Brood of Vipers

Mission Conference speaker asked us, "If Jesus comes back tomorrow, will He stop by and visit our church?  No... Jesus will go to where the sinners and sick... and neglected are."

My thoughts:

Jesus will surely come to our church.  Not only did Jesus spend time with sinners and the needy.. he certainly spent time reprimanding the Scribes, the Pharisees, the church leaders.  Those who grew up in a church... who knows the scripture well... who are outwardly Christians.  Hurtfully, I think we're the modern day hypocrites... we're the modern day brood of vipers.  

"Will Jesus stop by and visit our church?"  Yes.... but for the wrong reasons.

Money in your Pockets - Part II (Free is not always good)

A new series on this blog called "Money in your Pockets" where I give financial advice.  Not because I'm qualified, nor I'm an expert, nor am I correct in my assumptions. Just random thoughts I heard people share or ideas I came up with...

The best things in life are free... except when it costs something.
A particular wholesale warehouse has a very good service where they offer lifetime warranty on tires... but only if you schedule periodic rotation and balance.  The service is free... which is great!! Except... I've been sitting here at the warehouse for the past two hours.  Why?? Cuz the service is not just free for me... but free for all other members.  Pay the $25 and get it done in 10 minutes at a local tire shop.  

New car

Bought our third car as a married couple.  Once again, we stayed with what we know best, a Honda.

I really wanted a Subaru Outback.  It's sleek, it's nice, it's safe, it's what you see EVERYWHERE you go.  Which means, the whole world is buying it.  So it's gotta be nice.

But in the end, it came down to principles and my cheapness.  I walked out of a dealer this morning... to get a bunch of texts and phone calls.  But ended up spending $5000 less on a barebone CR-V vs an Outback that's almost fully loaded.

For the first time... I drove a new car off the driveway.  Only to find out, when I got home, there is a broken bracket on the floor of the trunk.  Ugh.....

Going through buyer's remorse right now.

When a vacation, is not a vacation...

After a week of being on the East Coast... it's so nice to be home, even if I'm coming home to 100+ degree weather. We were dreading, almost regretting booking this trip.

The top 5 and bottom 5 of this trip.

5 reasons I will never go back to NYC:

1. Traffic - we rented a car to drive from NYC to DC and back.  Traffic was sooooo frustrating.  It really makes Bay Area traffic look like a walk in the park.
2. That one Lyft driver - for the most part, Uber and Lyft did their job.  But that one driver who took us to the airport on our way home.  He stopped for gas. He charged us for that time.  He never drove more than 55 mph.  Even the big rigs were passing us.  He really milked his $92.  
3. Momofuku - supposedly one of the best restaurants in DC.  After much anticipation... I can only describe the experience as OVERRATED.  Sorry.
4. Packing - there's an art and science to packing your bags.  Some people have it, some people don't.  I'll leave it at that.
5. B of A - we waited over 2 hours to get my name taken off of big bro's joint account.  And it nearly didn't happen cuz of a bunch of imbeciles

I try not to get bogged down by the negatives... here's some positives:

1. Seeing the Statue of Liberty with my family and dad.... last time I went on a vacation with dad was almost 10 years ago.  This was something special.  What made it more special.... dad went to Sunday Service with us.  Amazing....
2. Family time.  Had a good 2 hours with big bro one night... chatting over a bear and whiskey. While we were waiting at B of A... found out the kids were getting along very well with Eason.  And I had some great one on one time with Clark.  Priceless...
3. The DC tour - Each of us had our moments.  NN loved the First Ladies Exhibit at the American History Museum.  SW stood in front of the National Boy Scout Memorial in his Cub Scout uniform and did a salute.  And as much as I revere the Supreme Court.  As much as I'm astonished by the US Capitol.  As much as I adore the Lincoln Memorial.  And as much as I opposed of the resident in the White House... being inside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave truly takes on a whole new meaning.  Touching... 
4. A hot date with an old friend - while the kids took a nice nap after two days of walking and jet lag... I was able to catch up with a dear friend of mine and had tea and scone.  Cherishing... 
5. Family time.  This one makes it on the list twice.  This trip wasn't a vacation... it was all about being with family.  We had a family dinner on Saturday night (the night we landed).  And one on Sunday night, where our cousins drove 2 hours to meet up with us.  Both nights... we talked, laughed, broke bread.... and fulfilled dad's dream of being all together, at the same time, same place, no hidden agendas... but to enjoy one another's company. 

It's nice to be home.  It's nice to have the technology to turn on our AC once the plane landed, so we come home to a cool house.  It's nice to return to SJCAC and worship with our family.  There's no place like home... 

Tale as old as time... song as old as rhyme...

Beauty and the Beast....

It's easily... bar-none... my favorite Disney animated feature.  Ranked higher than any Pixar films, even....

Watched the Live Action version of Beauty and the Beast this week and................#$@*&^!%&!

One of the worst movies EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lip-syncing, horrible acting, lousy camera-work, incomprehensible screenplay.... YES... the script is based exactly on the cartoon... but the live-action bombs.  Keep it as a cartoon!!  Two people can't fall in love in two days.  Emma Watson is speaking with a British accent........... in France!!!  The "animated" servants was horridly disgusting.  And none of the songs were catchy...

Ugh.... glad I didn't rush to the theaters to watch it.  And now I regret even watching it.

Iger, please don't ruin anymore of my childhood classics... please.

Money in your Pockets - Pt 1

A new series on this blog called "Money in your Pockets" where I give financial advice.  Not because I'm qualified, nor I'm an expert, nor am I correct in my assumptions. Just random thoughts I heard people share or ideas I came up with...

Some people say the best way to save money is to skip that daily Starbucks guilty pleasure.  Seriously???? $5/day ($25 a week / $100 a month / $500 $1200 a year) won't save you jack!  So if you feel like ordering a Venti Iced Skinny Hazelnut Macchiato, Sugar-Free Syrup, Extra Shot, Light Ice, No Whip...with a drizzle of caramel then you're entitled to it! 

My daughter

每晚，兩個乖乖都要我講故仔先肯瞓。 有時我都會搵藉口skip一兩次。

前晚我諗到個天衣無縫嘅計仔，故事兩個主各要解開一條數學題，才能過關。

試題是來自「射鵰」的尋找一燈那一段。郭靖黃蓉在尋找一燈大師求醫時，偶遇神算子瑛姑。 瑛姑為了救周伯通苦綀奇門遁甲之術。但苦讀多年仍未能解答這條問題。 而小諸葛黃蓉不費吹灰之力就可以將一至九、打橫、打直、打斜，係九方格都可以加成15 。

我家的不是小諸葛，是小囡囡。 她用了短短十分鐘就計得出。 

原本我想放自己一兩晚假，唔使講故仔。點知....

It's tough....

Ask me what my favorite bible verse is.... and 9 out of 10 times, I will say 1 Cor 10:13:

And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

We have some family and family friends who are raising kids that have development issues.  Their kids are loud, obnoxious, insolent, down-right spoiled.....!!  I try not to... but I look at them and my first instinct is to judge the parents.

My second thoughts are.... I probably can not do any better as a parent.  I'm not a good parent... I was blessed with greatkids.  It's the great parents (the GREAT ones) that God has chosen to raise the children with special needs.

God bless those parents.  Lord knows they need all the grace and mercy.

P.S. - I love my kids.....

Like Christmas morning...

In Chinese School today, the kids each got a spinster toy - the $2 toy that was a craze about 4 months ago. Almost every kid in school had it... and being the cheap, frugal parents we are, the kids didn't even bother asking us to buy it for them, cuz they knew we'd say "No."

But when I picked them up... boy were they happy. All they wanted to do was go home and play with it... aka spin it on their finger. SW even went down to say, "This is my favorite toy! I've always wanted this."

Gotta ask myself.... why don't I spend that $2 to make them happy? Why make them go through this long wait... where they MIGHT get a gift they've always wanted?? What kind of parent am I?

VBS

Served in multiple VBS's over the years.  This was the first year we sent the kids to a VBS at a local church.  Was actually really touched at the closing ceremony, seeing the happy faces on all the children and the amount of volunteers that made this happen.  They learned so many bible verses, so many songs and had so much fun doing it. All glory to God!

New Car

It's been almost 6 weeks since my accident... and almost a month since my car was considered totaled. And I still haven't found a replacement car yet.

Oh the toils and agony of buying a new car.  The rub of all this is... summer is when the 2018 cars come out, so I'm stuck in purgatory waiting for the new cars to roll of the conveyor belt, while I'm paying out of my own pocket for a fricken rental!!   To top it all off.... I'm actually beginning to like this rental and want to call it my own. Go figure.