After our wild adventures in 2008, (yes this is a photo courtesy of the Morris family of us walking through the typhoon waters in Guangzhou after Charis' medical exam) we are heading forward in this New Year with great expectancy and some big goals. Though the last two years have presented more then a few challenges for our family, we know this is a year that holds much promise. We are on the right track now with our business (though we didn't realize that that there was any issue until this past spring)and steadily moving along with our soon to be completed "mega" website which will allow editors worldwide to "shop" for our images from the convenience of their computer. We are confident that this will greatly increase our sales, which have fallen sharply the last two seasons. It was quite a shock to us when we discovered that one of our largest purchasers no longer wanted to look at slides (of which we have over 500,000), but only digital files, so this site should more then accomplish this task.
Charis is daily showing signs of improvement, with her speech, motor skills, bonding, attaching and other important aspects of development. We've even begun seeing the "typical" two year old testing, complete with the occasional tantrum. She has also begun having regular meltdowns as soon as we take her into the childcare room at our local gym that Bane and I attend. Though not fun to deal with, this is a good indication that she is properly bonding and attaching to us. Initially her reaction there was "see ya bye" and off she went. Tomorrow she will have a physical therapist and others evaluate her to see if she needs improvement in any area and if so providing us the knowledge to properly address these needs. If necessary they will work with her until she is where she should be for her age level developmentally. As I stated in our last blog, based on what we've seen and shared with them, they are very pleased with her progress in two short months. Lyndsay is growing so fast and is showing a lot of improvement with her new role as a big sister. She really enjoyed seeing our families at Christmas and is already asking when she can go back. Our two year goal to move back to Maryland has been put on hold, but our new goal of two more years could be realistic. Once we are financially able to move, it will put us closer to our families and the majority of people we work with doing dog photos. I think it will be good for the girls to be able to spend more time with our families rather then quick visits a couple of times a year. It will help tremendously on the amount of travel we will have to do in order to get to photo shoots as well. Rather then 5 or more weeks on the road, we can do more weekends and work from home, allowing us at that point to put the girls in a more traditional school environment rather then home school. I love the idea of home schooling, but the time element concerns me. Lyndsay with her extremely strong will, is not proving to be an easy student either. She is so bright, but completely shuts down when made to sit still and learn something, even when trying to make it fun. She acts totally different in a classroom setting and submits to authority willingly. Go figure. The social aspects will benefit her as well, as she has only been home with Bane and I for the last three years. We are on a waiting list for a preschool, but as of this time an opening is still not available. Charis is much more social, as she had no choice but to be in the orphanage setting, she loves just about everyone and is a clown, enjoying making people laugh....hmmm, could that be another challenge! LOL Probably, but I'm sure easier then the many challenges of our older blessing!
Fuji, our shih tzu pup, has turned out to be such a wonderful little dog, he is so easy and cooperative for photo shoots, though if it involves too much "work" he just lays his head down and wilts. A huge difference from our beloved, but very head strong golden Bogen who we lost this past summer to cancer, at the much too young age of 8. I know Fuji will be heavily published, just as his predecessor has been and still is.
Bane has been enjoying working on some wood projects, building some lovely benches, tables and for Christmas he made me a gorgeous jewelry box partially with walnut from our property. He put so much time and effort making these and really seems to like it. He made a beautiful bench for our pastor and his family for Christmas and he offered him the opportunity to put some furniture for sale in his showroom (he owns a cabinet making business).
I'm looking forward to a much needed vacation, then preparing for our spring shoots and calendar submissions for 2011....yes, that is scary, but they work two years ahead. I pray that our sales for 2010 calendars will be record highs, at this point it is difficult to know, but like everything else we do, ours is a business operated completely by Faith. We don't go by what the media says, or what our bank accounts look like, because we know that God will supply everything we need and that all things are possible to him who believes. Have a blessed, prosperous New Year!
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