Friendship Heart Quilt

Do you ever look back at your past and the choices that you have made and how they have affected the life you live now? I do. Not that frequently, but sometimes an event happens in my life; mostly good things and I start reflecting on and connecting the past choices to now.

This week, I was surprised by one of the most amazing and generous gifts and many emotions flooded my mind. Over 10 years ago, I started blogging. I was kind of testing what this "blogging" this was all about, and started sharing the things I made. There were ups and downs but I kept creating and writing. Over the years I have met so many great people online and in person that I would have otherwise never had a chance to meet.

Amy of Diary of a Quilter organized some quilter/sewer friends to make this heart quilt. She asked them to sew heart blocks and send it to her, she pieced them together and Andy of A Bright Corner quilted it. When they gave me the quilt, she told me that the quilt was made with "many hands", I wasn't sure what that meant. I opened the card, there were names of our dear friends; some of whom I've known for years and some are new friends... they each participated to create this beautiful quilt.

Evy of A Bit of Stitch made this lovely label for the quilt.

I am not sure exactly which block was made by who, but as I was looking at these heart blocks and thinking about those friends; my own heart was bursting with gratitude and I couldn't hold back my tears. I know everyone has their own busy lives, but they were willing to take the time to participate in this and to show love and support for my recovery from my double mastectomy. My recovery was a bit rocky at first with bleeding issues and infections. And now, I still have a low-grade fever everyday, even after over two month from the surgery. I have had some testing done, but the doctors don't know exactly what is causing it. I try to live normal day to day life, but not knowing the cause worries me.

This quilt came just in time for me to feel extra love from my friends even from different parts of the United States. I think there are many kind, genuine, caring people in quilting/sewing community. I am so thankful for each one of them and I want them to know they will always have a special spot in my heart. I wish I could give them a hug in person and tell them how much their kindness and friendship means to me. These are the creative friends who made these heart blocks. I hope you will hop over to visit their delightful site to see their fun projects!

Lindsay of Lindsay Sews
Dana of Made Everyday
Pat of Pat Sloan's Quilters Home
Amanda of Jedi Craft Girl
Bev of Flamingo Toes
Heather of The Sewing Loft
Liz of Simple Simon and Co
Amber of GiGi's Thimble
Holly
Cindy
Babylock Sewing
Riley Blake Designs

I have witnessed many times since the diagnosis of my breast cancer one of my favorite saying "God takes care of people through people". My medical problems are still here and I know I (and my family) has to deal with them, but knowing that I am surrounded by caring friends helps me to be strong and keeps me going.

They are truly Angels.

Update ~ Post Surgery

I can't believe it has already been two weeks since my double mastectomy. I wouldn't say it has been a smooth and easy recovery, but I guess it's not that horrible either. In fact, I am still seeing lots of blessings these past two weeks.

The picture I posted here with the pink ribbons are a surprise from my wonderful neighbors. I don't really know exactly who was involved, but they were not only tied to the pillars and on the mailbox of our home, they are in our entire neighborhood and streets. How amazing is that? I truly feel like I live in one of the BEST neighborhoods with the most amazing people.

I had the surgery on Wednesday, we thought I could go home in a couple of days. The next day, I was having a reaction to the anesthesia, and kept throwing up all day and night. By Friday, my right breast started bleeding inside and they had to take me back to the OR. During this procedure, my blood count dropped to 14 and I had to get two units of blood. Then, the next day, my other breast started having the same issue, and starting to swell up. This time, my doctor was able to use a needle and syringe to removed the blood without taking me back to the OR. I don't have a blood disorder or anything (not that I know of!), but the doctors were scratching their heads as to why I was having this kind of the bleeding. My suspicion is that because of throwing up so intensely for a day, put too much pressure and that caused the bleeding, but who knows. I am VERY sensitive to anesthesia and most pain meds, they always make me extremely sick and I will throw up all day. I would rather be in pain than be sick, so I don't take anything. The first couple of days after the surgery, I got Tylenol through the IV, and that is that. I am doing ok. I think some pain is expected; well, I had surgery.

My condition was stable enough that I was released on the 6th day. Driving home, I was sitting in the passenger seat and reflecting on everything that happened in the last several months, the recovery ahead of me and more surgeries to come. Also, I was a little down about how my body always seems to have some problems, is unpredictable and hard to live with. Most people get surprised if I tell them I do have blue days sometimes, because I am usually a very happy person. But, this body of mine packed with medical issues tires me out sometimes... I wish I could take a receipt and exchange it for a better one.

But then... When we turned in to our neighborhood, and saw all those pink ribbons on the trees and mailboxes on both sides of the streets and cul-de-sac my eyes starting to well up and my heart was quickly turned around to see the blessings in my life. How wonderful to have a chance to live and be a part of this world. How can I live better once I am all healed up and move on from this?

When I was asking this questions to myself, many people's faces came to my mind who have been a great example to me. During this new challenge in my life many people showed love and support for me. I think I know my answer already.

Dreaming of California

Kids are back to school and we are trying to get back to our regular routine, but I am not ready to let go of Summer yet.

During Summer we took two trips and I realized that I haven't shared the pictures with you. The first trip was just Mr. TRH and I for our 20th Anniversary.

I love to travel. If I had no physical limitations and an unlimited budget, I would be all over the place. Mr. TRH on the other hand, is a homebody. He is totally happy and content to stay home.

I love big cities and lots of activities. He doesn't like big cities and wants to relax.

It was not easy to pick the destination that would accommodate both of our needs. Some people recommended Monterey and when I did some reserch of my own I was more and more excited about the idea. What we decided to do was to visit Monterey, San Jose and San Francisco. I have never been to all those cities and we thought we could have a great time at laid back Monterey and big city San Francisco.

Did I enjoy the trip you might ask?... Oh, yes. VERY MUCH!

We love spending time with each other but it is so hard to find quality time in the regular day to day schedule. During the drive to Monterey we were talking (without getting interrupted!), laughing, and listening to books on CDs. The whole trip was fun, but I adore the time we spent in the car as well. Not to mention that we love making stops here and there to try new restaurants and food along the way. We had all you can eat Crab for lunch and we were in heaven!

I planned this trip on a budget, but I wanted to stay at a nice hotel. When we got married we didn't have a fancy honeymoon trip, so this was a chance for us to do that.

Growing up near the ocean, I really miss this view. What a pretty sight... waking up to an ocean view put me in such a happy mood every morning while we were there.

We did visit an antique mall(although it wasn't Mr. TRH's choice of activity he was such a good sport about it), we did a 17 mile scenic drive, and ate at some of the really good restaurants. We definitely want to go back to Monterey. There are so many water sports and other activities that our kids will love, it will be a perfect place for the family to vacation too.

We have a friend in San Jose, he and his friend gave us a tour one day. Again, we ate at amazing Mexican and Thai restaurants, and visited the beautiful Japanese garden. It was beautiful and relaxing, I felt like I was transported to Japan.

One of the highlights was when they took me to a big fabric store! It was not the garment district, but hey, I was so giddy going through their selection.

Another place they took us was the Winchester Mystery House. At first I didn't realized where we were then it hit me, "OH!" I remembered watching about this place on the History channel before. The mansion is beautiful, yet very bizarre....

Driving around the town to see Victorian style homes was so much fun too, I enjoy looking at architecture and many different flowers I normally don't see here in Utah.

Then, The last place was San Francisco. To be precise I have been to San Francisco years ago, just at the airport. Mr. TRH wasn't too thrilled about this idea because we were driving and didn't know the roads. I was suppose to be the navigator, but it was so hard to focus!! I was in one of the cities I always wanted to visit. looking at tall buildings, pretty architecture along the rolling hills; how can I focus? I was ohh-ing and Ahh-ing a lot. I wish we had several days to walk around to take more pictures and sketch some of the homes.

One of the places we went was Japan town. There we visited their dollar store (seriously, you will love some of the stuff you can find at the Japanese dollar store) ate at a Sushi restaurant, spent a good amount of time at Kinokuni-ya which is a book store; I was drooling over at so many books... oh how I wished I could have bought the whole store.

I haven't been to Kaiten-sushi (sushi-go-around) for years, it took me a couple rounds to finally grab the plate of sushi I wanted. It was going faster than I remembered!

Then of course, the Golden Gate Bridge... I don't think I am the only one who had the theme song of "Full House" playing in my head while visiting San Francisco. Rachel has been watching reruns of Full House. When she found out that we are going to San Fransisco, she asked me to get an autograph from the actors of the show. "Sweetie", I said, "Do you know how long ago that show was aired?" It is so cute how kids think. :)

I know it was a long post with tons of pictures, but it was only a small part of our trip. I am naturally a very curious person, but when I am on a trip my curiosity level is 120%! I want to see, hear, taste, experience; take everything in! I fell in love with all the places we visited, but what made me happy was that I was with my most favorite person the whole world the entire time. I know we will talk about our trip for years to come and every now and then we will dream of California.

20 ~ Happy 20th, Honey!

20 years - that is 7,305 days or 240 month or 175,320 hours. That is a LOT of time to spend time with someone.

Today Mr. TRH and I have been married for 20 years. When we first got married we were dirt poor. When he proposed to me, he just started college and had a part-time job. When we got married, my only possessions were the things I could pack in one tiny suitcase when I moved to America from Japan (I had to leave my sewing machine behind because it was too expensive to ship!).

The first few years were very difficult for me because I only spoke little to no English. I had no family or friends here. I missed my mother, sister and my friends so much. Because I had a very dysfunctional family life growing up, I thought I wouldn't be homesick, but I was. Away from those people I loved and living in a different country and culture was much tougher than I thought.

Mr. TRH always made sure that I knew he loved me by calling me several times a day, taking me out on a night drive for our small dates even though he was tired from going to work and school full time. He was very patient with my language too. He always told me that "If you have bad grammar, but your pronunciation is good, people would understand you. If you have perfect grammar but speak with bad pronunciation, people would have a hard time understanding you." --- We don't have the "R" sound in Japanese, so it was difficult for me to pronounce the "R". For example, words like "girl", "guitar", "really"; anything with an r or a words had both r's and l's were very tricky for me. There were times that I thought it was so annoying he made me say the same words over and over again but I am so thankful he did that for me. He was never mean, or made fun of me. I knew he did that for my own good so I could be confident and independent in this new country.

I wrote about my medical conditions in my past post: you can read some of them here or here if you are new to my blog. Throughout our 20 years of marriage, I had countless doctors visits, procedures and hospitalizations. When there is a medical issue, there was also stress about money, care-giving, and the care-givers. Since my condition is not curable, medical issues will always be a part of our lives.

Mr. TRH never made me feel like he drew the short end of the stick or that I am less desirable as a wife. When I was bedridden for several months, almost every day he came home for lunch to make sure I was ok and ate lunch with me. If I was in the hospital, he came to see me as much as he could. Whenever I am coming out of a procedure and if the first person I see is him, I immediately felt comforted and secure.

Over the years, we were blessed with three beautiful children, but raising them wasn't an easy task for me when they were little. Our children are very healthy and active. Especially my older two boys... They were WAY TOO ACTIVE with my physical limitations sometimes. I had to be creative; I survived those years, but looking back, there was no way I could have done it without Mr. TRH's help.

Mr. TRH isn't an absent father. He is always there for our children and involved with their lives. We are so fortunate that he has a somewhat flexible job, and is able to attend Parent teacher conference, field trips, school plays, etc. He plays with them, sits down and watches their favorite shows on TV, and talks with them a lot.

As I mentioned in the beginning, when I moved to America, I had to part with most of my possessions. They are just things, but it was hard for me to say good-bye to my sewing items, and fabrics I collected over the years.

In our second year of marriage, he surprised me with a sewing machine. When I saw the machine on our dining table it literally (this is another difficult word to say!) took my breath away! I didn't think we could afford a sewing machine for a long time because there were so many other things we needed.

Mr. TRH has been always very supportive of my interests and hobbies. As a young girl, I realized that I wanted to be a designer when I grew up. Life took an interesting turn and I became a wife and a mother, which I am so thankful for, but my desire to design and to create has always been there. Even though I am not a big time designer or anything; it has been so much fun to share what I have created on my blog. Over the years I have been given many opportunities to work with magazines and companies and I gained a new appreciation and respect for the people who are in the industry. Every time when I have an opportunity to be creative, Mr. TRH is so happy for me and encourages me to try it. Eventhough half the time I feel like I am not qualified for the task.


"I don't have much right now, but I will make you smile for the rest of your life and eternity if you marry me."

Amazingly, he has kept these words he said twenty one years ago. At the time my decision to marry him didn't make sense to many people around me, but in my heart I knew I was doing the right thing. Against all the odds we are still together and very happy. Sure we have ups and downs like many other couples do, but I can't stay mad at him too long. We laugh a lot, finish each other's sentence, and I can't wait to see him at night.

He and I had our special anniversary trip in June. These are our pictures goofing around as always. He dislike taking pictures, but I asked him because this was a special occasion. I pushed his sunglasses up so I could see his eyes.

and it was too bright for him...

I know I am so blessed to have a husband like him and this great relationship, but that didn't come automatically when we got married. Love is an action verb: we are always presented with decisions to show love with our actions --- It took us 7305 days of going through thick and thin. Being there for each other.

20 years, 7305 days, 240 month, or 175,320 hours is a long time, but I feel like the past amazing 20 years has gone by in a flash. I can't think of anyone else but him to spend the rest of forever with. Thank you so much Mr. TRH for being there for me, always.

Happy 20th, Honey!

Love

Sachiko

Date Night

Yup, that's us, Mr. TRH and I. Who needs a diet? :)

I had such a fun night! Mr. Tea Rose Home and I went out on a date tonight. We hardly ever go out without the kids, usually we are too busy, and after paying for a baby sitter, a date becomes so expensive. BUT, we did it. We got out the usual routine and got out the house... just two of us!!

One of the places we went to was an exhibit called "30 strangers" by a talented photographer Justin Hackworth. 30 Strangers is a portrait project fundraiser which raised money for our local women’s shelter, the Center for Women and Children in Crisis. The theme for the pictures was "Mother & Daughter", they were so fun to look at, and there were a few pictures that I really loved. I feel like He captured their moments so nicely. Also, five great writers read essays they wrote on "motherhood". Their words were so true, some were funny, some were so tender and I felt like I connected to what they were talking about as a mother. After we walked out of the exhibit, I felt liberated and ready to take on being a "MOM" again… starting tomorrow.

If you want to know more about the exhibit go to his blog. If you live in the area, You won't wanna miss it!

After that, Mr. Tea Rose Home took me to out to a sushi restaurant, we spent some time in a book store (I LOVE going to a book store) then we went to different restaurant for dessert. :) Mmmm chocolate.

We talked and talked (We are both TALKERS sometimes we are so excited about what we want to say and talk over each other, but somehow we are both satisfied and it works, funny huh?) And, shhhh... Do you hear anything? No, no one was bugging us to go to the bathroom or arguing or those kinds of things. Having a conversation without interruption in grown up space was so nice! Ah...seriously, we need to get out more often.

Big thanks to Mr. TRH, my better half, and best friend for such a fun evening. You are the best!

Fourteen Reasons I love You!

Before I start this post, let me give a big THANKS to all of you who have left comments on the Ucreate guest blog post and on the giveaway! I felt much better after seeing some of the comments. If you haven't entered the giveaway, don't forget to do so, you still have time!

On the day of the post, my kids didn't have school, so I put them to work and we all cleaned the house. Christopher washed the windows, Michael vacuumed and mopped... Rachel, age four will sometimes make things more complicated than actually being helpful, so I gave her baby wipes and asked her to wipe the walls and the baseboards. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about chemicals or things getting damaged. They all did a wonderful job!!! What was I doing? I was sitting in front of the TV and eating Bon-Bons... NO, I washed all of our bedding on top of the regular laundry (6 loads!!), and did more micro-cleaning that I usually don't have enough time to do.

A clean house feels soo good! The kids were so proud of their work, and after that we had a fun time together.

After they went to bed, I made special cards for each one of them. They are titled "Fourteen Reasons I Love You". I thought about their good qualities and wrote them down. I am going to give them the cards with some special treats on Valentine's day.



Of course I have one for Mr. Tea Rose Home too.

If you are allergic to quarkiness, I advise you to stop reading here. Because, I am sharing the fourteen reasons why I love him below.


1. He makes the best scrambled eggs
2. He is knowledgeable
3. He is smart
4. He can play with the kids like he is one of them
5. He is very involved with the kids education and activities
6. He is very loyal and caring (How many times have I been in the hospital and surgeries ever since we got married?)
7. He is optimistic
8. He still thinks I am attractive. His eyesight is fine, just for the record. (It doesn't matter what others think, his opinion is the only one that's important!)
9. ...and he treats me as his wife, rather than the mother of his children
10. He is such a hard worker, always providing us with a roof over our heads and food on the table and beyond.
11. He happens to like my cooking. Thanks.
12. He is very supportive of the things I am interested in.
13.He has been keeping the promises he made when we got married to make me smile everyday of my life. Even the hardest days he manages to do so, it is amazing.
14.He has a big heart. Because of him I can be myself and not worry about the tiny things. He keeps inspiring me to want to be a better person.

There is more, but I guess I will save them for next year. I love Valentine's day. It is the day of love, I think I am going to spend quality time with my family.

Do you have "fourteen reasons" for your loved ones? Once you start thinking about them, it makes you feel happy.

Have a Happy, Happy Valentine's day.

Down Memory Lane---Quilts for Rachel---

I have talked about the quilts I have made for Christpher and Michael. Today I will do the same with some quilts I made for Rachel.

I made this one long before I had Rachel. My friend saw a quilt like this at a quilt shop and described it to me. I used my imagination and designed it on paper, and kind of made it my own. My favorite part of this quilt is the muted colors I chose, instead of going with pastels. It makes it a unique baby quilt that way. I was hoping that, someday I would be able to have a little girl so that I could give this quilt to her.



I call this quilt "Seaside Rose Quilt". I was pregnant with Rachel at the time, and went to a local quilt shop. When I saw the beautiful line of Seaside Rose fabrics by Moda, I seriously got goose bumps!

I decided to name the quilt after the fabric line. I love this one.


The next one is a blanket more than a quilt. I used very soft minky; I just had to make a blanket out of it for her! I added pom-poms to add extra character to it. This is also one of my favorite blankets in the house. I love to cuddle in this blanket when I read fairy tales to Rachel; I feel extra girly.


The last quilt... yeah, I can't call it a quilt yet, because it is not done. I finished all the applique in the middle part and added borders. Then, I was supposed to do more applique around the borders. I don't know what happened. I have to confess that I haven't touched this quilt top for about 7 years. I started making this when I was pregnant with my second child, I was secretly hoping for a girl and kept calling it "Ashly quilt". I wanted to name my little girl Ashly for a long time.



Well, we found out that I was having another boy. So, I started working on some boys quilts after that. I thought I was putting away the Ashly quilt forever. Then, I was blessed with another baby. Funny thing is, after I found out that I was finally having a girl, the name Ashly started to fade away.

My husband and I felt strongly that we should name her "Rachel".

Rachel means "beautiful favored one" and her Japanese middle name is "Kokomi" which means "beautiful heart". We wanted her to be a beautiful person on the inside and out. So far, she is living up to her name. I can say this because I am her mom!

I love designing the quilts and it gives me so much joy, but the biggest reason why I keep doing this (I mean all the quilting and crafting) is I want my children to know how much I love them. When they use the quilts I made; it's just like I am giving them a big hug. Also, I want them to realize that having something they enjoy and are passionate about, will bless thier lives so much more than just going aimlessly through life.

I really hope that I can be there to help them to find their wings.

My Birthday Wish

Today was my birthday, I will share some of the things that happened in our home with you all.

Gift:



Michael gave me this handmade necklace...I thought "Ahh...how sweet". It was made out of lego pieces. How creative of him, I thought.

"Hey, can I look at it?" Christopher asked. So, I held out the necklace to him, then he shouted, "Hey! Those are MY legos!"

So, Michael made me this one instead.


Rachel wanted to do the same thing, but she burned out at the 8th bead. She asked me to tie the ends and put it on, and when I did it, she put both her hands on her cheeks and said "Mom you are so beautiful!!".


Christpher said he was thinking about what to give me but he forgot right after Thanksgiving. Funny kid...

The Planning:
I heard this story from my husband later on

My sweet hubby gather the children and wanted to discuss where they should take me for dinner.
He jokingly suggested, "How about Chuck E. Cheeses?" (those of you who are outside the US...Chuck E. Cheeses is the place kids can play games or hold birthday parties.)
Then the kids got really excited and said "Yeah!"
My husband thought (Uh-oh,I need to steer this in the right direction)
"Well... do you really think mom will like Chuck E. Cheese's and thier pizza for her birthday?"

Christpher and Rachel were quite but Michael was still hanging on by a thin thread of hope and said, "But, they have salad too!"

When I heard the story I couldn't stop laughing. What the kids don't realize is they are already giving me so much. Even the craziest days they give me something to smile about.

Aaron came home earlier than normal, then they took me out for Chinese.

I opened the gift I bought myself two months ago (I promised Aaron I would not open it until my birthday).

The cards they gave me made me laugh and tear up a little.

I want to say thank you to the friends and families who gave me nice birthday wishes. My world is a better place because of you all.

I took a self portrait:


One year older, I guess I will find out if I became any wiser too throughout the next year. If I can have one wish for my birthday... I want for our little family to be together forever. There are many other small wishes, but my family makes me happy the most. That is my birthday wish.

The Things I Found at the Park

This week is almost over, it has been a busy week as usual. Although, there was a moment I felt peace and was actually able to spend some time with Rachel.

I took Rachel to a park, It wasn't planned but it was such a nice day. I thought that I should not waste a day like this. We went to the library first then, to the park.

She. loved. it.

Since it wasn't planned I just grabbed some crackers on the way out. We sat and ate the crackers together too. The entire time she would not stop talking and smiling.

I have a book mark with a quote that says "The shortest way to happiness is to make someone else happy".

That is so true. Her happiness was totally contagious. We laughed and played for a while.

Then, it was time to go... I brought some sourvenirs home.


One yellow leaf

Two pine cones

Three berries

Everytime when I look at them, I remember how I felt at the park.

I collected another happy memory.

A Letter for Christopher on His Birthday

You were born 9 years ago this day. Because of my medical problems, everyone, I mean the Doctors, my parents and even myself thought that I could not have any children. (Who would have thought that I would be able to have three!)

With lots and lots of prayers, the support of family and friends, and advances in medicine, I was able to carry you for nine months. The C-section went well too! All I can say is you are my miracle.

You brought me so much joy, and made me realize that there is a very special love that I will hold for the rest of my life for each of my children. It also taught me how much our Heavenly Father loves us...

The last 9 years went so fast! I still can picture you as an infant in the hospital bed, snuggly wrapped. Where did the time go! I try not to let the days go by without telling you how much I love you and how proud I am of you. I try to be a fun mom and spend more time with you. Well... you know, I am the perfect example of an imperfect human being, I fall short sometimes.

I just want you to remember, I will always love you, no matter what. I also want to say thank you for coming into our family. I will always be grateful for that.

You are definately not a little kid anymore, I can see that you are slowly entering a different phase of life. Growing up. Trying to figure out who you are and who you want to become. Stay close to God, Mommy and Daddy will always be here when you need us.

Find the things makes you happy just like I love creating. That will enrich your life so much. Enjoy each and everyday... and be happy!

I am so thankful that you are my child and I have the privilage of watching you grow.

Happy Birthday Buddy, my little miracle.

Love,

Mom

Fourteen Years and Counting --Recap--

The last weekend my sweet husband took me on an anniversary get away. Needless to say I had a wonderful time!! He reserved a nice hotel in downtown for two nights. The first night we ate at my favorite restaurant, "Takashi".



I was so happy and couldn't stop smiling...



While we were waiting for our sushi, I looked outside. I love old buildings with architectural details. The sky, the building and the tree made such a pretty sight.



Then, our food came...



Oh, they were so good! The rest of the weekend, we went to see a movie, did some shopping and talked to each other A LOT without interruptions! It was so fun and relaxing. Eventhough I missed the children, I had hard time leaving the hotel.

There is a one thing that I didn't like about the "nice hotel" though... we thought that it will be nice to order breakfast in bed, so we looked at the menu. One bowl of cereal cost SEVEN DOLLARS!! Wow! I quickly got up and got myself ready to go out to get something to eat. The week before, I went grocery shopping with my friend and bought 10 boxes of cereal; with a special deal and coupons, I only paid 88cents a box. (usually, one box of cereal will have 10-14 servings). I don't think I could digest the 7 dollar bowl of cereal very well. Who knows, if I become a famous blogger someday, I might consider it... Nah!

I am so grateful for my in-laws for taking care of the children this weekend. I am such a lucky girl to have a husband like mine, who loves me enough to take the time to do this. I don't think I will complain if we do this next year too! (hint, hint honey :) )