Oh my where do I start, trust me life is not in the slow lane at this house. Joe and I were having a discussion the other night about why is our life way more busy than when we were raising the children and why does it feel like we are being tossed more work at our jobs than normal. We finally decided that on the first issue that even though you have raised your children to become independent in their own lives doesn't mean that you have less responsibility as a parent and that continues in other ways, but we also decided we wouldn't have it any other way! On the other issue it is because we are so experienced (grey haired and wrinkled and embracing it) at what we do that they just keep tossing work at us, afraid we might pull the plug and say retirement is looking much better......

Speaking of our children James has registered to return to college in January and will be attending BSU, Go Broncos! and studying education. Mac has applied for graduate school and is doing an internship with the ACLU and picking up odd jobs to keep the funds coming in at babysitting, house sitting and pet sitting.

The above picture is a reflection of our life at this time. We still have Mama from the original bunch of cats Mackie has fostered and we still have Finnegan, "Finny" who obviously was the runt of the litter and was tossed out in the foothills. He has flourished in our home and we all love him but it is evident that he will never be an outdoor cat. Little slow on the uptake but as cute as possible. He would make a good library cat... whenever you sit down to read anything, he is on your lap. Needless to say he has become Joe's best friend since he does so much reading.

We still miss our little Bailee but time is also healing that loss. Our vet also loved her and gave a donation to the veterinary school at the U of W in Seattle in her name.

Mom and Stomie and I took another road trip this time to Teton Idaho and we were able to see Aunt Fumi in Rexburg and the progress of the High School on the farm property. We also took uncle Bobby to Jackpot, that was a hoot!

Joe and I celebrated 28 years of marriage and are still shocked by how fast it has gone by. We had a wonderful weekend together and a romantic dinner, and some people said it would never last.....showed them didn't we Joe?

Still cooking all meals for Joe's mom and his brother, helping Mom prepare for our family Thanksgiving dinner, both my brother and sister will be here and we are so excited about this.

Mom and Stomie still go about 80 miles a minute and I hope I can be as active as them when I reach their age. Really looking forward to our family gathering next week. We lost a very dear friend today to Pulmonary Fibrosis and may not have Joe with us this Thanksgiving since he will attend the services back East next week for our family. This family was Mac's surrogate family while she was an East Coast girl.

We wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving week and thank God for our wonderful bounty of family and friends.

~~deb~~