grandma t

My grandma is 90 years old and is one of the healthiest and most active seniors I know. However, at the beginning of March, the doctors told her she had a growth on her liver and had one to two months to live.

I went to visit her on Monday after not seeing her for over a year. It was so good to spend that time with her. I was visiting for about three hours, during which we just sat and talked. My grandma was so upbeat and joyful, repeatedly saying that the Lord has been so good to her. She was so thankful to be pain-free and said that she has no reason to complain.

I asked her a lot of questions about her life. She told me about living with her husband in the internment camps during World War II and about life after the war in Escondido, CA. I told her about my job and how difficult it has been recently. She was so sweet, saying that she would be praying for me. She is such a selfless, loving person. I'm hoping to have more time with her, but I take comfort in knowing that she is in the Lord's hands.

thanks

I am SO thankful that the girls were mostly good today. The last day I worked was Wednesday and it ended after an awful night. It is important for me to remember these good days when I'm going through difficult ones that seem to go on forever.

Tonight, I spent a lot of time with one of my girls in the evening. She had been having a rough day and apologized to me for how she acted earlier. She then told me this:

in her words: [There is a boy in my class who told me that our hearts are mostly black, but they have a small rainbow inside of them. The more good we do and the more we forgive people, the bigger the rainbow becomes. Then, when our heart is only a rainbow, the black hate dust comes out our butt and goes up to God.]

Haha, what? I get what she's saying. But what a funny way to say it.

This girl also told me that when she is yelling at me and really angry, she can tell from looking at my eyes that I am sad. She prayed for me tonight, asking God that the girls would not treat me "like garbage."

It is so refreshing to hear what kids have to say. A lot of what this girl said was funny, but so precious and thoughtful. I am thankful for moments like these, when the girls remember that their houseparents have feelings too. It is one of the most rewarding parts of this job.

dear...

Dear stress: please stop doing bad things to my body.

Dear wallet: I'm sorry you lost so much weight today.

Dear vacation: please hurry.

Dear Jodi Picoult: thank you for writing amazing books. they make me happy.

Dear co-workers: i love you.

♥, Kara

two

Two things:

1.
I went to Starbucks for a couple hours tonight. Two paramedics sat near me and they initiated a conversation that lasted for a while. It was good to be social with complete strangers...my tiny ounce of a social life outside Hillview.

2.
I'm off today. And I can't even bring my friends Starbucks without being called a "chinese bitch" by my ridiculous girls. I was out there for not even two minutes. That was all they needed to decide they hated me even though I haven't seen them ALL DAY.

the end.

a happy saturday

I have so much to write, but have had no time. So I'll skip all the "work is difficult and crazy" part and instead post pictures of my fun day snowboarding on Saturday. I went with Stephanie - my best friend from Hillview, Erin - my best friend for 12 years, and Kristen - my sister. Talk about world's colliding.

It was my second time snowboarding and I did so much better than the first time. I was way less scared and went on bigger slopes.

It started snowing in the afternoon, making it the first time I've seen snow fall in California. There were also places on the mountain where it was incredibly foggy. As we were going up the lift, there were times when it was impossible to see ANYTHING because the fog was so thick. The snow started coming down pretty heavily around 300pm, so we went down one last slope and decided to head out. We risked it by not buying chains before we drove up the mountain, in the hopes that we could make it down before the snow started sticking.

The snow was bad (for California at least). It wasn't letting up at all and it only took a few minutes of driving down the mountain before the car started sliding on ice. I was driving only 10mph, but the tires lost grip. I tried adjusting the steering wheel, but I had no control, so I turned them to point towards the mountain. I figured hitting the mountain was better than sliding off the mountain. There was an SUV right behind us that also started sliding. They were super close to our car, but were able to stop the car before hitting us. After several minutes of deciding what to do, we were able to get unstuck from the mountain and drive down without any other scares. Whew.

Look at our pictures :)











After getting back, we showered and got dressed up. We met Stephanie's sister at the Old Spaghetti Factory to have dinner together.

time flies

I can't believe it's March!!!!