It's Been a While...

Well its been a busy summer and fall although I'm not really sure what we've spent our time doing other than work and school....It always seems to fly by though and before you know it, the holidays are here. Unfortunately we won't be able to go home for either but that doesn't mean we won't make the best of it! We plan on spending Thanksgiving with some friends and Meagan will be working part of the day...and of course we will be watching football...GO COWBOYS!!! As for Christmas, we will be headed up to New York on a train C-mas day and will spend a few days up there...its a good alternative since we can't make it all the way home! Thats all for now...

It was: A) The best of times, B) The worst of times, C) Neither, D) Explain your answer

D. Now I have to explain my answer. (See how that works?) I could have chosen answer choice A, and been done, but this would have been a pretty short blog. These past 10 months have been the best of times, and this is why. I have to admit, after Meagan and I had gotten married, we knew we would be moving all the way across the country to this place called Virginia Beach. I was worried that I was ruining Meagan's life, yes her entire life, because I was taking her away from her friends, family, everything that was familiar and comfortable to her. We were going to move to a strange place where we did not know anybody, no friends, no family, and we were going to live on our own, Meagan was going to have to find a job, and I was going to begin the toughest education I'd ever experienced. To say the least, that bugged us.
But now, looking back, this has been the best experience for both of us. In a very short amount of time, we have found wonderful new friends, lifelong ones, an amazing church to be a part of, that has helped us grow faster than we thought possible, and I've had a chance to experience the first stage of what I've always wanted to experience. The things that we were most worried about have all been taken care of. Rent is always there, food is in our mouths, and we are even able to have fun. Back home the man who married us, Pastor Bob, said this was going to be the best situation for us as newlyweds, and he was exactly right. I think of the part in scripture where it is promised by God that those who are faithful to him will be taken care of, and our lives are proof of that. We have grown in more ways in 10 months in Virginia than we ever would have back home.
Meagan is going to post about all the exciting "stuff" we have been doing. Stuff is the legal term for "matters that hold substantial weight." You won't want to miss that post, so I bet you'll be glued to the edge of your seat, checking back daily, hourly, to see if that post has been posted yet. This post was just a sorbet, to cleanse the palette; just to let y'all know that we enjoy being here, it has been a wonderful experience, and Meagan will provide the juicy details of just what has made this experience so wonderful.

Our past 9 months in review...

As school is winding down for Nick, and we prepare for summer, we find ourselves with another mouth to feed and the pitter-patter of little feet. He is black and has lots of hair...by the way, did we mention that is the pitter-patter of four little...paws? :) Yes, in case you haven't figured it out yet, we ended up adopting Kodiak. We love the little guy and for now we are a happy little family!

Since we have just started this blog, we thought we'd fill you all in on what we have been up to...other than that small commitment of Law School that Nick has. We're sure you're all asking yourselves "what the heck have Meagan and Nick been up to the past 9 months across the country where they know nobody?" Well here goes:

Nick dove right into school and student life in the beginning of August with a pre-law school prep class. This lasted for two weeks while Meagan spent her time unpacking and getting settled. We live in a one-bedroom apt. on a man-made lake...it is nice but kinda small, so at that time we were planning on moving out in a year (we have since decided to stay where we are, after seeing what else was out there, for our price range however).



By the time Sept. started Meagan had the full-time job of finding a job and Nick was putting in 10 hr days at school. We still found some time to have fun and enjoy the weather though!We already had our first visitors at the end of Sept! Unfortunately the weather wasn't great while Ana and Jake were here but we did get a good beach day while Mark and Janell were here. Before Nick's grandparents came in Oct. we were able to take a weekend trip to Williamsburg, where we learned quite a bit of history...including the history of the wine bottle:
Back in Va Beach, we also learned some history while visiting the site of the "first landing" marked by a large white cross. There are also two lighthouses that mark that spot today. Our first few months were not just one big history lesson though...we spent our fair share of time at the beach with a wine festival and a free concert with country singer Luke Bryan.We also visited all of the animals at the Virginia Aquarium and the Living Museum. It was a good thing Meagan had finally started working so that she could fund all of these outings! The Virginia Beach SPCA has provided Meagan with a great job and some great friends
...but best of all...

she gets to play puppies and kittens! We spent one weekend camping with some friends from school and we even saw some dolphins swimming along shore one morning. Another day was spent wine tasting in North Carolina and on a ferry ride to Elizabeth City. I would love to tell you about how exciting that place was...but there is literally nothing to tell you about it! We celebrated our first Thanksgiving without our families in Nov. and I have to say, Nick made the best turkey ever! What's even better was the weather that day!

The first half of Dec. meant finals for Nick which you can all assume he did well on since we are still here! And we definitely enjoyed our week at home for C-mas...our time there went way too quickly but we had a fun and casual New Years back here in VB with some friends from work. Jan. and Feb. were cold and although it doesn't snow much here, there was a need for a "winter storm warning"......

March was still pretty chilly but we did go on a whale watching trip where we saw a whale far off in the distance...It was sunny that day but that ocean breeze was freezing!
April and May are the rainy months but it has warmed up nicely into the 70s and 80s. Nick finished up his second semester of law school while Meagan enjoyed her new raise. We also went to the first BBQ of the year with some friends from work and took a day trip to Yorktown which is a nice little beach town. We will have to go back another time to do the historic Yorktown tour though.


So that brings us to present day. It is amazing that we have almost been here a year already, but what a wonderful experience its been! I can't wait to share more of it with you all but it would be even better if you come visit and experience it with us! Well, now that you are all caught up on our life I can let you get back to yours...miss all of you at home and we will see you soon!

Rounding Third

"Why do people hate lawyers? Is it because we brush our teeth in a way that the rest of the world doesn't even understand?" -- Prof. Folsom
Well, I'm rounding third, heading home, almost done with my "1L" year. Meagan has been after me for a while to create some posts on our blog. Of course, I've been way too lazy to do so. I claim that I'm way to busy to do so, but it's really laziness. This blog was supposed to be somewhat of a journal-type blog, in that it was to track our experiences through Virginia Beach, and law school, and work, and friends, and church. And this blog will still do that, I've just gotten off to a late start, and my first blog is coming near the end of my first year, rather than tracking through all the experiences I've had during my first year. Now writing this blog looking back retroactively at my 1L year, really makes this easy, because my 1L year has FLOWN by. Day to day, it feels like it crawls by, and it's extremely tough, but when you take a second to look back on where you were only eight months ago, you really see the progress you've taken.
So I'm working on finishing up my first year, final exams are in one month, and I have to finish an appellate brief claiming that in West Virginia, my client's corporate veil should not have been pierced, thus holding her personally liable as a shareholder, and secondly, that an award of punitive damages was not proper under an action solely for breach of contract. One thing that I thought I had a pretty good understanding of, but I learned a lot about this first year is the degree of responsibility a lawyer has. Now obviously that seems simple, of course a lawyer has a high degree of responsibility. But law school is hard for a reason, it's not to put cottage cheese in your stomach and make you ill, but rather it's to put steel in your backbone. The whole essence of why someone hires a lawyer is because that person feels that the lawyer can represent them better in a legal setting than they could themselves. That's ultimately why the decision is made to hire oneself a lawyer. Once the lawyer is hired, the lawyer is responsible for that person's fortune, life savings, earnings, or even their life, if they're facing the death penalty. Our legal system is based on the Adversarial model. The theory there is that lawyers from both sides will fight as hard as they possibly can for their respective clients, and gain every advantage humanly possible going into trial. Now you have these two extremes, these polar opposites arguing for completely different results. Who's right? Who's telling the truth? Well all lawyers are telling the truth, they're both staring at the same set of facts, but their putting different spin on the facts and how the law, and what law, applies to those facts. The question of who to believe falls on the jury. That, in a nutshell (a very small one, like a pistachio), is what lawyers do. Now I believe that people grow to dislike lawyers because the jury may decide to believe the lawyer who's arguing the side you don't agree with. Or, the lawyers people see are the ones who have this great responsibility, and abuse it. They spin the facts too much, so they're bordering on not telling the truth. Meagan and I got into a debate the other night. We were watching a television show, it was a reality show, and one of the main characters was charged with a DUI, and the show aired portions of his trial. As I was watching the show, I put forth an argument, that Meagan did not believe I could use. If I were a practicing attorney, and actually used my argument in court, and won, and an outsider looking in only saw that portion of the trial, and didn't agree with my argument, of course they're going to form a very negative impression of the lawyers in this country. It's actually very rare that a person ever gets to see the inside of a courtroom. Either through jury selection, or they're a witness, a plaintiff, or a defendant, or a victim, those instances are relatively rare, and I sincerely doubt people make a practice of simply going to court and watching. So when a person does see the inside of a courtroom, that impression sticks with them most, if not all, of their lives. When I talk to people who've served on a jury, they remember their experiences like it was yesterday, when they might have served on the jury 15, 20 years ago. My point is, lawyers need to act with the highest degree of integrity, because while they are not public figures, they are in the spotlight. For whatever reason, they are judged as soon as someone knows they're a lawyer, their every action is scrutinized. So I suppose my point really is to take a lawyer you see with a grain of salt, and try to realize that not every lawyer you see is the "dirtbag" you just saw "lying."
Well, what started out to be a small introductory blog post turned out to be quite unreasonably long. This is not necessarily a bad thing, unless you read don't read fast (which, by the way, I've tried to take that into account by writing this slow). But this has been a good thing for me, because I need to write said appellate brief referenced above. This post has gotten my fingers warmed up, my brain stimulated, and I'm ready to go. Have an excellent Good Friday, and a wonderful Easter, salvation is free, and it's the most wonderful gift we could have ever received.

Meet Kodiak

Found in the bushes all alone at around 4 weeks old, this little guy was turned into us at the SPCA, like so many other lost, unwanted, or abandoned animals. He was small but feisty and in need of a foster home until he was old enough for adoption. Nick and I obviously volunteered and were extremely excited, although we weren't sure our cats would feel the same way. We designated our bathroom to be Kodiak's home, for the first few days at least. He soon outgrew that, and before long he was on his way to taking over the house. He figured out that when he meowed constantly, we would let him out of the bathroom, and that when he stuck his claws out, he could climb up on the bed and the couch. He also learned that Riley is ok to pick on and play with, but that he should leave Bailey alone because she is a princess and is not to be messed with. Now as I am typing this, the little guy has fallen asleep on my foot, and with each day nearing the time we must bring him back to the shelter for adoption, we find ourselves quite attached to him. As hard as it will be to take him in and set him up in a cage, I can only hope that he will be adopted quickly into a new loving home. We must also keep in mind that as spring and summer approaches, there will be many, many more unwanted kittens who will also need a foster family and a fat orange cat to pick on!