Did you think that the Internet was slow today?  That's probably because Jessie, Joey, and I were burning up the 'net with back/forth messages to try to figure out plans for our Thanksgiving gathering.  Nothing has been finalized yet because we want to get in-put from our other kids, too, but we're trying to arrive at some kind of option-plan that will take into consideration Joey/Beau arriving here on Thanksgiving Day.  We're still not sure about the plans that Josh, Leah, and their kids have made or are considering.  Surely, with this advance notice, we shouldn't have many conflicts to worry about, which, in a family with 7 kids/12 grand kids/husbands and wives of our kids/SO's of our kids, is a massive undertaking.  More on this later--  (By the way, for those of our kids who read this, we're thinking about the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving, so if you have anything to add here, please let me know ASAP.)  Hmmmmm--I don't usually send this kind of message in my journal, but why not!

We had more rain today, and it was pretty rough for a while.  In fact, we even lost electricity for a moment or two.  We are also in a tornado watch until 10pm this evening.  Right now, though, things look pretty good.  I am very glad about that because Sid has to attend the school's Open House which begins at 7pm.

During this Open House, the parents of the kids go through their kids' schedules (don't know how they do it for parents with several kids), with each "period" lasting twelve minutes.  That's barely enough time to get folks in the room, so I suppose it really is just to let them get an inkling of what their kids go through every day.  Sid expects that it will last at least a couple of hours.  Isn't that fun--after a full day at school?

Randi and I did a little bit of grocery shopping this morning while we were out bringing Sid the lunch that he forgot on the table.  One reason I like to make supper our main meal during the school year is that we usually have enough left-overs so he can have a pretty decent meal the following day.  And that's what happened last night--our chicken strips (cooked in the wok--not store bought) with corn as a side and a pineapple salad to finish it up provided enough for him to have today.  He had it ready to go and left it on the table.  When I saw it this morning, I figured we'd just head over to school, drop off the food, and then do some shopping.  That's what we did--and we managed to beat the rain.

There were a couple of students working in the office at school today, assisting the secretary.  They were extremely polite and helpful, and they really gave a good impression of themselves.  Seeing these young people do so well also gives a good impression of the school, so it was a win/win situation for everyone--and Sid got his food for dinner.

That's it for tonight.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention that my nephew, Ben, will be leaving for his military training on September 3rd, heading to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for his Basic Training.  He will train as a Canon Crewmember (YouTube has an article on that according to Sandie.)  I read the article, and it seems to require a lot of training and is a very important position.  He will finish his training in January '09, with Basic Training lasting 9 weeks and the additional training for his particular job lasting 7 weeks.  Please keep Ben in your prayers.

Have a great evening and a wonderful tomorrow.

HEARTFELT BLESSING:  "Go out and do for others what somebody did for you."                                           --Randy Pausch (Last Lecture)

NOTE:  This is sort of a "play" on the "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" idea that we have all grown up with.  Don't wait! Treat others the way you want to be treated and/or the way others have treated you already.  Inspire, show love and appreciation, encourage, give someone a morale boost--don't keep everything for yourself.  The world grows better and better when we share--and what more beautiful ways there are than to share our lives with others and to "do for them what someone did for  you."