7 weeks
Today I find myself celebrating three years of marriage to an unselfish, Godly, loving, devoted man. He has stuck with me for better and for worse, in sickness and in health. He exemplifies what Paul meant when he called husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church.
As I mentioned in my previous post about our fabulous trip to Hawaii, July is a rough month for us. Jim is gone all but 5 days of the month between mission trips and youth camp, and I am working a lot of extra days in between there. You might ask, how has it been going so far? Somebody told me the other day that "absence makes the heart grow fonder"... but it's making me skinny and exhausted! Yes, my husband is the one who is responsible for making sure I eat and sleep, thus why I've lost five pounds since he left and I'm up blogging at 2:00 AM. I am so thankful for my Jim!
We visited Waimea Valley, which is a nature preserve you can hike in. I was able to capture a shot of a fascinating creature in his "natural habitat"! Isn't he cute?
We hiked Diamond Head Crater on perhaps the most humid day in Hawaii. Between that, the hot sun, and the billion other sweaty people on the narrow steep trail, it wasn't the most fun time I ever had. The view was spectacular though!
I found another house for Jim and I to live in... we wish! The next pictures are from our trip to Lanakai, rated one of the top 10 beaches in the world. I wish we could have stayed there forever! The water was perfect, the sand felt like powdered sugar beneath our feet, and it was surprisingly not crowded (unlike Waikiki). 
I was trying to capture how magnificent the sand was at Lanakai. Instead, I got a great shot of how torn up my feet were from wearing $4.00 sandals from Target the whole trip. Ouch!
I just had to get a picture of these two on the water. Hilarious!
One of the last things we did was head out to Kualoa Ranch for a day of adventure. This ranch is 250-acres of beautiful scenery used as the backdrop for many movies and television shows.
There was a fake horse on the property... which was funny because it was located 50 feet from the real horses you could ride. The Japanese tourists LOVED the fake horse! Jim must have snapped a dozen pictures for people in front of the fake horse. I figured I need a picture in front of the fake horse as well!
Here's us on a catamaran ride around the beach that "Lost" is filmed on. We loved the catamaran ride! The ocean was very choppy that morning, and Jim and I held on to the front of the boat and let the ocean waves spray in our face.
This is a shot of that famous beach! We also couldn't resist getting a picture in front of the catamaran.
We also took an ATV ride around the property. It was beautiful and we had so much fun!
Here's a list of the movies and television shows filmed at the ranch. We thought it was neat to see this setting in person!
We loved our trip to Hawaii, but most of all, we loved the time spent together. Each year we've been together seems to be busier than the last, and we have learned to treasure those uninterrupted times together because they have become fewer and father between. Our time in Hawaii allowed us to reconnect and refresh, and we've decided to continue this tradition in years to come.
Jim and I have experienced a lot in our first 2.5 years. We've been through nursing school, unemployment, financial difficulties, disappointments and heartache. Not only have we survived, we have grown closer and more in love. I could not imagine a better beginning to our marriage. Here's to the rest of our life together!
This was the view from our room. When we arrived, we found out the room we had booked was unavailable, so they upgraded us to this "Deluxe Ocean view" room.
Here's us on the beach, right outside our hotel!
Jim LOVES the ocean! The next picture I snapped is of a wedding on the beach. We learned that the Hilton averages 2-3 weddings a day.
Here are some pictures from Pearl Harbor. This first picture is of an aircraft carrier docked in the harbor. 
Here's the memorial, which lays directly over the sunken USS Arizona.
Here is one of the gun turrets of the USS Arizona.
The USS Arizona was sunk with an estimated 150,000 tons of oil on board, and today they believe there is still 40,000 tons of oil on the ship. It is constantly slowly leaking out. The Navy has been ordered to deal with the oil issue, but refuses to touch the ship. The locals say the oil is the blood of the 1,500 who died when the USS Arizona sank.
This is us in front of the old courthouse building in Honolulu. The statue in front is of King Kamehameha the Great, who conquered and unified each of the Hawaiian islands. His birthday is celebrated every year in June across each of the Hawaiian islands. We were able to see a parade through Waikiki in his honor on June 13.
This is us in front of our new house! (OK, so maybe not... it's actually the last and only royal palace in the United States)
That night we took a sunset dinner cruise. We had such a great time!
This is a view of the sunset we saw on the cruise. I have to admit, Hawaiian sunsets are nice but do not hold a candle to Tri-City sunsets!
Look Ron Burgundy, we found diversity! (Note: this will only make sense to you if you've watched Anchorman)
Here is a picture from the Luau we went to. The entertainment was good, but the food was awful.
We took a day and went to the North Shore. On our way, we stopped at the Dole Plantation for some Pineapple ice cream!
Do you recognize these pineapples?
That's it for now! We have ~360 pictures from Hawaii that I am still trying to wade through while working and catching up at home. I will get "Hawaii Part 2" up soon!
0630 - Jim is examined by a nurse, get his IV and super-attractive leggings, and meets with the anesthesiologist.
0730 - Jim is wheeled back to the OR for his surgery. I go for some much-needed breakfast and wait to hear back from Dr. Trotta.
0820 - Dr. Trotta comes out and tells me the surgery went well. Jim didn't lose any blood, and Dr. Trotta was able to remove his gallbladder without any difficulty or complication. Jim's gallbladder had a lot of scar tissue and lesions on it, and Dr. Trotta told me he was confident Jim's gallbladder was very diseased and it needed to be removed.
0930 - Jim is finally out of recovery. He does not metabolize narcotic medication very well, and his trip out of anesthesia was rough for him. He is moved to his Post-Op room and is very incoherent.
1030 - Jim wakes up and is restless. He tells me he wants to get out of bed and stretch his legs, so the nurse and I help get him up. He makes it to standing, is hit with overwhelming nausea, and has to get right back into bed. The nurse and I both encourage him to rest and relax, something Jim is not very good at doing!
1130 - Jason and Sarah came to visit. Sarah's mother had the same surgery as Jim did by the same doctor immediately following Jim's surgery and was also recovering a few rooms down from us. What a coincidence! Jim is still very much out of it and still suffering some nausea from the narcotics. Jason and Sarah take me out to lunch while Jim goes back to sleep.
1230 - I come back from lunch. Jim had been getting some much-needed rest during this time so I left him alone to sit in the waiting room and return phone calls from family and friends.
1300 - Jim's father comes to visit. Jim is still very out of it, so we don't stay long to talk to him.
1530 - The drugs are wearing off and Jim is more alert. The nurses are concerned that Jim has not been able to walk or urinate yet, so we get him out of bed and take the first of many laps around the halls. Jim is still experiencing some nausea, but is able to walk successfully around the unit. That one lap was more than enough for him at the time, and he went straight back to bed, exhausted.
1630 - Jim gets up for lap #2. This time he is able to use the bathroom, and is walking much better. He is also starting to pass the gas from the surgery, and is no longer experiencing much nausea. He is able to eat a Popsicle without any problems.
1700 - I leave the hospital to run a quick errand and take a nap. While I am gone, Dr. Trotta comes to see Jim and clears him to go home that night. Jim's parents also stop by the hospital to visit and bring him a few movies. Jim orders some soup and pudding, and is able to eat almost the whole bowl of soup and a few bites of the pudding without any trouble.
1900 - I come back to the hospital, and find Jim much better than when I left him. We take a few more laps around the unit. The nurse takes out his IV and helps Jim get ready to leave.
2000 - Jim finally is ready to leave and refuses the wheelchair. He walks all the way to the car without any trouble! We leave the hospital and stop by a pharmacy to pick up his prescriptions.
2100 - Jim and I are finally home. Jim has some pain from the sitting in our car for an hour, but is doing well. Once he gets out of the car, he is able to relieve the gas pain by walking around.
Today - Jim slept almost 12 hours last night and has not taken any pain medication since the last dose of narcotic he had in his IV yesterday morning. He is able to sit on the couch and work on his computer. He will be on a liquid diet for the next five days, and is keeping water and a slushie down just fine. Jim tells me he definitely notices something has been removed from his body, and his stomach feels different than it did before the surgery, but the horrible gas pains he used to get from eating before the surgery are gone. He also is still very tired from surgery, and although he was planning on returning back to his normal schedule starting tonight, I think he will not be able to do everything he has planned.
Thank you for your prayers and support! We have been blessed by all the calls, text messages, and visits from friends and family. Jim and I are so thankful that his surgery went well and he has had a reasonably easy recovery so far!
