The Advent Conspiracy

I LOVE the church that I attend. I won't go through all of the reasons why at this point.... :) They are doing something this year that I think is awesome. Watch the video to see what it is and join the movement.

The Amy Grant Concert!!

I had a chance to go to see the Amy Grant "Lead Me On'' Reunion tour last night.
My wonderful husband asked for tickets and backstage passes for me to go with some friends.
(I am SO sorry to all of my friends that are Amy fans that I couldn't invite, by the way...)
It was a GREAT birthday present as anyone who knows me has heard me talk about how I believe that Amy might be my long lost older sister.

1) So... we at dinner backstage.
2) We stalked Amy upstairs in the green room (code for lots of childish giggling).
3) We had great seats.
4) We all got in trouble with some lady for standing up during a song. Yes, she sure was awesome. Have you ever heard of NOT standing during a rockin 80's flashback concert?
5) We went back for the meet and greet with her after the show.
6) Oh! She also put on a really good live show...

It was so great!

Neely and I posing before meeting her.
Yes, we are happy and realize that we are totally dorky.
But nothing says,
"I'm a crazy fan who is mildly obsessed and still remembers your songs from
20+ years ago because I might still listen to them privately,"
quite like the shot below...

Don't we look like great friends? I realize how completely dorky I look but you must realize how excited I was. My dear friend Neely made me take this with her and I will never forget it.

It must be mentioned that when it was our turn to have our picture taken with Amy, Jodie and Neely were in the prime position to stand next to her. Dear, sweet Neely (have you ever been called that?) moved over so that I could stand next to her.
It was very, very sweet and means a lot to me...

BELOW:
For some reason I cannot get this picture to center and cannot type below it!

We all ate with the crew and musicians and
made one of the crew members take our picture.
Can you see how excited we all are?

Prostitution and Potential Human Trafficking in KIRKLAND

Tucked away behind an accountant's office on Northeast 85th Street, the Red Rose Hot Stone Spa sits empty.

Kirkland Reporter

Prostitution charges for Rose Hill massage parlor owner, employees

By KENDALL WATSON
Kirkland Reporter Staff Writer
Oct 21 2008 · UPDATED

King County prosecutors filed charges Oct. 9 of promoting prostitution, a felony, against a Kirkland man and three other women.

Following a nine-month investigation, detectives from the King County Sheriff's Office believe Sheung Tam, 45, was running two massage parlors in Kirkland and Renton as fronts for prostitution. They also allege that her business partner, Kirkland resident Timothy Kevin Howell, and two Bellevue women, Wei Qing Tong, 46, and 39-year-old Chinese national Yu Xian Huang helped manage the criminal enterprise. The four are accused of running two massage parlors in Kirkland and Renton that offered sexual contact for cash. Howell, 35, is also listed as a Class-II sex offender from a past conviction for child rape.

The two businesses -- Red Dragon Spa at 352 Sunset Blvd. N. in Renton and Red Rose Hot Stone Spa at 13017 N.E. 85th St. in Kirkland -- were owned and operated by Tam, a Bothell resident and mother of a 22-year-old daughter. They were both raided in July and shut down. If convicted, the four face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Sharing the same block on 85th Street with Red Rose Spa, Red Rose Chiropractic Clinic and Rosehill Chiropractic Center -- which sits next to the Red Rose Hot Stone Spa property -- have suffered from some confusion over similar-sounding names and services. The chiropractors use professional massage therapists as part of their health care practice, while none of the "masseuses" at Red Rose Spa were state-licensed massage practitioners.

"We started getting some strange people coming in," said Lori, a receptionist for Red Rose Chiropractic. "Lots of men asking about massages and we were wondering 'What's going on?'"

Still advertised online at Yellowpages.com and CitySearch.com as "Red Rose Massage," the business is described as a place where a person will "feel safe enough to relax and unwind." The listing also provides a non-working phone number and includes an anonymous, negative review from earlier this spring.

According to court records, the investigation began last October after a vice detective monitoring the Internet noticed suspicious advertising for the Red Dragon Spa at the Web site Craigslist. The link between the two massage parlors became obvious as detectives followed Tam and Tong traveling between the two locations, delivering laundry and making payroll deposits at a local bank. A subsequent records check of state tax records reportedly lists almost no earnings for the two women. Undercover detectives later visited both locations several times while posing as "johns" and received offers of a sex act in exchange for $100.

Kirkland Police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also aided the investigation.

The long investigation helped authorities gather additional information on the four suspects. A former boyfriend of Tam's told police she asked for his help to import Chinese girls in exchange for $30,000. Another person, a woman who identified herself as "Angie," said she knew Tam by her nickname, "Kitty," while living in Hong Kong, China. She feared her as "cunning and smart" and believed Tam planned to use a "younger man to front her a massage business."

An arraignment for the four is scheduled to be heard on Oct. 22 in Kent.

Kirkland Reporter Staff Writer Kendall Watson can be reached at kwatson@kirklandreporter.com or 425.822.9166 ext 5052.

My beautiful Finn

I just wanted to add these to the blog... I was really glad that I caught a lot of his "faces" while he was in the highchair. He is such a dolly and full of it. Thanks for indulging me!





I LOVE this picture of him...

Liam Wakes Up Early

Liam wakes up pretty early in the morning. He usually comes and snuggles with us for a few minutes and then one of us sets him up on the couch until Finn wakes up. He usually sits and watches a movie but on the occasional morning, his creative juices get flowing...

On this particular morning he felt inspired to draw...

He was really very proud of himself. He came in to our room to show us his work.
We had a hard time being serious.

On this cool, fall morning, Liam felt inspired to paint.

We ran into Liam's buddy Jadyn and her mom Lynne at Target. Liam was quite taken with Jadyn's painted finger and toe nails. The next morning, Liam came into our room to show us HIS fingers and toe nails. He spent some time painting his fingers (and when I say fingers, I mean all of his fingers) and toes. I caught a picture of his toes. Jesse put him in the bath thinking that it would get the polish off. He also painted a good portion of his thighs. Fortunately he didn't get it anywhere else.

It's Pumpkin Patch Time Again!

We went with Liam's Preschool to Remlinger Farms.
We all had a great time and both boys loved all of the toddler rides.
We caught this great picture of (from left) Jadyn, Jed, Finn, Sim, and Liam.

Sim and Liam on the Ferris Wheel for kids.

Liam and Jed on the Merry Go Round

I'm pretty sure that Jesse liked the Giant Pumpkin ride more than the kids.

It was kind of raining off and on but still a beautiful fall day.
The trees are beautiful right now and Liam looks adorable.

The boys riding the train.

Finn had a great day but was completely wiped out by the end.
This is how he looked just minutes after getting in the car.

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by my friend Neely...

Here are 7 random/weird facts about me. I found this very difficult!!

1) I have a tattoo on what was formally my lower back - let's be honest - now my upper right butt cheek. It is of a flower from a cd cover that I once liked and has a Bible verse underneath it. It says... Phil 3:14. Yes, I realize how deep I am. I had to have a tumor removed that happened to be almost directly underneath it. The doctor tried to cut next to the tattoo but the tattoo is crooked now.

2) I was 1st runner up Miss Teen of Oregon. "Your generation has been label Generation X... what would you rather name it?" (You'll have to ask me about my awesome answer. ha ha...)

3) I was hit by a car the summer before 5th grade. I spent some time in the hospital with a concussion, broken nose, burns, cuts and bruises. I still have some random scars and a higher and crooked hairline from it (thank God for bangs).

4) I have super sonic hearing. I can hear people chewing from two houses down. It's a curse. (Poor Jesse.)

5) My dad was contacted by the FBI when I was in High School and told that he was on Ted Kaczynski's (The Unibomber) list of people to kill. They scanned all of our mail for a while until after he was caught.

6) One of the stars of the movie "Dodgeball" had a crush on me in high school. I still have his the letters that he wrote me. He was very sweet and funny. One of the guys from Jack Ass asked me to the Christmas dance (before he was on the show) in high school. I said no because he kind of creaped me out.

7) I have run into (literally collided) several famous people.
- Roy Firestone (at LAX)
- Evander Holyfield (at LAX)
- Dick Clark (at the American Music Awards)
- Thandie Newton (in Old Town Pasadena)
- Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins (at LAX)

OK... I tag Lindsey, Angel, Ashley, and Jenna.

Thank you Call and Response!

Calling All Dr. Phil Lovers! (or even if you aren't one...)

This Friday, October 10th, the Dr. Phil show will address the issue of human trafficking and publicize the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) Hotline.

Tune in and hear survivors tell their stories, an FBI agent recount a recent human trafficking case in Texas, and the filmmaker behind the new documenary film Call + Response discuss his anti-trafficking efforts. Julia Ormond, United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and featured actress in the new documentary film, Call + Response, will also join Dr. Phil to share her firsthand experience of witnessing and fighting human trafficking. Preview the show and find show times.

We are excited that the show will increase awareness about modern-day slavery and the services of the NHTRC hotline. We are preparing diligently for an increase in calls due to the coverage.

Currently, we receive hundreds of calls directly from trafficking victims, law enforcement agents, medical and legal professionals, community members, and policy-makers every month. In the past 10 months, the NHTRC has:

* Answered more than 4,200 calls
* Received calls in reference to more than 2,000 potential victims
* Reached an audience of over 4,000 people through more than 100 trainings and presentations
* Experienced a call volume increase of over 200% from the previous year.

If you are curious about the issue of Human Trafficking, what is being done, and how you can help, check your local listings... (Dr. Phil is on at 3pm in Seattle).

Download Free Music (Legally)

** A Shameless Plug for the Illuminate Live CD **

My husband Jesse leads worship at Overlake Christian Church and just did something that I think is pretty cool. He added OCC's Illuminate LIVE CD to a website called Noise Trade. You can go on there and download the music for free by "recommending" it to 5 friends. There are bigger artists like Sixpence None The Richer, Derek Webb, Sara Groves, Martin Sexton, etc that are using noisetrade to get their music out there, too. The cool thing that is happening right now is that the Illuminate LIVE CD is currently in the noisetrade top ten! Right there with those other big name artists!

So, go on there and download the CD - it's really cool (and it will keep them in the top 10). Thanks for your support!