if we don't ignore the directions He gives.  As thrilling and full of wonder the natural surroundings of Hawaii have been for us, what is more thrilling is the places we see God is taking us in our relationship with Him as we give up more and more on our own schemes and rest in Him.  

Holloween

I had such a wonderful time last night. Halloween in Hilo is great! My co-workers said there was stuff going on at the mall when I asked for suggestions on what we should do for Halloween. Though some of them pointed out it may not be worth it with long lines and little candy to be handed out. On our way to the mall I warned my kids not to be upset if they do not get a lot of candy. I even bought a big bag just in case so they could have a little more. At the mall there was tables of activities for the children to do while waiting for the magical 6:30 time that the stores will start to hand out the goods.They also had a costume contest going on. As 6:30 started to approach the crowds began, but we never had to stand in line and they really made out with tons of candy! To make it an  even cooler event at the end they made the biggest ice cream sundae ever and handed it out to every one:() Another nice perk about Halloween in Hawaii was I actually had to tell Lauch to wear shorts instead of thermal underwear under his costume so he wouldn't get too hot. The kids dressed up as An Army guy, Spider Man, and a ballerina princess.