San Jose Memorial Service - Arrival

It was hard to fathom having my dad’s memorial service at HP Pavilion... aka the San Jose Arena... aka the Shark Tank.  The thought of it was overwhelming for me in so many ways.  Since I was putting this event together, I had to look at it from a production stand point...and I was totally overwhelmed.  

We planned to have the service at church.  How would we make the huge Shark Tank intimate?  How could we create an atmosphere that was warm and personal?  And how could we do it in a week!?!?!?

Jumbo tron outside the HP Pavilion

I was so afraid the Pavilion staff would say to me, “Okay, we will unlock the doors for you, and then you’re on your own.  Good luck.”  

Well, thank the Lord, that scenario couldn’t have been further from what happened.  Mr. Jamison, Mr. Hamnett, and the HP Pavilion staff blew us away.  I cried through our first meeting. They made their team available to us and provided us with everything we could’ve hoped for.  

Then, I called on my ‘A team.’  Boy, I have the most amazing friends....

Saturday June 19, 2010  11:00am

Our friend, Craig, had an awesome idea to include former and current football players in the service.  

The HP Pavilion has two entrances, and Craig lined up the players outside the doors – flanking both entrances.  

  

When we arrived we drove by both entrances and it was really special to see all the players lined up.  

 

People begin to enter the Pavilion

On arriving, we gathered in the green room to worship and pray before the service.

 

Mom with Brent, Coach Cattolico, and Judy

With my brother, Kale, and my niece, Noe

Coach Mariucci greets Craig

The amazing vocalists and musicians who came to help me

Tim Abbott, Annabel Blanchard, Karyn Harline, Diane & Bill Allison,
Jeanie Nuia, Mark Kenoly

Amy is the director of Family & Kids/ Early Childhood at our church.  She contacted me early on with specific ways that they could help our family.  We were deeply grateful for this gesture.  The support from our church was invaluable.   They didn't say 'call us if you need anything.'  They said, 'Here are some specific areas we can help with.'  One of those areas was with our kiddos.  On this day, Amy showed up early to the house to help with the little ones.

Our dear friend, Suzanne, flew in from Hawaii. 

Kale and Noe (18m)

Mom with Kili (3)

Ti leaf leis made by the lovely ladies from New Hope Church in Hawaii
who flew in  to dance at the service

Michael Nouri

Pastor Mike Kiley leads us in prayer

Kale and Coach Mariucci

The Andrys

As you go through these photos you will see the dark circles under my eyes.  I hadn't slept in 2 weeks.  Every moment was spent pulling all the details together for this service.  I didn't have time to think about other things, like what we were all going to wear.  Friends just showed up to help...and they were an incredible help.

Thank you to Auntie Judy who provided all of the wonderful matching Hawaiian outfits for our children (among many many other clothes, gifts and goodies she brought.)  And thank you to Nadine who provided shoes for all of our children!  This is an example of how friends appeared and helped us in so many ways we couldn't have imagined.

I'll do a separate post just on all the ways people were there for us.  It may help you in figuring out how to be there for others when they are in a similar situation.  I know it will help us to be able to be a blessing to others in the future.

Many have contacted us asking for a copy of the Memorial service.  We don’t know what we are going to do about that yet.  I don’t know if we will make physical copies available, or if we will just post it  online.  Will keep you posted...

Our Newest Addition

 This time our newest addition has four legs and a tail.  I’m not quite sure how this happened.  Keith has been talking about getting a puppy for quite some time, but so much has been going on in our lives... and I was not up for training a puppy.  I trained our lab mix, Maile, who is now about 11 years old.  The dog training school was expensive, but so valuable.  In no time she was trained to obey and heel while off leash. If only it was that quick and easy training children!

One day we were looking on the Pet Finder website just for fun.  Wow – there are lots and lots of dogs needing homes.  We found this guy – and he was not far from us.  He’d been rescued as a pup and is now about 5 months old.   Keith made plans to see him the next day.  We took the kids and visited a nice family who is a ‘foster home’ for rescued dogs.  They also had some little puppies – who were very tempting!!  If we were living on some acreage we would’ve gone home with at least two dogs.  

We had to ‘focus’ - and we definitely made the right choice.  We named him Gideon, although everyone had different ideas for names, so for the first couple of days he was called all kinds of things...Chip, Micah, Mordecai (Kapena’s choice.)  

Gideon has a wonderful demeanor, and has slowly won over Maile – the resident old lady.  He is still considered a puppy, but he is just old enough that we could read his personality.  He is great with the kids, he is already protective of them and our home, he is affectionate and friendly and is attaching to us very well.  Honestly, we didn’t give my mom much warning...about this new addition...but thankfully, Gideon won over Nani too!  

This pup has brought a welcome level of energy, curiosity, and newness into our lives. He and Kawika are the two 'littlest boys' in the house, and those two have become fast friends.  

Kawika crawls on the floor and Gideon licks him to pieces while Kawika laughs and giggles.  It will be fun to watch them grow up together.  

This new addition is a blessing!

We could just...be

It has now been more than two months since my dad went to be with the Lord.

That morning , everything seemed to stop for a moment.  Nothing else was important, or needed to be attended to.

We could just...be.

Be quiet.

Be sad.

Be reflective.

Be tired.

I am so grateful for our nurses that were there with my mom, my brother, and I that morning.  I call them ‘nurses’ here, because that is how they initially came into our lives.  They knew my dad pretty well, as they were his caregivers.  These ladies are not just ‘nurses’ to our family.  They are friends... sisters in Christ... ‘Aunties’ to my children.  They are part of our family.

On my dad’s last day with us, a few of our nurses got the word (or the ‘text’ I should say), and came in at the wee hours of the morning. For those early morning hours at his bedside in the hospital we prayed... we wept... we sang... and we laughed as we shared memories and stories my dad so would’ve enjoyed.

Finally, we slowly started to gather my dad’s things...

took down all the pictures we had plastered all over the walls...

tucked away the bible and books my mom had read to him...

packed up all the supplies we brought...

and slowly rolled out his empty wheelchair...

Quote of the day

Kapena (4) was chatting with my mom.
"Nani, is Grampa in heaven.......with Jesus?'
My mom assures Kapena that Grampa is in heaven.
pause.......pause........"When does he get out?"