JCI Festival

***James update*** On Saturday - June 27, 2009 - First of all, I have great news for this day! James is well enough to get kicked out of the rehab house today. He is going to stay, for a while, with his brother and sister-in-law, Andrew and Christine. It's going to be hard on them, but thank God for their loving hearts. James need to continue with his PT/OT treatments every weekday. Christine drops him off every weekday morning, then Andrew picks him up every evening after work. It's a real chore just to keep up with the medicines, so I hope James will be able to monitor all of that on his own soon. Better yet, I hope he gets well enough so he'll be off the meds completely! We're all so happy that James is doing so well. We'll continue praying for a full recovery for him, and for his family. Keep the faith, James!!! You can do it!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The boys and me just want to chill!

The girls just grow up so fast!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday - June 27, 2009 - Secondly today, Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute (JCI) is having their annual festival this weekend. This festival is their annual fund raiser, so they can continue to offer programs and services to their community. The two days are loaded with shows and presentations, food booths, game booths, fresh produce and plants, crafts, raffles, etc. South Bay Community Church (SBCC) and Faith United Methodist Church (Faith UMC) were there to help man a few booths. Usually, we go watch Jessi dance with Kanani Kalama's Hula Halau, but this year we decided to support some of Faith UMC's youth bands. Jordan, Danny, Derek, Justin, and many others were playing in the bands. We were happily surprised to see Jordan and Jessi's Poa Poa and Gung Gung there (they're still in town visiting from Hawaii). I hope that JCI raised a lot of funds this year, so they can continue to do all the great things they do for years to come.
Derek says "Yaki", Steven says "Soba!"
Hey Shane, where's mine?!?!?
Teddy, Sharon, and Ken

Justin

Derek
Somebody's gotta to the dirty work, so it's Kenny to the rescue again! Hey Kenny, nice pole! You do great work!!!

Danny
Jordan
Derek, Alicia, Jessi, and Julian

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still on Saturday - June 27, 2009 - Finally, Hank and I ended this day with a little spark... actually, it was a lot of spark!!! This evening, we headed off to the City of Lakewood for their annual Pre-Fourth-of-July celebration, which they have on the Saturday before the real holiday. They featured live bands, food booths, games, etc... and fireworks!!! This was only the second year going to this event for us, but I enjoy it.

This Pre-celebration helps me mentally prepare for the madness that's around the real holiday. Most holidays are crazy, but I'm referring to the few nuts who ruin things for everyone. I hope this year, no one will fire off their guns into the sky... after all, what goes up must come down! The same thing goes for those illegal fireworks that can cause fires and burn injuries. Also, I hope no one will drive under the influence of any substance... so many more DUI's occur during holidays. May God bless our community with enough sense to celebrate responsibly.

Lakewood did a great job with their celebration. I had especially liked the last song they played with the last of the fireworks display. Thanks to Lauren (my niece) and her 3rd grade tableau, I was able to learn some of the words and was able to sing along to "God Bless the USA". Check it out, and maybe you can join in on my fun. http://www.brownielocks.com/godblesstheusaWAVE.html
Hope you enjoyed the song, and hope you'll enjoy your week. And truly I hope for God blesses the USA!!!

June 25, 2009 - This date in history...

Thursday, June 25, 2009 - Exactly one year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. Now, I share this date with Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.




Farewell to another icon. Cancer can't hurt her anymore.





Farewell to the King of Pop. Rest in peace, Michael. You will truly be missed here on Earth.

Father's Day 2009

This was the first Father's Day, since my dad had passed away last fall. At first, it felt a little strange celebrating this day without him. But, it turned out to be very memorable and relaxing. After church, our family got together for lunch before going to the cemetery. God has been blessing us with really great weather lately, and this day was simply perfect. My nieces and nephews are young and energetic, so they kept it lively and entertaining. My dad really loved children, so I'm sure he enjoyed having his grandkids there. To all the dads reading this blog, I wish for you a belated Happy Father's Day!!! I hope God had blessed you with whatever simple pleasures that makes you happy! Most of all, enjoy your child or your children, no matter what age they are. Our time on Earth is short, but the love we share will last forever in their hearts.















~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Visiting DaWongz...
Look who's home from college!
Yummy cookies!!!
I love your new kitchen!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our first BKK Reunion!!!

Grads of 2009

It's Graduation time of the year. Congratulations to all of the 2009 graduates!!! Special shout outs to Jordan Chong, Daniel Inoye, Tiffany Gonzalez, Heidi Heramia, Amy Agnola, Myan Pham, Leilani Fuller, Joey Felix, Tiffany Marsh, Michael Gutierrez, Christian Ah-Ching, Shaun Jaeger, Rachel Lilagan, Chris Gentles, Tyler Ryono, Nicole Minabe, Ally Aiboshi, William Teubert, and so many many more!!! We're going to really miss seeing everyone at North High School!!! Also, congrats to Jessi Chong for your promotion! Extra special congrats to Karissa Moy!!! We are so excited for all of the graduates.

Steven, Marissa, and Tiffany Marsh
Julia, Amy, Steven, Taylor, and Richard
Nicole and friend
Steven with Myan
The Chongs and me.
Way to go Jordan!!!
Steven, Chris, and Nasa
Taylor, Gloria, Jacob, and me.
Nice flowers, Heidi!
Steven, Danny, and Sammi
Grandma T, Jordan, and me
PoaPoa Teddy and me
Dave and Wendy
Where's Danny?
Jessi, Alicia, and Sammi
They sing too! (sniff sniff)
And they hula!!! (sniff sniff sniff)
JJ & SS
PoaPoa Teddy, Sharon, and GungGung Ken
Matt and Steven


Wade and Julian
Derek, Danny, Jordan, Sammi, Steven
Cake time! Yummy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the aloha spirit, I made a ribbon lei for my handsome, young, warm, friendly, talented surgeon, Dr. Michael Newman. Now he's been lei'd at work!
Hurray Lakers!!! I'm so glad he likes the Lakers too!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday - June 18, 2009 - Angel and I went to visit James at the rehab house. On our way there, between the freeway and the house, we pass this street called, "Wanda". Since that happens to be my little sister's name, I "had to" take a picture of it. ;-) hee hee hee


When we'd finally made it to the rehab house, I was really amazed how well James is walking around all, and without the use of a cane! He moved pretty quickly too. We're just so glad to see him doing so well, especially with all of the PT/OT appointments. Six hours of daily exercises can wear out anyone, but he pushes himself to do more than requested of him. He's determined to have a full recovery as soon as possible. It's wonderful to see him do well, but I just hope he doesn't wear himself out. Great job, James! I'm very proud of you!!!

Michael, James' brother, was there to visit as well. It's great to see his family and friends so supportive. God has really answered our prayers with James!!! Btw, if you ever talk with James, he'll tell you that he's not responsible for his actions and for what he says. He's still having a few issues with filtering all the things going through his brain. To his own defense, James jokes about how he had been revived several times during those first days, and how he was in a coma! Granted, it was a medically induced coma, but it was a coma nonetheless! I'm so glad God blessed him with laughter! PTL!!! ;-)