The Past Few Weeks

It's been a while since my last post, mainly because I have been so busy this has gotten thrown on the back burner. 

Two weekends ago I headed up with 7 friends to Vancouver for the weekend. We stayed at a hostel downtown and had a great time. Above is a picture of all of us in Stanley Park which we explored our first day there. Some of the group went to a hockey game and then we hit up the nightlife which was really fun. This was my first hostel experience and although it wasn't quite the Hilton, I would do it again.

Last week I started house-sitting for my boss who is in Vietnam for two weeks. I am currently staying at her house with her cats in Capitol Hill which is a gorgeous area of Seattle. It is wonderful to get to know another neighborhood in the city.

Work is going wonderfully. I am continuing to work 40 hours a week plus 5 to 10 extra hours on the special grant through the March of Dimes. It is a lot of work but I am learning so much and feel like I am gaining great experiences. I have begun the job hunt out here b/c I like it so much. Last week I turned in my first application at Children's Hospital and am continuing to find opportunities.

This past weekend, I attended a Microsoft party at Nectar (a nightclub). Microsoft has social groups that put on activities throughout the year and since a couple friends work for them, we went to this party. It was a really great time and I met tons of new people. This picture above is the main group of girls I have been hanging out with that attended the party. From left to right, Vicky, Joey, Danielle, Shannon, Me, and Leah.

I had off on Monday for President's Day so Danielle, a new friend Matt, and I went up to Steven's Pass to go skiing/snowboarding. Steven's Pass is about an hour and a half north east of Seattle. We had a fabulous time with blue skies and the slopes weren't too crowded. The only bad part is that I am still really sore!

Yesterday, I had my first day of crew class. Shannon, Danielle, and I signed up to take a learn to row class on Lake Union. It was really fun! The class meets 3 times a week. This week we are using simulators in the boat house but next week tuesday is our first day out on the water...hopefully no one goes overboard!

Other than that, I am continuing to explore the city and loving it!

Avery's Baptism

Last weekend, I flew across the country to Virginia to spend the weekend with Amy, Marty, my mom and dad, and sweet Baby Tate (Avery). Avery was baptized on Sunday. I had a great weekend seeing Amy and Marty's condo, meeting some of their friends, spending time with some of the family, and Tate only pooped on me once!!!

Everything back in Seattle is fabulous! I am thoroughly enjoying my job and just found out about a new project I will be working on. I am going to be working with one of the doctors at the med center on a computer intervention tool to prevent mothers from having premature births. We are targeting mothers who have just given birth prematurely to prevent it from happening again. A mother who give birth prematurely once is likely to have another premature birth. I am really excited to be working on this project and I should meet a bunch of March of Dimes people through this. The grant for the project is funded through the March of Dimes and they would like to use the tool for nation-wide disemination when we are done. So needless to say it's a pretty big deal!!!

Stay in touch,

Kya

Summing up the Weekend!

With my first week of work under my belt, I was privledged to have a nice long 3 day weekend thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. day today! The weekend was great with the exception of the Packer loss of course, but I watched the game with a bunch of fellow Wisconsinites thanks to Karissa! On Saturday, Karissa and I ventured out to meet up with some people I met through facebook, yes facebook! I had a great time, with the exception of getting lost walking downtown for 1.5 hours! It was wonderful to see some of the cities nightlife and get to know some new people. Today I decided to go hiking in Discovery Park. The park is right on the Pudget Sound which took about a half hour drive. I hiked for about 3 hours because the view was just TOO good! The pictures are from the park. It was a beautifully clear day with the Olympus mountains to the north and Mt. Rainer to the south. With so many changes in my personal and professional life in the past couple weeks, I have found great healing, serenity, and comfort in the beauty of this city!

I am excited to go back to work this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I am attending a training at the Children's hospital with my boss. The training is on using patients as advisors. This means that we will be learning how to teach patients to use their experiences to teach resident doctors how to deal with irregular situations. The training is specific to parents who have special needs children. My boss would like to have our department create a similar training that could be used for different specialties.

All in all, I am beginning to settle in to my new surroundings and contiuning to explore the area. Hope all is well!

God Bless!

Working Girl

Today was my first day of work. Everything went well and I think I am going to really enjoy what I am doing. I am getting to sit in an a bunch of different council meetings that are organized for different patient populations of the hospital such as the NICU Council Committee. This committee is made up of patients and staff who come together to address needs in the area, some being health education related. My office is in an office building about a mile from the UWMedical Center but it still takes me 15 minutes to drive between the two. I am going to be heading to the med. center on Wednesday to work in the Patient Resource Center. This is an area in the lobby of the hospital where patients can come to get more information about different health topics and issues. So I will act as a resource for them and add in little health tid bits when I can. The other project I am getting started on soon is working on a breast feeding video with a Perinatal Council. It sounds like I will also be able to do some shadowing in more specific areas being lactation consulting and child life specialists. Hopefully I will gain more direction in what I am interested in after all of this. Overall the first day went good and it turned to great when there was a huge vase of flowers waiting for me from my parents :)

Seattle!

My dad and I safely arrived in Seattle after driving for three days! We arrived yesterday afternoon and I met the family I am living with, Peter and Marianne. They have two college age daughters and just spent 5 month traveling in South America. Peter is from Europe, so they are quite interesting people and very nice. I am starting work this coming Monday and am quite excited! Here are a few pictures. The house, my room, and the cutest dog ever, Jack!

Some Pics from Auntie Ky

I wanted to post a couple pictures from the holiday season. I had the joy of living with a one month old for two weeks which was wonderful! I also was blessed to see all of my family before I leave for Seattle!

I have gotten a few requests for my address which I can only imagine means I will get an overabundance of mail!

1304 NE 62nd St.

Seattle, WA 98115

I will be leaving on Monday and if weather permits arriving on Wednesday! I start at the hospital the following Monday and cannot wait to see the challenges and excitement that this experience will present me with!

Stay in touch!

My first Blog!

Hey Everyone,

This is my first blog and as you have read this is for the purpose of keeping my friends and family updated as I start my internship next semester. I have so many feelings of excitement and anticipation with starting my new adventure, but these feelings come with feelings of nervousness and intimidation. As I sit at my computer looking out over this fresh new powder we have received, my mind wanders to a passage that gives me comfort for many reasons today. If you know my family at all, you know that we hold this passage very dear to our hearts and rely on it's message...

" For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future." Jeremiah 29:11.

Today as I think about this passage I feel passionate and confident that my journey and purpose in this life is not my own but that of a higher power and I will pursue this. I am also excited to be able to soon share this passage with the newest member of our family. Avery Denise Harms was born this morning weighing in at 7 lbs. 9 ounces. I am so excited to be an Aunt again and after I am done here I am off to Target to find something adorable to send to Avery and help begin her shopping addiction :)

So as the months go on I will try to update this as often as possible.
Have a wonderful day!