Tornado Alert-

For four years, I lived in eastern Tennessee, the exact part that was thrashed by an almost mile-wide tornado this morning. The devastation is unbelievable. One of my professors's house was completely flattened. I've heard that there are over 60 reported dead already in the area and searches are continuing. NPR did an interview with an Alabama fire fighter this afternoon who survived, along with his family, as his house was ripped to shreds around him. Also, while he and his wife were gathering his three young sons, his oldest, 8, was sucked out of the house like a "slingshot", and the father had no choice but to stay in the house with his family. After some short amount of time, his son walked back into the house, guided by his father's flashlight. And he was fine, aside from a few scrapes and bruises. The fire fighter had lost everything but sounded just elated in the interview. He had lost his son and all of his stuff, and then moments later, discovered what he actually cared about more than anything-his family. What a guy!

My heart goes out to all my friends and Tennessee family, for enduring such frightening storms that created damage so unbelievable that the landscape looks like something out of a sci-fi end of the world movie. It's a terrible tragedy but makes me thankful for the actual important things in my life.



Unbelievable!

Busy!

Spring is here, the rain has ceased, and it takes every ounce of self control for me to keep myself inside.

Since we live in one of the most beautiful locations in the world with eye-catching pop colors of flowers, I've been doing tons of photo shoots for friends, couples, and families. Wedding season brings lots of brides searching for photographers, and I've been trying to spread the word around town for my photography business.

Anyway, for the first 10 new Healdsburg clients, I'm running a $75 portrait session special to bank on that old advertising method called word of mouth. So spread it!


On a side note, Aaron's back from Thailand, which makes me oh so happy to have a reason to change out of pajamas for the day and cook other things beside Lean Cuisine for 1. It was getting a little crazy when I started coloring everything possible-lamps, my dog, my hair, the walls, the rugs...it was time for him to come back and bring sanity back to our home. Maybe one of these days I can talk him into posting a little blog about his trip. His pictures are amazing.

We are toying with summer plans right now...Aaron doesn't have to work and I am trying to get out of working for the Boys & Girls Club, and just focussing on photography. We're open and ready for visitors! So make your reservations today!

Separation Anxiety

My dog is laying across my lap, peacefully sound asleep. Every once in a while, he starts to snore a bit and it makes me laugh because he sounds like an old man. Bam is so sweet and loving, not a mean or angry bone in his body….until he did this to my house.




Let me back up. A week and a half ago, Aaron left for Thailand for a mission trip. He and some other faculty and kids from our school went to go help create a water system for a small village and help these villagers eventually gain papers to get their citizenship, working alongside ADRA. While planning for this trip, Aaron and I thought, no problem-so we’ll go a couple weeks without seeing each other, it will be good for us, and yeah. Fun! I had to stay around here and work and the trip was too good of an opportunity to pass up.



A few days went by and I started leaving Bam Bam at home while I went to work in the afternoons. Usually he does fine for up to about 5 hours, and that’s the amount that I work every day. On Monday I came home to find my living room a total mess. Torn up umbrella, my photography reflector (!!!), shoes, a hat, a pillow with stuffing all over the floor….I was livid. This dumb animal! How in the world could he do that?! It’s like this sweet little lamb-dog turned into the incredible Hulk and stormed around the house determined to destroy!

On Tuesday, I was smarter. I left the TV on for him to have some “company”, I picked up the important things from around the floor and took him on a 2 mile walk to wear him out for the long afternoon away. When I came home, curtains were shredded, one of Aaron’s shoe had a big bite out of it, and other stuff was torn up and spread across the carpet. Again, I cleaned everything up and stayed far away from that animal who had once again messed up everything. How could he?





On the third day, I got even smarter. I figured, he just destroyed stuff because we have so much of it to be destroyed in our living room, so I put him in our bathroom, put everything away, put the radio on high after a long long walk, and I left. When I came back, the rugs were like mops and there were chunks of drywall across the floor. Bam had eaten a wall. Or at least a large chunk of one. Instead of getting mad this time, I looked at my dog, who was beginning to shake in anxiety. He wasn’t the Hulk, he was only a scared little guy who thought that his mom was going to leave and not come back just like his dad.

Bam was never this destructive but he knows that Aaron’s gone and he is just a little depressed and insecure right now. Yesterday and today, I had Bam stay with a sitter and I’m slowly trying to get him used to a wire crate before he does more damage. I had a long talk with Bam’s previous owner, who is a gem, by the way, and she gave me the inside on what to do with Bam and how nervous and emotional he is with his relationship with his humans.

The day I talked with Bam’s owner, I had a whole blown out emotional break down. I kept thinking, if Aaron were here, he’d know exactly what to do! And I lost it. Anytime I thought about Aaron or how much I missed him, tears would quickly spring to my eyes and I’d be completely gone. I hadn’t heard from him in a whole week, and hadn’t let myself even think of him much because I wanted to be strong.

So, like Bam, I was going through some major emotional separation anxiety over my Aaron. (but unlike Bam, I didn’t try to destroy everything in the house with my teeth-I actually went on a psycho cleaning frenzy instead).

I really think it’s a miracle because on that toughest night, I got my call from Aaron, and we poured our hearts out to each other. Turns out, he missed me a little too.



I kept wondering why Bam, despite all my care and love and affection towards him, still felt abandoned by me every day during those 5 hours. And my mind immediately goes to the feeling of being abandoned by God. I’ve had a lot of these conversations lately. Students, telling me that they don’t think God cares about them anymore. And hey, I feel that way occasionally too. But here’s the thing, God’s not like me in that he leaves for a few hours and always comes back. He’s always there, we just don’t always realize it. And that’s what’s getting me through these last few days until Aaron comes home. I know I have a security even greater than my husband’s, and my cutie little dog. And He never fails to bring me comfort when I need it the most, whether it’s in the form of a phone call or a hug or a friend stopping by to see how I’m doing.

So I guess we all get a little separation anxiety every once in a while. And that's okay. It's not too hard to clean up after.

Your story is being written-

I'm tossing around the idea of writing a fictionalized account of some short stories from my growing up years. Here's some suggestions from "blue like jazz" author, Donald Miller.

Are you living a great story with your life? from Donald Miller on Vimeo.

buy his new book here:

Le Tour de Home!

In an attempt to lure you all here to come visit, I will take you now on a virtual tour of our abode. This is a pretty big deal because we never clean it this clean. Maybe I shouldn't be saying that. I just don't like to clean that much-it really is my personality! Cleaning really wears us ENFP's out-there's always something more interesting to do. That being said, Aaron and I romantically attacked this place Valentines' weekend and I just had to take pictures so I could remember this event always.

And just think, if you come to visit, we will break out the big guns and get it back to the way that it looks on the Internet. Really. Just for you. Feel special now, k?


Before we get any further, please understand that we live in a converted apartment (formerly 4 dorm rooms) in a boys dorm. It's wild.

The first room is our living room/music/media room. Yes, those are floating shelves made of vintage books, and my lovely husband did mount our guitars on the wall. The piano was given to us by my grandparents. (see previous post). We both play anything we can get our hands on, and we often just leave our apartment door open to guys to come in to jam.



This is my office. Aaron gets his own office in the dorm so this is where I throw all the bills and papers I don't want to deal with. Since I work from home doing freelance work, I thought that I would use this workspace to get all my stuff done. But it gets a little lonely so I usually work from the couch in the living room.


This is a little embarrassing. We're into vintage photography and cameras and have recently accumulated around 14 or so cameras. Enough to teach a class. We do have a darkroom for processing black and white film, and are just getting that up and running.


Some of our random photos that I taped to the wall for inspiration.


Here's the kitchen, a nice big square kitchen. Most of our stuff was given as gifts (recognize the dish towel, Monika?), or bought at our local Salvation Army. My coffee maker is my favorite part of the kitchen. Only cause it makes me my coffee.



These knives were meant to be with us. Aaron loves knives, I love color, and they're Kuhn Rikon-like our blog. It's so cool. We brought the burly one on the right back with us from Taiwan. It will cut anything. I cut the tip of my thumb off this weekend with my new mandolin slicer. That is not in the picture, and a little off topic-I just thought of it because it still hurts a little to type the spaces.


The fridge is cluttered, but I love it. If you send us a picture, we will attch it to the fridge until it falls off.



This is what I see when I look out my window this week.


This is my dresser made from pecan wood. It's gorgeous and we got the whole set (2 dressers, 2 nightstands) from an old couple in town for around $200. It's the circle of life. Hope we can hang onto them forever. I want to paint them some amazing color but my grounded husband likes them classy.



This is our bedroom. Kingsized bedframe/headboard found on craigslist for $100 and carried home on the roof of my Neon from San Jose. Bam isn't supposed to be on our bed but I used him as my model so he can stay for a little while.


Now you can come visit. We have guest rooms too that I'll feature later on some blog when I have nothing else to write about. In case you didn't know, Northern California is a top-rated destination and there is so much to do here. Think of all the money you'd save by staying with us!

The Scary Internet is Eating Our Children!!!

While working with kids, I often hear complaints from other educators or adults on the dangers of media or how much time these kids are spending on their phones, computers, ipods, and any other portable device. I’ve recently been a part of some very meaningful discussions in how raising kids is like a war between good and evil, only the good side is vastly overwhelmed by all the powers of the bad. It makes me shudder to think about bringing a life into this ever-changing world of evil and danger.

We really do have the odds stacked against us. According to studies by the Kaiser Foundation in 2009, kids between 8 and 18 are averaging 7.5 hours of media consumption per day. Yes, even school days, and much of the time they are multitasking between two or more media devices. So what are they doing during all this time? In my observations, I have seen that most of the media consumption is social. Kids are juggling between facebook and texting and are holding fifteen different conversations with fifteen different people simultaneously. They will reply to a status merely seconds after it was posted. Students at are our school are connected even when the Internet’s out, the electricity is off, and they are room-bound for disciplinary reasons. The guys have already figured out how to reach around the Internet filters with the same method as citizens of China, to access Youtube and Facebook. I see Internet bullying and gossip happening on a daily basis. Kids will write hurtful words on someone’s wall that they would never say to their face. Others stay up until the wee hours of the morning playing video games or texting and barely make it to class the next day.

So the discussions I am hearing by staff around me, the administration, the parents, and teachers are mostly, what do we do now? How do we set up a system that regulates what our kids are watching, consuming, viewing to protect them from all the awful stuff that’s out there? Do we make our Internet filtering system stricter, take away cell phones, march to take down Facebook? Or are we asking ourselves all the wrong questions?

Maybe we should be asking ourselves, how can we instill standards in these students that they will be able to take from here and teach boundaries for a world that is ever changing? What many of us don’t understand is that our way is not real life; theirs’ is. These kids and every generation from here on out will not have lived a day without the Internet or cell phones. Like it or not, mass media and its consumption is here to stay. Yes, in the great battle, the odds are against parents, educators, mentors, and leaders. However, KIDS ARE NOT DUMB! Kids can tell the difference between someone who genuinely takes an interest in them and someone who just wants to enforce a bunch of rules and regulations. I bet you money that if you offer to take a kid to Taco Bell, they would much rather spend time with you than a bunch of fake cyber facebook friends. This year, I’ve discovered that all of these devices are not the enemy. They can be used for good.

As long as adults distance themselves from kids and what they’re into, it will be more and more difficult for them to get a glance into these kids’ lives. Good news, everyone! Kids still have active imaginations! They still get excited about noble causes and are moved to action by youtube documentaries and stories! They are creative and find joy in making projects with their friends. And…kids like you, and want to know you and want to learn from all of those embarrassing stories and mistakes that you made when you were their age. Because when all is said and done, you weren’t so different from them, were you?

So instead of cowering in fear at the Twitter, why not join? Subscribe to these kids’ blogs, comment on them, encourage good writing, or comment on their photos. Let them teach you how it’s done, and then they’ll be willing to take values and lessons from you. I do believe in regulation and giving kids boundaries in their consumption, but this cannot come before a relationship. Rules and regulation must be founded in something deeper. Just ask the creator of those ten commandments.

Luckiest Girl in the World

I hope in 50 years I still feel this lucky to be with you, Aaron. I love you with all my heart and am so so happy to be with you every day of my life.