NOT GUILTY!!!

Well this blog is dedicated entirely to Eric Volz - a cousin to my friend Alicia.

Eric Volz is from Nashville and has been living in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua for the last two years. On November 21, 2006 his ex-girlfriend Doris Ivanez Jimenez was murdered. Through pressure from the media to blame the "gringo", and against over 100 pieces of evidence NOT pointing to Eric, the judge tried and convicted Eric, sentencing him to 30 years in prison. The judge threw out all the evidence, testimonies of over 10 witnesses who was with him that day, and cell phone statements proving he made calls from Managua, two hours away at the time of the murder. He is innocent and needs our help.

The media has finally been picking up on the story and it's been covered by The Today Show twice, the Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean and soon Dateline will be doing an hour story on him.

This family needs all the encouragement and prayers possible to get Eric freed from his 30 year sentence in the Nicaraguan prison. For the full story on all the facts, prosecution and defense, or to even make donations towards funding this case, you can go to the "Free Eric Volz" website: by clicking click here

For media coverage:

The Today Show - the first story they mention Eric, aired Monday, March 26, 2007 - to watch, click here to watch.

The Today Show - the second story they covered on Eric Volz, including an in-person interview with him - click here to watch

And there is also a MySpace page set up for him as well - just click here

Please continue to spread the word - and I will post updates as I hear them.

God has the Victory!

Guilty As Charged

It is true, Jason and I were in Seattle last weekend for a quick trip to see my dear friends Tina & Jay Frees and spend some time with their family. Even though the time flew by, we had a wonderful time relaxing and laughing A TON. Thursday night Tina picked us up from the airport where we waited in some oh-so-familiar Seattle traffic...not much has changed has it? :-) Then once we got to the Frees home, we all headed out to PF Changs (one of my personal favorites) for a big old Chinese dinner - yum!! What was it the waiter said Addie?..."Things are about to get a whole lot better!" He was such a nerd and we couldn't help but laugh at how oblivious he was to what was actually going on at the table.

Saturday we packed our things for a night away in a lake house owned by Jay's aunt & uncle over on Hood Canal. We first met up with our good friends Roy & Loree by the ferry docks and all rode across over to Kingston. After dropping Jaida & Jesh over at their grandma's house, we headed to the lake house for the night. To say we had a blast that entire day, would be an understatement. I only wish we could have hung out together longer! We had dinner at a little Italian place in Poulsbo and walked around the little shops trying to spend all our men's money, while they bonded together in a nearby coffee shop :-) Later that night, the guys stayed up till the wee hours of the morning playing poker and making some memories I for one will never forget. What was really funny, was that the guys were playing for who got which beds. But by the time they finished playing, and Roy had slaughtered both Jay & Jason, all three of us girls were conked out on the fold out couch in the living room, so the boys ended up getting cozy in the master bedroom all together....how romantic right? Don't worry, at least there were TWO beds in there...but for my own personal safety, I'll just leave it at that!

Next morning we all woke up and made some fresh coffee & the boys made us breakfast. Jason & Jay enjoyed the hot tub for a bit before we all packed up and headed back to the mainland. I absolutely loved our time together and am so incredibly grateful for Jay & Tina inviting us out to be with them - it was definitely some much needed time together!! Later that day, still feeling quite tired and worn out - we decided on Mexican for dinner and then ice cream back at the house with a good movie. Much to Jason's embarrassment, the staff somehow found out (Ahem..Addie) that it was Jason's 36th birthday!! (well technically on Monday, but what can you do when it comes to having the chance to put a gigantic sombrero on Jason and having the staff sing to him - his favorite by the way!) A stop at the Spotted Cow and Blockbuster was all we needed to set up for a restful evening back at the Frees home - of which sadly, I feel asleep before I could enjoy either of those...I am still so bummed I didn't get to try any of that Irish Cream Ice Cream - dangit!!

Next morning, we woke up and realized we'd lost an hour sleep thanks to Daylight Savings and needed to get going if we were going to make our flight on time. I kissed all my munchkins goodbye and Tina & Jay drove us to the airport. It all went by way too fast. I already miss them so much and can't wait till we have another opportunity to see them again.

Now that we're back in Nashville, we've been getting prepared for my parents visit next week. I'm very excited to show them around and spend a whole week together! One thing that I do want to make mention of is to ask you all keep us in your prayers for an upcoming meeting of Jason's on March 28th. A couple weeks back Jason met with the Creative Director of Publishing at Midas Music, Jennifer Johnson (www.midasrecords.com). She absolutely loved him. The ironic part is, Jason thought he was meeting with her to ask if she would be interested in "plugging" his music to other artists/labels - which in turn would cost an extra couple hundred a month for her services. She's been well known in town as a music plugger/pitcher - and Jason's BMI rep had set up a meeting for him to meet with her. As he's sitting in her office, he discovers she's been recently hired as the Creative Director for Midas Music. She listened to a few of his songs and told him that they had a opening for a writer and as far as she was concerned, she considered him to be the front-runner. Excuse me? Wow. Talk about catching us off-guard. True, that's been the whole goal of all these meetings he's been having for the last number of months, but we didn't go into this particular meeting thinking this was even a possibility! Isn't God amazing like that? She said she would need to get to know him better and she wanted to take his music to their CEO and other writers on the team. She explained that things have been super busy lately and that she would be out on Spring Break with her kids the following week, but that the 28th of March would work for a meeting, even though she wishes she could meet sooner. Please keep praying! We know its all in God's hands and that He will direct us to the right label and publisher. Jason was anxious and nervous at first, but he's much more at peace now and is looking forward to seeing her again. The last Jason heard from her, she mentioned that she had hoped the CEO could join their meeting on the 28th, but that "he (the CEO) might just have to trust her on this one"....it sounds all very positive! As my husband keeps reassuring me..."we're almost there". So there's the latest on the news with the Keiths!

Before I go - here's the picture of my good friend Brooke and I at the Kelly Clarkson & Reba concert - aren't we cute?! That was such an awesome night!

Love you all!

I'd Take A Seattle Earthquake Any Day!

I'm sitting in my office, 27 floors above the ground looking out at quite the storm. Dark wispy clouds have been flying by us with bits of hail and tons of rain. We're on what they call "Tornado Watch". Um no thank you. Many schools in the area started sending kids home at noon because of the storm & severe weather warnings. But not us, oh no. We here at Adams & Reese are like the friggin' infantry. Nothing can deter us from getting our duties done. Come rain, snow, sleet, rain or tornadoes. This morning a church down the street from where we live was struck by lightning. It didn't do a ton of damage, but it did knock some bricks off the wall and make a hole in the roof. Hopefully this storm will be over fairly soon!!

Many of you might be wondering how the Kelly Clarkson & Reba concert went....well let's just say it was fabulous! They sounded so amazing together and Kelly is just incredible live. I'm so looking forward to when her next album comes out. And Reba is in the midst of starting to record a new album that's all duets, in which she'll sing with Kelly Clarkson, Justin Timberlake and possibly Beyonce. I'm really looking forward to hearing it! The only bummer thing about the concert, was that because it was a private filming for tv, there was no cameras or photos allowed, which means I didn't get any pictures of Reba & Kelly. However, I did get a cute pic of Brooke and I, but I still need to download it from my camera. I had such a great time that night - Brooke and I had dinner at Mortons, where Jason was able to wait on us, then we went to the CMT Crossroads show and then back to her place to watch Greys with our friend Kacie. It was just the best night.

Ok - so change of subject. My mom-in-law sent me some pics of cats that get "painted". I'm guessing they must be airbrushed. I thought I would attach some of these pictures for everyone to glance at. And get this, some of these paint jobs cost close to $15,000 a pop!