A New Year, with the same old problems. As an update – after Christmas things improved with the visitors (my brother, his girlfriend and her son). I would say that the last two days they were around finally felt like some bonding was taking place. They stayed with the family until New Years Eve. At which point they went on their way. However due to limited space they left Cocoa with us until they could return to pick her up. She is pretty cute though. I think so at least. She likes to cuddle. This is likely the last night she will be with us before her owners pick her up. As you can see I am somewhat guilty of putting this post off for a matter of days. They picked her up on Thursday and departed for home on Friday. It is now …. Well I guess technically now it is the wee hours of Monday morning. Toldja I put it off. Today (Sunday) I took a trip and visited Rick Warrens church. It was big, but surprisingly not as big as Mariners Church. I’m talking about the auditorium size… the member size might be off but I didn’t look into that. The church itself was alright. I guess I was expecting to be ‘wowed’ from his church. I dunno. Still a good experience and I’d suggest going at least once if anyone will already be in the area. It been raining tonight. It always seems to make things better when it rains. What else… Well how about this: my random thought tonight in the shower was as follows. “I like that show, How It’s Made. It is pretty cool finding out how they make all of those things. Some things are a lot more intricate than first believed to be”. Then I paused and continued “but you know what would be really cool?” …. Wait for it… Yep… Here it comes! “How it’s made: The God Edition. Where you can find out how he makes the human heart beat, the mind think… Or maybe how he made a bird or perhaps even the universe! I bet that would be one of the top rated shows on TV!”. Who knows. The other night I was surfing through channels and came across a new show called “The Firm” and I have to admit.. Even though I caught the show mid stream I started getting into it. It has this guy who I know from a few movies and can’t think of his name. Yep, him. I guess I kept watching to see if it was a movie or show. So I finished it out and researched it online and found out that it’s a relatively new show. I watched the first two episodes that have aired and am now looking forward to this weeks twist on Thursday. Yep. It is a lawyer show that deals with morals and even throws in some action. It’s a good mix. If you have time and have a chance to watch it, let me know what you think. Typing on the iPad is one thing. But I am tired of hitting each virtual key with one finger. I am making a real effort now to type with both hands as I would on a physical keyboard. It is a little difficult a first, but I’m sure I will eventually get the hang of it. I don’t want to fall behind on the times… But wow. I mean these young whiffer snappers nowadays can run circles around me when it comes to techie stuff. Don’t believe me? I read an article today that talked about this 14 year old kid who was hacking a Microsoft game so well the company reached out to him and to paraphrase, is working with him so that he can contribute in a positive manner for them in a future position. Wow. I bet if that kid were me with my luck and my age they would’ve had me arrested. Haha Sports news? Well the Blazers have been losing and playing sub par. I say this because when you see how well they were playing when they started the season and look at them now, well it seems like two different teams. I don’t know what the deal is. They also seem to be lacking some fire and passion. Some d-fence wouldn’t hurt either. I hope they turn it around before the current six game road trip ends. I suppose that’s all I really have this time. Maryia comes back in two days, technically less than that now. Other than that I am still applying for some steady work and playing the waiting game. Until next time. just Pray

Hey

Let me start by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and the warmest blessings. This is my first post of 2012. Whew. It is pretty much surreal that we’re even in this year, despite my head spinning from everything else that is going on.

So, my title for this post is extraordinary measures. Medically this means taking every step to save a life. I believe I would want this done for me if I were in an accident. Let’s not get too far ahead before I even start! Ok starting over. I watched the most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy the other night and this topic came up. If you watch the show and missed the episode I won’t say much more than that. I know they have touched on this subject before but tonight in the shower I got to thinking. (I do some of my best and most random thinking while in the shower.)

Extraordinary. That seems like a lame word! When it’s broken down you are left with extra ordinary. Extra ordinary? That just makes you Oooo and ahhh. Right?

But when we dig a little deeper we see it defined as: 1. Very unusual or remarkable. 2. Unusually great. While by comparison the definition for ordinary states: 1. With no special or distinctive features; ordinary. 2. Uninteresting ; commonplace. It’s not so bad after reading what ordinary is defined as.

Where am I going with any of this? Well … I was thinking that God takes extraordinary measures. In everything He does & even in everything He Is. (think: how he communicates with us, his desires for our life and even the simple but undeserving task of saving us). It is all unthinkable.

Here is where my thought process went. I’ll preface this by saying I understand that there isn’t a clear cut answer, it is sometimes Yes, other times No.

Exactly how minute are the details? The old saying goes ‘the devil is in the details’ but when we magically randomly turn on the radio and Air1 or KLove is playing a song we need to hear… Is that Him? If so… is it also the case when we see a sign we are so desperately looking for? A prayer in secret to ask for some kind of tangible sign (whatever it may be). Hmm, well I think that sometimes we see things even when they aren’t there. It is hard to say what actually is… (speaking for myself at least).

If I dropped my wallet, missed my ride and ended up running late therefore missing a drunk driver on a specific road, is it chance? What about the person who ‘took’ my place? We wouldn’t ever know that it took place. I don’t know where I stand. Does every action I have have some eternal significance? Or is some of it just… Chance? That’s a whole different topic. I digress. There is a song about this particular idea. It’s as old as I am & I’ve listened to this song for as long as I can remember.

Click here for the YouTube video.

If anything, it might make you appreciate your guardian angel. Who likely is forgotten about most of the time. I had given mine a name when I was very little (no I don’t remember the name).. Hmmm

I guess that’s it… I didn’t have some deep theological question on my mind. Just some thoughts to pass on.

just Pray

I can’t believe it’s Christmas eve. It doesn’t even feel like it should be the Christmas season. Odd. Less this year than I can ever remember it feeling.

My brother is in town. He, his girlfriend and her 22 year old son. They traveled here from WA to spend a day with us before leaving to spend Christmas and New Years at his girlfriends moms house. They did however run into some car trouble as they pretty much broke down on I-5. I waited up for them as everyone else as fast asleep. Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse! It was nippy outside. Or at least I thought so.

They made it to the house but probably not any further without some costly repairs. So now they are … well stranded at our house until further notice. On Wednesday they are going to look into renting a car so that they can get where they need to be. They are going to AZ to help her mom move her things up to WA. So I guess the wait now is for the unemployment check.

Last time I was going to update saying that I had prescreened quite a few movies and that I was starting to feel like a movie guru. Haha. It is so easy to prescreen films out here. Much easier than it was in AZ or OR. Among the recent movies I have prescreened: Mission Impossible, War Horse, Sherlock Holmes and even Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I was actually at the world premier of Sherlock Holmes so I got to see some stars like Robert Downey Jr and Rachel McAdams. She is quite small but just as pretty. I must say, every one of those movies Rocked. I recommend them all.

We ate at Hard Rock cafe in Hollywood cuz of some killer 75% off coupons my mom found. The food was… a lot less than everyone expected. Think prices were sky-high and food quality very low. Anyway.. I was glad that for 5 of us it only cost 20 instead of the 100 it would have normally.

Hmmm so here is some randomness. On the way back from one of our prescreens we stopped at the Hollywood sign and ended up at this gorgeous spot overlooking the whole city. Griffith observatory. If you ever visit it is a must do… And totally free. Hmm what else? A picture, this one doesn’t do it justice… Alas here you go:

Here is a pic of one of the signs:

I am still job searching. The work I had remaining at ILS is now coming to a close quickly so a job sooner than later would be great. I just feel so dejected, so blah. I am not hearing back from anyone but I am thinking that is because of the holidays. I feel useless. But like that reliant K song, ‘I’m a little more than useless’ I’ll resume looking for work after the first of the year. All job sources are saying that employers are on a winter break kind of thing from posting and looking for jobs until after the first of the year. I suppose that’s better news than just.. No news at all? 🙂

A little later on tonight we are going to go to a Christmas eve service. It has a candlelight service at 9pm. Should be fun.

Tomorrow is Christmas. I feel out-of-place even in my on home this year. I don’t like it but then again I don’t know what to. I’d like to offer myself some suggestions. Haha maybe it will come to me later. It feels like things have changed with my brother. It is weird. I don’t know how to explain it. Ah well.. what can you do?

That’s all I have for now. This might just be my last post for the year! Who knows.

Happy Birthday Sabrina.

Happy Holidays, Happy Christmas, Seasons Greetings.. Merry Christmas.

just Pray.