“A bee is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any slower.”

We have been a couple of busy bees so far this year!!!  And firstly, I must apologize for my lack of blogging attention.  Being a busy bee has taken a lot of my energy. 

Matt is dutifully flying round the world (ok, just Northern America) and bringing home the bacon-or honey since we're currently bees!  He has recurrent training in February- extra training that pilots have to go through every year to make sure they still know how to fly!  And so he is busy studying and reviewing the handbooks, company policies, and whatnot.  It will be nice to have him home for the majority of February. 

I on the other hand am not working so much right now.  January is really slow in the portrait world.  In the aftermath of Christmas, I'm only working about 10-15 hours a week.  It will pick back up the closer we get to Easter.  But, my time is being taken up by a much more demanding endeavor...

COLLEGE!!!

While at my parents during Christmas I got a call from the admission office letting me know that I had been accepted!!!!  Let me tell you I was ecstatic!!!  It was official- I was an Eagle!!!

It was really funny because my little sister had just gotten her acceptance letters from a few of the schools she applied to!  We definitely celebrated the prospect of higher education.

They had called the last day they were open before closing for the holiday!  When I got back home I only had a few days to get everything together before classes started!  Thank goodness that I wasn't working much, because I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off!  But I did it!  I got everything done in time.  So now I am a full time college student...(and it's kicking my butt!) 

And I'm loving every minute of it!

so far

I think 2010 is going to keep being a busy year for us.  I'm confident that we'll be able to stay afloat...

and for those who are concerned about our humanity- we are not actual bees, or actual eagles.

We are still human!

A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer. - Robert Frost

Matt got a very special letter the other day!  He got summoned to JURY DUTY!!! 

"I was called to go 'try out' for a jury; they called 25 people (they gave us numbers and they just read that number) to go to the court room where the judge asked if anyone knew the defendant, or the witness, or the lawyers, or judge.  Some people stood and told who they knew.  They where sent back to the jury selection room.  Then they called 13 people,12 and 1 alternate that would be chosen and random after the trial.  (I was not among them.)  The judge asked them questions like what do you do for a living, and about your family, and so on.   Depending on their answers they were asked to stay or dismissed.  To fill the seats of those dismissed they called in more people to ask them the questions.  That's how I got on the jury.  When I was called, the judge just asked me what I did for work, where I went to College, where I went to High School, and how long I have lived in the county.  I was also asked if I had any law classes, 'Aviation law' I replied.  That was it, I was on my first jury... After some instructions from the judge we started the trial.

We had a felony assault charge with a handgun.  It was just like in the movies the lawyers had their opening statements.  (But with out any context it did not tell me a whole lot.)  Next came the witness for the prosecution.  They told what they saw, and what they where doing.  Then the cross examination where the defense tried to raise the reasonable doubt level. I believed some of what they where telling me and did not believe other parts of their testimony. Next the police officers who responded to the 911 call.  They were good officers and did a good job of investigating the call; but they did not find any physical evidence at the scene. When the detective that was in charge of investigating the crime testified I thought that she did a great job.  While the defendant did not take the stand, he did talk to the cops so we got to hear his side through them.  It took a while to get through everything.  But when all of the witnesses and the little evidence that was presented were finished we had the closing statements from the attorneys.  And the final instructions from the judge.

I was chosen as the jury foreperson!  We started our discussion on guilty or not guilty, we took a early vote (I voted not guilty) and it was tied.  I knew it was going to be a long day so we ordered lunch early. After all day of talking about the case and the evidence we all came together and ended up with a not guilty vote. I decided that he was not guilty due to lack of evidence while he might be guilty of the crime I needed to have proof!  And the witnesses were a brother and sister who had a feud with the defendant; so I could not believe every thing that they said with out being tainted.

So that was my experience and it was so much fun I was cracking jokes, I am so glad that I had the chance to get to serve. So when you get a chance to serve I would hope that you would want to."

Nothing's better than to awake Christmas morn' and be a child

We love Christmas time, even though Matt thinks he's the Grinch!  We love singing carols, watching Charlie Brown's Christmas and White Christmas, decorating sugar cookies, baking our favorite holiday goodies, and opening up our Christmas Jammies (PJ's or sleepwear) Christmas Eve night.  This year Matt helped decorate the tree and I hope that we will be able to continue decorating the tree together!  This is only the second year we've had a Christmas tree.

This year we are celebrating apart...Matt is working flying here and there, so I am spending Christmas with family in Utah(so as to not be alone on Christmas day).  We're looking forward to next year when Matt has Christmas off and we can spend the holiday together!

Whether you're near or far we're hoping you have a very Merry Christmas!

When you photograph people in B&W, you photograph their souls!

New picture!!!

Had a friend snap this really quick at a Christmas party last night.  While I was photographing everyone else she said we needed to do one too!  So I handed my camera off to her to "capture our souls"! 

Whatcha think?

It has been many years since my last confession

Ok, so I'm not Catholic...but I do have a confession. 

I am obsessed with our adoption profiles!

I mean it's bordering "stalking" !!!

I can't help myself...

I'm addicted...

I think I may need a 12 step program.

Our newest profile on MyAdoptionProfile shows us how many times we've been viewed.  And it shows us how many times the others have been viewed!  It's so much fun to see how much action our page is getting!  Every day I see the viewed number going up and up and up!   Like today, it went up five points!!!  In the stock market that would mean big money!  LOL...Matt caught me checking it at dinner on my phone.  He says I need help.  I only check it a couple times a day...But with 85 views in less than a week?  How can I not?  I mean that's awesome!  And while it's not a competition, I like to think we're kicking butt!  That people are looking at us.  And that gives me hope that the right young woman or young couple will find us.  That they'll want to know more about us.  And someday we'll be picked to parent one (or two-yes we're open to twins) very special little spirit(s)!  I'm sure that our viewed numbers will eventually start to slow down.  And at that point I'll stop stalking myself.  But right now it's so fanscinating to watch!!!

Adoption is an amazing process!

PS:  To whoever you are, dear birth parent, we're thinking of you!

Check It Out!

I just read about this and HAVE to share!!! 

www.LetsSayThanks.com

Xerox is providing a great FREE service for our troops over seas!  Check out the website and create a thank you card to be sent to a soldier serving in Iraq.  It's really easy and they have wonderful cards to choose from!  You don't know who will get it...it's like a secret Santa!  This holiday season give up a minute of your time to say thanks to the men and women who are willing to be in harms way.  They are fighting for our freedom, they are away from their loved ones, and away from their home this Christmas...

It's so easy to let them know that their sacrifices mean something!

Let There Be Light

YIPPIE!!!!

I'm so excited!

Last week I bought some studio lights for a great price!(after shipping? an OK price)

And they got here yesterday!!!  And today I got to unpack them to see if they even work.

Guess what!

THEY DO WORK!!!!

this is just like Christmas I have to tell you!  I'm so giddy and happy and excited and exuberant and any other positive word you can think of!  I have my very own set of studio lights!  Granted they are not the newest or coolest or most popular...but they are MINE! 

And they are huge!  This is George, my stuffed Oliphant, to show just how big these suckers are!