Josey's Pictures

I actually had time to get out and take Jo's pics today. She is not a ham like Jackson and probably more challenging then most three year olds that I have photographed so far. I am really good with kids, but poor JO, I find myself gritting my teeth saying "JO, just look at the Camera","Look at mommy Jo, JOSEY!" Its not really as bad as I make it sound, but it's definately a challenge. The slideshow on the side will show more of her lovely photos.This picture reminds me of one we took of Jackson when he was the same age.

New Found Freedom

This week was my first week with out having a bunch of kids running around the house. Monday was a half a day even still I enjoyed it. Jo and I got up an went for a long walk, then took time learning some phonic sounds with her alphabets, traced some letters then worked on rhyming. Enjoying time alone with her is wonderful. Ever since we have owned a home I have had kids. Ever since I have had children I had to share them with a bunch of other children, never fully enjoying just them as much as I wanted to. Tues. was our first full day. I say that because I still do after school care for only two to three more kids. We got up and worked on some preschool stuff for Jo and then went for a long bike ride with our neighbors. I have more peace now and get so much more done than I ever did. Its great! I have been waiting for this for too long. I just pray that we can continue to make what we need to pay the bills so I don't have to resort to picking up another job only to loose what I have now.

I am a bit worn out today. I woke up with a horrible headache and my body was sore all over. So Jo and I slept in today.. aw.. slept in. Not only am I getting more exercise then I am use to but we headed out to play tennis with our neighbors last night. I have only attempted to play it once and I was so uncoordinated at that time that I didn't ever try it again till last night. I loved it and Brian and I did fairly well for our first time in forever. I am extremely competitive and if not for our kids needing to go to bed I would of stayed out there even longer till I really started to get good. Jackson got to play for a little bit too and enjoyed it as well. It's awesome to have that something extra to do together. We usually will go to the park and throw the Frisbee around, pass the baseball or football, and now we have tennis.. yay!!

Another take

Check out Mikes Blog as well. He has another take on the Trading Spouses show that I agree with and is worth the read.

Get behind Me Satan

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCh2FXzD6R4

Tonight Brian and I watched Trading Spouses. The link offers a video clip of the show. The feature was a Christian woman trading spouses with a new age mom. Watching this show was frustrating beyond belief. The Christian mom, who I think was called Margeret, was basically uneasy in a house that didn't follow her Christian beliefs. She would not listen or have anything to do with what they believed, however, fully expected the family to go to church with her, allow her to preach to them, pouring out all that she believed onto them, completely closing out anything that these people had to say. She did not even take the time to get to know anything about them. Who they were, what they did, nothing about their family dynamics. The New age family was very welcoming and hospitable, doing everything to make her comfortable.
Towards the end of the show she was spouting "get behind me satans"and "in Jesus name I rebuke you's," and so forth. Let's just say that if I was this family, after welcoming her into their home, once she left, I wouldn't want one thing to do with Christianity. Her fits were unbelievable. She acted as if she was a women possessed herself.

This, my friends, is what I truly believe is wrong with our Christian faith today. We are like a bunch of toddlers who because we can't express ourselves through talking, bite instead. This women may have had a strong faith in the Lord, but she threw her fits because she had no clue what to do with someone in opposition. We, as Christians, can be our worst enemy. So quick to judge and not willing to listen.

I have a friend who I absolutely adore who is into Wicca. I love her, she has the most gentle spirit, compassionate, intelligent and can crack me up. My family adores her as well. Jackson looks up to her because of her creativity and she is so good and patient with him. Any close minded Christian would say, "don't be around her, she is evil." To them, I say, "how sad." What we would miss out on if she wasn't in our lives. (Don't let that go to your head to that friend I am talking about.. you know who you are. :))

Point being, as Christians, don't be quick to spout out your judgements and close your mind and not listen to what others have to say. Make yourself knowledgeable of what the bible has to say, why you believe what you do, seek answers if you don't have them, basically be ready to stand firm on what you believe with out arguing, but to be informative. There are so many individuals out there and so many families out there that add so much color into our lives if you would just be confident enough in your faith to get to know them.

Jacksons first day of 6th grade

Jackson, looking as enthused as any 6th grade boy would be at his mother taking his first day of school pictures. It didn't quite dawn on me till last night as I was watching tv that OMG my boy is going to be in 6th grade! What? How did this happen so fast?! When we moved into our house he was only in 1st grade. Now I look at him and how his body and face are filling out, and instead of looking like a little boy he is looking more like a young man.

What some people don't know about me...

I'm aracnophobic. Which is why Brian got such a thrill to show me his new found discovery while weed eating. Jackson wanted me to catch a pic of it and so bravely I got as close as I could without breaking out into the normal cold sweat like I normally do. If this spider had been inside our house I wouldn't be able to kill it. I would get close and freeze, breaking out into that cold sweat, and getting a bit nauseous. Usually, I will call upon Brian, my mom or any other person close by to get rid of it. Quite pathetic, I know. I remember one time I had this big fat spider above the front door hanging there as parents came in and out dropping their kids off. I just stared at it and didn't say anything. It looked as if it were pregnant. I had a vision of me killing it only to discover a hundred tiny baby spiders scurrying all over the place. That gives me the heebeejeebeez just thinking about it. I called mom and she left work to come and kill it for me. I'm so ashamed. lol. Anyway, here is information on the type of spider above:


Writing spiders (Argiope aurantia) are orb weaving spiders found throughout the United States. They are characterized as large yellow and black spiders that build their nests around homes and gardens.
They get their nickname from their web construction practices. It appears they write a series of zs or Xs down the center.
The above picture shows a writing spider in action. You can see the spinnerets (brown patch) open at the bottom of the abdomen, spraying silk around the newly captured honeybee.
They do bite, however they are not considered dangerous spiders. You can normally approach them at close range for a picture.
The Araneus Spiders link in the box will take you to a page covering another group of orb weaving spiders.

Did I mention that I love my JOB!

An opportunity I think any photographer would love! These three amazing men are brothers fighting for our country, two in the Navy and one in the Marines. Their dad, a retired Marine himself, anxiously waited for all three boys to be together at one time to finally capture them in uniform knowing that it will be years before he gets this opportunity again.

Almost finished!

I am nearing the end of my book and highly recommend it! It was a easy read, very intriguing, making it very hard to put down. The movie is on its way from Blockbuster and I am working on kicking everyone out of the house so I can watch my girly movie with out interruption. I have a vision of myself sitting on the couch with a glass of wine, pigging out on apples and yummy fruit dip, snuggled in my coziest pj's, tucked under my favorite throw. The last time I got to do that was um... like three years ago... ugh!

I am trying to decide on the next book. I am thinking of Pride and Prejudice and then watching the movie just the same or The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel which reports his journey from atheism to Faith. I know, quite the contrast, however, while I did Alpha, which teaches the facts of Christ before faith for years, I need to brush up on it all again. Unfortunately I don't have a mind like a sponge and can't just rattle the facts to anyone if asked. So we'll see.

Another Fight night

Last night my brother Jimmy, my lovely friend Brianna and I headed off for another night of cage fighting. I was told to be there by 6pm to make sure to get in for the VIP sitting and that I was to get a arm band so I wouldn't have to pay. It was at The Show gentleman's club in Independence. Not a bad drive, probably about a half an hour away which was much better then the last long drive to Sedalia. It was a tad disconcerting at the incredible lack of organization from the club. I stood in line forever waiting to get my arm band. Only to pay general admission so I could get in. The arm bands never surfaced. Even though I was still allowed full access to the cage and in VIP I still had to pay for the damn ticket. The second blow came when I found out that the fights didn't even start till 8pm and that there no major alarm for the VIP seats to fill up. Being the people pleaser that I am I already felt horrible for dragging my brother and Brianna there so early. So we walked around and talked to her whoever we could that would make the night a little more interesting. I handed over my camera to Brianna to hopefully add a little more amusement to her evening. She took probably half of the pictures which was kind of nice. The third blow of the evening was when the fights, which were suppose to start at 8pm, didn't actually start till 9pm. UGH! Tommy was the first to fight, then Billy was 8th in line.

Tommy put up a good fight, but lost the match in the end. Billy won, his opponent coming away with a broken Jaw. We ended up leaving after Billy fought and calling it a night. I had assumed that everyone was probably ready to go after waiting around forever.

Even though the night didn't exactly go as I had hoped it would, I had good company and enjoyed talking to the fighters and the rest of those around us. Here are a few pics from the night. My brother, who probably would of opted to stay for the rest of the fights.

Tommy Adkins who was first to fight.

Brianna, who I know is gonna love me for posting this pic.

The Carey Girls.. Friends from forever ago. Brianna took this pic.

Tommy Adkins... up first to fight.

A couple more pics from Brianna.

She did good.

Billy warming up... lol.. Brianna took this one too.

Just look at the intensity in his face.

Joe, Billy, and Steve Adcox

What's been up with us?

This has been a fantastic Week. Last Friday was the Gilmores last day which was 3 boys, one baby, a 3 year old and a 5 year old. I cried when they left. I had them all since they were babies and it was very hard to see them leave. However, even though I miss them I am already starting to feel my new found freedom of not being tied down to the house with a bunch of kids. Up until last week, I juggled two full time jobs. I was a daycare provider to 5 and sometimes 7 or 8 kids and worked my photography full time as well. I found myself constantly working and everything else seem to fall to pieces around me. My house was a disaster, and I was far from being organized. Well this week, even though I still have a few in my house till school starts, they are all older and it is only 1 or 2, so if we wanna take out of the house it is really no big deal. I have started a schedule for myself which I never had before. I am also cleaning each room at a time trying to get organized and get the house back in order. I have done daycare as long as I have owned my home so I have never had the opportunity to enjoy having the house with out a bunch of toys and kids bombarding it. So I am very excited!

We are moving the studio and store again. Hopefully this will be the last time. I went from renting out the Old Train Depot temporarily, just on the days I needed it, to moving to a store front on the main road in Tongie. It was very charming, but too small for both the studio and the store and not on the busiest side of town. As of Sept. 1st we will have so much more room, storage space, and be right where all the traffic is in town so we are excited. However, the building that we are renting is filthy. FILTHY!!!! We made a deal with the owners that we would clean up the inside and only pay half of our downpayment. So last night I was up till midnight painting trim and cleaning a nasty bathroom. It will be cool when we are done, we just keep reminding ourselves.

School starts after next week for Jackson, which I am excited about. He will be in 6th grade. WOW, growing up way too fast. I debated whether I was gonna put Jo in preschool, but I decided I am going to school her myself like I did Jackson. We are fortunate to have fantastic neighbors that have kids around Jo's age that she plays with constantly so I am not at all concerned with the social aspect of it. I'll probably be putting her in some kind of gymnastics or dance class soon. She is already in Piano and Jackson is taking Guitar lessons which he loves!

Brian is still plugging away at work doing sales and doing pretty good. He loves his job and the people he works with. However, we are still wishful for those major hurricanes or natural disasters.. I know sick. Another jaunt in insurance would be fantastic right now that I am fully dependent on the store and photography for income.
This will be my studio.
This is heading out of the store.
This is the store part as you walk in.
As you can tell Cynthia and I have our work cut out for us.

Just sharing!

Just had to share! Note.... Jo has her Shoes on backwards. It never fails, they always go on the wrong feet.

Jackson is the greatest older brother.