Job update

It has been a while since I've posted anything on the blog. One of my friends was talking to me the other day about the same thing - he hadn't posted anything recently either. His reasoning was that he didn't have any pictures to show and so he didn't feel he had anything worth sharing. Although I had never thought about it that way, I think I feel the same way. Work has been so slow that I rarely take out my camera anymore. This kind of carries over to our social life as well. I haven't shot much of anything of late.

I guess the biggest thing to happen recently just went down in the last two days. I had an interview with Sony on Thursday morning and was offered a position with them yesterday afternoon. I also got a callback on a resume I sent in to another company requesting an interview. I am 95% sure I'll take the Sony job, but I'm planning on doing the other interview for practice and to see what else is out there and keep some options open.

I don't have a lot of time to write about it right now, and quite frankly, the actual nuts and bolts of the Sony position are a little vague to me, so I will write in more detail about it later. It is a contract job and will only last one year, but it seems interesting, and I think I will really appreciate the experience and the opportunity to network with a major company while on the inside of that organization. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been praying for us. It has been a long time that I've been trying to find substantial consistent work. It's nice to know that the mortgage will be covered. I went into the interview thinking that God knows our need, and that if the job is right for me, it will work out. I had a real sense of peace about it either way, and I'm grateful for that.

Some other highlights of the last two weeks:

- we got free tickets to see a production of "The Music Man." - community theater quality, but fun
- I went to see Coldplay in LA - crummy seats, but good concert
- Our modem and router died and we discovered how completely dependent we are on high speed internet - not fun
- We got to visit with Wendy Rodriguez and her kids and Wendy's parents for an evening. Craig couldn't make the trip from Phoenix because of work - always a great visit
- Jenetta did a big wedding trade show last week - fingers crossed!
- I got a random job at a community center flipping burgers over the grill last Saturday for a huge neighborhood party - hot and greasy!
- I'm currently working on a commercial project for a car manufacturer where we interview people who recently bought a new vehicle. - good money, good people, fun project!
- We got free tickets to the new batman movie - too many teenagers - we'd rather watch movies from home (wow I'm sounding old...)
- Our social worker asked us to consider taking three children (3 siblings), but we know our limitations (if kids outnumber us, we're in big trouble) - kind of sad, but best for our family, and in the end, best for these children.

So that's pretty much it from our end. I'll post more about the job when I know it.

Outdoor performances this weekend

We attended two interesting events this weekend. Last night, we went to San Elijo Park which is just down the hill from where my Aunt Barb and Uncle Harold live. We went to a free performance of Macbeth done outside. It was a nice date. The play isn't one of my favorites. Macbeth is just such a weenie. He has to practically have his hand held before he does anything, and then he falls apart because of the consequences. Grow a spine, Thane! Anyway, the performances were OK for the most part, and it was nice to hang out in a park and watch a show for free. Jenetta's mom, Joy, and her friend CJ were there as well. They both returned tonight to see the same company put on The Taming of the Shrew, which I probably would have enjoyed a lot more.


Then tonight, we were invited by Cris and Alana (our cousins-in-law) to go down to the main park in Coronado and listen to a free concert. Coronado puts on a free event at the gazebo every Sunday night in the summer. Tonight featured a group of singers from Lamb's Players singing a variety of pop songs and show tunes. We enjoyed just hanging out with the people enjoying their picnic dinners and wine. We met two families who were also invited by our cousins, and it was a lot of fun getting to know them and sharing their goodies! We even bumped into Robbie's parents afterwards. The whole thing just seemed really small-town, middle-America-like. I would definitely go again.

I hope you all had a great weekend as well!

Our kitchen

I made a really, really, really big mess today.

What's up?

My mom and dad are in Poland, and they said they are checking our blogs everyday to see what is happening back home. I haven't posted for a while, and although nothing too out of the ordinary has occurred since then, I thought that for their sake, I'd write about what has been going on.

At work, three people have recently left or moved to other positions. Two of them are extremely competent people who have been with the real estate division since the beginning. The third has been there for over two years and had also grown into an excellent resource. When I heard this was happening, I pretty much knew that my time with them was coming to an end. The majority demographic of our clientèle is 50+ year-old women. Most of them don't handle change very well, and few of them are technologically savvy. They have outstanding people skills and they are drawn to vendors with the same ethic. They are used to hearing a familiar voice on the other end of the phone telling them that it will be taken care of.

To further compound the problem, the person who was "hired" to replace our main customer service person was actually just moved from another department and will be returning when a permanent hire is found. This means that a recent trainee will train a new person - effectively wiping out years of good customer service relationships. And, this person still is working in the other department, so the response time to communication has been severely affected.

This week has been awful on the work front. On Mon-Wed, I did the amount of work that I used to do in one single day. I have no jobs today or tomorrow. It is very depressing to think about because I really enjoy what I do, and in the past, it provided for us very well.

So, rather than sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I have tried to be more productive in other ways this week. I went surfing with my friend David three times this week. We are planning on going again tomorrow. We both have skin rashes from the salt water. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with him. He's a great friend, and he is a lot of fun just to be around. He is one of those people who can find the joy and the wonder in just about anything, and I really admire that trait in him. Simple things like a good bagel or a good cup of coffee or a nice left that you expected to close out but didn't bring a huge smile to his face, and his spirit is infectious. I sort of felt like I was a kid out of school in the summertime as it is not often that I hang out with the same friend three days in a row. That was pretty cool.

I have been applying for jobs like crazy, and I've decided I need to get more organized about that. I've gotten some responses back from companies, and I can't remember what type of job I applied for since there are 4 distinct positions that I feel qualified for. (4 different resumes - countless different cover letters.) I think printing out each job I apply for and writing some notes on it will help with that. I'm going to a job fair down in the city next week. I'm hoping that since it is hosted by Monster.com and is being held in San Diego, that it will be more productive than the small one I went to last week up here in Escondido. Jenetta found a book for me to read, and I think it will help a lot. She feels like it was written directly to me. Here is a link to the book and reviews on Amazon, and here is a link to a google summary/partial content posting.
Hopefully reading this will help.

Jenetta and I went on a great hike last night before sunset. I enjoyed it more than she did because part of the hike had some really steep hills. But it was nice to hang with her and talk about things together.

In a few minutes, I am going to have lunch with my friend Geoff. He is the youth pastor at our church, and we meet together to pray regularly. He is the guest preacher this week while our main pastor is on sabbatical. It will be interesting to get a sneak peak into his thoughts for Sunday, and I always enjoy hearing about his life and encouraging him in the challenges he faces. There's nothing like focusing on others to get over whining about yourself!

There is kind of a recurring theme or conversation that goes on in my head sometimes many times a day. When I look at the calendar and the bank account, I start to freak out about what we are facing. We usually are able to save in the summer for the lean winter times, but now we are earning less than we need to get by at this time. Without significant changes, the winter will be terrible. I don't see how we can keep the house. I don't see how we can keep up with bills and mounting debt. It is so awful and menacing that I could just sit in the corner and cry about it and not do anything.

Or, I can reflect on Matthew 6:25-34. I can think about the fact that God knows what we are facing. I can remember the times He provided for us in the past. I can meditate on the truth that He is my Father and He loves us. I can then use that lens to look at today and tomorrow (or through the end of the week for that matter!) We have enough for today. We won't starve or lose the home today. Instead of focusing on what I don't have (namely gainful employment), I can focus on what I have been given. I have lots of time, and I have ears to listen and a heart that cares about other people. I'm going to kiss Jenetta goodbye and then go spend time with Geoff.

Fourth of July

We had a pretty neat experience last night. Jenetta is shooting a wedding today down at Humphrey's by the Bay for a really great couple, Adam and Jasmine. We got to know them a little bit at their engagement photo session done at UCSD. You can see some of their photos from them here and here.

They are a great couple, and we enjoyed our time with them. They were kind enough to invite us to their rehearsal dinner which was held at the Bali Hai on Shelter Island in San Diego Bay. The food and the company was very nice, and we were rewarded with about the best place to watch fireworks I could imagine. We didn't bring any cameras, but here is a photo of the event from last year. It will give you an idea of what I mean.


They launch the fireworks from these 5 barges in the bay, and we were really close to the most northern barge near Shelter Island. You could smell the gunpowder and the explosions were accompanied by hundreds of car alarms going off in the parking lots. We could actually see two other displays as well - one from Coronado, and one from Sea World. They weren't doing the exact same thing as the barges, but basically the whole sky was filled with color. It was hard to know where to look!

Probably the coolest thing was that when the fireworks started, we moved closer to the launch point on the other side of the restaurant, and we were next to a family with a young kid who exclaimed "Did you see that one?" after almost every one! We thought that was pretty cool, and we wondered if we would have someone to share fireworks with next year.

After the finale, the reserved parking that Adam and Jasmine secured for their guests really came in handy. We were among the first 20 or so cars to get off of Shelter Island. I'm sure the traffic jam lasted for an hour or more behind us.

Jenetta leaves in about an hour for the wedding. It was nice to be included as friends and not as workers last night.

In honor of Canada Day

I thought this was pretty funny.

Latest on the adoption thing

This week we had an emotionally draining experience. We got a call on Wednesday to consider adopting a 10-year old girl. We had a lot of reservations about this because our target age is 3-6, and ideally, we would like some time with the kid or kids before they start school. But we were picked as a really compatible match for this girl, and we decided to find out more information.

On Thursday we attended a "telling." This was a 2+ hr exhausting meeting where we went over case history, psychological profiles, family history, medical information, and just about everything that CPS has about this girl. It was very sad to hear all the awful things that has happened to her in her young life. We went into the meeting looking for red flags - things that would tell us that she would not be a good match for us. To our surprise, we didn't find much. We thought that maybe this would be a good possibility for us. It was definitely outside of what we were thinking we wanted, but we were open to at least find out more.

Thursday night was about the most restless night we have ever had. I doubt I got more than 2 hours of sleep. This wasn't because I was concerned about this girl - it was just that my mind was racing about the possibilities, the challenges, the changes, the doubts about myself. (I'm sure those of you who are parents can relate to these kinds of nights). Jenetta was sick to her stomach most of the night, and she really didn't eat anything that should have bothered her, so we are convinced that was due to stress.

Friday was spent calling friends and family, thinking about the future, inquiring about logistical things like enrollment in school, and a host of other things that were on our minds. We were told to call the foster parents where this girl is currently living. So Jenetta did that on Friday afternoon, and after a lengthy conversation with the foster mom, Jenetta hangs up and tells me "I don't think she is a match for us."

I am really not comfortable going into the reasons for this on the internet. But suffice it to say, there were several concerns, and they were very serious concerns for us. And we feel very strongly that if she were to meet us, she would not think we were a good match for her.

So, we are going to pass on this opportunity. We were supposed to meet her tomorrow, but we are not going to pursue that. It has been sad, and we are definitely sad for this girl. She has been through a lot, and I hope she finds a good home.

We feel very strongly that since there are so many kids available for adoption, we can't just pick them all. We need to pick the one (or ones) who will really be a good fit for our family, and the ones that we feel we are drawn toward.

So, this was a very tiring experience. But we are learning to ask better questions, and we are learning to ask these questions to several people who interact with the children. The more perspectives we get, the clearer the picture becomes. We are also convinced that our social worker has our best interests in mind and is doing a really good job for us. She told us about this opportunity but was extremely careful to state to us that we should not feel bad if it didn't feel like a good match to us. We were picked by the social worker for this girl, and our case worker went along with it. I think our social worker had her reservations from the beginning.

So that was our crazy weekend. After church today, I went surfing and hung out at the beach and had a bbq with friends from our home group. Taking a nap under the beach umbrella helps a lot! :)

Death Cab for Cutie

For a birthday present, my friend David got us tickets to see Death Cab for Cutie up in LA. This is David:


They played in SD on Friday, but he was out of town this weekend, so we went to the LA show instead. I enjoyed the concert, but it was unlike any I had ever been to. They played a lot of songs from their albums before Transatlanticism which came out in 2003. There had to be 4 or 5 songs I had never heard before. It was interesting, and I liked being exposed to songs that were new to me, but I got the feeling that it was sort of off-putting for the audience. It created a weird energy especially when there was a section where they played three older songs in a row. I looked around and people were listening politely, but you could tell it wasn't what they expected. Close to the end of the first set, things started to click in and the energy picked up as they stuck to their more recent songs. Overall it was a cool concert, and I'd definitely see them again.

I brought a little point-and-shoot camera and goofed around with some shots. I'd made me wish I had brought the pro equipment and had a pit pass. It would have been fun to shoot. Sadly, none of the more creative ones I attempted (ones with more dramatic lighting, closeups, etc.) turned out with the camera I brought.

Movie recommendation

Maybe it is because we have children on the brain...

But we really enjoyed the film, La Misma Luna (or in English, Under the Same Moon). We found it to be a moving story seasoned with humor and love. I especially enjoyed the director's decision of how she ended the movie with a witty last shot. But the overall story line, while predictable, was touching throughout.

Briefly, it is the story of a 9 year old boy, Carlitos, who decides to leave his village in Mexico and travel through Ciudad Juarez and cross into El Paso on his way to attempt to find his mother who is working in LA.

At the very least, it opened our eyes a bit about the situations many of our neighbors have faced or are currently facing as they try to make it in So. Cal. Antonio, a guy who works for our landscaper, helped me out on some of the projects we completed while building the addition, and I have gotten to know him a bit over the years. He has three children in Mexico, and he gets home to see them only once or twice a year. I can't even imagine how tough that has to be.

Anyway, we enjoyed the film, and if you are looking for something to rent, check it out!

Saying Goodbye (for now)

We had a sad day yesterday saying goodbye to some friends in our homegroup. They are on their way and are probably somewhere around Yuma right now. Capt. Brandon Barnett is being deployed to Iraq, and his wife Crystal, and their son Austin, are moving back to Texas to be with family during the deployment. We helped to put their stuff in storage and clean their apartment. They are good people, and we will miss them.

These photos were ripped off, by the way, from their blog, which you can visit here:
We are going to be checking it a lot to see what they are up to.

Brandon has been told that he will be assigned back to MCAS Miramar when his tour is completed. So we look forward to their safe return soon!

Kitchen progress

We have made more progress on our kitchen. I still have to stain and install the brackets and put the countertop on and install our hanging pendant lights, but it is coming together now. I had my breakfast and read the paper on our barstools this morning :)

Jeremy's Birthday Party

Last night, a bunch of us got together at Miguel's down in Coronado to celebrate Jeremy's birthday. Shelley pulled off a surprise as we were all gathered at the table waiting when they arrived. We had a really fun time!

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Mud Run

Well, I did it!!!

I wasn't sure if I would try the Mud Run because I still have blisters on my right foot from last weekend, but I ran some on Thursday and although it felt uncomfortable, it wasn't painful, so I decided to go for it.

Robbie and Jeremy were awesome friends today.  They got up super early to go to Camp Pendleton with me and cheer me on.

It was tough, and I need to do a lot more training on hills because I was not prepared for that many steep hills.  But the hardest part was running with shoes filled with beach sand and water.  After the pond crossing (nearly to my shoulders deep in the middle), I finally gave up on the inserts in my shoe - it had worked its way all the way up my ankle.  I would definitely do it again next year.  Who's with me?

Adoption Picnic Update

Just over a month has passed since we attended the adoption event down in the city, and we finally got some communication back about it yesterday. As you may know, we requested to be considered for three different options: a five-year old-girl, a six-year-old, or two sisters aged four and five. Well, we received word that the first girl is being placed with a relative who has come into the picture, the second is being adopted by her elementary school teacher, and the sisters were placed with another family.

So we continue to wait. But it was good to get clear communication about the requests we put in.

Plus it allows us more time to get the flooring finished :)

Roofing in Illinois

Last weekend, Joel and Emily flew me out to their place in Greenville, IL to help them re-roof their home. It was nice to finally be able to visit them and see their home and be introduced to Ella. I'll spare you the details on the roofing process. Suffice it to say that it was difficult, and the weather did not cooperate very well. But the task is finished and their home is now water-tight. I was experienced in roofing after doing my own a few years ago here, but roofing in So Cal in November is a lot different than the midwest in summer. I was glad to be able to lend my experience, and I was blown away by how hard Joel and his football guys got at it.

We finished early Sunday afternoon, so we had some time to celebrate my birthday and their anniversary with lots of phone calls, a pizza dinner, and yummy brownies. It was great to be clean and cool and enjoy the sunset out on the deck. Here are some photos from that evening.