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WaddlingPenguin
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Name: Helen
Country: United States
State: New Jersey
Gender: Female
Interests: mispronouncing medical jargons, jumping into waves, pinching chubba wubbas, cooking, traveling, crafting, sleeping
Expertise: southern hospitality & spontaneity
Occupation: Student
Industry: Medical
Message: message me
AIM:  Peechy37
Member Since:
12/16/2002
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| So I took care of this girl today who had four types of cancer in the past and she's only 12 years old. The cancer spread to her mouth that the right side of her mouth had to be taken out which leaves the right side of her mouth indented and she mumbles when she talks. She was going to have reconstructive surgery when she found out she has leukemia. I walked into her room today and she kept staring at herself in the mirror. She was thinking..."I'm so ugly...no one wants to even look at me." I couldn't help but remember the story that I heard at a retreat about girl who was born with a cleft palate and she
hated her deformity. She was laughed at all throughout elementary
school and she would tell her friends she fell onto a rock and cut her
lips. Then one day, she met a teacher that conducted the hearing tests
and her turn was quickly approaching. When her turn came up, the
teacher whispered.."I
wish you were my little girl" and the little girl melted. So I had a lot of times on my hands today and I wanted her to feel beautiful despite her looks. I thought she was beautiful because she rambles a lot of stories about her dogs, and she makes the funniest giggles after all her sentences.
Anyway, this just reminds me of a good story I read from one of my classes the other day:
In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning
disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire
school career, while others can be main-streamed into conventional
schools. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child
delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out,
"Where is the perfection in my son, Shay? Everything God does is done
with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other
children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other
children do. Where is God's perfection?" The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the
father's anguish and stilled by the piercing query. "I believe," the
father answered, "that when God brings a child like this into the
world, the perfection that he seeks is in the way people react to this
child."
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|  After working with cancer patients this past year, I can't even put into words the heartache and devastation the parents go through and the strength they need to get through each day. There was a bone marrow drive at Renewal a couple of weeks ago for baby Elyse, but still no match. This baby is suffering from a rare disease called HLH and is waiting for a bone marrow transplant to save her life. Please pray for the family and get tested to see if you are a match (The donor needs to be korean).
www.elyseyu.com
watch this video:
http://kimchimamas.typepad.com/kimchi_mamas/2007/06/help_elyse_yu_s.html
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| Whenever I am really stressed about life, I picture myself being stranded somewhere so I can have time to myself to reflect and admire nature scenes. Well, my wish came true in the sense this is the first vacation that I have been on with no agenda that I've planned for myself but to spend more time with my parents. We went to the Western provinces of Canada and the scenery was breathtaking. The best moments of this trip are moments where my parents act like two big kids(no wonder I'm a child at heart...hehe), and moments where I see certain characteristics of myself reflected in my mom or dad that makes me know that I am a Chen. But, the most humbling part was knowing that my parents are praying for me each day first thing in the morning.
As I hung out with my parents all week, I see the wrinkles in their eyes when they smile and I see how much older they are getting each year. I can't help but question myself, am I numbering my days on Earth? Am I being a good steward of time? How is it possible that the last time I spent a full week with my family was last summer? Just think. In my 20s, I will burn 3,652 days that cannot be retrieved and there will always be something to keep me occupied. Just this past year, I've been running around being busy in my own schedule that I often forget that I am here to meet with God. That our careers, families, and possessions are simply backdrops in our lives. So back to the simple things of life.
Downtown Vancouver/Gastown
 
Went wine tasting in British Columbia and had some ice wine...very sweet....usually served with dessert. My mom asked our bus driver if he had any wine to make sure our tour group would be safe...hahaha.
The mystery resident at Lake Okanegan is the Ogopogo which is a sinuous, serpentine creature that eats humans and animals. Supposedly, there's a reward for 2 million dollars for a pic of the Ogopogo. People actually have houseboats out there so they can get a pic of this creature if they don't get eaten alive first.
  
The view from the porch of our hotel
Went on a gondola to see the Canadian Rockies
My favorite place was Lake Louise where you can go canoeing, hiking, all you can eat buffet, beautiful hotel/scenery, and no spotting of the Ogopolgo(hehe).
(Dad looks gangsta with that pose)
Isn't she beautiful? I sat there for minutes listening to her play the harp.
Glacier-
If you accidentally fell into one of the holes, you can have hypothermia for 10 minutes. I stuck to just drinking glacier water..nice and cold.
 
you know I love taking pics with inanimate objects cuz they're so cute and cuddly...dad felt the same way too.
 
what? are we clogged arteries? Ginseng!
Look how happy my parents are to spend time with me...I like to accompany others on vacation  .
 
Ain't no vacation without the sis..she had plans already but we made sure she was there every second cuz my dad recorded every moment for her.....even moments of me sleeping on the bus...geez. 
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| It's been very tiring working with kids for the past few weeks with end stage cystic fibrosis or cancer patients because there is not much I can do to bring a smile to their face. But for the first time in the longest time, I saw the biggest smile from ear to ear on one of the kids on my floor and that totally made my heart melt. They threw a prom for all the kids at the hospital and they donated suits and dresses for the kids. They hired professionals to make an ordinary day extraordinary in their eyes. So my little stud muffin came out of his room dressed in a suit 3 times the size of him but he looked so handsome!!! For a day, he had a chance to be normal and was strutting down the hallway and going..."Helen! I need a microphone!" <I gave him my pen instead  > Seeing my kids very happy makes my not so easy days worthwhile.
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