YB SAYS

 It takes a lot to be an optimist living when your life is threatened by Kim Jung Eun regime in North Korea. It takes a lot to be a pessimist in the first world. If you must learn how to be a pessimist in the first world, I have someone who can help you along with that skill - my dear hubby JD. He is quite good at it.

To prove my point,  here is the phone conversation between me and my Father in Law ( FIL)--

ME: I have a prayer request. We need a lot of prayers. (because JD got a new job and we need to negotiate the salary and we have a lot of (good) decisions to make).

FIL(father in law): I know. It's TOUGH to be where you are- JD is very exhausted. And, for you, it's not easy to watch your kids all the time at home.

ME: Excuse me? You know he got a new job offer and he just needs to negotiate his salary, right?
 (Did I say he's about to be unemployed?, our house burn down last night?)

FIL: Yes, JD called last night and we prayed together. He sounded very tired... It's very tough to be where he is.

ME: Well, but did you know that he got a raise from E***? Did he tell you that He'll be getting $150 more per game than before?

FIL: Umm... No...?

Me: Did you know that he's going to start doing the baseball and soccer games over the summer ( as opposed to NO GAMES a.k.a. no income during the summer last year).

FIL: No...?

ME: Did he tell you that he started getting more games from that ( glorious) N** and E*** comparing to he never did and how he wish he would have during the previous years?

FIL: No..?

ME: Did you know that JD was invited to some kind of dinner for the crews and the recruiter ( or somebody there) REALLY  wants JD to show up at that dinner?

FIL: NO...?

ME: Well, He was, and JD really doesn't care for it.

FIL: Well, if the recruiter really wanted JD to be at the dinner, that's an HONORABLE thing. That's  great!

So, yes. needless to say, God's been very good to us. Though Obummer and this economy supposedly should make it much more difficult for every single American dad to bring home the bacon, our financial blessings have been much more abundant than ever under George Bush. And we all know JD is that "middle class, white, and male," who's clearly disqualified for minority benefits from the gov't.

I hear all kinds of horror stories from my friends, loss of job, the house, the debt, death of child, etc.  I can say that JD is awesome and I am awesome. Hence, we are doing beyond awesome. But, I know for fact that would be a straight up lie from the devil. For one, it's God who opens and closes the doors. God's given JD favors among the freelancer recruiters ( though JD doesn't know how to be everybody's BFF and hang tight with them at a bar ( like all the other freelancers do)).

For two, God has protected me from getting a lot of driving tickets ( like I used to). Yes, I used to get a lot of tickets for a different reasons. I can tell you that I am not the world's best driver in the world. And, my driving skill hasn't really improved all that much for the past year. It's still very much horrible. One of my girls from church told me that she can't explain why I haven't got into an accident or got a ticket this year after witnessing my awful driving skill a few weeks ago. She said, it must be the grace of God keeping me and my kids safe. I don't try to break the law or anything. Neither do I try to be absent minded. But, I just AM absent minded and forgetful ( more so than other people, I guess). No accidents, no cars hitting me or JD's truck, which would have costed us $500 upfront ( that is-even if it wasn't my fault). We would not have had the savings or the surpluses we have in our bank account for the past year, had we had to spend all that $$$ paying for my tickets ( those are very expensive in VA), insurance deductibles in case of the accidents, no major hospital bills, house repairs, nothing.

We have been able to ( well, I have been able to) eat out wherever and whenever I want; cook whatever I want and buy clothes we need. We can afford to eat grapes, yes, GRAPES, during this off season. We can afford to buy double chocolate fudge creamers and heath bar creamers whenever we want for our morning coffee. We started eating salmon and other fish often because....we can and they are healthy. I also have been able to buy any books I want without feeling major budget constrains ( PRAISE GOD!).

I remember when we lived in the Great Bridge Apartment. One day, JD was frightened because we spent 5 dollars at Dunkin Donuts and it somehow off-balanced our budget. Yes, $5, not $5000, $500, nor $50, not even $15.

I used to think that everybody grows up, get married, and have kids and owns a house, like they all have ( well most of them) ears, a mouth, eyes, a nose, and organs.

Currently, the lesson that God's been teaching me is that we are not entitled to anything. By anything, I mean, NOTHING, not-a-thing - Neither, growing up( the sound mind/maturity), a good marriage, kids nor the house is an entitlement. All of them are blessings. I am surrounded by friends who are grieving. One girl lost her 9 day old infant,  another one is getting divorced because her forever unfaithful husband decided to take off after having three kids together. One girl at our church cannot seem to conceive a child for 10 years of her marriage while all she's ever wanted in her life has always been becoming a stay at home mom.


JD and I've never struggled to get pregnant. We have a roof over our head. Our marriage isn't a fairy tale, but we have a fairly good marriage. JD hasn't lost his job. His career is somewhat thriving.

If I really want to complain about my life, I can say that I never get to sit around and watch TV eating Bon Bon all day. Supposedly, staying at home moms get to do that all day (according to what my BFF in D.C. heard). I haven't yet to find the time to do that since JD is working 7 days a week and I am left with two kids in the diapers with no help.


PS: I don't mean to embarrass my dear hubby. I just thought it was VERY ironic that his parents know  about everything that could possibly go wrong with our lives at this point but nothing about how God's been blessing us. :)

JD...ummmm, yeah

It appears we haven't updated our blog since the middle of December when I experienced crazy travel woes while trying to see the sis graduate.  That's not to say nothing has happened worth writing about, the time to write it is what evades us...sort of like trying to apply to a job without a reel or a resume because you don't have time to make either.

I started out last week directing the main show that featured a live musical performance by The Newsboys.  (As a side note, we went through some personnel issues at work a couple months ago where the director was sort of relieved, assistant director promoted and I was unofficially promoted.  Now I direct more often from time to time and I got to do music that day.)  The show was plagued by equipment problems that did not present themselves until 10 minutes to air (like always), were then fixed near the point of no return, remote site issues and a producer who decided to lay in to me because I wouldn't do what she wanted me to do because I was trying to keep the show from falling to pieces.  Apparently I'm unprofessional and hard to work with because I'm too intense.*

Tuesday I was out of town freelancing when I conveniently decided to have "one of those days".

Wednesday morning I was back in the director's chair.  Wednesday afternoon was when things got interesting.

I had been booked on a show in Baltimore for the next day, Thursday, since late October of 2013.  I had arranged my travel and was all set to take the train up Thursday morning, with a return flight Friday morning.  Then I got a phone call from one of the booking people about an unrelated matter.  Through the ensuing conversation I found out the game I was booked on was not in Baltimore, but in Boston, and heard a curious question of who booked me on it.  In all honesty, my confirmation email listed the correct location for the event.  Sometime between October and early February my calendar changed from Boston to Baltimore.  Still, one word came to mind; crap.  *looks at watch*  It's 3pm.  In the next hour I canceled my train, altered my return flight home Friday morning to a departing flight Wednesday night at 8pm and altered my rental car reservation to Boston.  I lost the deposit on my hotel room, reserved another in Boston.

At 4pm I'm on my way home to pack and head back out to airport.  I called the crewer who booked me, asking for the address of the venue since I have not been there before.  She did not have one and did not have have paperwork to send me, but said the VP had it and she would have him send it to me.  She also wondered who booked me on the event.  Same question, two different people, one of which should know the answer.  I'm running around trying to get to Boston so I don't press the issue, but the question plagued me the rest of the night.

My flight departed at 8:10pm.  We were about to board at 7:45 when my phone dinged with the emailed paperwork.  I perused it and notice another TD's name on the crew list.  Also not out of the question for this particular client to make mistakes on crew sheets.  Since there was no time to call someone and ask my question I boarded the flight.  About midnight I got to my hotel room and passed out.

The next morning was nice.  YB called me, we talked, I got a haircut and walked over to the venue to get set up.  I arrived early as usual.  Neither the engineer nor his assistant are sure I was supposed to be there.  But I'm there so I start setting up.  Half an hour goes by and the director walks in, making a remark that I'm not who he thought would be there.  I tell him the story until that moment, he tells me I might have a free day off.

Half an hour later I have a free day off.  A brain-fried TD, two crewers and a VP who takes charge of remote site booking through third party crewers did not put two and two together, that I was headed to a place I should not have been going to.

I spent the rest of Thursday trying to get home.  All of Friday trying to recover from the past week.

Saturday (yesterday) I was out of town for another game but only 45 minutes away so it wasn't truly out of town.  Yesterday was the first time I'd been to church since September I think (even then I was over an hour late getting there).  It will probably be the last time till sometime in April.  Even though I'm at work everyday this week it'll feel like a vacation because I'm not headed out until Friday night maybe, Saturday night definitely.  So while that's a good thing it doesn't take away that my mind is mush and patience feels thin.  YB and JD are tired.  This has been a very, very long winter.  Two scriptures come to mind.  The first is from Proverbs 24:10 which I had a big problem with until I (just now in fact) read it from the NASB:

If you falter in a time of trouble,

    how small is your strength!

The second, from Luke 18:1-8 (NASB), is something I've been thinking about for a while now because I just don't understand why there are some things God does not bring about unless we continually ask.  It just doesn't make sense to me.  Anyway, I don't have anything else to say or remarks to make so here's that passage:

Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, 2 saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. 3 There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘[a]Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4 For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will [b]give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will [c]wear me out.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; 7 now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, [d]and will He delay long over them? 8 I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [e]faith on the earth?

* I won't moderate the comment section if you want to post something but because of the semi-anonymity YB and I would like to keep on this blog, I will moderate/modify comments that are too close to the chest when it comes to my work stories.