Year two without Mom

It's been two years since my mom went home to be with the Lord. I decided that every year I would write a little something about her for those of you who didn't have the pressure of meeting such an amazing woman who had to endure raising me (that was the least of her problems, if you could imagine).

My mom lived one of the most difficult lives I have ever known. She was born and raised in Thailand; she married a man and had a son and a daughter. That same man would become an impulsive gambler, verbally and physically abusive, and unreliable at best.

She moved to America with her two young children and met another man who was even more physically abusive- not to her only, but also to her children. Since she needed his financial help, she decided to endure the abuse. But when the time came that she could afford to buy her own 7-Eleven store, she could endure the abuse of her and her children no longer. She finally kicked him out. I remember that being one of the best days of my life.

I remember my mom working long hours as a 7-Eleven clerk. She couldn’t afford a babysitter so she brought my younger sister and myself along. We would run up and down the aisles in playful laughter and come to a screeching halt in the candy section gazing in complete wonder at the beauty before us in countless forms of chocolate.

If there is one quality I want to point out right now, it’s my mom’s perseverance. There are times in my life when I’m going through something difficult and simply wanted to cash out. However, something inside me just doesn’t want to quit. First, I believe that it’s ultimately the Holy Spirit who perseveres God’s children. Secondly, though, it’s also the example of my mom who endured great difficulty throughout her lifetime but persevered because she loved her children and towards the end of her life, she endured because she loved the Lord. As a result of that endurance, she left a lasting godly legacy for her son and is now in the presence of our beautiful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.



Mom,

If you were still here, I would tell you about the beautiful wife who I married and how she’s an answer to your many years of prayer. I have no doubt that you would love Katie and her family (especially her mom, Lynn. I could see you guys talk into the night about whatever it is that mothers talk about into the night and laughing about stories of my foolishness).

If you were still here, I would take you to a Lakers game and have some good quality mother and son time. Of course, I would make you pay for parking, food, and have you buy me a Kobe jersey. If you were still here, I would find joy in the fact that you love watching your son grow into the man of God he knows he could be. I know that you would love how I take care of Katie but would demand I do a better job regardless. You would like our new dog, until he jumped on you. You would also be shocked that the dog has lived past two months under my care but then you would realize that Katie does most of the work. You would be teaching Katie how to cook Thai food and of course I would be the primary beneficiary. You would be pushing us to go to Thailand so the rest of the family could meet Katie but I would be complaining about how hot it is over there and that I don’t want to deal with the traffic, poor air quality, and the hundreds of geckos that seem to stock me every time I arrive. It’s been two years since you’ve been gone. I still feel a part of me isn’t quite whole. I don’t wonder what it would be like if you were still around, I know exactly what it would be like. And that’s what makes it difficult. But “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory” that you are now experiencing and what I will be experiencing with you when Christ returns. I’ll see you soon mom.

Your son who misses you very much,
Junior J.

Reassigned 2.1

The advantages continue as I was reassigned to an entirely different school site at the beginning of the year. Now, I have been reassigned to an entirely different classroom due to the fact that the Kindergarten class is too big and with some rearranging of the classrooms I some how ended up on the ghetto side of campus. I no longer have wireless internet access, the room is so old and dusty there were tumbleweeds roaming through it, and the beautiful work my aide did setting up the current classroom was all for not.

In addition, when I walked into the staff bathroom on that side of the campus I felt like I walked into a scene from Escape from LA. It’s amazing to me how the same campus could have such a contrast in regards to quality of facilities and equipment. In a matter of a couple of days I went from The Jeffersons, “Movin’ on up!” to Everyone Hates Chris. Sweet.



On another note, a couple of days ago I was trying to teach one of my students a simple word problem. As I was explaining what the problem was trying to ask, his eyes started rolling back as though he was being demon-possessed. I told him that it was okay if he didn’t understand the work initially and that I was more than willing to explain it to him again. He wasn’t having it. I never knew how a child would look like if his brain literally shut down but I do now, and lemma tell ya, it wasn’t pretty. Darn word problems. I don’t know how many times a typical person has the “Why Lord?” moments throughout a given week but that was one of them for me.

This past Friday we had English Language Development (ELD) training at the district office. If you’re an educator you know exactly how district training days works. If you’re not just know that teachers are the worst students. We do the same things that we tell our kids NOT to do (e.g., not paying attention, side conversations during instructional time, etc).

Let me explain the typical staff-training day. So the staff and I are in a Lotto poll. My buddy Larry did the math and if we hit the jackpot this weekend our take-home cut would be $7 million a piece. Word! While the training was going on, I decided to do something more productive and begin budgeting the $7 million I have not yet won. Here’s my running list:

$7,000,000 Take-home winnings
-1,000,000 Tithe – Got to give to the Lord first. If you don’t He might strike you down. Who wants to take that chance? I’m tithing more than 10% not because I’m spiritual but because I would feel better about myself when I spend it on superficial things.

$6,000,000 After tithe
- 20,000 Bills/loans
This would include my wife’s car loan. Bills/loans – I’m not really 20k in the hole but I want to give myself a buffer.

$5,980,000 After bills/loans
-1,000,000 Give this to my sister Vicky. After all that she’s been through these past couple of years, she deserves it. Not to mention if she came in with a lot of money she would do the same for me (or at least that's what she tells me).



$4,980,000 After hooking up my sister.
- 1,100,000 Buy some land and make a custom house.

3500 sq ft
5 bedrooms
4 bathrooms
Big yard for the dog. My buddy Larry did the math for me. The actual house would be about $535,000 – the rest would be the land. Interesting note, even though the lot cost 1.1 million, the property tax is based only on the cost of the house. So the 1% property tax is from the 535k and not the 1.1 million. I like to do my research when I'm budgeting money I have not yet won.


$3,880,000
- 300,000 Hook up Dom and Jess for a down payment for a home. Dom and Jess probably won’t be able to get a house in Santa Clarita for 300k but it’s a good enough down payment that will make the mortgage rate low. Of course I would require them to name their firstborn after me, regardless of gender.

$3,580,000 After hooking up Dom and Jess
- 500,000 Investment home Why not? I would buy one near Biola University, up-grade everything in it and rent it out to students. We’ll have a steady flow of income every month.

$3,080,000 After investment home
- 80,000 New car
I don’t know what I would get yet but this is the budget. Initially, I had put $30k away for a new car but Larry talked me out of it. The 80k would include a maintenance fund (e.g., brakes, tires, etc). Whatever car it ends up being it would definitely have a GSP system. I'm tired of getting lost. I could also verify any lame directions that Bryan gives me.

$3,000,000 After the car budget
- 500,000 Hooking up the in-laws – Serving the Lord faithfully through the years and raising six children, four of which turned out okay, I figured that is a pretty commendable job that deserves a kick-down. Since my mom is no longer around, I would help out my in-laws. This would probably be the nail in the “Whoever Becky (sister-in-law) marries will never measure up to Junior” coffin but I can’t help it if I rock.

$2,500,000 After hooking up the in-laws
-2,000,000 Conservative investments. Boring, I know.

$500,000 Miscellaneous: Vacations, Laker front seats, fine dining, Playstation 3, Starbucks coffee, an iphone for both the wife and I, a new laptop, buying all my groomsmen a cool gift of their choice, a puppy Rottweiler, training for the puppy Rottweiler so he could grow up and be a killing machine, a cruise for my entire grace group, and missionary support.


Well, it looks like another productive day of staff training. They even gave me a certificate for being ELD trained (I have no idea what that means). And we’re only two months into the school year. I wonder what’s going to happen next week. Stay tuned . . .

Reassigned 2.0

A month into the school year and my new site has been running smoothly. As I said before, the staff have been great and the kids are not so bad. I’m not sure what the Lord may have for me working at a new school but it hasn’t been bad so far. Of course I have two meetings this week with parents regarding placement for their child, hoping to receive additional special education services but that’s pretty normal. If you don’t have at least a couple of demanding/difficult parents then count your blessings.

People ask me if it’s more work. I wouldn’t say more, just different. Moving from Middle School to Elementary has been interesting. You don’t have to deal with as much behavioral problems because they are still young and uncorrupted. Of course you have less than stimulating conversations with them because they are so young.

You can’t beat the schedule. School starts at 7:55am and ends at 2:12pm. At two o’clock most people are just getting back from lunch. The wife is a little jealous every time she looks at the clock around 2pm. When she's getting out at 3pm I'm already well into my workout. Of course she makes more money than I do so she's got me there. But what do I really have to complain about? I’m sure to find something to complain about because of my negative disposition. I'll have to work out that.

During the time when I was teaching Middle School, I was sadden with the fact that many of the students did not have basic skills such as knowing how to multiply and divide for example (I’m not making this up). Being with younger students I could make a concentrated effort to make sure that they do acquire those basic skills and build a solid foundation to be able to succeed at the next level. In additional, since the students are younger you don't have to deal with as many behavioral problems that are usually coupled with their learning disability. Maybe this is why the Lord moved me, to impact young impressionable students. Or maybe He just wants me to get out earlier so I could start my workout sooner. Either way, I’m grateful.

Then again, the school year is young and who knows what's going to happen. Stay tuned . . .

An Open Letter to Ron Artest

Opening day is about three weeks away. I haven't had this much anticipation for an up and coming season in quite some time. In Kyle Slavin’s blog he wrote an open letter to newly acquired Ron Artest. He has the same feelings I do towards the situation so I’ll post it here. Here's a quote:

Let me be absolutely clear: you absolutely cannot mess this season up. You fail here, and you will never redeem your career again. You ruin this good thing we have going in LA, and the rest of your basketball days will be tarnished by it. In LA, we fans run deep. We know our basketball, we know our history, and we have more than a passing interest in the Lake Show. We will be here longer than you. We have more influence than you. Win us over, and you will be a Hall of Famer. Lose our faith, and you will never see this level of love again.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm totally looking forward to the season. I have no doubts that we'll go down as one of the best teams in league history. So let's get this started already.